30 Years Of The Comic Strip Presents

Three decades of spot-on spoofery, zesty playing and cinematic ambition are celebrated in this two-hour tribute. It was 2 November 1982 when we first heard a cheesy organ rendition of Quando Quando Quando, and saw a symbolic bomb fall on middle England. They've been falling ever since.

Ahead of Wednesday's new Comic Strip, G.O.L.D. plucks the highlights and jaw-dropping back-stage stories (the near deaths, the seat-of-pants filming) from a 40-film catalogue.

Healthily disrespectful contributors include Jeff Beck and Harry Enfield, there's a smattering of unseen footage, plus location revisits and Jim Broadbent's hilarious take on Jack Regan from The Sweeney.

'Now we're on the dole channel,' chuckles Peter Richardson at the end of this Comic Strip retrospective-cum-lap of honour. Even so, such reduced circumstances can't detract from a 30-year career which has been patchy but periodically inspired. As an appetiser for the gang's forthcoming new film Five Go Mad in Rehab on Wednesday, this lengthy doc ambles, sometimes at glacial pace, down memory lane with the help of fans and collaborators including Simon Pegg, Stephen Mangan and Ross Noble. The duration might be a stretch for casual fans, but as fans of 'the dole channel' will know, there's always plenty of space to be filled. Still, the Strip's best moments (The Strike, GLC) still look gleefully, recklessly brilliant - it's hard to imagine frontline politicians being satirised so scabrously in today's more timid TV climate.

A documentary to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the comedy troupe and their satirical TV series The Comic Strip Presents. The show launched the careers of, among others, Rik Mayall, Ade Edmondson, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. Here the actors recall the first episode - a parody of The Famous Five - and The Strike, a Hollywood version of the Arthur Scargill story. A new episode airs this week.