It called upon many of the writers and performers who'd made such an impact in these previous series.

However, by the time it reached screens in October 1965 the cutting edge of British comedy had moved on and BBC-3's mix of stand-up, songs and discussions felt tired and formulaic by comparison.

In fact Ned Sherrin: comedy producer and satire svengali at the BBC, wished in hindsight that the show had stuck with its alternate title 'It’s all Been Done Before' (which remained the name of its theme song), in order to pre-empt criticism.

With a cast including John Bird, John Fortune, Denis Norden and a young Bill Oddie, there was no dearth of talent on board but, what with David Frost concentrating on the more biting Frost Report and the ingenious duo of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore blazing a trail with Not Only…But Also, it was perhaps inevitable that BBC-3 would look stale.

Nevertheless, during its one run of 24 episodes it plugged away with parodies of politicians (including John Bird's notable Harold Wilson impersonation) and its writing team was bolstered by the addition of Alan Bennett, who was encouraged to contribute material on seeing Cook and Moore's success.

One of his sketches: a monologue about Virginia Woolf, later resurfaced in his stage play Forty Years On.

BBC-3's limited impact is best shown by the fact that its chief claim to fame, or rather notoriety, arose not from a sketch but a live discussion about stage censorship, during which critic Kenneth Tynan argued that "rational people" no longer found the f-word "diabolical, revolting or totally forbidden".

However, in making his point he ended up uttering the f-word for the first time on British television, stirring a storm of protest and (according to Sherrin) doing wonders for viewing figures.