British Comedy Guide
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue logo. Copyright: BBC
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

  • Radio panel show
  • BBC Radio 4
  • 1972 - 2025
  • 554 episodes (82 series)

ISIHAC is a self-styled antidote to panel games, in which players are given silly things to do. Stars Jack Dee, Humphrey Lyttelton, Stephen Fry, Rob Brydon, Barry Cryer and more.

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I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. Image shows from L to R: Graeme Garden, Barry Cryer. Copyright: BBC

Key details

Genre
Panel Show
Broadcast
1972 - 2025
Channel
BBC Radio 4
Episodes
554 (82 series), plus 13 highlights specials
Stars
Jack Dee, Humphrey Lyttelton, Stephen Fry, Rob Brydon, Barry Cryer, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, William Rushton and more
Writers
Iain Pattinson, Fraser Steele and Steven Dick
Producers
Jon Naismith, Geoffrey Perkins, John Cassels, Simon Brett, Paul Mayhew-Archer, Paul Spencer and Jon Magnusson
Companies

This show started out as a spin-off from the BBC radio series I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again. The idea being that I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue was an unscripted version of the original.

ISIHAC is a parody of the traditional panel show, with games designed to humiliate and confuse. Points come for show's lovely (and fictitious) scorer Samantha.

Games include the self-explanatory "One Song to the Tune of Another"; mad word game "Cheddar Gorge"; "Sound Charades" (a game based on the TV show Give Us a Clue which differs in just three ways); "Word for Word", the opposite of word association; and the game based on the London Underground that is almost impossible to play - "Mornington Crescent".

Legendary host Humphrey Lyttelton presided over the first 50 series. In the series that followed the host's death the role of chairman was handed over to Stephen Fry, Jack Dee and Rob Brydon. The trio took it in turns to present the show. Jack Dee's episodes were generally the best received by the audience, and thus Dee has been installed as the new host.

The most regular players of the game are Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden, as well as the late Tim Brooke-Taylor and Willie Rushton.

Catch-up

Additional details

Tagline
The antidote to panel games
Also known as
  • Clue
  • ISIHAC (Acronym)
Production
Studio
Soundtrack
Theme tune is "The Schickel Shamble" by Ron Goodwin, from the film Monte Carlo or Bust. Colin Sell on the piano provides additional music in the show.

Website links

Broadcast details

First broadcast
Tuesday 11th April 1972 at 12:55pm on BBC Radio 4
Next repeats
  1. Series 82, Episode 2: Today at 9am on Radio 4 Extra
  2. Series 82, Episode 2: Today at 10pm on Radio 4 Extra
  3. Series 82, Episode 3: Sunday at 12:30pm on Radio 4
  4. Series 82, Episode 3: Monday 30th December at 9am on Radio 4 Extra
  5. Series 82, Episode 3: Monday 30th December at 10pm on Radio 4 Extra
  6. Series 82, Episode 4: Sunday 5th January at 12:30pm on Radio 4
  7. Series 82, Episode 4: Monday 6th January at 9am on Radio 4 Extra
  8. Series 82, Episode 4: Monday 6th January at 10pm on Radio 4 Extra
  9. Series 82, Episode 5: Saturday 11th January at 12:30pm on Radio 4
Most recent repeats

Recording details

  • New Theatre Royal (Portsmouth), The Dome (Doncaster) and Theatre Severn (Shrewsbury) - Series 72
  • Huddersfield Town Hall - Series 73
  • Zoom (Virtual) - Series 74
  • BBC Radio Theatre and Zoom (Virtual) - Series 75 (recorded at the Radio Theatre, with audience watching remotely)
  • Reading Hexagon, The Lowry (Salford Quays) and The Alexandra (Birmingham) - Series 76
  • Royal Albert Hall - Series 77
  • Forum Theatre (Malvern) - Series 77
  • Theatre Royal (Nottingham) - Series 77
  • Theatre Royal (Newcastle) - Series 78
  • Bath Forum - Series 79
  • Royal & Derngate (Northampton) - Series 79
  • Regent Theatre (Ipswich) - Series 79
  • Great Hall (Exeter), City Hall (Sheffield), Bristol Beacon and Anvil Theatre (Basingstoke) - Series 82

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