Do Not Adjust Your Set

1967

Seasons & Episodes

  • 2
  • 1
7.2| NA| en| More Info
Released: 26 December 1967 Ended
Producted By:
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Do not adjust your set! is a television series produced originally by Rediffusion, London, then, by the fledgling Thames Television for British commercial television channel ITV from 26 December 1967 to 14 May 1969. The show took its name from the message which was displayed when there was a problem with transmission. It included early appearances of many actors and comedians who later became famous, such as Denise Coffey and David Jason. Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin later became members of the hugely successful Monty Python comedy troupe. Although, originally conceived as a children's programme, it quickly acquired a cult crossover following amongst many adults, including future Pythons John Cleese and Graham Chapman. The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band performed a song in each programme and Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band also appeared. The musicians frequently appeared as extras in sketches. The programme comprised a series of sketches, often bizarre and surreal, frequently satirical with a disjointed style which was to become more famous in the more daring Monty Python's Flying Circus, which followed five months later. At least one DNAYS sketch was re-used in Monty Python. Strange animations between sketches were crafted in the final episodes by the then-unknown Terry Gilliam, who also graduated to Python – part of his "Christmas cards" animation reappeared there in the "Joy to the World" segment.

Genre

Comedy

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Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967) is now streaming with subscription on Britbox

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Do Not Adjust Your Set Audience Reviews

GamerTab That was an excellent one.
Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good
Whitech It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.
Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.
screenman This program was the first comedy show for kids that wasn't childish. Instead, it was silly but in an adult way. A way that we would eventually come to describe as 'Pythonesque', the style its contributors went on to develop with their Flying Circus. Originally screened before the 6 o-clock news, during what used to be called rather patronisingly 'Children's Hour', the show had sufficient comedy appeal to be re-scheduled after the news for the benefit of adults. Amongst the Python crew, David Jason cut his television milk teeth, anda very young Kenny Everett also featured from time to time, though he is not credited. David Jason played 'Captain Fantastic', a super-hero spoof based upon an earlier show called 'Captain Moonlight'. His nemesis was a prematurely-emancipated 'Mrs Black' (her absent spouse was never explained). With her lethal handbag - which contained only knobs and dials - but which could effect all manner of chaos, and her 3 cybernetic stooges called 'Blit-Men', she roamed free to wreak disaster, always one step ahead of the Captain. The excellent Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band with their bizarre musical mix of rag-time and surrealism suited the show perfectly. Who can forget 'I'm The Urban Spaceman', 'The Intro And The Outro', or the classic 'Love Is A Cylindrical Piano'? Most of their stuff is available through I-Tunes. Today it would probably seem ludicrously dated, like so much earlier stuff, so I'll just keep my memories unsullied, even if it appears on DVD. They don't make the 60's like they used to.
kittyflit I was a kid in the 1960's and this was my favorite show on TV. I suppose I was about 9 or 10 when I was watching it. When I watch clips of it now on youtube I can't understand why I thought it was funny back then. This was the pre-humor established by the Pythons which people didn't find funny until the mid-1970's (and even then not everyone found it funny). This humor was way beyond it's time, so back then it shouldn't have been funny, especially not for a child, but I really did enjoy it. It was probably one of the first shows (if not the first show) to establish that link between the staid soaps, sitcoms and standup comedy humor of the 1950's and the 1960's and what came later, starting with Python. Strangely enough, when I was old enough to stay up late and start watching Python (around 1972) I didn't find it funny at all. However, it was "in" to watch Python and talk about it at school the next day, so I pretended back then to like it. But DNAYS was a show that I actually watched because I really enjoyed it, and nobody talked about it at school the next day (as I said, we were only about 9 years old). Before I started watching clips on youtube, the only people I remembered from the show were David Jason, Denise Coffey and Eric Idle. I didn't remember the other Pythons being in it at all. And of course I remembered the Bonzos. By the time I was 16 I had all their LPs. Now there was a band who should have had a much bigger cult following!
ShadeGrenade If it were possible to go through the whole of 'Monty Python' and take out the adult material, what you'd be left with is 'Do Not Adjust Your Set'. This delightfully anarchic show was loved by British children in the late '60's ( I was one ) and gave Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Eric Idle useful television exposure. Like the much later 'Tiswas', it revelled in its own silliness. David Jason and sexy Denise Coffey provided support, as well as writing and appearing in a 'Batman' spoof, made on film, entitled 'The Life & Times Of Captain Fantastic' ( such was its popularity that it went on to be a regular item in the magazine programme 'Magpie' ). It is to their credit that they managed to hold their own in such esteemed company. When Michael Palin fell ill one week, Tim Brooke-Taylor ( dressed as a frogman ) from 'At Last The 1948 Show' took his place. But the real stars for me were 'The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band'. Their witty, tuneful songs ( such as 'By A Waterfall' and 'I'm The Urban Spaceman' ) made the show. Their lead singer, the late Vivian Stanshall, looked like a hippie version of Leslie Phillips; he really should have done more in the field of comedy writing and performing. Terry Gilliam came aboard for the second season, providing animations ( including a superb one about Christmas cards ) similar to the ones he later did in 'Python'. When Channel 4 repeated the Christmas Special ( 'Do Not Adjust Your Stocking' ) in the '80's, David Jason, for reasons best known to himself, refused to allow his footage to be included. If you love 'Python', you should love this too. And remember: the evil Mrs.Black and her Blit Men are still lurking out there somewhere...
craigjclark Finally seeing the light of day again thanks to the release of nine episodes of the series on DVD, "Do Not Adjust Your Set" is -- along with "At Last the 1948 Show" -- the clearest forerunner of "Monty Python's Flying Circus." Written by and starring Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, with David Jason, Denise Coffey and the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band (as well as some animations by Terry Gilliam in the second series), "Do Not Adjust Your Set" aspires to be the same kind of anarchic free-form comedy series, albeit one suitable for children. (It was, after all, originally meant to be a children's show, but it quickly developed a cult audience among the grown-up set.)The DVD only covers the first series, though, so none of Terry Gilliam's animations are present (don't let the packaging fool you). Even so, it's definitely worth checking out.