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Alas Smith and Jones
Genre	Sketch comedy
Starring	Mel Smith Griff Rhys Jones
Country of origin	UK
No. of episodes	27
Production
Running time	25 min per normal episode
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC2 BBC1
Original run	31 January 1984 – 14 October 1998
Chronology
Preceded by	Not the Nine O'Clock News
Links
IMDb profile

Alas Smith and Jones was a British comedy sketch television series featuring Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones. It was broadcast on the BBC from 1982 to 1998. From 1989 to 1995, it was called Smith and Jones.

The series followed in the footsteps of Not the Nine O'Clock News in its use of taboo-breaking material and sketches in questionable taste (as well as bad language), and also featured head-to-head 'duologues' between Smith and Jones. The series shared several script writers with Not the Nine O'Clock News including Clive Anderson, Colin Bostock-Smith and used Chris Langham as a cast regular. Other writers included Andy Hamilton.

The show's title was a pun on that of the American television series Alias Smith and Jones. The head-to-head sketches were very much in the Pete and Dud mould - Smith was the idiot who knew everything, Jones the idiot who knew nothing.

The series was one of the first to be commissioned by the BBC from an independent company, Talkback Productions of which Smith and Jones were also directors. The format of the Head to Head with similar characters was used by Smith and Jones in a series of commercials.

In 2006 Smith and Jones returned with The Smith and Jones Sketchbook, recorded in front of a live audience acting as a look back at their earlier shows.

The show ran for 10 seasons with 5 to 7 episodes of 30 minutes duration[1]:

• December 27, 1982: a 5 minute special, broadcast as part of The Funny Side Of Christmas
• January 31, 1984 - March 6, 1984: Series One, 6 episodes
• October 31, 1985 - December 5, 1985: Series Two, 6 episodes
• September 18, 1986 - October 23, 1986: Series Three, 6 episodes
• October 15, 1987 - November 26, 1987: Series Four, 7 episodes
• December 21, 1988: 40 minutes special, Alas Sage And Onion

A compilation DVD release (coded for region 2) was scheduled for August 8th 2005 by the BBC, but has been delayed many times:

• The Best Of Alas Smith And Jones

There is an older VHS tape of Alas Smith and Jones, but it is out of print and hard to find. The tape is only suitable for PAL playback.

• Alas Smith and Jones from the BBC Comedy Guide