I was both surprised and delighted to hear that the long-running BBC panel game I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue came top of a poll to identify the greatest radio comedy show of all time.
I was surprised because I wasn’t expecting it to beat vintage classics like Round the Horne and Hancock’s Half Hour but delighted because I genuinely believe that ‘Clue’ is a worthy winner.
Certainly it is formulaic but with consistently strong panelists and inspired chairmen like Jack Dee and the late Humphrey Lyttelton, it somehow regularly takes that formula to new comedic heights.
The show first aired in April 1972 and is still going strong with regular panelists including Graeme Garden, who actually devised the concept of the show; Barry Cryer, Stephen Fry, Sandi Toksvig and of course our good friend, the late and much lamented Tim Brooke-Taylor. Tim was of course a regular speaker on the Clive Conway Production's circuit and, much to the delight of audiences, would talk about 'Clue' and many other aspects of his 50 plus year comedy career.Other stalwarts of the show who are no longer with us include Willie Rushton and Jeremy Hardy.
I’m Sorry I haven’t a Clue was chosen from a list drawn up by Radio Times readers of nearly 100 sitcoms, satires, and sketch shows that have been broadcast from 1939 to the present day.
Its enduring appeal was perhaps summed up by one of the judges Adrian Edmondson who has the distinction of having also been a former panelist.
Edmondson described I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue as “The most ridiculous, most surreal, most incomprehensibly funny show on any medium.”
The aforementioned Hancock and Round the Horne bybthe way took second and third place by respectively.