Ten of the 13 episodes were accidentally erased. By 2003, six complete episodes existed. Film extracts from six of the seven missing episodes were made into compilation episodes that were sold to Swedish TV. In 2014, two episodes were found among the collection of executive producer David Frost. They were on 16mm film and had been filmed directly from a television screen. Complete audio recordings exist for all episodes.
The title is a light hearted dig at the TV executives who took so long to get it on screen.
The series featured sketches and gags which the Monty Python team would go on to adopt, including the "Hearing Aid and Contact Lens Shop" performed on Flying Circus, the "Four Yorkshiremen" routine and the Bookshop sketch ("Darles Chickens by Edmund Wells"), both of which were first done by the Pythons on Flying Circus record albums, as well as the line "And now for something completely different..." used in Flying Circus.
In many ways, this television program was an extension of the popular and long-running BBC radio program, "I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again." Not only do they share cast (Tim Brooke-Taylor, Jo Kendall, John Cleese) and ties to the Cambridge Footlights, several running gags from ISIRTA show up as jokes here. Most notably, jokes about gibbons and chartered accountants were regularly told on ISIRTA, and both are present in the first episode here.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
