I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (often abbreviated ISIRTA) was a BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

radio comedy

Radio comedy

Radio comedy, or comedic radio programming, is a radio broadcast that may involve sitcom elements, sketches and various types of comedy found on other media. It may also include more surreal or fantastic elements, as these can be conveyed on a small budget with just a few sound effects or some...

programme which originated from the Cambridge University

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

Footlights

Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University....

revue Cambridge Circus

Cambridge Footlights Revue

The Cambridge Footlights Revue is an annual revue by the Footlights Club - a group of comic writer-performers at the University of Cambridge. Two of the more notable revues are detailed below.-"A Clump of Plinths" — "Cambridge Circus":...

. It had a devoted youth following, with live recordings being more akin to a rock concert than a comedy show – a tradition which continued right through to the days of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, sometimes abbreviated to ISIHAC or Clue, is a BBC radio comedy panel game broadcast since 11 April 1972 at the rate of one or two series each year , transmitted on BBC Radio 4, with occasional repeats on BBC Radio 4 Extra and the BBC's World Service...

.

The pilot programme and Series 1 was broadcast on the BBC Home Service

BBC Home Service

The BBC Home Service was a British national radio station which broadcast from 1939 until 1967.-Development:Between the 1920s and the outbreak of The Second World War, the BBC had developed two nationwide radio services, the BBC National Programme and the BBC Regional Programme...

(renamed BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...

in September 1967). Series 2–9 were broadcast on the BBC Light Programme (renamed BBC Radio 2 in September 1967).

It was first broadcast on 3 April 1964 – the pilot programme having been broadcast on 30 December 1963 under the title "Cambridge Circus" – and the ninth series was transmitted in November and December 1973. An hour-long 25th Anniversary show was broadcast in 1989. It is comically introduced as "full frontal radio". I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue

, a spinoff panel game show, was first produced in 1972.

The title of the show comes from a sentence commonly used by BBC newsreaders following an on-air flub

Blooper

A blooper, also known as an outtake or boner is a short sequence of a film or video production, usually a deleted scene, containing a mistake made by a member of the cast or crew. It also refers to an error made during a live radio or TV broadcast or news report, usually in terms of misspoken words...

: "I'm sorry, I'll read that again." Having the phrase used to recover from a mistake as the title of the show set the tone for the series as an irreverent and loosely-produced comedy show.

Cast

Tim Brooke-Taylor

Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE is an English comic actor. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at Cambridge University, and became President of the Footlights club, touring internationally with the Footlights revue in 1964...

(later became one of the three members of The Goodies

The Goodies

The Goodies are a trio of British comedians who created, wrote, and starred in a surreal British television comedy series called The Goodies during the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketches and situation comedy.-Honours:All three Goodies now have OBEs...

). He has written humorous books on various subjects, including cricket and golf. He was a member of the cast of the television comedy series At Last the 1948 Show

At Last the 1948 Show

At Last the 1948 Show is a satirical TV show made by David Frost's company, Paradine Productions , in association with Rediffusion London...

with John Cleese (as well as Graham Chapman

Graham Chapman

Graham Arthur Chapman was a British comedian, physician, writer, actor, and one of the six members of the Monty Python comedy troupe.-Early life and education:...

and Marty Feldman

Marty Feldman

Martin Alan "Marty" Feldman was an English comedy writer, comedian and actor who starred in a series of British television comedy shows, including At Last the 1948 Show, and Marty, which won two BAFTA awards and was the first Saturn Award winner for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Young...

), and later appeared in Marty Feldman's television comedy series Marty

Marty (TV series)

Marty is a British television sketch comedy series, with Marty Feldman, Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Junkin, Roland MacLeod, Mary Miller and Peter Pocock which was made in 1968...

. Brooke-Taylor has acted in many other television sitcoms, as well as appearing in the 1970s BBC radio sketch show Hello, Cheeky!

Hello, Cheeky!

Hello Cheeky was a series broadcast on BBC Radio 2 between 1973 and 1979. It was written and performed by Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer, and John Junkin, with music by the Denis King Trio, and produced by David Hatch, Richard Willcox, and Bob Oliver Rogers.There were also three Christmas...

with John Junkin

John Junkin

John Francis Junkin was an English radio, television and film performer and scriptwriter.In 1960 Junkin joined Joan Littlewood's Stratford East Theatre Workshop, and played the lead in the original production of Sparrows Can't Sing...

and Barry Cryer

Barry Cryer

Barry Charles Cryer OBE is a British writer and comedian. Cryer has written for many noted performers, including Dave Allen, Stanley Baxter, Jack Benny, Rory Bremner, George Burns, Jasper Carrott, Tommy Cooper, Les Dawson, Dick Emery, Kenny Everett, Bruce Forsyth, David Frost, Bob Hope, Frankie...

, a show which later translated to ITV.

John Cleese

John Cleese

John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...

(later part of Monty Python

Monty Python

Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...

and star of Fawlty Towers

Fawlty Towers

Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Twelve television program episodes were produced . The show was written by John Cleese and his then wife Connie Booth, both of whom played major characters...

; formed his own production company Video Arts

Video Arts

Video Arts is a British based video production company which produces training videos for companies. It was founded in 1972 by John Cleese, Sir Antony Jay, and a group of other television professionals. The videos feature well known British actors, and humorously explain business concepts...

to make business training films, which contained much Python-esque/Basil Fawlty-style humour, as well as making films including A Fish Called Wanda

A Fish Called Wanda

A Fish Called Wanda is a 1988 crime-comedy film written by John Cleese and Charles Crichton. It was directed by Crichton and an uncredited Cleese, and stars Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin. The film is about a jewel heist and its aftermath...

and Fierce Creatures

Fierce Creatures

Fierce Creatures is a 1997 comedy film. Although not a sequel, it was a follow-up to the wildly popular A Fish Called Wanda, starring the same four actors, John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin...

). On the 25th Anniversary show he did his famous silly walk — it made terrible radio — and sang "The Ferret Song". He appeared in At Last the 1948 Show

At Last the 1948 Show

At Last the 1948 Show is a satirical TV show made by David Frost's company, Paradine Productions , in association with Rediffusion London...

with Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graham Chapman

Graham Chapman

Graham Arthur Chapman was a British comedian, physician, writer, actor, and one of the six members of the Monty Python comedy troupe.-Early life and education:...

and Marty Feldman

Marty Feldman

, and was co-writer (with Graham Chapman) of several episodes of the Doctor in the House

Doctor in the House (TV series)

Doctor in the House is the syndicated title given, by the United States, to a British television comedy series , based on a set of books and a movie of the same name by Richard Gordon about the misadventures of a group of medical students — and their later misadventures as doctors.The first...

television comedy series. In later series Cleese was often absent, due to his appearances in Monty Python; in the sleeve notes to the BBC's re-issues of the shows on cassette, his absences were explained as "[having] ranting commitments elsewhere".

Graeme Garden

Graeme Garden

David Graeme Garden OBE is a Scottish author, actor, comedian, artist and television presenter, who first became known as a member of The Goodies.-Early life and beginnings in comedy:...

(also later became one of the three members of The Goodies

The Goodies

). He is a qualified medical doctor, and was co-writer (with Bill Oddie) of several episodes of the medical comedy Doctor in the House

Doctor in the House (TV series)

on ITV (appearing in the episode "Doctor on the Box" as a television presenter). He also appeared as Commander Forrest in the Yes Minister

Yes Minister

Yes Minister is a satirical British sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn that was first transmitted by BBC Television between 1980–1982 and 1984, split over three seven-episode series. The sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, ran from 1986 to 1988. In total there were 38 episodes—of which all but...

television episode "The Death List". He was a member of I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again from the start. At the same time, he was studying medicine in London. Because he did a midwifery medical course in Plymouth

Plymouth

Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

, he was not able to be a member of the cast of ISIRTA during the third season, due to the enormous distance between London and Plymouth which prevented Graeme from being able to travel to London to record ISIRTA during that period. However, Graeme kept on sending scripts for the radio show by mail - and rejoined the cast of ISIRTA upon his return to his medical studies in London.

David Hatch

David Hatch

Sir David Hatch was involved in production and management at BBC Radio, where he held many executive positions, including Head of Light Entertainment , Controller of BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4 and later Managing Director of BBC Radio.- Education :He attended St John's School, Leatherhead and...

(who went on to executive positions within the BBC

BBC

, including the top position of Controller of BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4

). As was common in BBC radio at that time, Hatch served both as the show's announcer and as a cast member (similar to Douglas Smith's role in Round the Horne

Round the Horne

Round the Horne was a BBC Radio comedy programme, transmitted in four series of weekly episodes from 1965 until 1968. The series was created by Barry Took and Marty Feldman - with others contributing to later series after Feldman returned to performing — and starred Kenneth Horne, with Kenneth...

; Hatch however did give his roles some characterisation, in contrast to Smith's totally deadpan style). Hatch's announcements were frequently lampooned or interrupted by other cast members.

Jo Kendall

Jo Kendall

Jo Kendall is a British actress.She played Desdemona in a production of Othello at the A.D.C. Theatre, Cambridge in 1962.In August 1963 she appeared in the West End in London, New Zealand and Broadway, in the Cambridge University revue Cambridge Circus directed by Humphrey Barclay, alongside Graham...

(a radio actress in many straight dramas subsequently; also appeared in the equally popular radio comedy series The Burkiss Way

The Burkiss Way

The Burkiss Way was a BBC Radio 4 sketch comedy series broadcast from August 1976 to November 1980. It was written by Andrew Marshall and David Renwick, with additional material in early episodes by John Mason, Colin Bostock-Smith, Douglas Adams, John Lloyd and others. The show starred Denise...

). She also guest starred (as the voice of 'The Queen') in The Goodies

The Goodies (TV series)

The Goodies is a British television comedy series of the 1970s and early 1980s. The series, which combines surreal sketches and situation comedy, was broadcast by BBC 2 from 1970 until 1980 — and was then broadcast by the ITV company LWT for a year, between 1981 to 1982.The show was...

1980 episode "Goodies and Politics

Goodies and Politics

Goodies and Politics is an episode of the British comedy television series The Goodies — a BAFTA-nominated series for Best Light Entertainment Programme.This episode is also known as "Politics" and as "Timita"....

".

Bill Oddie

Bill Oddie

William "Bill" Edgar Oddie OBE is an English author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who became famous as one of The Goodies....

(also later became one of the three members of The Goodies

The Goodies

). He has written many books, and has been an important spokesman on wildlife and ecological issues since the 1980s. Bill Oddie wrote and performed a daft but well-crafted song in the middle of most ISIRTA programmes. He was co-writer (with Graeme Garden) of several episodes of the Doctor in the House

Doctor in the House (TV series)

television comedy series.

Humphrey Barclay

Humphrey Barclay

Humphrey Barclay is a comedy executive and producer.-Career:His first foray into show business was via Cambridge Footlights revues where he appeared alongside Tim Brooke-Taylor, Bill Oddie, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, David Hatch, Jonathan Lynn, Jo Kendall and Miriam Margolyes...

was the producer of ISIRTA until 1968; from April that year the task was shared by David Hatch

David Hatch

and Peter Titherage. In 1973 production was shared by David Hatch with John Cassels (for six episodes) and with Bob Oliver Rodgers (for two episodes).

Music for the links and songs was provided by Dave Lee and his band.

Influence

As well as obviously giving rise to The Goodies

The Goodies

, ISIRTA shows the roots of Monty Python

Monty Python

very clearly, with Cleese, Chapman and Eric Idle all regular script contributors. The show's creator Humphrey Barclay would also go on to create the TV show Do Not Adjust Your Set

Do Not Adjust Your Set

Do Not Adjust Your Set was a children's television series produced originally by Rediffusion, London, then by the fledgling Thames Television for British commercial television channel ITV from 26 December 1967 to 14 May 1969....

, featuring the rest of the Python team.

As with Round the Horne

Round the Horne

, the cast's adventures would sometimes be episodic with cliff-hanger endings each week as with The Curse of the Flying Wombat (3rd series), and Professor Prune And The Electric Time Trousers (6th series). Christmas specials normally included a spoof of a traditional pantomime

Pantomime

Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...

(or several combined). They had few qualms about the use of puns – old, strained or inventive – and included some jokes and catchphrases that would seem politically incorrect by the mid 1990s. Garden's impressions of the legendary rugby league commentator Eddie Waring

Eddie Waring

Edward Marsden "Eddie" Waring was a British rugby league football coach, commentator and television presenter....

and the popular Scottish TV presenter Fyfe Robertson

Fyfe Robertson

Fyfe Robertson was a Scottish television journalist.He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and christened James. He was one of six children of Jane Dunlop and James Robertson, a miner, who became a minister in the United Free Church of Scotland. He grew up in poverty but attended the High School of...

, Oddie's frequent send-ups of the game-show host Hughie Green

Hughie Green

Hughie Green was the host of numerous British television shows.-Early life:Hugh H. Green was born in London; his Scottish father was a former British Army Major who made his fortune supplying tinned fish to the Allied forces in World War I, while his mother Violet was the Surrey-born daughter of...

and Cleese's occasional but manic impressions of Patrick Moore

Patrick Moore

Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore, CBE, FRS, FRAS is a British amateur astronomer who has attained prominent status in astronomy as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter of the subject, and who is credited as having done more than any other person to raise the profile of...

(astronomer and broadcaster) built these people into eccentric celebrities in a way that the Mike Yarwood

Mike Yarwood

Mike Yarwood, OBE is an English impressionist and comedian. He was one of Britain's top-rated entertainers, regularly appearing on television from the mid 1960s to the early 1980s. He left Bredbury Secondary Modern School in 1956 and worked as a messenger and then salesman at a garment warehouse...

, Rory Bremner

Rory Bremner

Roderick "Rory" Keith Ogilvy Bremner, FKC is a Scottish impressionist, playwright and comedian, noted for his work in political satire...

, Spitting Image

Spitting Image

Spitting Image is a British satirical puppet show that aired on the ITV network from 1984 to 1996. It was produced by Spitting Image Productions for Central Television. The series was nominated for 10 BAFTA Awards, winning one for editing in 1989....

and Dead Ringers

Dead Ringers (comedy)

Dead Ringers is a UK radio and television comedy impressions broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and later BBC Two. The programme was devised by producer Bill Dare and developed with Jon Holmes, Andy Hurst and Simon Blackwell. It starred Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Phil Cornwell, Kevin Connelly and Mark Perry...

programmes would do for other TV presenters with similar disrespect years later.

The show ended with an unchanging sign-off song which Bill Oddie performed as "Angus Prune" and was referred to by the announcer as "The Angus Prune Tune". Spoof dramas were billed as Prune Playhouse and many parodies of commercial radio were badged as Radio Prune, but the name Angus Prune seemed as random and incidental as the name Monty Python, which appeared several years later.

Although earlier BBC radio shows such as Much Binding in the Marsh

Much Binding in the Marsh

Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh was the title of a comedy BBC radio and Radio Luxembourg show broadcast from 1944 to 1954, starring Kenneth Horne and Richard Murdoch as senior staff in a fictional RAF station battling red tape and wartime inconvenience...

, Take It From Here

Take It From Here

Take It From Here was a British radio comedy programme broadcast by the BBC between 1948 and 1960. It was written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, and starred Jimmy Edwards, Dick Bentley and Joy Nichols...

and Beyond Our Ken

Beyond Our Ken

Beyond Our Ken was a radio comedy programme, the predecessor to Round the Horne . Both programmes starred Kenneth Horne, Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden and Bill Pertwee, with announcer Douglas Smith. Musical accompaniment was provided by the BBC Revue Orchestra...

had conditioned listeners to a mix of music, sketches and jokes within a 30 minute show, and Round the Horne

Round the Horne

was also doing this, ISIRTA (as it was known to its friends) accelerated the transitions, and it certainly seemed more improvised. It was one of those programmes where you were unlikely to get all the jokes on first hearing so would have to listen to the scheduled repeat (or a tape recording) to discover what you had missed. It thus helped prepare the television audience for At Last the 1948 Show

At Last the 1948 Show

At Last the 1948 Show is a satirical TV show made by David Frost's company, Paradine Productions , in association with Rediffusion London...

, Spike Milligan

Spike Milligan

Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...

's Q

Q (TV series)

Q... was a surreal television comedy sketch show from Spike Milligan which ran from 1969 to 1982 on BBC2. There were six series in all, the first five numbered from Q5 to Q9, and a final series titled There's a Lot of It About...

series, Monty Python's Flying Circus

Monty Python's Flying Circus

Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...

and The Goodies

The Goodies (TV series)

. It also may have influenced other spoof-based British radio programmes such as Radio Active, On the Hour

On the Hour

On the Hour was a British radio programme that parodied current affairs broadcasting, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1991 and 1992.Written by Chris Morris, Armando Iannucci, Steven Wells, Andrew Glover, Stewart Lee, Richard Herring and David Quantick, it starred Morris as the overzealous and...

, The Sunday Format

The Sunday Format

The Sunday Format, "BBC Radio 4's first high-quality weekend broadsheet newspaper", is a British satirical radio comedy. The programme is a parody of British middle class newspapers, in particular the lifestyle supplements and glossy celebrity magazines that fill Sunday papers...

, and The News Huddlines

The News Huddlines

The News Huddlines was a long-running BBC Radio 2 topical comedy sketch show starring Roy Hudd that ran for fifty one series from 1975 until 2001. Each episode lasted for half an hour and consisted of topical sketches, songs and one-liners.-Performers:...

.

Several cast members have since appeared in the radio comedy panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue

, which was originally a spinoff from ISIRTA but has outlived it by decades. Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden continue as regulars on the show as of 2011.

Episodes of ISIRTA have frequently been heard on BBC Radio 4 Extra (available on digital television, DAB digital radio and the web).

Listeners in Australia occasionally find ISIRTA in the 05:30am vintage comedy timeslot on ABC Radio National

Radio National

ABC Radio National is an Australia-wide non-commercial radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.Radio National broadcasts national programming in areas that include news and current affairs, the arts, social issues, science, drama and comedy...

(available on the web to overseas listeners)

Catchphrases

"I'm sorry, I'll read that again". A frequent interruption to mock news broadcasts on the show – the line often reads "Here is the news. I'm sorry, I'll read that again: Here are the news."
"Rhubarb tart
Rhubarb tart
Rhubarb tart is a tart filled with rhubarb.Mrs Beeton's recipe for rhubarb tart required half a pound of puff pastry, five large sticks of rhubarb and quarter of a pound of sugar with a little lemon juice and lemon zest to taste...

?" A delicacy much loved by all the cast members and often used as a bribe during sketches. David Hatch
David Hatch
Sir David Hatch was involved in production and management at BBC Radio, where he held many executive positions, including Head of Light Entertainment , Controller of BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4 and later Managing Director of BBC Radio.- Education :He attended St John's School, Leatherhead and...

famously leaves the University of the Air during a Julius Caesar spoof lecture after Bill Oddie
Bill Oddie
William "Bill" Edgar Oddie OBE is an English author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who became famous as one of The Goodies....

's flip remarks, only to be coaxed back with offers of rhubarb tart. It is also Angus Prune's favourite dish. In the Ali Baba sketch in the 3rd series, Cleese appears as Omar Khayyam
Omar Khayyám
Omar Khayyám was aPersian polymath: philosopher, mathematician, astronomer and poet. He also wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, mineralogy, music, climatology and theology....

; he remarks to Ali Baba, played by Brooke-Taylor, "Surely you've heard of the Rhubarb Tart of Omar Khayyam
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is the title that Edward FitzGerald gave to his translation of a selection of poems, originally written in Persian and of which there are about a thousand, attributed to Omar Khayyám , a Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer...

?"
The Tillingbourne Folk and Madrigal Society. A recurring parody of English a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...

folk music (madrigal
Madrigal (music)
A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a partsong, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six....

). The Society performs a range of songs from a medley of football chants through to the never-ending folk song "There was a Ship that put to Sea all in the Month of May". They also presented a version of "House of the Rising Sun", with Graeme Garden singing a fairly straight version of the song and the rest of the group providing highly-mannered interjections of "tiddly-pom", "whack-fol-riddle-me-o", and so on. Despite all this, it's clear that the cast are very capable singers.
"I'm the king rat!" Generally said very over-dramatically by John Cleese, on which the rest of the cast would reply, "Oh, no you're not!" This was later referenced in a Monty Python sketch at a "hospital for over-actors."
The Angus Prune Tune. Written and performed by Bill Oddie (often with considerable audience involvement), this was the sign-off song for the series. The full text runs as follows:

My name is Angus Prune

and I always listen to I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again

(You Don't!)

My name is Angus Prune

and I never miss I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again

(Get Away!)

I sit in my bath

And I have a good laugh

Cause the sig tune is named after me

(Tell us yer name!)

My name is Angus Prune

And this is my tune

It goes I-S-I-R-T-A

I'm Sorry I'll Read That AGAIN!
Beethoven's Fifth
Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1804–08. This symphony is one of the most popular and best-known compositions in all of classical music, and one of the most often played symphonies. It comprises four movements: an opening sonata, an andante, and a fast...

. The famous opening bars of this piece of music are constantly used in the series, usually in inappropriate settings; in fact, their first appearance was in the first sketch of the pilot programme in 1963, and during an Opportunity Knocks spoof in the 3rd series, Bill Oddie tries to tap-dance to them in what sound like hob-nailed boots. David Hatch once introduced the cast: "...with another of their sallies forth – (GRAMS: 'Da-da-da-dummmmm') – or Beethoven's Fifth –" On another occasion, the pre-show teaser was Beethoven, played by Brooke-Taylor, trying to get Bill Oddie, playing a very Jewish music publisher, to market the tune. After hearing the tune, Oddie says: "That's a load of old rubbish!" and then twists the melody to form the opening sig. The closing bars of the final movement of the symphony were used to introduce a 'promenade concert' which featured "There was a Ship that put to Sea all in the Month of May" – Hatch says solemnly in his best BBC voice: 'That was the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Wilhelm Furtwängler. Now, while they're getting up ...'.
"The Ferret Song". John Cleese
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...

has an obsession with ferrets throughout the show, including his famous performance of The Ferret Song. This song begins with the line "I've got a ferret sticking up my nose". The line is repeated, then: "How it got there I can't tell, but now it's there, it hurts like hell and, what is more, it radically affects my sense of smell" – and promptly gets even worse. The song was eventually included in The Fairly Incomplete And Rather Badly Illustrated Monty Python Song Book, accompanied by a picture of John with a Terry Jones
Terry Jones
Terence Graham Parry Jones is a Welsh comedian, screenwriter, actor, film director, children's author, popular historian, political commentator, and TV documentary host. He is best known as a member of the Monty Python comedy team....

-shaped ferret up his nose.
The Silly Roll Call
Roll Call
Roll Call is a newspaper published in Washington, D.C., United States, from Monday to Thursday when the United States Congress is in session and on Mondays only during recess. Roll Call reports news of legislative and political maneuverings on Capitol Hill, as well as political coverage of...

. During many of the longer adventures, the cast engage in the Silly Roll Call, where a series of words appropriate to their adventure are turned into people's names. The Jack The Ripper
Jack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...

story involves criminals such as "Mr and Mrs Ree ... and their son ... Robby Ree
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....

... and his cousin from the Far East, Ahmed Robby Ree; Mr and Mrs Nee, their Swedish son Lars Nee
Larceny
Larceny is a crime involving the wrongful acquisition of the personal property of another person. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of England into their own law. It has been abolished in England and Wales,...

.. and his sister Betty Lars Nee; and Mr and Mrs Sittingforimmoralpurposes...and their son...Solly Sittingforimmoralpurposes". In Jorrocks, the Hunt Ball features appearances by "Lord and Lady V'syouyeahyeahyeah and their daughter Sheila V'syouyeahyeahyeah
She Loves You
"She Loves You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney based on an idea by McCartney, originally recorded by The Beatles for release as a single in 1963. The single set and surpassed several records in the United Kingdom charts, and set a record in the United States by being one of the...

" as well as "Lord and Lady Umeeroffen and their son Duke Umerroffen" (Do you come here often?). Even the Ancient Greek world of Oedipus
Oedipus
Oedipus was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. He fulfilled a prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother, and thus brought disaster on his city and family...

is not sacred – Socrates
Socrates
Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...

appears with Knobblyknees, Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...

with Iripadose, Antigone
Antigone
In Greek mythology, Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, Oedipus' mother. The name may be taken to mean "unbending", coming from "anti-" and "-gon / -gony" , but has also been suggested to mean "opposed to motherhood", "in place of a mother", or "anti-generative", based from the root...

and Uncle-igone, and the treble of Aristophanes
Aristophanes
Aristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete...

, Hoiteetoitees and Afternoonteas (as well as a barrage of rotten fruit). The basic idea of the Silly Roll Call would later be revived in I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, sometimes abbreviated to ISIHAC or Clue, is a BBC radio comedy panel game broadcast since 11 April 1972 at the rate of one or two series each year , transmitted on BBC Radio 4, with occasional repeats on BBC Radio 4 Extra and the BBC's World Service...

, the final game of the show often being some variant of the "Late Arrivals (at a society ball)" where the same sort of 'silly names' would be announced by each of the players in turn.
The Gibbon
Gibbon
Gibbons are apes in the family Hylobatidae . The family is divided into four genera based on their diploid chromosome number: Hylobates , Hoolock , Nomascus , and Symphalangus . The extinct Bunopithecus sericus is a gibbon or gibbon-like ape which, until recently, was thought to be closely related...

. Whenever a generic animal is required for a sketch, the team always used a gibbon. This is often expanded to ludicrous lengths, such as a "Gibbon-Fanciers' Club". Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament...

's famous Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is a non-fiction history book written by English historian Edward Gibbon and published in six volumes. Volume I was published in 1776, and went through six printings. Volumes II and III were published in 1781; volumes IV, V, VI in 1788–89...

is rendered as "Decline and Fall of the Roman Gibbon, by Edward Empire". Later, during the The Goodies
The Goodies (TV series)
The Goodies is a British television comedy series of the 1970s and early 1980s. The series, which combines surreal sketches and situation comedy, was broadcast by BBC 2 from 1970 until 1980 — and was then broadcast by the ITV company LWT for a year, between 1981 to 1982.The show was...

' heyday in the 1970s, Brooke-Taylor, Garden and Oddie would have a Top Ten hit with the song "Funky Gibbon" which reached #4, which they sang live on Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...

, as well as the Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

show A Poke In The Eye (With A Sharp Stick)
A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick)
A Poke In The Eye is the title of the first show in what became the iconic Secret Policeman's Ball series of benefit shows for human rights organization Amnesty International...

, and during The Goodies' episode "The Goodies – Almost Live
The Goodies – Almost Live
The Goodies – Almost Live is an episode of the British comedy television series The Goodies — a BAFTA-nominated series for Best Light Entertainment Programme.This episode is also known as "The Goodies in Concert"....

". During another Goodies' episode "That Old Black Magic
That Old Black Magic (Goodies episode)
That Old Black Magic is an episode of the British comedy television series The Goodies — a BAFTA-nominated series for Best Light Entertainment Programme.This episode is also known as "Black Magic" and as "Which Witch is Which?....

", Graeme Garden acts like an ape to the accompaniment of the Bill Oddie song "Stuff The Gibbon" — and, in yet another Goodies' episode, "Radio Goodies" the small boat above their pirate radio submarine is called "The Saucy Gibbon". A track on Soft Machine
Soft Machine
Soft Machine were an English rock band from Canterbury, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene, and helped pioneer the progressive rock genre...

's "Six
Six (Soft Machine album)
Six is a 1973 instrumental album, originally released as a double LP by the British psychedelic, progressive rock and jazz/fusion band Soft Machine who were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene...

" album entitled "Stanley Stamp's Gibbon Album" is dedicated to Bill Oddie.
The Terrapin. One other animal that does appear occasionally is the terrapin
Terrapin
A terrapin is a turtle living in fresh or brackish water.Terrapin may also refer to:* Terrapin , a transport vehicle used for amphibious assault by the Allies during the Second World War...

. In one show, after a particularly macabre John Cleese monologue, Hatch sends him packing, whereupon the rest of the cast defect with Cleese and form Radio Terrapin in competition to Radio Prune. In another show, Bill performs "The Terrapin Song", and on yet another show, Hatch announces a terrapin joke, as follows: (Garden) Who was that Terrapin I saw you with last night? (Brooke-Taylor) That was no terrapin, that was our old school mistress – she tortoise (taught us) – a huge groan from the audience ....
Bill Oddie's accent. Having a Birmingham accent
Brummie
Brummie is a colloquial term for the inhabitants, accent and dialect of Birmingham, England, as well as being a general adjective used to denote a connection with the city, locally called Brum...

(although born in Rochdale, in what was then Lancashire, he grew up in Birmingham) made Oddie the butt of many jokes, as well as leading him naturally towards many roles in sketches where someone was required to speak incomprehensibly. He did get his own back in the Lawrence Of Arabia On Ice sketch, when he appeared as Nanook of the North, complete with a plethora of cod-Lancastrian patois ("ee bah goom", "black puddings", "ecky thump", etc.) Later this became the basis for an episode of The Goodies
The Goodies
The Goodies are a trio of British comedians who created, wrote, and starred in a surreal British television comedy series called The Goodies during the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketches and situation comedy.-Honours:All three Goodies now have OBEs...

where "Ecky Thump" was a secret Lancastrian martial art, the episode itself parodying the then-popular TV show "Kung Fu
Kung Fu (TV series)
Kung Fu is an American television series that starred David Carradine. It was created by Ed Spielman, directed and produced by Jerry Thorpe, and developed by Herman Miller, who was also a writer for, and co-producer of, the series...

".
The Old Jokes Home. The old jokes, of which there were many (see script below) were sometimes sent to the Old Jokes Home.
OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

. Characters often have OBE added to the end of their name. It is also added to places, objects and names, as well as an interruption, e.g. in the Angus Prune (OBE) song. The cast occasionally ask for one ("thank you ma'am, I'll take the OBE if it's offered") or decline one that's been offered ("no thanks, I'm trying to give them up"). On one occasion, Hatch introduced the team as "Tim Brooke-Taylor, O.B.E., John Cleese, O.B.E., Graeme Garden, O.B.E., David Hatch, O.B.E., Jo Kendall, O.B.E., and Bill Oddie, O.D.D.I.E..". On another occasion, in a send-up of the Honours List, Hatch announces that a particular person has been made an earl, and also has been awarded the OBE; he therefore becomes an earlobe.

(Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie have now actually been awarded the OBE).

Episode titles

The episode titles are unofficial and mostly come from the last sketch in each program, which was usually the longest sketch.

3:17 to Cleethorpes
Aladdin Dr. Zhivago
Ali Baba and the 38 Thieves
Alice in Wonderland
All Hands on Venus
Angus Prune Story
Angus Sotherby's Detective Agency
Audible Road Signs
Beau Legs
Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School
Britain for the British (Ireland)
Boadicea – The British Army
Bunny and Claude
Butler Dunnit
Camelot
Champion, the Wonder Mouse
A Christmas Carrot
Circus Life
Cleopatra and Caesar
The Colditz Story
The Curse of the Flying Wombat (a serial)
The Curse of the Workington Shillelagh
Dentisti
Dick Whittington and His Wonderful Hat
Doctor Clubfoot of the Antarctic
Doctor Why and the Thing
England in Medieval Times
A Fairy Story
First Pilot
The Ghost of McMuckle Manse
The Ghost of Objectionable Manor

Goldilocks (and Prince Valiant)

Greek Tragedy

Henry VIII

History of Radio

History of the British Army

History of the Cinema

Incompetence

The Inimitable Grimbling

Inventors

Interlude

Jack and the Beanstalk

Jack the Ripper

Jorrocks Memoirs of a Fox Hunting Man

Julius Caesar

Knights of the Round Table

Lady Godiva

Lawrence of Arabia On Ice

Liverpool the City

Long Range Weather Forecast

The Lone Stranger

Macbeth

Marriage Bureau

Moll Flounders

My Man, Grimbling

Nibble on the Bone

Operation Chocolate

Othello

People Are Out

Professor Prune And The Electric Time Trousers (a serial)

RAF Briefing

Radio Prune Awards

The Ramond Nostril Story

Review of the Pops

The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire

The Roaring Twenties

Robin Hood

Robinson Prunestone

Sir Prancelot

Son of the Bride of Frankenstein

Song of the South

The Source of the Nile

Star Trek

The Supernatural

Take Your Pixie

Tales of the Old West

The Taming of the Shrew

Teddy and Rupert Bear

The Telephone

Ten Thousand BC (The Dawn of Civilization)

Tim Brown's Schooldays

20,000 Leaks Under the Sea

The Unexplained

Universal Challenge

Voyages of Ulysses

The Vikings

Watergate

William Tell

William the Conqueror

World of Sport

Regular characters of the radio show

The Director General of the BBC

played by John Cleese. Continually sends memos to the ISIRTA team with the most ridiculous requests. One week, he decides that "Radio Prune" will become a music channel, a rival to Radio 1

BBC Radio 1

BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...

. His reason is "We at the BBC

BBC

may be very, very silly, but we can write letters". He is also constantly offended by the contents of the show.

American Continuity Man

is a parody of Hughie Green

Hughie Green

usually played by Oddie, although on one occasion in the 3rd series, he's voiced by Garden. His catchphrases include "Thank-you, Thank-you" and "Wasn't that just great?" Invariably, when he hands over to Kendall for details of the Prune Play of the Week, she refers to him by another personality's name – Simon (Dee), Jimmy (Young, or possibly Savile), David (Frost) or Eamonn (Andrews). On one occasion, after Kendall announces the title of the Prune Play of the Week Jorrocks: The Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man (or a man-hunting fox....), by Stanley Stamps, author of Stanley Stamps' Gibbon catalogue, Bill/Hughie says to the audience, "So will you please put your hands together ... and pray ...."

Angus Prune

is a character adopted by Bill Oddie to sing the playoff.

Grimbling

Voiced by Bill Oddie, Grimbling is a "dirty old man" who often appears as a groundsman, butler or some similar profession. Due to the limitations of an audio-only medium, the true nature of Grimbling is never revealed, however he is greeted with universal revulsion by all bar the audience. He memorably introduces himself in the 25th Anniversary Episode "I am Grimbling, but don't worry, I'll clean it up later." In the same episode, Cleese asks him "Aren't you a little past it, old man?", only to have Grimbling respond, "No, I'm a little dirty old man". And in the Robin Hood sketch in the 3rd series, Grimbling is in the employ of the Sheriff of Nottingham (Garden), who tells him, 'You have done well, Grimbling; take this tennis racquet for your services.'

Lady Constance de Coverlet

is a ridiculous female character played by Tim Brooke-Taylor

Tim Brooke-Taylor

. Lady Constance is usually introduced by a statement along the lines of "what is that coming towards us? – It's huge – It's a rhinoceros!" – "No, it's me!!!" Her size is legendary; in the Henry VIII sketch, Katharine of Aragon and Lady Constance (masquerading as Anne of Cleavage) fight a duel to decide who is to be Queen. Brooke-Taylor introduces her in the style of a boxing MC: "..and in the blue corner, at 15 hundredweight, your own, your very own – and there's enough to go round – twice -..." In the Dentisti sketch, a parody on the 1960s TV series Daktari

Daktari

Daktari is an American children's drama series that aired on CBS between 1966 and 1969. The series, an Ivan Tors Films Production in association with MGM Television, stars Marshall Thompson as Dr. Marsh Tracy, a veterinarian at the fictional Wameru Study Centre for Animal Behaviour in East...

, Lady Constance plays (appropriately) an elephant; and in Jack The Ripper, Lady Constance is invited to "please, sit down anywhere ... or in your case, everywhere". In the Radio Prune Greek Tragedy sketch, she plays the mother of Oedipus Rex – according to the Oracle, she was hoping for a dog – and she tells Oedipus "Now let me get on with my housework, I've got a little behind .." (pause for the double-entendre to register) ".. oh all right, I've got a colossal behind!!" In the Colditz sketch, the lads' escape route is through the plug hole of her bath, and Bill Oddie exclaims "She's like a ruddy great iceberg: one eighth above the water, 76 eighths below!". She also in her own way is a bit of a nymphomaniac

Hypersexuality

Hypersexuality is extremely frequent or suddenly increased sexual urges or sexual activity. Hypersexuality is typically associated with lowered sexual inhibitions. Although hypersexuality can be caused by some medical conditions or medications, in most cases the cause is unknown...

– she's described in the 25th Anniversary show version of Jack The Ripper as a steaming volcano of eroticism – and there are frequent references to unfulfilled sexual desire: in the 3.17 to Cleethorpes sketch, she and the other players in the drama are adrift on a raft in the ocean; Lady Constance offers to take all her clothes off and use them for a sail, and when Hatch says, "Yes, and then what?", Lady Constance replies, "Well, that's rather up to you ...."

Mr Arnold Totteridge

Another famous recurring character, Arnold Totteridge (played by Garden) is a doddering old man who gets lost in the middle of his sentences. He invariably begins with: "How do you do, do you do, do you do...do you?" and after rambling incoherently for a few minutes returns to where he started. His most famous moment is in the 25th Anniversary Episode, where he has been appointed "The Dynamic new-de-oo-do-de-oo-do-de-oo Head of Radio-do-do-de-do Comedy"

John and Mary

John Cleese and Jo Kendall frequently performed poignant – almost romantic – dialogues as the respectable but dysfunctional couple "John and Mary", a forerunner of the relationship between Basil and Sybil later televised in Fawlty Towers

Fawlty Towers

. They bear a passing resemblance to Fiona and Charles of Round the Horne

Round the Horne

Masher Wilkins

A kind-hearted simpleton (played by John Cleese) who often appears as an unlikely villain or henchman. He is prone to malapropisms: "I've been trailing you through this impenetrable ferret-- I mean 'forest'" - but these are often the intro to clever running jokes. For instance in this case the line continues: "Oh no, not ferret, I mean stoat". "Stoat?" "Yes, 'stoatally impenetrable". In one show, the topic on The Money Programme is fiscal policy and other matters monetary, and Masher asks some very abstruse questions about the Bank of England and its role in the economy. His last question, however is: 'An' wot's the combination o' de safe: oooh wot a giveaway!!'

Prune Plays

Writers and cast in order of appearance:
Robin Hood

Written by Graeme Garden and John Cleese

Story narration – sung by David Hatch

'Curtain' – Tim Brooke-Taylor

Maid Marion – Jo Kendall

Friar Tuck – Bill Oddie

Robin Hood – Tim Brooke-Taylor

Alan 'a Gabriel – Graeme Garden

Will Scarlet – David Hatch

Little John – John Cleese

Sir Angus of the Prune – John Cleese

Grimbling (the Bailiff) – Bill Oddie

Sheriff of Nottingham – Graeme Garden

Master of Ceremonies for the 'Archery Competition' – John Cleese

Deputy Sheriff – Graeme Garden

The Curse of the Flying Wombat

Written by Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie

'King Lear' – John Cleese

Tim Brown-Windsor – Tim Brooke-Taylor

Mr. Hatch – David Hatch

Lady Fiona Rabbit-Vacuum (Jim-Lad) – Jo Kendall

Captain Cleese – John Cleese

'Lookout' – Bill Oddie

Casey O'Sullivan – Bill Oddie

Masher Wilkins – John Cleese

Maisie Robinson (the International Temptress) – Jo Kendall

Grimbling (Butler to Tim's Aunt) – Bill Oddie

Lady Constance de Coverlet – Tim Brooke-Taylor

"Hurricane" Flossie (Lady Constance's identical twin sister) – Tim Brooke-Taylor

Slave-girl trader – Bill Oddie

Colonel Clutch-Featheringhaugh – David Hatch

Nosebone (the Great White Hunter) – Bill Oddie

Wong (the Supply-keeper) – Tim Brooke-Taylor

Wong Tu (his brother) – John Cleese

'Armand' – Bill Oddie

Sample script

Transcript of "Murder on the 3.17 to Cleethorpes" (Series 8, Episode 6, March 1970).

'Cliff Hanger-Ending' of the British secret service has been asked to take secret documents to Cleethorpes
Cleethorpes
Cleethorpes is a town and unparished area in North East Lincolnshire, England, situated on the estuary of the Humber. It has a population of 31,853 and is a seaside resort.- History :...

. He arrives at the station.
Cliff Hanger-Ending (Hatch): I decided to go by that famous train, the 3.17 to Cleethorpes. Whenever its name was mentioned, men whispered of danger and excitement.
Crowd: danger and excitement, danger and excitement etc.
Cliff Hanger-Ending: I went to the ticket office and tapped on the shutter
Tap Tap Tap
Ticket office operator (Oddie): G'morning sir, can I help you?
Cliff Hanger-Ending: Yes
Ticket office operator: Wrong, Ha-
Shutter slams shut
Knocks again
Cliff Hanger-Ending: Look here, I want a return ticket
Ticket office operator: Where to?
Cliff Hanger-Ending: Back here, of course
Ticket office operator: Congratulations, sir, you're the one millionth passenger to have cracked that joke, you can have the ticket free.
Cliff Hanger-Ending: Thank you very much. I'm going to Cleethorpes
Ticket office operator: Well, in that case, your train will be the 3.17 to Cleethorpes.
Crowd: danger and excitement, danger and excitement etc.
Cliff Hanger-Ending: And what time does it arrive?
Ticket office operator: Well it gets in at exactly, on the dot, precisely, 7.59 and 3.8 seconds. Give or take a couple of weeks.
Cliff Hanger-Ending: Is there a buffet car
Buffet car
A buffet car is a passenger car of a train, where snacks and beverages can be bought at a counter and consumed. Typically, passengers are not allowed to consume brought-along food and drinks in the car, and are therefore only able to eat in this area by buying their food in the car.- Further...

on the train?
Ticket office operator: Oh, Yes sir, Yes sir, Yes sir. British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...

guarantee that there is definitely and certainly a buffet car on the train. On the train there is bound to be, without a shadow of a doubt, positively and without fail, unquestionably and absolutely, a buffet car... I should take sandwiches just in case.
Cliff Hanger-Ending: And what platform does it leave from?
Ticket office operator: Get lost
Cliff Hanger-Ending: Now look here my little man, you have been consistently surly, unhelpful, obstreperous and downright rude.
Ticket office operator: Well that's what I’m here for, just doing my job.
Interjection: Oh, is that it?
Cliff Hanger-Ending: Well, I'd better get a porter
Porter (railroad)
A porter is a railway employee assigned to assist passengers aboard a passenger train or to handle their baggage; it may be used particularly to refer to employees assigned to assisting passengers in the sleeping cars....

to help me. I say, Porter!
Porter (Brooke-Taylor): And I say potato.
Cliff Hanger-Ending: I say, you there
Porter: And I say potato.
Cliff Hanger-Ending (Angry): Porter!
Porter: Potato!
Cliff Hanger-Ending: You there!
Porter: Potato!
Cliff Hanger-Ending and Porter (singing): Let's call the whole thing off!
Cliff Hanger-Ending: Now look, that's just silly. Are you a porter?
Porter: Yes, guv, I am guv, thank you guv, thank you very much, guv.
Cliff Hanger-Ending: Well, carry my suitcase to the 3.17 to Cleethorpes.
Porter: You must be joking, guv'nor, cheerio, I'm off.
Cliff Hanger-Ending: Oh dear, only two minutes to go and I still don't know where to get on the 3.17 to Cleethorpes.
Crowd: danger and excitement, danger and excitement etc.
Tannoy
Tannoy
Tannoy Ltd is a Scottish-based manufacturer of loudspeakers and public-address systems. The company was founded in London, England as Tulsemere Manufacturing Company in 1926, but has been based in Coatbridge, Scotland, since the 1970s...

(Kendall): The next train to arrive at platform two will be Stephenson's Rocket
Stephenson's Rocket
Stephenson's Rocket was an early steam locomotive of 0-2-2 wheel arrangement, built in Newcastle Upon Tyne at the Forth Street Works of Robert Stephenson and Company in 1829.- Design innovations :...

. We apologise for the delay to the surviving passengers. Also delayed is the 2.25 to Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...

. It will be leaving at 2.26, tomorrow. Or the day after. Perhaps not at all. It just depends how we feel, and don't you forget it.
Cliff Hanger-Ending: Well, perhaps they'll have some information about my train.
Tannoy: Not if we can help it. Here is an important announcement. The 2.50 to the West Country
West Country
The West Country is an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region. It is often defined to encompass the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset and the City of Bristol, while the counties of...

will not now be stopping at Land's End
Land's End
Land's End is a headland and small settlement in west Cornwall, England, within the United Kingdom. It is located on the Penwith peninsula approximately eight miles west-southwest of Penzance....

(note: Land's End is the most westerly point in Cornwall). The train standing at platform 5 is the 2.31 to Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

. Passengers will have to change at Crewe
Crewe
Crewe is a railway town within the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the urban area had a population of 67,683...

as the seats are extremely dirty. And now, British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...

wish to announce the following important joke. The train now standing at platforms 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 has come in sideways.
Interjection: That is a very, very old joke.
Tannoy: We apologise for the late arrival of the last joke.
Cliff Hanger-Ending: And soon, at last, I was soon aboard the 3.17 to Cleethorpes (Danger&Excitement), carrying those important secret documents.
Interjection: Oh, come on! Everyone's forgotten about the plot by now. You've spent so much time on cheap jokes at the expense of British Rail.
Tannoy: British Rail apologise for the delay in the development of the plot.

Train leaves

External links

I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again — British Comedy website
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again — Trash Fiction website
Global British Comedy Collective — episode guides for ISIRTA and other radio comedy
Detailed information on I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again — mentioned on the article "The History of the BBC" at the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

website
Detailed information on I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
Detailed information on I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
Detailed information on I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again on the Pre-Python Series page of the Origin of Monty Python website

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.