Do Not Adjust Your Set (2 series, broadcast 1967-69)
Starring and written by:- Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, David Jason, Denise Coffey
Episodes shown:-
Regular guest performers:- The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
Despite the presence of four (Terry Gilliam provides animations in the last few episodes - although some animations survive, those episodes are lost) of the main Python team, this one feels less like the prototype for Python and more like the prototype for later anarchic kids shows like Tiswas. For this show was indeed a kids show, albeit one that adults would come home early to watch.
There are, of course, some signs of Python here and the inclusion of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band as both regular musical guests and participants in sketches, coupled with the occasional slightly risque joke, gives it an odder feel than just your standard children’s TV show. What’s interesting is that both this and 1948 Show occasionally have similar premises for sketches - both feature a sketch about antiques experts identifying items (which then skew off in different directions). This isn’t a case of one copying the other but I think highlights the similar ways in which both sets of comedic minds were working.
There’s another case of What Could Have Been here. David Jason has so cemented himself in the nation’s collective mind as Delboy Trotter of Only Fools And Horses fame* that it’s easy to forget that he was successful in other shows before that (making his comedy debut here though). He adds a more physical / slapstick element to a lot of the sketches, notably the silent comedy inspired recurring sketch Captain Fantastic. Could there have been a world where the Python line-up also included Marty Feldman, Tim Brooke-Taylor and David Jason?
It's enjoyable stuff, especially the Bonzo interludes (but then I am a big Vivian Stanshall and Neil Innes fan) but I think the 1948 show stands up better by today’s standards.
Q&A
This focussed largely on the efforts that the BFI have gojne to track down, restore and reconstruct missing episodes of both series. Of the two, the 1948 show has fared better being now almost complete. Much like Doctor Who, a fan taped the audio for all episodes off air and the BFI has used this as a guide to reconstruct the episodes as aired from compilation episodes and various film trims (alongside discoveries of complete episodes). One episode has been completely reconstructed from a variety of sources. Do Not Adjust Your Set, however, is missing almost all of the episodes from the second series bar one. The search still continues though and the BFI always live in hope of finding more stuff.
*Although he’s also firmly ensconced in mine as Dangermouse.
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