BBC4 to celebrate The Frost Report

BBC4 is to broadcast The Frost Report Is Back in March 2008; the show is a two hour special celebrating the hugely influential satire show fronted by David Frost which ran for two series between 1966 and 1967.

The Frost Report ran for 28 episodes in total and regularly attracted over 10 million viewers. It's recognised as having helped to launch the careers of many of today's best known comedians including Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, John Cleese and Michael Palin.

The writing staff chosen by Frost and the show's production team are now considered by many to be the finest comics of that generation – Bill Oddie, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer, David Nobbs and future Python members Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin are amongst those who contributed to the show.

The Frost Report Is Back is being made by Frost's production company, David Paradine Productions. The special will be filmed in front of a live audience in November. Although the precise format has yet to be decided, it is expected that many of the original line-up will appear in the show.

Producer Trevor Poots told Broadcast magazine: "The programme will look at how relevant the issues raised by the original show still are today, and will reveal just how many careers it launched in TV."

Here's a look back at the famous Frost Report "Class Sketch" via C4's 2005 show Britain's 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches: