Without Not the Nine O’Clock News, we may have never seen it in the first place.
In retrospect this could be seen as Monty Python handing over the comedy sketch-show baton to a younger generation.
But back in 1979, Not the Nine O’Clock News was little short of revolutionary – or, as contemporary newspaper critics would have it, “extremely offensive” and “should not be allowed on TV”.
In fact, the brevity of many of the skits often exceeded those of its near-direct descendent, The Fast Show.