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Tuesday 28 October 2014


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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