At Last The 1948 Show episodes discovered

[Lonemagpie]

In the UK, people usually associate "Missing Episodes" with Dr Who, but this year's latest BFI find is some 60s comedy.

Actually, a couple of episodes of At Last The 1948 Show, starring Pre-Goodies and Pre-Pythons...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29722866

 

[Christopher]

"At last" indeed.

Come to think of it, we're lucky that Monty Python's Flying Circus managed to avoid the BBC purges. Imagine if it had had lost episodes. Well, in that case, I imagine most of the lost sketches would've been redone in movies or stage shows, but some of the Gilliam animations might've been completely lost.

 

[eyeresist]

I was recently reading the Python Biography, in which one of the members pointed out that part of the reason Python seems so unique and unprecedented in retrospect is that most of its predecessors were erased from the timeline. 1948 was cited as the most Python-like.

There was also Milligan's Q series, which I saw rebroadcast on Australian TV in the 80s. The only home release this ever saw was a VHS compilation. There are some episodes on youtube.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

"At last" indeed.

Come to think of it, we're lucky that Monty Python's Flying Circus managed to avoid the BBC purges. Imagine if it had had lost episodes. Well, in that case, I imagine most of the lost sketches would've been redone in movies or stage shows, but some of the Gilliam animations might've been completely lost.

Thank the Pythons for owning the rights to the show independent of the BBC, then (if that's what saved it.)

 

[Nightowl1701]

No, what saved it was PBS in America expressing interest in showing the series in 1974, and barely in time - BBC was less than a month away from chucking all the episodes in the furnace! (Terry Jones actually snuck into the archives and illegally copied them himself to head off such a disaster.)

 

[Shaka Zulu]

^Wow, even better! Thanks for the info.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

BTW, I thought that At Last The 1948 Show was on DVD already:

At Last the 1948 Show



I guess that they can add these found episodes now.