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Panel show celebrates 30 years

The team of Radio 4's long-running panel game I'm Sorry I Have't A Clue are to return to the theatre where the first show was taped to record a special 30th anniversary programme.

The show first aired on April 11, 1972, and featured panellists Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Bill Oddie and Jo Kendall "being given silly things to do" by chairman Humphrey Lyttleton.

It was taped at the Playhouse Theatre in London, where the team return this Sunday to record the birthday special.

In the early days Lyttleron alternated chairman's duties with Barry Cryer, who became a panellist in series two.

Willie Rushton joined the show in 1974, replacing Bill Oddie, and remained part of the team until his death in 1996. Since then, his place has been filled by a rotating panel of regulars, includin Paul Merton and Jeremy Hardy.

Lyttleton, 80, said the show's success was because "it is chronically unpredictable".

And he recalls his favourite moment in 30 years. "We were playing the game in which the team have to say one word at a time in rotation, without getting a laugh from the audience. As only he could, Stephen Fry brought the house down with 'moistly'."

Fry rejoins the team for the 30th anniversary special, which goes out on Radio 4 on Saturday April 13.

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