Wodehouse Playhouse

[Kenneth Morgan]

I haven't seen this show in quite a while. I remember it first appeared in the states during the first wave of Brit-coms after Python. It showed up alongside "Dad's Army", "The Goodies", "The Fall & Rise of Reginald Perrin" and "No, Honestly" (also starring Alderton and Collins). Wish those would get released on this side of the Atlantic.

I might just get this for my Mom. She likes Wodehouse stories.

[Polynikes]

We are not served well in Great Britain for repeats of the programmes you mention, certainly not on Freeview channels, and I don't recall seeing them listed in any of our subscription channels either. I think you will have to order DVDs.

Very few of the episodes of The Goodies have been repeated on British television, and even these only once or twice. Yet the BBC wheels out regular repeats of most of its other best known comedies. It was an uneven programme, and perhaps memory gives it a reputation which would be tarnished if it were seen now, but it was undoubtedly a "classic" with massive viewing figures in the 1970s, so it is a strange decision not to show repeats. Ditto The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin - instead of repeating it, the BBC commissioned a new version starring Martin Clunes, which was absolutely terrible.

Although they were very popular at the time, neither No, Honestly nor Wodehouse Playhouse achieved anything close to the cult status of The Goodies, and there has never been any demand for repeats in the UK.