Radio comedy is something that
allows your imagination to get a good workout; you can conjure up scenes in
your head without it occurring to you that the actors are in reality standing
at a microphone with the script in their hands. Although radio comedy is still
thriving, either on ‘proper’ radio or via the unrestricted medium of podcasts,
it is still seen by many as a springboard to having your own show adapted for
television. This should not be the case as radio (in my opinion at least) far
superior to television in all ways. A good radio sitcom or sketch show can
paint pictures that television simply couldn’t do, certainly not for the same
budget. Take for example On The Town With The
League of Gentlemen, a 1997 Radio 4 series and compare it to The League of Gentlemen, a television series that began life
in 1999; certain changes of character had to be made to accommodate the move to
the small screen. Adrian Edmondson’s Radio 2 sitcom Teenage
Kicks is another example of the transition not working, as ITV
remade it and it was terrible. A look around the websites for Radio 4 and Radio
4 Extra reveals a whole wealth of comedy old and new, none of which I hope
makes it to television. I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue
is one example of a brilliant radio series that just wouldn’t work on
television, Just a Minute is the lesson in how it
doesn’t always work.
Although radio comedy is still
popular, I feel it is a shame that it appears to have had its glory days as far
as mass appeal is concerned. Obviously prior to television radio was King and
the entertainers were the superstars of their day. In the post-war years this
continued as very few people owned (or rented) a television so radio was the
way to be amused and informed. Sunday lunchtimes saw the likes of Round the
Horne and The Navy Lark providing the soundtrack to the family dinner. Radio 4
Extra, something of a UK Gold of the airwaves, repeats classic radio comedy and
makes them available to listen to again on the website.
While I enjoy the history and
significance of these old shows, I tend to find listening to them a little
tiresome. Time has not been kind to a great deal of these programmes, and what
was once thought of as hilarious comedy just sounds old fashioned and laboured.
Some things have weathered the ravages of time; Hancock’s Half Hour (which ran
in tandem with a television version although the two worlds never collided)
still sounds as fresh today as it no doubt did the first time it was broadcast,
which can’t be said for a lot of 1950s radio comedy.
The importance of radio
comedy, if ‘importance’ is the right word, seemed to have hit its final peak
during the 1970s. Television sitcoms such as Dad’s Army and Steptoe and Son
were re-recorded as radio programmes, Whatever Happened to The Likely Lads is
another example. The BBC didn’t simply play the audio from the original, the
cast performed radio scripts in front of an audience. I’m not entirely sure why
they did this, unless radio still outnumbered televisions in the majority of
households as late as the 1970s. Radio evidently was still highly regarded
though, as Morcambe and Wise continued to host a radio show throughout the
1970s when they were at the height of their television reign.
On the aforementioned BBC
website I found something of historical interest last night; a sequel of sorts
to Dad’s Army. The pilot episode of It Sticks out Half a Mile starred John Le Mesurier and
Arthur Lowe and was recorded in 1981. Wilson is now a bank manager and
Mainwaring a customer after a loan to buy the pier. Lowe died before they could
make a full series and the idea was scrapped until 1982 when the series kicked
off, this time with Ian Lavender and Bill Pertwee joining in. The first episode
was basically a remake of the pilot with slight adjustments made to accommodate
the change of starring roles, and makes interesting listening. Not being
written by the Dad’s Army writers Jimmy Perry
and David Croft made a slight difference, as only a writer really knows the
characters they have created. It is likely that in those days the material was
owned by the BBC as the idea of independent production companies wasn’t in full
force. The pilot was only discovered because the writer kept a copy, the BBC
had wiped it, as recently as the early 1980s this was still fairly common
within the walls of the Beeb, which is unbelievable given that they should have
learned their lessons earlier.
What I like most about this
series is that it was made for radio and not television. Location wise it was
no doubt cheaper and easier to do it this way, (although they did make a
television version some time later which tanked) but goes to show how listening
to something rather than watching it makes things much more interesting. Audio
comedy is something I would like to get into when I have more time; I am
currently working on a one-off sitcom episode which will see the light of day
next year.
Almost in the words of Why Don’t You, why don’t you switch off your TV set and do
something better like listen to the radio instead.
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