John Antrobus. Q gave centre stage to Milligan's freeform surreal wit. The sketches came thick and fast, running into one another, making outrageous leaps from one subject or location to another and often stopping with no apparent conclusion. Even the costumes were madcap and contradictory – in some episodes each of them still bore its BBC Wardrobe Department tag – and Milligan seemed to have a fondness for large noses and hats. However, Milligan was criticised for his tendency to make racially charged jokes, especially regarding Jews and Pakistanis, and the series as a whole was decidedly risqué even by the standards of the 1970s – almost every episode featured an appearance by the scantily-clad, huge-breasted "glamour stooge" Julia Breck. Episodes Archive status 34 of the 38 "Q" episodes still exist. Through the mid-1970s, the BBC had a policy of wiping master copies of previously aired shows in order to reuse the videotape, or disposing of master videotapes altogether in order to reduce storage costs. This affected series Q5, as four of the seven episodes are now lost, and another two exist as black-and-white telerecordings only. However, all of Q6 exists, as does all of Q7, Q8, Q9 and There's a Lot of It About. Only three episodes of Q5 still exist. Episodes 2 and 3 both survive as 16mm black and white tele-recordings. Episode 4 exists in colour in its original form, and a few short clips from this colour episode appeared on the documentary Heroes of Comedy: Spike Milligan, and again on BBC4's "Assorted Q" in December 2014. In 2022, film rolls containing sketches from one of the missing Q5 episodes were discovered in Spike Milligan's personal archive during the making of a documentary about him. Guests Most of the episodes featured a relatively 'straight' musical interlude, sometimes performed by Milligan himself, or his collaborators Ed Welch or Alan Clare at the piano. There were also appearances by jazz groups, ragtime bands, singer-songwriters and the Mike Sammes Singers, who received custard pies in their faces at the end of one performance. Some of the musical clips were included in the BBC Four series Jazz Britannia. Regular cast members Julia Breck John Bluthal Alan Clare Jeannette Charles Robert Dorning Linzi Drew Richard Ingrams Peter Jones David Lodge Chris Langham David Rappaport Keith Smith Stella Tanner Bob Todd Rita Webb John Wells Home releases Volume One (containing the first three