5 essential extras on our At Last the 1948 Show boxset

With fragments of recovered footage restored, and with some shows painstakingly reassembled using the original scripts and rare audio recordings as reference, both original series of At Last the 1948 Show are now proudly gathered together as completely as possible in the correct chronological order for the very first time. And if that wasn’t enough, our upcoming DVD Collector’s Edition box set includes a whole host of exciting extras.

Here’s our top five special features to look out for:

Key writers and stars of the show John Cleese and Tim Brooke-Taylor reflect at length on their comedy influences, their early days on stage and television, how they approached writing At Last the 1948 Show, the people who worked on it with them, and the innovative path they paved towards Monty Python, The Goodies and beyond, in these in-depth new interviews. Also included: John Cleese in Conversation – full length footage of an on-stage event from 2006. 

BFI alumnus Steve Bryant – who spent long years tracking down much of the material on this set – was the host of this special event, audio recorded at BFI Southbank in 2000, which explored the process of putting the show back together and featured Aimi MacDonald, Tim Brooke-Taylor and a cast of hundreds.  

The much-missed comedy legend Marty Feldman shot to fame thanks to At Last the 1948 Show – despite its producers’ initial reservations about putting him in front of the cameras. He’s engrossing and engaging, candid and uncut, in a rare, late 1960s interview, included here.

All-new content including Not Quite 500 Words by Tim Brooke-Taylor, an episode by episode guide by Steve Bryant with detailed essays on the show and its restoration, historical notes by audio expert Ray Frensham and writing by comedy historian Dick Fiddy.  

A hens-teeth rarity to delight the most jaded collector’s palate: an audio recording of the 1948 Show team’s uproarious but archivally-absent ‘missing believed wiped’ 1967 appearance on the BBC chat show Dee Time.