In March 2014, it was announced that Comedy Playhouse would make a return that year with three new episodes.[2] Two further series each comprising three episodes were broadcast in 2016 and 2017 respectively.[3][4]
The first eight series were made in black and white, with the rest from Up Pompeii! onwards being in colour. Like many television programmes from the time, many of 1960s & 1970s episodes are lost. As a result, 95 episodes are currently missing from the archives, although audio recordings from the soundtracks of 15 missing episodes have been recovered, short extracts survive from Till Death Us Do Part and Thank You Sir, Thank You Madam, and a further episode The Melting Pot survives as a U-Matic video copy.[6]
In Australia the series was broadcast on ABC Television in the early 1960s-late 1970s.
Commercial Release
The series itself hasn't been released on home media, although some of the surviving episodes have been repeated on television or included on DVD boxsets as pilot episodes to their respective series. These include Steptoe and Son(The Offer), Meet The Wife (The Bed), All Gas and Gaiters (The Bishop Rides Again), Up Pompeii!, Are You Being Served?, Last of the Summer Wine (Of Funerals and Fish) and Happy Ever After. Clips from the series were also featured in the documentary Comedy Playhouse: Where It All Began, which was broadcast on BBC1 on 29 April 2014,[7] which featured interviews with actors and writers who participated in the series, including Ray Galton, Alan Simpson, June Whitfield, Bernard Cribbins and Keith Barron.[8]
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. All episodes from this series were wiped soon after transmission and are currently missing from the archives.[66] The episodes are as follows:
Galton and Simpson Comedy - a six part anthology series of stories written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, produced by London Weekend Television, that aired on the ITV network in 1969
The Comedy Game - an Australian sitcom anthology series that aired on ABC between 1971 and 1973.
Seven of One - a seven part anthology series featuring sitcom pilots starring Ronnie Barker that aired on BBC2 in 1973.
Cilla's Comedy Six - an anthology series of comedic stories starring Cilla Black, produced by ATV, that aired on the ITV network between 1975 and 1976.[67]
The Sound of Laughter - a six part of anthology series of sitcom pilots produced by ATV, that aired on the ITV network in 1977.
The Galton and Simpson Playhouse - a seven part anthology series of sitcom pilots written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, produced by Yorkshire Television, that aired on the ITV network in 1977.
^A Clerical Error was remade for The Galton & Simpson Radio Playhouse and broadcast on 12 January 1999 on BBC Radio 4 and starred Keith Barron as Bullrush and June Whitfield as Rita.
^A domestic audio recording exists of the soundtrack, but the programme itself is missing.
^The pilot episode for the series of the same name, which ran for one series in 1965.
^The pilot episode of Meet the Wife, which ran for five series between 1963-6.
^Franklin was replaced by Dandy Nichols in the TV series
^The pilot episode for the series of the same name, which ran for seven series between 1966-75.
^A short two minute excerpt exists, the complete program is still missing.
^The pilot episode for the series of the same name, which ran for three series between 1965-74.
^The pilot episode of All Gas and Gaiters, which ran for five series between 1967-71.
^The pilot episode for the series of the same name, which ran for three series between 1967-8.
^The pilot episode for the series of the same name, which ran for one series in 1967.
^A domestic audio recording exists of the soundtrack, but the programme itself is missing.
^The pilot episode of The Whitehall Worrier, which ran for one series in 1967.
^The pilot episode for the series of the same name, which ran for one series in 1967.
^The pilot episode for the series of the same name, which ran for ten series between 1969-79 and a further series in 1996.
^A domestic audio recording exists of the soundtrack, but the programme itself is missing.
^The pilot episode for the series of the same name, which ran for one series in 1970.
^A domestic audio recording exists of the soundtrack, but the programme itself is missing.
^The last edition to be produced in black and white.
^A domestic audio recording exists of the soundtrack, but the programme itself is missing.
^The pilot episode for the series of the same name, which ran for two series between 1970-1 and two further specials in 1975 and 1991.
^The first edition to be produced in colour, although it was originally broadcast in black and white, as BBC1 didn't start colour transmissions until 15 November 1969.
^The first episode to broadcast in colour following the launch of colour transmissions on BBC1.
^A domestic audio recording exists of the soundtrack, but the programme itself is missing.
^A domestic audio recording exists of the soundtrack, but the programme itself is missing.
^A domestic audio recording exists of the soundtrack, but the programme itself is missing.
