I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
Created | Updated May 12, 2002
A comedy radio programme broadcast on the BBC Home Service from 1964 starring Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, Graeme Garden, David Hatch, Jo Kendall and Bill Oddie with a mixture of jokes, comic songs, skits and unlikely adventures, some episodic. After the fourth series, shows were broadcast on Radio 4, a new name for the Home Service.
Following in the BBC comedy tradition established by It's That Man Again, Much Binding in the Marsh, Take it from Here, Beyond our Ken and Round the Horne, this light entertainment show, often abbreviated to ISIRTA, attracted a cult following and prepared the way for more famous television shows such as Do Not Adjust Your Set, Broaden Your Mind, The Goodies, At Last the 1948 Show and Monty Python's Flying Circus, some of which brought cast members to an international audience. The performers had no qualms about using puns old, strained or inventive throughout the programmes and relied on some catchphrases that brought unprecedented response from the studio audience. Some of these catchphrases would seem politically incorrect by the 1980's. Particularly memorable are impressions of Eddie Waring, a sports commentator, by Garden, and impressions of astronomer and broadcaster Patrick Moore, by Cleese. In exaggerating their vocal mannerisms they made both into minor celebrities in a way later followed by Mike Yarwood, Spitting Image (a puppet show) and Dead Ringers. Timeless dialogues by Cleese and Kendall as the couple "John and Mary", the serial "The Curse of the Flying Wombat", and early parodies of local and commercial radio (new features of the UK broadcasting scene) as "Radio Prune" were other highlights of the programme.
Later BBC radio programmes in this high-tempo tradition include Hello Cheeky, Radio Active and On the Hour. Brooke-Taylor, Garden and Oddie sometimes appear on the radio panel game "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue" whose title relates to its more heavily scripted and anarchic predecessor. In terms of scripted radio comedy, "The News Huddlines" on BBC Radio 2 probably comes closest to the spirit of ISIRTA today, blending silly voices, comic songs and sharp topical satire.
Broadcast schedule of "I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again"
Producers Series (programmes) Date first broadcast
Humphrey Barclay Preparatory (3) 3 April 1964
" " 1st (9) 4 October 1965
" " 2nd (13) 14 March 1966
" " 3rd (14) 3 October 1966
" " 4th (14) 23 March 1967
David Hatch and 5th (13) 14 April 1968
Peter Titheradge Special (1) 26 December 1968
" " 6th (13) 12 January 1969
" " Special (1) 25 December 1969
" " 7th (13) 15 February 1970
" " Special (1) 31 December 1970
" " 8th (8) 4 November 1973
Following in the BBC comedy tradition established by It's That Man Again, Much Binding in the Marsh, Take it from Here, Beyond our Ken and Round the Horne, this light entertainment show, often abbreviated to ISIRTA, attracted a cult following and prepared the way for more famous television shows such as Do Not Adjust Your Set, Broaden Your Mind, The Goodies, At Last the 1948 Show and Monty Python's Flying Circus, some of which brought cast members to an international audience. The performers had no qualms about using puns old, strained or inventive throughout the programmes and relied on some catchphrases that brought unprecedented response from the studio audience. Some of these catchphrases would seem politically incorrect by the 1980's. Particularly memorable are impressions of Eddie Waring, a sports commentator, by Garden, and impressions of astronomer and broadcaster Patrick Moore, by Cleese. In exaggerating their vocal mannerisms they made both into minor celebrities in a way later followed by Mike Yarwood, Spitting Image (a puppet show) and Dead Ringers. Timeless dialogues by Cleese and Kendall as the couple "John and Mary", the serial "The Curse of the Flying Wombat", and early parodies of local and commercial radio (new features of the UK broadcasting scene) as "Radio Prune" were other highlights of the programme.
Later BBC radio programmes in this high-tempo tradition include Hello Cheeky, Radio Active and On the Hour. Brooke-Taylor, Garden and Oddie sometimes appear on the radio panel game "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue" whose title relates to its more heavily scripted and anarchic predecessor. In terms of scripted radio comedy, "The News Huddlines" on BBC Radio 2 probably comes closest to the spirit of ISIRTA today, blending silly voices, comic songs and sharp topical satire.
Broadcast schedule of "I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again"
Producers Series (programmes) Date first broadcast
Humphrey Barclay Preparatory (3) 3 April 1964
" " 1st (9) 4 October 1965
" " 2nd (13) 14 March 1966
" " 3rd (14) 3 October 1966
" " 4th (14) 23 March 1967
David Hatch and 5th (13) 14 April 1968
Peter Titheradge Special (1) 26 December 1968
" " 6th (13) 12 January 1969
" " Special (1) 25 December 1969
" " 7th (13) 15 February 1970
" " Special (1) 31 December 1970
" " 8th (8) 4 November 1973
