I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue is a BBC radio comedy panel game. Billed as "the antidote to panel games", it consists of two teams of two comedians being given "silly things to do" by the host. The show was launched in April 1972 as a parody of radio and TV panel games, and has been broadcast since on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service, with repeats aired on BBC Radio 4 Extra and, in the 1980s and 1990s, on BBC Radio 2. The 50th series was broadcast in November and December 2007.

After a period of split chairmanship in the first series, Humphrey Lyttelton ("Humph") served in this role from the programme's inception until his hospitalisation and subsequent death in 2008, which led to the cancellation of the 2008 series. The show recommenced on 15 June 2009 with Lyttelton replaced by three hosts: Stephen Fry, Jack Dee and Rob Brydon. Dee went on to host all episodes of the 52nd series later that year, and continues in that role. The chairman's script was for a long time written by Iain Pattinson, who worked on the show from 1992 until his death in 2021.

History

thumb|right| (L-R) Ross Noble, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Humphrey Lyttelton, producer [[Jon Naismith, Graeme Garden and Barry Cryer during a 2005 recording. Naismith is sitting in the chair reserved for "Samantha".]]

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue developed from the long-running radio sketch show I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, the writers of which were John Cleese, Jo Kendall, David Hatch, The Goodies trio Bill Oddie, Tim Brooke-Taylor and especially Graeme Garden who suggested the idea of an unscripted show which, it was decided, would take the form of a parody panel game. A panel game with no competition was not itself a new idea: the BBC had a history of successful quiz shows designed to allow witty celebrities to entertain where winning was not important. Examples include Ignorance Is Bliss, Just a Minute, My Word! and My Music on the radio and Call My Bluff on television.

The pilot episode (at that time titled I'm Sorry, They're At It Again) opened with Graeme Garden and Jo Kendall singing the words of "Three Blind Mice" to the tune of "Ol' Man River" followed by Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor performing the lyrics of "Sing a Song of Sixpence" to the melody of "These Foolish Things". Dave Lee, who was bandleader on I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, was at the piano and a number of rounds were introduced by a short phrase of music. Other rounds included "Dialogue Read in a Specific Accent" and "Songs Sung as Animals". In 1974 Bill Oddie was replaced by Willie Rushton, with Barry Cryer replacing Jo Kendall as Graeme Garden's teammate, and Humphrey Lyttelton as chairman, and the personnel remained constant from this point until Rushton's death in 1996, although occasional guest panellists appeared in the 1980s and early 1990s (see below). Since then the panel has featured a variety of guest comedians.

As of 2003, the show had over two million listeners on Radio 4 and its recording sessions typically filling 1,500-seat theatres within a week of being advertised.

thumb|right| [[Rob Brydon (centre) chairs the Newcastle recording of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. Also pictured are Tim Brooke-Taylor (low left) and Colin Sell (top left). The chair next to Brydon with the microphone is 'used' by "Samantha"]]

The official, authorised history of the show and ISIRTA, The Clue Bible by Jem Roberts, was published by Preface Publishing in October 2009.

Participants

thumb|220px|right|Humphrey Lyttelton and producer [[Jon Naismith during a 2005 recording of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue at the Edinburgh Fringe.]]

Chairman

Humphrey Lyttelton, primarily known as a jazz trumpeter and bandleader, and known as Humph to his friends, was invited to be chairman because of the role played by improvisation in both comedy and jazz music. In the first series Lyttelton shared the role of chairman with Barry Cryer He read the script introducing the programme and segments in an utterly deadpan manner. He claimed the secret was just to read what was in front of him without understanding why it was funny. He adopted the grumpy persona of someone who would really rather be somewhere else, which he attributed to worrying that, surrounded by four professional comedians, he would have nothing worthwhile to chip in. He did occasionally depart from the script, however, often bringing the house down with an ad-lib. He was credited by the regular panellists as being the chief reason for the show's longevity.

On 18 April 2008, the producer of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, Jon Naismith, announced that, owing to hospitalisation to repair an aortic aneurysm, Humphrey Lyttelton would be unable to record the scheduled shows and that they would have to be postponed. The final show of the 2008 Best of tour on 22 April would be presented by Rob Brydon. Following Lyttelton's death there was speculation that the series might be cancelled because replacing him would be extremely difficult if not impossible. In a eulogy in The Guardian, Barry Cryer did not allude to the future of the programme but said that there's "got to be an agonising reappraisal" and that Lyttelton was the "very hub of the show". Cryer, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden all ruled themselves out as hosts: Cryer did not think the programme would work if a panellist became chairman and it "would need somebody of stature to be parachuted in". Jeremy Hardy also ruled himself out, saying "Humph had big shoes to fill and I wouldn't do it."

In the Clue mailout for September 2008, Naismith stated: "Despite the rumours, we've made no decisions about possible replacements for Humph, and are unlikely to make any decisions this year at least. Certainly I don't envisage us selecting anyone on a permanent basis for several series." It was announced that the show would continue recording beginning in 2009. The first new shows would be hosted by rotating guest presenters (similarly to the format of Have I Got News for You) before a permanent replacement host was decided. The programme returned on 15 June 2009, chaired by Fry with the usual panellists and special guest Victoria Wood. Every series since then has been chaired by Dee.

Panellists

The regular panellists for much of the show's early history were:

  • Graeme Garden was a member of the I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again team from which the programme grew and has been a panellist since the first episode. Lyttelton described him as very dry, biding his time before stepping in with a perfect punchline. Garden was absent from January 2016 for the whole of series 65, 66 and 67. On 12 October 2017, Garden announced that he would be rejoining the team, but has only appeared infrequently since then. Following the death of Barry Cryer, Garden is the last surviving original panellist.
  • Barry Cryer hosted six episodes in the show's first series before moving to a permanent seat on the panel. He was credited by then-chairman Lyttelton as being the show's "bricks and mortar", providing quick-fire one-liners in any situation. Guests have included:
  • Tony Hawks, after appearing as a guest for one recording a series for many series, started appearing in multiple recordings per series from series 80 onwards and became a semi-regular panellist of the show.
  • Miles Jupp appeared in the majority of episodes in series 82 and 83.
  • Rachel Parris, Marcus Brigstocke, Henning Wehn, Milton Jones, Pippa Evans, Lucy Porter and Rory Bremner all made several appearances in seasons 81-83.

Producers

The show has had a number of producers over the years:

  • David Hatch (produced only the pilot episode in 1972)
  • John Cassels (1972–74)
  • Simon Brett (1975–77)
  • Geoffrey Perkins (1978–81)
  • Paul Mayhew-Archer (1982–86)
  • Paul Spencer (1987–89)
  • Jon Magnusson (1990–91)
  • Jon Naismith (1991–present)

Musical accompaniment

Early episodes featured Dave Lee, who provided piano accompaniment on I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again. However, Colin Sell now usually fills this role. He is often the butt of jokes about his musical ability, to which he is unable to respond as he has no microphone. For example: "When music experts hear Colin's compositions, they say he could have been another Berlin, Porter or anybody else employed by the German State Railway." Guest pianists, including Neil Innes, Denis King and Matthew Scott, have been called in when Sell has been unable to attend (or the ISIHAC team have "won the coin toss" as Lyttelton once said on the show). Lyttelton's band also appeared on a couple of Christmas specials.

The theme music is called "The Schickel Shamble", by Ron Goodwin, and is from the film Monte Carlo or Bust! It was chosen by David Hatch. (the character was named after the page 3 topless model Samantha Fox). Samantha's inabilities as score-keeper often form the basis for humour; in a programme from 1997, Humph said: "It's just occurred to me that Samantha hasn't given us the score... since 1981."

Samantha has sometimes been replaced by a Swedish stand-in, Sven, or occasionally another substitute, Monica.

Time, destiny, fate and eternity

The show draws to a close with the chairman imparting some final words of wisdom intended to evoke time, destiny, fate and eternity, undercut with silliness. For example: "...And so, as the hunter of time blasts the moose of eternity, and the dairy counter worker of fate sighs and grabs her mop..." Lyttelton's final sign-off on the show, shortly before his death in April 2008, was:

Humour

Most of the humour is detached from the real world. Steve Punt cites it as one of his favourite radio shows because "there's no points being made or targets being attacked." Contemporary references occasionally made by participants are usually asides. The show does occasionally comment on the outside world, though from an innocent perspective. The game "Complete George Bush Quotes" was once played, in which the teams had to supply endings for phrases that George Bush had begun (see Bushism), the teams complaining that they couldn't be any funnier than the original; similar rounds with guessing or completing quotes of other well-known public figures and personalities have also been played.

The regular panellists are represented by the chairman to be unfunny, struggling comedians who have been doing the same act for many years. The supposed personalities of the panellists as demonstrated by the chairman, fictitious but drawn from their public personas, is also a recurring theme. Barry Cryer was often represented as a tight-fisted alcoholic who could not wait to get to the pub (but who never bought a round of drinks), while Tim Brooke-Taylor was often represented as willing to take any small performance job in his quiet career and always campaigning for repeats of The Goodies (something which Brooke-Taylor himself played upon in many rounds). Humphrey Lyttelton often delivered mock comments of how boring and low quality the show was and, particularly in his later years on the show, preferring to doze off rather than listen to the rounds. Pianist Colin Sell, meanwhile, is often the butt of jokes regarding his supposedly terrible musical skills (despite in reality being an accomplished musician).

According to Willie Rushton, "The show gets quite filthy at times, but the audience love it." Similarly, particular mention of points scorer Samantha or her male replacement Sven (neither of whom actually exists) will typically bring laughter in anticipation of a sexual double-entendre.

In the "Film Club" round, any reference by Graeme Garden to Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is sure to cause a similar response. The game "Wobbling Bunnies" was introduced several times by Humph, often with eager anticipation by the panel and audience, but time pressures always meant the game was never actually played. Graeme Garden and Barry Cryer frequently played the characters of two Scots, Hamish and Dougal, whose skits usually began with the phrase "You'll have had your tea?", as a stereotypical Scots miser when receiving a guest never offers any food or drink. The characters were developed into their own Radio 4 show, Hamish and Dougal, which also featured Jeremy Hardy. Another long-running gag involves one of the panellists putting forward a challenge of "hesitation" when another panellist leaves a long pause in the middle of speaking, a reference to another long-running Radio 4 panel show, Just a Minute. (Likewise, occasionally on Just a Minute, a panellist will make a challenge of "Mornington Crescent".) Chairman Humphrey Lyttelton frequently poked fun at Just a Minute and its chairman Nicholas Parsons. Lyttelton's successor, Jack Dee, continued with and expanded upon this, mimicking Parsons while he was still alive by constantly emphasising the long experience of some panellists, and the fact that the programme can be heard all over the world.

Awards

The programme has won the Gold Sony Radio Comedy Award three times:

  • 1995: featuring Humphrey Lyttelton, Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Willie Rushton
  • 2002: featuring the usual cast and Jeremy Hardy.
  • 2004: I'm Sorry I Haven't A Christmas Carol, featuring the usual cast with Stephen Fry, Andy Hamilton, Jeremy Hardy, Tony Hawks, Sandi Toksvig and Linda Smith.

Other awards:

  • 1995: Best Radio Comedy, British Comedy Award
  • 1997: Radio Programme of the Year, British Press Guild
  • 1997: Radio Programme of the Year, Voice of the Viewer and Listener
  • 2003: Radio Programme of the Year, Voice of the Viewer and Listener
  • 2003: Radio Programme of the Year, Television and Radio Industries Club
  • 2003: Best Comedy, Spoken Word Award
  • 2005: Radio Programme of the Year, Television and Radio Industries Club

In 2020 the programme was voted the greatest radio comedy of all time by a panel convened by Radio Times.

BBC Audiobook releases

  • Volume 1 ()
  • Volume 2 ()
  • Volume 3 ()
  • Volume 4 ()
  • Volume 5 ()
  • Volume 6 ()
  • Volume 7 ()
  • Volume 8 ()
  • Volume 9 ()
  • Volume 10 ()
  • Volume 11 ()
  • Volume 12 ()
  • Volume 13 ()
  • Volume 14 ()
  • Volume 15 ()
  • Volume 16 ()
  • Volume 17 ()
  • Volume 18 ()
  • Collection 1 () [Vols 1–3]
  • Collection 2 () [Vols 4–6]
  • Collection 3 () [Vols 7–9]
  • Collection 4 () [Vols 10–12]
  • Anniversary Special () [Collection of Three programmes: "30th Anniversary Special", "Sorry I Haven't A Desert Island", and the first episode broadcast (11 April 1972)]
  • I'm Sorry I Haven't A Christmas Clue ()
  • Live 1 ()
  • Live 2 ()
  • In Search of Mornington Crescent ()
  • I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue: Humph in Wonderland ()
  • Specials () [Collection of several compilation CDs: "Christmas Carol", "Humph in Wonderland", "Anniversary Special", "In Search of Mornington Crescent", and the 2002 30th Anniversary Edition]

WTBS recordings

Episodes of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue were included in the package of programmes held in 20 underground radio stations of the BBC's Wartime Broadcasting Service (WTBS), designed to provide public information and morale-boosting broadcasts for 100 days after a nuclear attack.

References

  • (Previous website)
  • The officially unofficial I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue website featuring background information and news.
  • The I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue Info Site featuring lists of episodes and games (with quotes)
  • 376 episodes.
  • Internet Archive of all available recordings 1974-2023
  • I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue Statistics Site