The idea (inspired by a sketch in an earlier show, Twice a Fortnight) was to replay history as if television had been around at the time.

The latter were in the form of poor quality video recordings, in CV-2000 format, with visible line structure and numerous instances of dropout.

[1] Terry Jones expressed dissatisfaction with the series, complaining (after a showing of surviving episodes) that the pacing was off and the soundtrack all wrong.

[5]Michael Palin recalled that the failure of the show helped bring about the formation of Monty Python later the same year, saying: John Cleese called me when it went out and said, "I’ve just seen this series of yours.

New linking material for film inserts was recorded by Jones and Palin especially for this release, and included as a 50-minute programme entitled The New Incomplete Complete and Utter History of Britain.