episodes; episodes 1–4 pre-recorded as telerecordings, 5–13 live, broadcast 26 December 1958 – 27 March 1959 (skipping 27 February). Episodes 1, 3, 4, 11 and 12 exist as telerecordings. Episodes 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 exist as off-air audio recordings of variable quality. Episode 13 remains missing. This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. You can’t help seeing these writings as missing bits of a jigsaw,” Dee says. “Little lines in a letter, for instance, seem to have now revealed more about him as a person than was intended when they were written. I liked seeing the scripts with his notes in the margins and having glimpses into how he was reading a script and what he took from it.You were able to have a visceral sense of him from reading that material.” British Comedy Guide understands they have also been comprehensively restored from new transfers of the surviving film prints.

At times the scripts would reflect topical realities of British life, such as the reintroduction of petrol rationing from November 1956 to March 1957 (following the Suez Crisis) in 'The Stolen Petrol' and a strike by members of the trade union ASLEF (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen) from 28 May to 14 June 1955 which involved a railway strike in 'The Rail Strike'. The series was influential in the development of the situation comedy, with its move away from radio variety towards a focus on character development. Some episodes of the radio series and telerecordings of some episodes from the third and fourth television series were destroyed. No episodes are known to survive from the first series of the TV show. The surviving radio episodes, which often exist only in edited versions that have been cut for overseas sale to commercial radio stations, were released as CD box sets between 2000 and 2003 (see below).The 13th of the Month (remake of 'The 13th of the series', 13th of 4th series) The script was re-written so that the plot did not hinge on it being the 13th of a series as broadcast. These episodes are remakes for overseas sales, rewritten to remove any topical or UK-specific references. episodes, broadcast live, every 2 weeks, 1 April – 10 June 1957. "The Alpine Holiday" exists on a telerecording. The society said a documentary about finding the lost episode, called Raiders of the Lost Archive, will be broadcast on Radio 4 on 13 and 17 October. Oh yea, "We present the Merryweathers, an everyday story of Ben Merryweather" Good to see him come out on top for once.

The radio version was produced by Dennis Main Wilson for most of its run. After Main Wilson departed for his television career, his role was taken by Tom Ronald. The television series was produced by Duncan Wood. The distinctive tuba-based theme tune was composed by Angela Morley. Regular guest stars: Patricia Hayes (episodes 1, 2, 4 and 12); Warren Mitchell (episodes 3, 5, 8, 9 and 11); Hugh Morton (episodes 3, 5, 7, 10, 13); Wilfred Babbage (episodes 4, 6, 7, 10, 13); Looking through here and just remembered how much I like the Blood Donor too. Drinka Pinta Milka Day!.. always makes me laughs when he starts singing coughs and sneezes spreads diseases, also finding the guy in the bed next to him is so similar to him and they end up saying quotes to eachother, and being told that blood is the same world over by the nurse - "I did not come here for a lecture on communism, young lady!" ... Really going to have to put that one on again sometime, not seen it in ages. The TV show remained faithful to the radio series, although only Sid James was retained from the cast. regular episodes and one 43 minute Christmas special, [9] [10] broadcast live, 30 September – 23 December 1957. Episodes 5, 9, 10, 11 and 12 exist on telerecordings.

The regular cast members generally played "themselves", in that the characters were called by the actor's real name (although the English actress Andrée Melly – sister of George– played a French character). However, there were exceptions: The cast is completed by Callum Hale as Bill Kerr; Alice Osmanski as Andrée Melly; Colin Elmer as Kenneth Williams; and Clive Greenwood as the BBC continuity announcer. episodes, pre-recorded on videotape, broadcast 19 February – 6 May 1960. The entire series exists as telerecordings. A trailer made for Australian transmission of this series also exists.