N. F. Simpson which no episodes survive. His final series for television was the unsuccessful "Charley’s Grants" (1970), co-written with John Fortune and John Wells, starring Hattie Jacques, and produced by Ian MacNaughton (who produced "Monty Python’s Flying Circus"), which is also entirely lost. Plays followed, including a satire on advertising, "Thank You Very Much" (1971), and an effective three-hander for ITV, "Silver Wedding" (1974), directed by Mike Newell. Simpson’s highest-profile production for television was "Elementary, My Dear Watson" (1973), a Sherlock Holmes parody for BBC One’s "Comedy Playhouse" starring John Cleese and Willie Rushton. It has been screened several times at the
John Cleese comic contrast between the towering Cleese's crazed aggression and the shorter Palin's shuffling inoffensiveness is a common feature in the series. Occasionally, the typical Cleese–Palin dynamic is reversed, as in "Fish Licence", wherein Palin plays the bureaucrat with whom Cleese is trying to work. Though the programme lasted four series, by the start of series 3, Cleese was growing tired of dealing with Chapman's alcoholism. He felt, too, that the show's scripts had declined in quality. For these reasons, he became restless and decided to move on. Though he stayed for the third series, he officially left the group before