BBC to mark 50th anniversary of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
- Greg James is to present Archive On 4 special 50 Years Without A Clue on Saturday 16th April
- BBC Radio 4 Extra will also be airing classic episodes, including the original pilot
- The "antidote to panel games" debuted on 11th April 1972
BBC Radio has revealed the details of how it'll be celebrating the golden anniversary of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
The "antidote to panel games" will turn 50 years-old on Monday 11th April 2022 and, to mark this milestone, a special edition of Archive On 4 entitled 50 Years Without A Clue will be broadcast on 16th April at 8pm on Radio 4. Hosted by DJ Greg James, the show will feature clips "featuring many of the show's most popular panellists and silliest rounds."
The following week Radio 4 Extra will repeat classic episodes from the series, starting on 18th April with the original pilot, hosted by original chairman Humphrey Lyttleton, and panellists Jo Kendall and The Goodies trio of Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie. This will be followed by episodes featuring the classic line-up of "Chairman Humph", Garden, Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer, Willie Rushton, pianist Colin Sell and silent scorekeeper "the lovely Samantha"; then episodes with "loved guest panellists" such as Jeremy Hardy, to modern episodes with current host Jack Dee.
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue has long been one of the most popular comedies on BBC Radio with its many peculiar games, including One Song To The Tune Of Another, Sound Charades, Uxbridge English Dictionary and Mornington Crescent - the game about the London Underground which definitely has rules, although they have never been fully explained during the show's long history.
The format has managed to continue despite the deaths of so many of the original line-up: Rushton died in 1996, Lyttleton in 2007, Brooke-Taylor in 2020, script writer Iain Pattinson in 2021, and most recently Cryer in January 2022.
In 2020, a poll organised by Radio Times involving various people from the comedy and radio industries named ISIHAC the greatest radio comedy ever.
Audible are also set to mark the golden anniversary of the programme, with an updated version of historian Jem Roberts's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue Bible set to be released in audio format imminently.
The Clue Bible writer Jem Roberts, who helped compile 50 Years Without A Clue, has written an article for British Comedy Guide about the panel show: I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue - 50 And Not Out