I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again

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Image:ImSorryIllReadThatAgain-book.jpg I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again was a long-running BBC radio comedy programme that originally grew out of the Cambridge University revue Cambridge Circus. It had something of a cult following and was broadcast initially on the BBC Home Service (renamed BBC Radio 4 in September 1967).

It was first broadcast on April 4 1964 and the eighth series was transmitted in November and December 1973. An hour-long 25th Anniversary show was broadcast in 1989. Humphrey Barclay was the producer until 1968 and from April that year the task was shared by David Hatch and Peter Titheradge.

The cast comprised:

Tim Brooke-Taylor (became one of the three members of The Goodies). Tim Brooke-Taylor has also written humorous books on various subjects, including cricket and golf. He was a member of the cast of the television comedy series At Last the 1948 Show with John Cleese (as well as Graham Chapman and Marty Feldman), and later appeared in Marty Feldman's television comedy series Marty. Tim has also acted in many television sitcoms, as well as appearing in the 1970s BBC radio sketch show, later translated to ITV, Hello Cheeky with John Junkin and Barry Cryer.

John Cleese (became a lead Python, formed his own production company to make business training films, which contained much Python-esque/Basil Fawlty-style humour, as well as making films including A Fish Called Wanda and Fierce Creatures). He did his famous silly walk — it made terrible radio — and sang "The Ferret Song" on the 25th Anniversary show. He appeared in At Last the 1948 Show with Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graham Chapman and Marty Feldman, and was co-writer (with Graham Chapman) of several episodes of the Doctor in the House television comedy series.

Graeme Garden (became one of the three members of The Goodies). He is a qualified medical Doctor, and was co-writer (with Bill Oddie) of several episodes of the Doctor in the House television comedy series (he also appeared in the episode "Doctor on the Box" as the television presenter). He also appeared as Commander Forrest in the Yes, Minister episode "The Death List".

David Hatch (who went on to executive positions within the BBC, including the top position of Controller of BBC Radio 4). Unusually for a BBC radio series at the time, Hatch served both as the show's announcer and as a cast member. His announcements were frequently lampooned or interrupted by other cast members.

Jo Kendall (a radio actress in many straight dramas subsequently; also appeared in another popular radio comedy series The Burkiss Way)

Bill Oddie (became one of the three members of The Goodies). He has written many books, and has been an important spokesman on wildlife and ecological issues since c.1980. Bill Oddie wrote and performed a daft but well-crafted song in the middle of most programmes. He was co-writer (with Graeme Garden) of several episodes of the Doctor in the House television comedy series

Tim perfected a high-pitched feminine Margaret Rutherford-type voice for the ghastly Lady Constance de Coverlet, who would often arrive at the close of a lengthy adventure to a rapturous audience welcome. John and Jo developed poignant - almost romantic - dialogues as the respectable but dysfunctional couple "John and Mary", a forerunner of the relationship between Basil and Sybil later televised in Fawlty Towers.

Image:ImSorryIllReadThatAgainCast.jpg As with Round the Horne, the cast's adventures would sometimes be episodic with cliff-hanger endings each week as with The Curse of the Flying Wombat. Christmas specials normally included a spoof of a traditional pantomime (or several combined). They had few qualms about the use of puns - old, strained or inventive - and included some jokes and catchphrases that would seem politically incorrect by the mid 1970s. Graeme's impressions of Eddie Waring (a rugby league commentator), Bill's frequent send-ups of the game-show host Hughie Greene and John's occasional but manic impressions of Patrick Moore (astronomer and broadcaster) built these people into eccentric celebrities in a way that the Mike Yarwood, Lenny Henry, Rory Bremner, Spitting Image and Dead Ringers programmes would do for other TV presenters with similar disrespect years later. Image:ImSorryIllReadThatAgainCast2.jpg The show ended with an unchanging sign-off song which Bill Oddie performed as "Angus Prune". Spoof dramas were billed as Prune Playhouse and many parodies of commercial radio were badged as Radio Prune, but the name Angus Prune seemed as random and incidental as the name Monty Python, which appeared seven years later.

Although the BBC radio shows ITMA, Much Binding in the Marsh, Take it from Here and Beyond Our Ken had conditioned listeners to accepting a mix of music, sketches and jokes within a 30 minute show, and Round the Horne was currently doing this, ISIRTA (as it was known to its friends), accelerated the transitions and certainly seemed more improvised. It was one of those programmes where you were unlikely to get all the jokes on first hearing so would have to listen to the scheduled repeat (or an illegal tape recording) to discover what you had missed. It thus helped prepare the television audience for At Last the 1948 Show, the Q Series from Spike Milligan and Monty Python's Flying Circus.

It may also have influenced other fast-paced British radio programmes such as Radio Active , On the Hour, The Sunday Format, and The News Huddlines.

Some of the cast also appear in the radio comedy quiz show I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, which was originally a spinoff from ISIRTA but has outlived it by decades.

Since December 2002, examples of ISIRTA can be heard on BBC 7 (available on the web, digital radio and digital television). Currently, it is broadcast on Mondays at 14.30 and Tuesdays at 06.30 hours (London time).

Listeners in Australia can also frequently find ISIRTA in the 05:30 vintage comedy timeslot on Radio National.

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Catchphrases

"I'm sorry, I'll read that again". A frequent interruption to mock news broadcasts on the show - the line often reads "Here is the news. I'm sorry, I'll read that again: Here are the news."

"Lady Constance!" The cue for the arrival of Tim Brooke-Taylor's desiccated dowager character of Lady Constance de Coverlet. Lady Constance's over-ripe and tremulous upper class accent was always greeted thunderously by the studio audience, even when she had no bearing on the plot. In Jack The Ripper, Lady Constance is invited to "please, sit down anywhere ... or in your case, everywhere."

"Rhubarb Tart?" A delicacy much loved by all the cast members and often used as a bribe during sketches. David Hatch famously leaves the University of the Air after Bill Oddie's flip remarks, only to be coaxed back with offers of rhubarb tart. It is also Angus Prune's favourite dish. In the Ali Baba sketch in the 3rd series, Cleese appears as Omar Khayyam; he tells Brooke-Taylor, "Surely you've heard of the Rhubarb Tart of Omar Khayyam?"

The Tillingbourne Folk and Madrigal Society. A recurring parody of English a capella folk music (madrigal). The Society performs a range of songs from a medley of football chants through to the never-ending folk song "There was a Ship that put to Sea all in the Month of May".

The Angus Prune Tune. Written and performed by Bill Oddie (often with considerable audience involvement), this was the sign-off song for the series. The full text runs as follows:

My name is Angus Prune
and I always listen to I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again
(You Don't!)
My name is Angus Prune
and I never miss I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again
(Get Away!)
I sit in my bath
And I have a good laugh
Cause the sig tune is named after me
(Tell us yer name!)
My name is Angus Prune
And this is my tune
It goes I-S-I-R-T-A
I'm Sorry I'll Read That AGAIN!

Beethoven's Fifth. The famous opening bars of this piece of music are constantly used in the series, usually in inappropriate settings. David Hatch once introduced the cast: "...with another of their sallies forth – or Beethoven's Fifth –"

"Arnold Totteridge?" Another famous recurring character, Arnold Totteridge (played by Garden) is a doddering old man who gets lost in the middle of his sentences. His most famous moment is in the 25th Anniversary Episode, where he has been appointed "The Dynamic new-de-oo-do-de-oo-do-de-oo Head of Radio-do-do-de-do Comedy"

"The Ferret Song". John Cleese has an obsession with ferrets throughout the show, including his famous performance of The Ferret Song. This song begins with the line "I've got a ferret sticking up my nose" and promptly gets worse.

The Silly Roll Call. During many of the longer adventures, the cast engage in the Silly Roll Call, where a series of words appropriate to their adventure are turned into people's names. The Jack The Ripper story involves criminals such as "Mr and Mrs Ree...and their son...Robby Ree...and his cousin from the Far East, Ahmed Robby Ree" and "Mr And Mrs Sittingforimmoralpurposes...and their son...Solly Sittingforimmoralpurposes". Jorrocks' Hunt Ball features appearances by "Lord and Lady V'syouyeahyeahyeah and their daughter Sheila V'syouyeahyeahyeah" as well as "Lord and Lady Umeeroffen and their son Duke Umerroffen". Even the Ancient Greek world of Oedipus is not sacred - Socrates appears with Knobblyknees, Euripides with Iripidoes and the treble of Aristophanes, Hoiteetoitees and Afternoontes (as well as a barrage of rotten fruit).

Grimbling. Voiced by Bill Oddie, Grimbling is a "dirty old man" who often appears as a groundskeeper, butler or some similar profession. Due to the limitations of an audio-only medium, the true nature of Grimbling is never revealed, however he is greeted with universal revulsion by all bar the audience. He memorably introduces himself "I am Grimbling, but don't worry, I'll clean it up later." In another story, David Hatch asks him "Aren't you a little past it, old man?", only to have Grimbling respond, "No, I'm a little dirty old man". And in the Robin Hood sketch in the 3rd series, Grimbling is in the employ of the Sheriff of Nottingham (Garden), who tells him, 'You have done well, Grimbling; take this tennis racquet for your services.'

The Gibbon. Whenever a generic animal is required for a sketch, the team always use a gibbon. This is often expanded to ludicrous lengths, such as a "Gibbon-Fanciers' Club". As expected, Edward Gibbon's famous Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is rendered as "Decline and Fall of the Roman Gibbon, by Edward Empire", and we also get Stanley Stamps' Gibbon Catalogue. Later, during the Goodies' heyday in the 1970s, Brooke-Taylor, Garden and Oddie would have a Top Ten hit with the song 'Do The Funky Gibbon'.

Bill Oddie's accent. Having a Birmingham accent (although born in Rochdale, in what was then Lancashire, he grew up in Birmingham) made Bill the butt of many jokes, as well as leading him naturally towards many roles in sketches where someone was required to speak incomprehensibly. He did get his own back in the Lawrence Of Arabia On Ice sketch, when he appeared as Nanook of the North, complete with a plethora of cod-Lancastrian patois ("ee bah goom", "black puddings", "ecky thump", etc.)

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