Packing Them In Episode Recovered from VHS

An exciting find for Curious British Telly today in the form of a 99.9% complete episode of Packing Them In, the 1992 Channel 4 standup showcase hosted by Frank Skinner.The programme originally started life as Packet of Three in 1991, but was renamed Packing Them In for its second and final run in late 1992. As with Packet of Three, the newly titled series followed the same formula: Frank Skinner acts as compere at the Crumpsall Palladium - actually Wakefield's Theatre Royal - whilst also dealing with all the backstage chaos. It's a bit like The Muppet Show, albeit without the legendary status afforded to Jim Henson's creation.A few episodes of Packet of Three have surfaced over the years, but Packing Them In is a much rarer beast. A heavily compressed clip of John Shuttleworth on the programme was uploaded to YouTube back in 2007, but there's been little else since. Until today. Thanks to a recent donation of tapes, I've managed to secure the fifth episode, and the good news is that…