The 27-hour strip

Every Comic Strip... show released on DVD

All 39 episodes of the pioneering Comic Strip Presents… TV show are to be released on a nine-disc DVD set in July.

The boxed set contains more than 27 hours of material from the Channel 4 series, which launched on the same day as the channel itself in November 1982.

The shows, most successfully pastiches of TV and Hollywood styles, came from the founders of so-called alternative comedy, including Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Rik Mayall, Alexei Sayle, Ade Edmondson, Peter Richardson, Keith Allen, Robbie Coltrane and Nigel Planer.

The Comic Strip troupe formed in 1989 as a more theatrical breakaway from the fledging Comedy Store, and performed a weekly show in a Soho strip joint.

Classic episodes include Five Go Mad in Dorset – the parody of the Famous Five, pictured – Golden Rose of Montreux winning Strike! – an over the top Hollywood pastiche about the 1984 miners’ strike, and Bad News – a send up of a touring rock band.

The ninth disc is loaded with an extensive array of extra, including a new retrospective of the Comic Strip Presents with the stars discussing their experiences on the project.

The boxed set is released on Channel 4 video on July 4, with a recommended price tag of £49.99. However, it is available from Amazon priced £34.99. Click here to pre-order.

Interest in the career of acclaimed TV comedian Stanley Baxter, right, is set to be revived with the release of a new double DVD of six of his hour-long specials, one of which has never been available before.

Baxter’s character-driven comedy, complete with elaborate costumes and make-up, made him one of the biggest starts from the mid-Sixties to the mid-Seventies, when his lavish shows became too expensive to produce.

His humour was considered near the knuckle for the time, and he was famously the first person to imitate the Queen on TV.

Stanley Baxter: The Specials is released by Network on May 30, priced £24.99. Although it can be pre-ordered from Amazon at £18.74. Click here to buy.

The set includes The Stanley Baxter Big Picture Show (1973), The Stanley Baxter Moving Picture Show (1974), The Stanley Baxter Show Part 3 (1975), Stanley Baxter’s Christmas Box (1976), Stanley Baxter On Television (1979) and The Stanley Baxter Hour (1982).