Ramanujan's series $1+\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}(8n+1)\left(\frac{1\cdot 5\cdots (4n-3)}{4\cdot 8\cdots (4n)}\right)^{4}$ Ramanujan gave the following series evaluation $$1+9\left(\frac{1}{4}\right)^{4}+17\left(\frac{1\cdot 5}{4\cdot 8}\right)^{4}+25\left(\frac{1\cdot 5\cdot 9}{4\cdot 8\cdot 12}\right)^{4}+\cdots=\dfrac{2\sqrt{2}}{\sqrt{\pi}\Gamma^{2}\left(\dfrac{3}{4}\right)}$$ in his first and famous letter to G H Hardy. The form of the series is similar to his famous series for $1/\pi$ and hence a similar approach might work to establish the above evaluation. Thus if $$f(x) =1+\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\left(\frac{1\cdot 5\cdots (4n-3)}{4\cdot 8\cdots (4n)}\right)^{4}x^{n}$$ then Ramanujan's series is equal to $f(1)+8f'(1)$. Unfortunately the series for $f(x) $ does not appear to be directly related to elliptic integrals or amenable to Clausen's formula used in the proofs for his series for $1/\pi$.

Is there any way to proceed with my approach? Any other approaches based on hypergeometric functions and their transformation are also welcome.

Update: This question is now solved, thanks to the people at mathoverflow. 

(Too long for a comment. But this factoid might be useful.) If I remember correctly, a pair of series in that letter was,
$$U_1 = 1-5\left(\frac{1}{2}\right)^{3}+9\left(\frac{1\cdot 3}{2\cdot 4}\right)^{3}-13\left(\frac{1\cdot 3\cdot 5}{2\cdot 4\cdot 6}\right)^{3}+\cdots=\dfrac{2}{\pi}$$
$$V_1= 1+9\left(\frac{1}{4}\right)^{4}+17\left(\frac{1\cdot 5}{4\cdot 8}\right)^{4}+25\left(\frac{1\cdot 5\cdot 9}{4\cdot 8\cdot 12}\right)^{4}+\cdots=\dfrac{2\sqrt{2}}{\sqrt{\pi}\,\Gamma^{2}\left(\dfrac{3}{4}\right)}$$
Their similar form can be enhanced as,
$$\begin{aligned}U_1&=\sum_{n=0}^\infty\, (-1)^n\,(4n+1) \left(\frac{\Gamma\big(n+\tfrac{1}{2}\big)}{n!\;\Gamma\big(\tfrac{1}{2}\big)}\right)^3\\V_1&=\sum_{n=0}^\infty (8n+1)\left(\frac{\Gamma\big(n+\tfrac{1}{4}\big)}{n!\;\Gamma\big(\tfrac{1}{4}\big)}\right)^4\end{aligned}$$
$U_1$ belongs to an infinite family,
$$U_1=\sum_{n=0}^\infty\,(-1)^n \left(\frac{(2n)!}{n!^2}\right)^3 \color{blue}{\frac{4n+1}{2^{6n}}}=\frac{2}{\pi}$$
$$U_2=\sum_{n=0}^\infty \left(\frac{(2n)!}{n!^2}\right)^3 \color{blue}{\frac{42n+5}{2^{12n}}}=\frac{16}{\pi}$$
and so on. $V_1$ may also then belong to an infinite family. 

To Jack: As relations were asked, maybe the one below will help?  Given the binomial $\binom nk$, then we have,
$$\binom{-\tfrac14}{n}\binom{-\tfrac34}{n} = \binom{-\tfrac34}{n}\frac{(-1)^n\,\Gamma\big(n+\tfrac{1}{4}\big)}{\Gamma\big(\tfrac{1}{4}\big)\Gamma(n+1)} = \frac{\binom{4n}{2n}\binom{2n}{n}}{64^n}$$
