All Episodes 1961 - 2017

A trip through the Comedy Playhouse archive in the company of the people who made some of the most-loved episodes from the original series, as it returns to BBC One for a new run. From Steptoe and Son to Last of the Summer Wine, a series of one-off comedy ideas produced some of the most watched comedy series of the last 50 years. With commentary and insider knowledge from June Whitfield, Paul Merton, Hugh Dennis and top writing team Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.

An undertaker in 1920s France needs to drum up trade for his ailing business.

A pair of office workers have for ten years spent their lunch hour on the same park bench.

The misadventures of bigamist Edward Whitely.

Harold Steptoe, a middle aged rag and bone man, yearns to break away from the clutches of his elderly, conniving, and disgusting father, but events always conspire against him.

A reunion doesn't go as planned.

A worried man uses his phone to do something about the troubled world.

A garage owner doesn't want to return a customer's Rolls Royce because he he likes the way it looks in his yard.

A group of hospital patients prepare for visiting day.

A pair of penpals decide to meet for the first time, but they haven't been telling the truth about themselves.

A man determines to swim the Channel.

A Russian musician asks for political asylum and gives the British ambassador troubles.

District Commissioner Donald Lawrence travels to London from Borneo in order to be a guest on his brother's ""This Is Your Life,"" but the show is called off.

Two drivers meet each other halfway down a narrow country lane. Both refuse to give way. When the AA and the RAC arrive and defend their respective members, they only make the situation worse. Bernard Cribbins and Leslie Philips star in this edition of Comedy Playhouse, written by Ray Galton & Alan Simpson.

Norman is beset by nerves as he tries to sneak a watch through the ""Nothing To Declare"" channel at an airport.

A con-man, recently released from Wormwood Scrubs prison, dresses up as a clergyman and turns up in a pub collecting for a highly dubious charity.

An out of work machine minder takes a job as a Handyman at a health club.

Exploits of door-to-door salesman Ronnie Fender.

Exploits of crime writer Vogler.

A retired Major tries to adjust to civilian life.

Dermot is a London-born Irishman who hates everything about England, but has never even been to the ""Old Country.""

Two young girls about town share a flat.

Albert Fawkes hates his surname and rebels against it by trying to re-enact the Gunpowder Plot.

Northern Arthur Berry develops an interest in art.

Lawyer Mossy advises Mrs Emily Trout and her family of crooks.

Exploits of two charladies at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

A window cleaner witnesses an extramarital affair and is soon involved in farcical cover-up shenanigans.

Exploits of a pair of mismatched elderly friends.

The ups and downs of a Northern married couple.

Exploits of marriage bureau owner John Cook.

Mrs Fanwyn runs her Khartoum House Girls Hostel with a firm hand.

Sydney Lord hates beaurocracy and determines to fight it whenever he finds it.

Mad keen football fan Arnold Birtwhistle is mascot of Northtown Football Club, but new chairman Mr Gibson wants to change the club's image.

Match seller Gomorrah Weevil tangles with slum landlord Harold Harbinger.

Barnaby Spoot, the lowly assistant in a novelty shop managed by short-tempered Mr Bostock, is determined to make his mark in the novelty trade by inventing new gags. Unfortunately, his latest device is typical: a talking cheese (the Chatty Cheddar) that no one wants. So Spoot decides to wreak revenge on the conglomerate that controls the shop by assassinating the entire board of directors with....

Arthur Pratt struggles to break away from his domineering mother.

32-year-old Ambrose Twombly yearns to fall in love.

Problems of Ted coping with a wife and four daughters.

Stories of various couples who have 'used' a chaise longue through the years.

Murray tries to learn ""The Knowledge' (all the streets in London) in order to qualify as a taxi driver.

A solo vehicle for comedian Roy Hudd, later developed into a six-episode series, with no continuing characters or situations.

Working class bigot Alf fights with his more liberal daughter and son-in-law on every conceivable issue.

Time and Motion man Kingsley Binns lets his job spill over into his private life.

Exploits of three sailors on leave in 1910.

Misadventures of Captain Para Handy and his hapless crew aboard ""The Vital Spark.""

A twleve-year-old schoolboy has written a winning essay on the works of children's author Betsy Mae Meadows. His prize is a visit to her home—and naturally she detests actual children.

The misadventures of a group of clergymen in the cloisters of a cathedral.

Two married sisters living next door to one another are locked in a continuous battle of one-upmanship.

The Dean of co-educational Sheridan College at the University of Wessex is shocked by the appointment of a new female bursar whom he was once close to.

Elijah Jones believes the world is about to end and plans to build himself an Ark and stock it with stolen animals.

The misadventures of the Maintenance Men at Saracens Manufacturing.

A businessman has to start again when his wife leaves him.

Complications arise in the lives of Ern and Is Conway, proprietors of an unsuccessful dancing school, when Ern forgets their seventh wdding anniversary.

Misadventures of an inept MP.

Advertising executive Thomas Jones finds himself irresistible to women, but would prefer to concentrate on his job and his fiancée Sally.

Released from prison after a 10 year sentence, Hughie wants to return straight to the comfort of his cell.

Mother and housewife Jennifer Corner copes with the running of her household.

Arthur Machin, owner of a small engineering works, is determined to get the most out of his employees.

A couple are expecting an inheritance from their elderly uncle, but a spanner is put in the works by a prospective new heir.

The exploits of the eccentric Earl of Ickenham.

A good-cause-supporting couple don't like it when a pair of "Kilburn Refugees" take up residence in their garden.

Nick, the son of the devil, decides that Hell needs to be more trendy and with-it.

Exploits of super salesman James Franklin-Jones or FJ as he is known as he travels the globe for Balsom Plastics and seeking out 'crumpet' at every opportunity.

Exploits of a trade union secretary.

A lonely couple decide to sell their house so that potential buyers can be treated as new friends.

Next-door neighbor Aggie Plunkett has her eye on Fred, a widower of twelve years; but there are his three daughters to contend with.

Misadventures of diplomats working in the Iron Curtain state of Vulgaria.

In Victorian times a group of women work in a milliners.

Stories of a married show business couple.

The adventures of Irishman Bunjy Kennefick, a top executive with a London company. His jet-set bachelor lifestyle of fast cars and faster women makes him the envy of his friends—until, that is, they meet his ever-present mother.

Edward Wilkins is looking forward to his retirement, but things don't turn out as planned.

Two young Liverpudlian girls share a flat.

A pair of bored hacks working on a Welsh newspaper decide to invent stories and sell them on to Fleet Street.

Misadventures of a pair of Jewish multimillionaires.

The exploits of a jobbing cook.

Episodes in the life of the decidedly strange Love family.

Stanley Mold is determined to make a man out of his son Peregrine.

A newly wed husband faces problems when he learns his wife is a useless cook.

Misadventures of brothers Stephen and Robert Jugg.

Character actor James Grout flexed his comedy muscles in the role of military man Major Gissing, but his usual sterling performance failed to rescue this Comedy Playhouse project from the one-off file. (BBCi Comedy Guide)

Exploits of escort Jimmy Sampson.

Exploits of Reggie Turpin, a 19th century photography enthusiast.

Wendy Hillbright is the managing director of a steel works, unfortunately one where her troublesome father also works.

Misadventures of a pair of undertakers.

Exploits of the residents of an old folks home.

The misadventures of a pair of window cleaning Cockney brothers, one of whom happens to be black, the other white.

Old World War One veteran Sam Oakley hates everything about the modern world.

Exploits of two down-at-heel theatrical agents.

The exploits of a group of a group of female traffic wardens.

Claire and Harry Love face problems with their teenage daughter.

Kenyan Uncle Tulip arrives in England to look after his neice and nephew and is shocked to discover how English they've become.

Misadventures of one George Idle.

During WWII, German Major Sperling has his cushy existence in a rural village put under strain by the arrival by the arrival of a tough Gestapo officer.

Exploits of a group of Highland soldiers, especially Private McAuslan.

The shady exploits of a pair of con men.

A man causes havoc for his rescuer after attempting suicide.

A send-up of the Sherlock Holmes oeuvre.

To ease the burden on his wallet, Luke Elms decides to marry off his daughters.

Put-upon wife Pam Collins leaves her husband and gets a job as a traffic warden.

After veterinary surgeon Derek advertises for a new flatmate, Leonora moves in and disrupts his bachelor routine. One-off comedy by Carla Lane, starring Keith Barron and Rita Tushingham

Two old rivals decide to make up at the funeral of a friend.

A series of period sketches.

Exploits of a middle-class, middle-aged couple.

A young man struggles to break free of his domineering mother.

Mother and Henry return home from their caravan in Frinton to find everyone in the entire world has vanished.

Sitting tenant Jo Ransley is wanted out of her home.

Pygmalion 'Smithy' Smith, a less than glamorous photographer at an out of work holiday resort, tries to make a young girl into a star.

Divorcée Audrey Dalton learns she is going out with the same man as her daughter.

Archibald Mulliner enlists the help of his Uncle in wooing the girl of his dreams.

Over to Bill is a sit com starring starring Hugh Dennis as a weatherman who manages to get fired from his job. Bill Onion is fired after making a joke live on air about the south of England being better than the north. A train of events follow which ends in his humiliation in front of an employer from a rival network.

Comedy set around the antics of Jimmy Miller and his ragtag family of mountain rescue volunteers. When the naive and enthusiastic Conor reports for his first day as a volunteer, Jimmy, the shambolic old rescue hand, takes it upon himself to teach Conor the ways of the hills. Conor's education begins in the pub, where he is introduced to the small mountain community of Jules, Bill, and Bernie. No-nonsense barmaid Jules runs the pub, the Busted Femur; Bill spends every living hour looking after dogs, and his social skills have suffered as a result; and Bernie is head of operations, happy to the point of delirium in her work. When the actual mountain rescuing begins, things go from bad to worse, and then to even worse than that

Gary has been defrauding the dole office for ten years. Faced with criminal prosecution, he decides to join a religious order to save himself from a long stretch of hardship and abstinence. However, it turns out monastic life is a lot like prison but with more praying. Rudley Abbey is a monastery under threat with only four monks remaining, so the abbot welcomes their new recruit - much to the annoyance of his deputy, Brother Francis. This could be Gary's chance to learn about himself, take some responsibility and bring some meaning to his life. Gary causes an expensive accident and is forced to raise money for the monastery, by increasingly unorthodox means. In the meantime, Brother Francis is forced to take measures to control his anger.

This episode follows how the big decisions can affect the little people in the hospital.