seeing mention of MP on another thread reminded me that I happened across an episode the other night (with suitable warnings about it being from a time when things were not thought of as offensive) and thought how ahead of its time it was. I hadn't seen an episode for probably 20 years or more but straight away shouted 'The Larch' when it said 'Number One'! I was present at the filming of the episode where they had the Spanish Inquisition (nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!).
Many people seem to forget that, while Monty Python was viewed as 'ground breaking', ITV actually had something in many ways similar to it several year's earlier in At Last the 1948 Show: