Comedy Playhouse


Comedy Playhouse is a long-running British anthology series of one-off unrelated sitcoms that aired for 120 episodes from 1961 to 1975. Many episodes later graduated to their own series, including Steptoe and Son, Meet the Wife, Till Death Us Do Part, All Gas and Gaiters, Up Pompeii!, Not in Front of the Children, Me Mammy, That's Your Funeral, The Liver Birds, Are You Being Served? and Last of the Summer Wine, which is the world's longest running sitcom, having run from January 1973 to August 2010.
In March 2014, it was announced that Comedy Playhouse would make a return that year with three new episodes.

Background

The series began in 1961 at the prompting of Tom Sloan, Head of BBC Light Entertainment at the time. Galton and Simpson were no longer writing for Tony Hancock and Sloan asked them to write ten one-offs with the hope that one might become established as a series. Thus, the first two series of Comedy Playhouse were written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, but after that the episodes were written by various writers. In all, 27 series started from a pilot in the Comedy Playhouse. The first eight series were in black-and-white, with the rest being in colour. Like many television programmes from the time, many of 1960s episodes are missing presumed wiped. In Australia the series was broadcast on ABC Television in the early 1960s-late 1970s.

Episodes

Series One (1961–1962)

The pilot episode of Steptoe and Son was broadcast as an episode.

Series Two (1963)

Series Three (1963–1964)

The pilot episodes of The Walrus and the Carpenter and Meet the Wife were broadcast as episodes.

Series Four (1965)

Barnaby Spoot and the Exploding Whoopee Cushion starring John Bird, John Le Mesurier and Ronald Lacey
Mother Came Two starring Peggy Mount and Graham Stark
Here I Come Whoever I Am starring Bernard Cribbins and Helen Fraser.
This sitcom with the same characters was featured in the Lust segment of the 1971 film The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins.
Happy Family starring Ted Ray, Daphne Anderson and Judy Geeson
Memoirs of a Chaise Longue starring John Le Mesurier, Betty Marsden and Fenella Fielding
Murray and Me starring Chic Murray
Hudd starring Roy Hudd
Till Death Us Do Part
The Time and the Motion Man starring Leslie Phillips
Sam the Samaritan starring Wilfrid Brambell, John Junkin and Roy Kinnear
The Vital Spark
Betsy Mae starring Hermione Gingold and Nicholas Phipps

Series Five (1966)

The Bishop Rides Again starring Robertson Hare, William Mervyn, Derek Nimmo and John Barron.
This was the pilot episode of the BBC series, All Gas and Gaiters
Beggar My Neighbour
A Little Learning starring Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge
Judgement Day for Elijah Jones starring Clive Dunn and Bernard Cribbins
Room at the Bottom starring Kenneth Connor, Deryck Guyler, Francis Matthews and Brian Wilde. This was the pilot episode of the BBC series of the same name.
The End of the Tunnel starring George Cole and Lynn Redgrave
Seven Year Hitch starring Harry H. Corbett and Joan Sims
The Mallard Imaginaire starring Robert Coote, Moira Lister and Daphne Anderson. This was the pilot episode of the BBC series, The Whitehall Worrier.
The Reluctant Romeo

Series Six (1967)

Hughie starring Hugh Lloyd and Patrick Cargill
House in a Tree starring Wendy Craig and Paul Daneman. This was the pilot episode for the BBC series Not in Front of the Children.
Spanner in the Works starring Jimmy Jewel, Norman Rossington and Julian Holloway
Heirs on a Shoestring starring Jimmy Edwards and Clive Dunn
Uncle Fred Flits By starring Wilfrid Hyde-White and Ballard Berkeley
Loitering with Intent starring Daphne Anderson, David Tomlinson and Rudolph Walker
To Lucifer: A Son starring John Le Mesurier, Jimmy Tarbuck and Pat Coombs
The Old Campaigner starring Terry-Thomas and Derek Fowlds

Series Seven (1968)

State of the Union starring Les Dawson, Patsy Rowlands, Michael Robbins and Melvyn Hayes
View by Appointment starring Beryl Reid, Hugh Paddick, Derek Fowlds and Pauline Collins. This was the pilot episode for the BBC series, Wink to Me Only.
The Family of Fred starring Freddie Frinton and Jean Kent. This was the pilot episode for the BBC series, Thicker Than Water.
Stiff Upper Lip starring Richard Vernon, Michael Bates and Bernard Bresslaw
Wild, Wild Women
Current Affairs starring Harold Goodwin and Robert Dorning
B-And-B
Me Mammy
The Gold Watch Club starring Dennis Price, Peter Bayliss and Bob Todd

Series Eight (1969)

The Liver Birds
The Valley Express starring Nerys Hughes and Graeme Garden
Tooth and Claw starring Warren Mitchell and Marty Feldman
As Good Cooks Go
The Loves of Larch Hill starring Robert Dorning and Gillian Blake
The Making of Peregrine starring Dick Emery, Pat Coombs and Andrew Ray
Up Pompeii!

Series Nine (1969–70)

Series Ten (1970)

Keep 'Em Rolling starring Derek Nimmo
Better Than a Man starring Sheila Hancock and Leslie Sands
Last Tribute starring Bill Fraser and Raymond Huntley, the pilot episode of That's Your Funeral
Haven of Rest starring Ballard Berkeley, Deryck Guyler and John Le Mesurier
Mind Your Own Business starring Norman Bird, Hilda Fenemore and Derek Griffiths
The Old Contemptible starring Arthur English and Gretchen Franklin
Don't Ring Us...We'll Ring You starring John Junkin, Norman Rossington and Colin Welland
Meter Maids starring Pat Coombs, Joan Sanderson and Barbara Windsor

Series Eleven (1971)

Just Harry and Me starring Sheila Hancock, Donald Houston and Lynne Frederick.
This was the pilot episode. The series was broadcast in two sections, the first of six episodes, then a break, followed by another seven episodes. 26 scripts were short-listed and this was pared down to 13.
Uncle Tulip starring Geoffrey Lumsden and Renu Setna
It's Awfully Bad For Your Eyes, Darling
The Rough with the Smooth written by and starring Tim Brooke-Taylor and John Junkin
Equal Partners starring Nicky Henson and Angela Scoular
The Importance of Being Hairy starring John Cater and James Copeland

Series Twelve (1972)

The first episode of Are You Being Served? was broadcast as an episode.

Series Thirteen (1973)

Of Funerals and Fish. The pilot episode of the World's longest-running sitcom, Last of the Summer Wine.
The Rescue starring Moyra Fraser, Peter Jones and Nicholas Parsons.
Elementary, My Dear Watson: The Strange Case of the Dead Solicitors starring John Cleese, Willie Rushton and Bill Maynard.
The Birthday starring Gordon Peters, Frank Thornton and Bill Pertwee.
Marry the Girls starring John Le Mesurier, Barbara Murray and Sally Thomsett.
Home from Home starring Carmel McSharry, Michael Robbins, Yootha Joyce and Tony Selby.
Bill Collins may not have been the greatest husband of all time but when his wife moves into a bed-sitter and becomes a traffic warden - intent on making him her most frequent victim - things have gone too far.

Series Fourteen (1974)

No Strings starring Keith Barron and Rita Tushingham.
Derek advertises for a flatmate. When Leonora arrives his tidy bachelor domain is soon disrupted by a feminine touch.
Franklyn and Johnnie starring Geoffrey Bayldon, Ronnie Barker and Richard Hurndall.
Franklyn and Johnnie have been enemies for 40 years. Could it be that the death of their one mutual friend might heal the breach?
Howerd's History of England starring Frankie Howerd
Happy Ever After
The Dobson Doughnut starring Milo O'Shea and Jo Kendall
The Big Job starring Prunella Scales, Peter Jones and Alfred Marks.
'Half a million in used notes'-Eddie's perennial dream. But when he tries his hand at kidnapping, the results are disastrous.
It's Only Me: Whoever I Am starring David Jason, Patricia Hayes and Daphne Heard.
For a simple Rochdale lad not sure where his personal centre of gravity lies, perhaps being an actor is easier than trying to decide who he ought to be.
The Last Man on Earth starring Dandy Nichols and Ronald Fraser.
Sitting Pretty starring Nicky Henson and Una Stubbs
It's smashing being a sitting tenant; the landlord can't chuck you out, he can't put up the rent, and you don't have to pay the rates or do repairs.
Pygmalion Smith starring Leonard Rossiter and T.P. McKenna
A Girl's Best Friend starring Zena Walker and Reginald Marsh
The Reverend Wooing of Archibald starring Joan Benham, Julian Holloway, William Mervyn and Madeline Smith
French Relish starring Derek Nimmo

Series Fifteen (1975)

The Melting Pot starring Spike Milligan, John Bird, Peter Jones and Frank Carson
Only on Sunday starring Trevor Bannister and Peter Bowles
For Richer...For Poorer starring David Battley, Harry H. Corbett and Don Henderson
Captive Audience starring Derek Fowlds, Daphne Heard and Leslie Dwyer
Going, Going, Gone...Free? starring Pauline Yates, Geoffrey Palmer and Peter Duncan

Series Sixteen (2014)

The BBC aired six comedy pilots in 1970 in Scotland only under the title Scottish Comedy Playhouse, none of which developed onto a full series. While these were being aired, Monty Python's Flying Circus was broadcast in the rest of the UK. The episodes were
  1. Stand In For A Hearse
  2. The Siege of Castle Drumlie
  3. The Dinner Party
  4. To Grace A Son
  5. Stobo Takes The Chair
  6. Take Your Partners