Do Not Adjust Your Set

Synopsis

A madcap sketch show with a cult following, DO NOT... was a huge influence on television comedy. Written by and starring Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Eric Idle, with performances and additional material by David Jason and Denise Coffey, it also provided a showcase for Terry Gilliam’s animations and the musical antics of art-school jazz-anarchists The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.
 
This collection brings together all the existing shows from the Rediffusion and Thames series for the first time. Among the five episodes entirely new to DVD, two were previously thought lost entirely.
Special features:
-Putting Strange Things Together (2019, 33 mins); Michael Palin recalls his early TV days, including Do Not Adjust Your Set
-We Just Want You to Invent the Show (2019, 34 mins): Humphrey Barclay on his comedy career from Footlights to Rediffusion
-The Uninvited Guest Star (2019, 5 mins): Tim Brooke-Taylor on his Do Not Adjust Your Set appearance
-The Funniest Thing on English Television (2019, 7 mins): John Cleese reflects on the show’s impact
- Bonzos on the Box (2019, 60 mins): new feature-length documentary on The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band featuring Neil Innes, Rodney Slater, Roger Ruskin-Spear and ‘Legs’ Larry Smith
-The Christmas Card (1968, 3 mins); Beware of the Elephants (1968, 3 mins); Learning to Live With an Elephant (1968, 4 mins): animations by Terry Gilliam, newly scanned from his own 35mm film masters
-Lost Listens (1969, audio): rare sound-only excerpts from missing Thames episodes
-The Humphrey Barclay Scrapbook: photos, cuttings and drawings from the legendary producer’s personal archive
-Illustrated booklet with an introduction by Michael Palin, an exclusive interview with David Jason, new contributions from Humphrey Barclay, Neil Innes, ‘Legs’ Larry Smith and Kaleidoscope’s Chris Perry, plus essay and episode guide by the BFI’s Vic Pratt, comedy context by the BFI’s Dick Fiddy and musical notes by The Doo-Dah Diaries’ David Christie.

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Year of production

1967-1969

Subjects

Television studies

Keywords

archive television; comedy

Distribution Formats

Type

DVD

Format

Region 2 PAL

Price

£29.99

Availability

Sale

Duration/Size

361 minutes

Year

2019

Distributor

Name

BFI Distribution

Email

bookings.films@bfi.org.uk

Web

http://www.bfi.org.uk/distribution External site opens in new window

Phone

020 7957 8938/8935

Address

21 Stephen Street
London
W1P 2LN

Notes

The British Film Institute is a specialist non-theatric rental distributor of international fiction and documentary films on 16mm and 35mm film, as well as VHS and DVD video. The holdings are so vast that only those titles available on DVD and HD Digital are listed in full on the website, so it is worth enquiring about specific titles that might only be available for hire in other formats. The BFI has partnered with on-line platforms such as lovefilm and blinkbox to deliver a selection of films to buy or rent in digital format, and others are streamed free of charge on the BFI’s YouTube channel or as dowloadable clips on the Creative Archive section of the BFI’s own website.

 

Available from retail outlets