Q5 poster

Q5 (1969)

Comedy

Q... was a surreal television comedy sketch show from Spike Milligan which ran from 1969 to 1982 on BBC2. There were six series in all, the first five numbered from Q5 to Q9, and a final series titled There's a Lot of It About. The first and third series ran for seven episodes, and the others for six episodes, each of which was 30 minutes long. Various reasons have been suggested for the title. One possibility is that it was inspired by the project to construct the Cunard liner QE2, launched in September 1967, which was dubbed Q4. Another theory is that Milligan was inspired by the BBC 6-point technical quality scale of the time, where "Q5" was severe degradation to picture or sound, and "Q6" was complete loss of sound or vision. This was extended by some engineering departments to a 9-point scale, finishing at "Q9". According to Milligan's autobiography, the final series was renamed There's a Lot of It About after the BBC felt the public might find Q10 too confusing.

IMDb rating
8.1 (157 votes)
Seasons
5
Language
EN
Type
TV series

Ratings refreshed Jul 3, 2026 · 5 seasons indexed

Cast

Seasons

Season 1 (1969)

7.60 avg 3 episodes 7.5 → 7.8

Ep 2: 7.5 · 12 votesEp 3: 7.5 · 9 votesEp 4: 7.8 · 9 votes
Season 1 episodes — IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
2Episode #1.27.512
3Episode #1.37.59
4Episode #1.47.89

Season 2 (1975)

7.38 avg 6 episodes 8.5 → 6.6

Ep 1: 8.5 · 11 votesEp 2: 7.4 · 10 votesEp 3: 7.6 · 10 votesEp 4: 7.3 · 8 votesEp 5: 6.9 · 8 votesEp 6: 6.6 · 9 votes
Season 2 episodes — IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Episode #2.18.511
2Episode #2.27.410
3Episode #2.37.610
4Episode #2.47.38
5Episode #2.56.98
6Episode #2.66.69

Season 3 (1978)

6.70 avg 7 episodes 7.3 → 6.2

Ep 1: 7.3 · 8 votesEp 2: 6.9 · 9 votesEp 3: 7.0 · 7 votesEp 4: 6.6 · 8 votesEp 5: 6.2 · 7 votesEp 6: 6.7 · 7 votesEp 7: 6.2 · 7 votes
Season 3 episodes — IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Episode #3.17.38
2Episode #3.26.99
3Episode #3.37.07
4Episode #3.46.68
5Episode #3.56.27
6Episode #3.66.77
7Episode #3.76.27

Season 4 (1979)

6.72 avg 6 episodes 7.3 → 6.4

Ep 1: 7.3 · 8 votesEp 2: 7.4 · 8 votesEp 3: 6.7 · 7 votesEp 4: 6.3 · 7 votesEp 5: 6.2 · 6 votesEp 6: 6.4 · 6 votes
Season 4 episodes — IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Episode #4.17.38
2Episode #4.27.48
3Episode #4.36.77
4Episode #4.46.37
5Episode #4.56.26
6Episode #4.66.46

Season 5 (1980)

5.87 avg 3 episodes 6.2 → 5.8

Ep 1: 6.2 · 6 votesEp 2: 5.6 · 6 votesEp 4: 5.8 · 6 votes
Season 5 episodes — IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Episode #5.16.26
2Episode #5.25.66
4Episode #5.45.86