Film and television archive specialists Network Releasing have now issued the long-awaited comedy series, The Complete And Utter History Of Britain.

Written by and starring Terry Jones and Michael Palin, the sketch series is a comic journey through British history that predates Monty Python's Flying Circus by some 9 months.

A spoof documentary, The Complete And Utter History Of Britain pupports to chart the history of Britain through newly-found footage from across the ages - but itself has a complex history, and Network have gone the extra mile to ensure today's new DVD and Blu-ray release is as complete as is possible.

Written and initially filmed as a 7-part series for London Weekend Television, channel executives decided to combine 'highlights' from Episodes 1 and 2 into one programme, resulting in a six-episode run.

This turned out to be almost the only reason for the programme's survival: LWT kept their versions of Episodes 1 and 2 (1/2 and 3, as written) but the rest are believed wiped. However, the show's director - Maurice Murphy - was so angered by the channel's editing of the series that he personally kept copies of the original first two full length episodes as they had been made.

Network have now collected together the first two episodes as-filmed and the first two episodes as-broadcast, alongside all of the pre-filmed location sketches from the series, which Terry Jones kept safe in his own personal collection.

After restoring the film footage to high definition, Palin and Jones re-filmed some introductions linking many of the surviving sketches, using the show's original scripts. This special 52-minute production is dubbed The Incomplete And Utter History Of Britain 2013.

There are also 39 PDF documents, from studio recording tickets to draft and final script versions, press releases and print media coverage. A brand new interview with producer Humphrey Barclay is included, as are the separate filmed sketches (alone totalling more than 50 minutes), and a photo gallery.

The brand new three disc box set includes the entire collection on one Blu-ray disc, and again in standard definition over two regular DVDs. If that weren't enough, historian Andrew Pixley has written a 56-page booklet about the series, which is also included in the case.

All in all, this is quite an amazing release with a lot of love, time and attention clearly put into - all for the better. Certainly a must-buy for fans of archive comedy, and the humour of the Monty Python team.

Here is the trailer for the new Blu-ray and DVD release:

Details & Purchase the Blu-ray and DVD set