The show starred and was written by Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, and Marty Feldman.

Certain sketches from the show would later be reused in the one-off John Cleese special How to Irritate People ("Freedom of Speech"), as well as the second episode of Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus ("One-Man Wrestling" again – now with play-by-play commentary added by Cleese – and "Hearing Aid Shop").

The "Beekeeper" sketch was also performed in the Secret Policeman's Ball stage shows, as were "Top of the Form" and "Take Your Clothes Off!".

Another, the "Bookshop" sketch, was recorded in modified form for Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album.

[5] The shows had no relationship to the year 1948; according to Cleese, the title referred to television executives' tendency to dither extensively over commissioning decisions.

Thames Television discarded the material once they had acquired the Rediffusion London archive, and all but two episodes were destroyed.

[2] Out of an original total of 13 episodes, eleven now exist in complete or near-complete form, while two remain incomplete.

[17] This includes the Four Yorkshiremen sketch, written and performed by Cleese, Chapman, Brooke-Taylor and Marty Feldman.

The episodes on all DVD releases are soft, grainy, and generally low picture quality, even considering the material's age.

This release has the compilation episodes in the same (mis-)order, and includes the 2 bonus interview tracks from the original DVD as well.

In October 2015, One Media iP acquired the rights to three original full episodes that had recently been discovered, and released them on their YouTube channel as well.

In recent years, some of the other surviving, original full episodes have been uploaded on YouTube and other video-sharing websites.

The British Film Institute released a comprehensive three-DVD set of the surviving material on 16 September 2019, including audio-only portions for all missing segments.