Do Not Adjust Your Set (series)

Do Not Adjust Your Set (series)

With Denise Coffey, Eric Idle, David Jason, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band • 1967

Written by and starring the future members of Monty Python, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, and Eric Idle, DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SET was broadcast on British TV in 1967, envisaged as a children’s show. But this madcap, early-evening comedy sketch show quickly acquired a cult following with Swinging Sixties adults, who rushed home from work to see it.

DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SET also provided an early showcase for the hilarious animations of a fourth future Python Terry Gilliam, as well as the exceedingly bizarre musical antics of the legendary Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band.

This compilation includes the festive-themed Pilot episode (which was mistakenly broadcast in January after a tape mixup!) and the first, second and fourth (the third is lost) episodes of the first series. David Jason's Captain Fantastic character makes his debut - the most famous recurring sketch from the show - plus we first meet Michael Palin’s prototype unhelpful shop assistant (a distinct precursor of some Python characters of world renown).

Together with AT LAST THE 1948 SHOW, this is the second of the innovative and influential TV series that shook-up British popular culture and spawned the phenomenon that premiered the following year, MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS.

Subscribe Share
Do Not Adjust Your Set (series)
  • Do Not Adjust Your Set - Pilot

    Directed by Daphne Shadwell • Drama • With Denise Coffey, Eric Idle, David Jason, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band • 1967 • 23 minutes

    The new team were all on top form in this festive confection which should have been screened on Boxing Day 1967. Unfortunately, a mix up...

  • Do Not Adjust Your Set - Episode 1

    Directed by Daphne Shadwell • Drama • With Denise Coffey, Eric Idle, David Jason, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band • 1967 • 25 minutes

    Here we meet Michael Palin’s prototype unhelpful shop assistant (a distinct precursor of some Python characters of world renown); witnes...

  • Do Not Adjust Your Set - Episode 2

    Directed by Daphne Shadwell • Drama • With Denise Coffey, Eric Idle, David Jason, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band • 1967 • 25 minutes

    Please note that this episode contains humor, language or other content that reflects the time of its production, but that may cause off...

  • Do Not Adjust Your Set - Episode 4

    Directed by Daphne Shadwell • Drama • With Denise Coffey, Eric Idle, David Jason, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band • 1967 • 21 minutes

    Recently recovered from our friends at the Prix Jeunesse festival (this sentence may alter! Tkrtktk), this episode – subsequently restor...

  • Do Not Adjust Your Set - Episode 5

    Directed by Daphne Shadwell • Drama • With Denise Coffey, Eric Idle, David Jason, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band • 1967 • 25 minutes

    With the series in full flow, we witness some splendid interplay between the team – as seen in the beautifully crafted How to Eat sketch...

  • Do Not Adjust Your Set - Episode 6

    Directed by Daphne Shadwell • Drama • With Denise Coffey, Eric Idle, David Jason, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band • 1967 • 25 minutes

    What’s notable about this episode is its speed – the sketches start and end abruptly, often without a space for breath, or laughter. Dav...

  • Do Not Adjust Your Set - Episode 9

    Directed by Daphne Shadwell • Drama • With Denise Coffey, Eric Idle, David Jason, Terry Jones and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Tim Brooke-Taylor • 1967 • 25 minutes

    With Michael Palin off having his appendix removed, we welcome an ‘unininvited guest’: Tim Brooke-Taylor, stepping out of one Redif...

  • Do Not Adjust Your Set - Episode 10

    Directed by Daphne Shadwell • Drama • With Denise Coffey, Eric Idle, David Jason, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band • 1967 • 25 minutes

    Slick sketches this week but some especially slipshod Bonzo silliness – with Viv fluffing his gags. Eric Idle sits in for the missing Ne...

  • Do Not Adjust Your Set - Episode 11

    Directed by Daphne Shadwell • Drama • With Denise Coffey, Eric Idle, David Jason, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band • 1967 • 25 minutes

    Highlights this week include a terrific art gallery sketch, with a Gumby-esque Terry Jones exhibited as a living art work; some lovely L...

  • Do Not Adjust Your Set - Episode 12

    Directed by Daphne Shadwell • Documentary • With Denise Coffey, Eric Idle, David Jason, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band • 1967 • 25 minutes

    Everybody in the cast seems thoroughly at ease with each other now, though, and the Bonzos perform a very special version of The I...

  • Do Not Adjust Your Set - Episode 13

    Directed by Daphne Shadwell • Drama • With Denise Coffey, Eric Idle, David Jason, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band • 1967 • 25 minutes

    The last show in the Rediffusion series sees everybody larking about somewhat. The demob-happy Bonzos interrupt their pre-recorded backi...

  • Do Not Adjust Your Set - Season 2 Episode 2

    Directed by Adrian Cooper • Drama • With Denise Coffey, Eric Idle, David Jason, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band • 1969 • 25 minutes

    The only episode from series two proper known to exist in its entirety is both fascinating and funny. After a Gilliam-esque animated openi...

  • Do Not Adjust Your Set - Special Edition

    Directed by Daphne Shadwell • Drama • With Denise Coffey, Eric Idle, David Jason, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band • 1967 • 27 minutes

    This last slightly longer Rediffusion episode, broadcast later in the year, was an intriguing mixture of new material and newly-shot rep...

  • Do Not Adjust Your Stocking

    Directed by Adrian Cooper • Drama • With Denise Coffey, Eric Idle, David Jason, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band • 1968 • 40 minutes

    Seen here in its entirety (an edited version was screened on television in the 1980s), this bumper-length Christmas special was made for T...