30 Years Of The Comic Strip Presents

To accompany GOLD's brand new Comic Strip Presents... adventure Five Go To Rehab, this 2-hour documentary features some of the biggest and best names in UK comedy looking back over the hit series' significance and influence on the British comedy scene in the past 30 years.

The programme looks back at some of the finest moments of The Comic Strip Presents..., featuring never before seen footage, recollections of those involved in making the programmes and some famous faces explaining how important they are to them.

Starting with the 1982 TV debut, The Comic Strip Presents... Five Go Mad In Dorset, the wonderful parody of The Famous Five books, cast and crew including creator Peter Richardson, Jennifer Saunders, and Dawn French recall the significance of the show and what is was like to make, seemingly with a complete disregard for health and safety.

Other Comic Strip Presents productions are remembered, including The Strike, The Bullshitters and The Hunt For Tony Blair, while Ken Livingstone and Joan Ruddock tell the programme what they really thought of their portrayals in the sharp satire, GLC: The Carnage Continues.

Stars, including Simon Pegg and Eddie Izzard, recall how The Comic Strip programmes have influenced their own work and what they mean to them on a personal level.

Others who have appeared in Comic Strip films over the years, including Jeff Beck ("It was the lowest point of my career"), James Buckley, Stephen Mangan and Harry Enfield as well as journalists including The Times' Ed Potton and The Mirror's Kevin O'Sullivan, explain the appeal of the programmes and why The Comic Strip Presents has been so important to British comedy.

Typically for a Peter Richardson production, 30 Years Of Comic Strip ignores the traditional rules of making a retrospective documentary.