About All Gas and Gaiters

The fondly remembered clerical sitcom "All Gas and Gaiters" was one of the first TV series to poke fun at the church. The ensemble cast play members of a cathedral ecclesiastical community, who constantly fight amongst themselves. There is the Bishop (Mervyn), the Archdeacon (Hare) and the chaplain, Noote (Nimmo), who are lazy, ineffectual and enjoy life's pleasures. This triumvirate is engaged in a constant battle of wits against the Dean (Baron).

This was a wonderful TV series. In reality, there were 33 episodes of "All Gas and Gaiters" filmed (including the pilot called "The Bishop Rides Again" which was part of the BBC's Comedy Playhouse series), although only 11 of these have survived the massive destruction of material that took place at the BEEB in the early 70s.

It's not always about big belly laughs, the humour is more akin to that of the Will Hay films or Capt. Mainwearing in "Dad's Army", where the joy is in watching incompetent people tackle tasks beyond their scope. It's more like Trollope's Barchester Cathedral novels, in fact.

What is notable is that another BBC series, "Oh, Brother!", in a similar vein and made at the same time also starred Nimmo. Unfortunately it too seems to have suffered the same fate as reportedly only 9 of the original 19 episodes have survived.

For real buffs, there was also a BBC radio series with Baron, Mervyn and Hare in their original roles, although Nimmo only appeared in 13 of the 33 episodes, being replaced by his friend Jonathan Cecil. Many of these are available on OTR sites in MP3 format. Amazon also has some related media you can buy, please see our merchandise page for more information.