I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again

Cast

• Tim Brooke-Taylor. He wrote humorous books on 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, Graham Chapman and Marty Feldman, and later appeared in Feldman's television comedy series Marty. He acted in many other television sitcoms, and appeared in the 1970s BBC radio sketch show Hello, Cheeky! with John Junkin and Barry Cryer, later translated to ITV. He also appeared in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in the uncredited role of the computer scientist. Brooke-Taylor died in April 2020, aged 79.
• John Cleese formed his own production company Video Arts in the 1970s to make business training films, which contained much Python-esque/Basil Fawlty-style humour, and also made films including A Fish Called Wanda and Fierce Creatures. On the 25th anniversary ISIRTA show, he performed his silly walk and sang "The Ferret Song". He appeared in At Last the 1948 Show in 1967 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. In later series, Cleese was often absent, due to his appearances in Monty Python; in the sleeve notes to the BBC's re-issues of the shows on cassette, his absences were explained as " ranting commitments elsewhere".
• Graeme Garden. A qualified medical doctor, Garden was co-writer with Bill Oddie of several episodes of the medical comedy Doctor in the House on ITV. He also appeared as Commander Forrest in the Yes Minister television episode "The Death List". He was a member of I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again from the start. At the same time, he was studying medicine in London. Because he did a midwifery medical course in Plymouth, he was unable to be a member of the cast of ISIRTA during the third series, due to the distance between London and Plymouth which made commuting to record the shows impossible. However, Graeme kept sending scripts for the radio show by mail - and rejoined the cast upon his return to his medical studies in London.
• David Hatch, as was common in BBC radio at that time, served both as the show's announcer and as a cast member. Hatch's announcements were frequently lampooned or interrupted by other cast members. In the 25th Anniversary special, Hatch invited the audience to join them again in 25 years time - ironically, by 2014 Hatch, who died in 2007, was the only cast member to have died.
• Jo Kendall. She also guest starred in The Goodies 1980 episode "Goodies and Politics". Kendall died in January 2022.
• Bill Oddie. He has written many books, and has been an important spokesman on wildlife and ecological issues since the 1980s. Bill Oddie wrote and performed a daft but well-crafted song in the middle of most ISIRTA programmes. He was co-writer of several episodes of the Doctor in the House television comedy series.
• Humphrey Barclay was the producer of ISIRTA until 1968; from April that year the task was shared by David Hatch and Peter Titherage. In 1973, production was shared by David Hatch with John Cassels and with Bob Oliver Rogers.
• Music for the links and songs was provided by Dave Lee and his band. In keeping with the tradition of the Goons, the band featured at the end of each show after the sign-off song, however unlike the Goons there was no regular second spot during the show, furthermore rather than a live performance of a jazz standard, the tune at the end was a recording of them playing an up-tempo jazz piano trio number, composed by Lee specifically to act as a signature tune for the show.

  Influence

Repeats and spinoffs

Prune Plays

Commercial Releases