4th Series Scripts 1-9 and 11-20 by Spike Milligan and Larry Stephens; no. by Larry Stephens; remainder by Spike Milligan. Announcer Andrew Timothy (nos. 1-5); then Wallace Greenslade. Produced by Peter Eton, except no. 15 produced by Jacques Brow Nos. 1-20 (except 13) broadcast on Fridays, nos. 21-30 on Monday all pre-recorded the previous Sunday. 1 2-10-53 TLO 35079 The Dreaded Piano Clubber(2) 2 9-10-53 TLO 35432 The Man Who Tried to Destroy London's Monuments(8) 3 16-10-53 TLO 35740 The Ghastly Experiments of Dr. Hans Eidelburger(4) 4 23-10-53 TLO 36235 The Building of Britain's First Atomic Cannon(5) 5 30-10-53 TLO 37145 The Gibraltar Story(6) 6 6-11-53 TLO 37511 Through the Sound Barrier in an Airing Cupboard(7) 7 1-11-53 TLO 37898 The First Albert Memorial to the Moon 8 20-11-53 TLO 38482 The Missing Bureaucrat(7) 9 27-11-53 TLO 37891 Operation Bagpipes 10 4-12-53 TLO 39091 The Flying Saucer Mystery(8) 11 11-12-53 TLO 39790 The Spanish Armada(8) 12 18-12-53 TLO 40412 The British Way SP 25-12-53 TLO 40660 Short insert in 'Christmas Crackers' (which also contained contributions from other Variety shows) (recorded 20-12-53) 13 26-12-53 TLO 40660 The Giant Bombardon (with Michael Bentine) 14 1-1-54 TLO 40965 Ten Thousand Fathoms Down in a Wardrobe 15 8-1-54 TLO 41242 The Missing Prime Minister 16 15-1-54 TLO 41552 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Crun(10) 17 22-1-54 TLO 42416 The Mummified Priest 18 29-1-54 TLO 42842 The History of Communications(11) 19 5-2-54 TLO 48011 The Kippered Herring Gang 20 12-2-54 TLO 49072 The Toothpaste Expedition(12) 21 15-2-54 TLO 49191 The Case of the Vanishing Room 22 22-2-54 TLO 49628 The Great Ink Drought of 1902(13) 23 1-3-54 TLO 50206 The Greatest Mountain in the World 24 8-3-54 TLO 50546 The Collapse of the British Railway Sandwich System 25 15-3-54 TLO 50871 The Silent Bugler(14) 26 22-3-54 TLO 51429 Western Story(15) 27 29-3-54 TLO 51769 The Saga of the Internal Mountain 28 5-4-54 TLO 52346 The Invisible Acrobat(16) (Ellington pre-recorded) 29 12-4-54 TLO 52583 The Great Bank of England Robbery (Ellington pre-recorded) 30 19-4-54 TLO 52599 The Siege of Fort Knight (Ellingt pre-recorded) SP 11-6-54 TLO 55169 ARCHIE IN GOONLAND with Peter Brough and Archie Andrews, Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, Hattie Jacques, and the BBC Variety Orchestra, conductor Paul Fenoulhet. Script by Eric Sykes and Spike Milligan. Produced by Roy Speer. Recorded 6-5-54. SP 31-8-54 TNC 408 THE STARLINGS Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan and Andrew Timothy. Written by Spike Milligan. Without musicians or audience. Produced by Peter Eton. Recorded 11/12-8-54. Notes to 4th series With this series, the shows begin for the first time to take on familiar dramatic format, although it is not until the second half of series that the majority of the shows have a straight-through half-hour plot (apart from the musical items, of course). As yet the shows were not given titles at the time of writing, with the result that the situat has become rather confused. Spike Milligan has titled his own copies of the scripts with abbreviated titles that are really more of a shorthand indication of the content. Someone has written in pencil on the front of the BBC Script Library copies titles which tend to be based on opening announcements; however, as many of the shows have a short opening sketch with the main part of the programme starting only after the first musical items, these titles tend to be misleading. The titles given in the list opposite are derived from both sources with a tendency to use Milligan's titles where there is a choice between two reasonably acceptable alternatives. Only one show in this series has been preserved in BBC Sound Archives (no. 23)- in this case the BBC title has been retained in preference to Milligan's. 1. Not coherently announced. 2. Three-episode show, the middle section is 'The Dreaded Piano Clubber'. 3. This story occupies the second and third episodes of the show. 4. The first part of the show is 'The Adventures of Fearless Harry Secombe', a 'serial' which appears at the start of several shows; the title given for the show is the subtitle of this first section. The remainder of the show is about the ascent of Mount Everest. 5. Announced as title. This is the first show in this series to have single plot lasting through all three parts. 6. The title given applies to parts 2 and 3. 7. The first part of the show is 'The Further Adventures of Fearless Harry Secombe - A Race to the Death'. 'The Missing Burea- crat' is parts 2 and 3. 8. The first part of the show is again 'The Adventures of Fearless Harry Secombe' (the title given on the BBC Script Library copy); however, the main part of the show is about flying saucers, and as Spike Milligan's copy of the script is missing and therefore no title has been given for it, I have taken the liberty of inventing a title. 9. In the first part of the show 'Harry Proves he is Not a Dog'; parts 2 and 3 are the story of the Armada. 10. Announced as 'Crime Does Not Pay Income Tax'. 11. Part one of the script is 'The History of Communications'; originally part of the 7th of the 1st series and later re-worked into 'The GPO Show'. Parts 2 and 3 are 'The Siege of Khar- toum', originally part of the 18th of the 3rd series. 12. The first part of the script was originally used in the 2nd of the 2nd series; 'The Toothpaste Expedition' was originally used in the 5th of the 3rd series. 13. Announced as 'Hansard Unexpurgated'. 14. The nearest to an announcement is 'take the case of Agent X2....' 15. Announced as 'Brain!' (inspired by the film, Shane). 16. Announced as 'Bulletto'. Fourteen of these scripts were re-worked for the 'Vintage Goon' series recorded in 1957/8 for Transcription Services. 5th Series From now on the announcer is Wallace Greenslade. Scripts for shows 1-6 by Spike Milligan, remainder by Milligan and Eric Sykes. Produced by Peter Eton. Broadcast Tuesdays, pre-recorded the previous Sunday, except nos. 14 and 20. 1 28-9-54 TLO 62960 The Whistling Spy Enigma 2 5-10-54 TLO 63962 The Lost Gold Mine (of Charlotte)(2) 3 12-10-54 TLO 64018 The Dreaded Batter-Pudding Hurler (of Bexhill-on-Sea)(3) 4 19-10-54 TLO 64443 The Phantom Head Shaver (of Brighton) 5 26-10-54 TLO 64692 The Affair of the Lone Banana 6 2-11-54 TLO 65467 The Canal (with Valentine Dyall) 7 9-11-54 TLO 65972 Lurgi Strikes Britain(1) (TS: Lurgi Strikes Again) 8 16-11-54 TLO 67106 The Mystery of the Marie Celeste (Solved) 9 23-11-54 TLO 67320 The Last Tram (from Clapham) 10 30-11-54 TLO 67468 The Booted Gorilla (found?) 11 7-12-54 TLO 68322 The Spanish Suitcase(1) 12 14-12-54 TLO 68149 Dishonoured, or The Fall of Neddie 13 21-12-54 TLO 69220 Forog 14 28-12-54 TLO 69221 Ye Bandit of Sherwood Forest (recorded 19-12-54: with Charlotte Mitchell) 15 4-1-55 TLO 70044 Nineteen-Eighty-Five(5) (orch. cond. by Bruce Campbell) 16 11-1-54 TLO 70045 The Case of the Missing Heir(1) 17 18-1-55 TLO 70610 China Story 18 25-1-55 TLO 72116 Under Two Floorboards - A Story of the Legion(1) 19 1-2-55 TLO 71797 The Missing Scroll(4) 20 8-2-55 TLO 71798 Nineteen-Eighty-Five(5) (recorded 30-1-55: with John Snagge - pre- rec.) 21 15-2-55 TLO 72450 The Sinking of Westminster Pier(6) 22 22-2-55 TLO 72538 The Fireball of Milton Street(7) 23 1-3-55 TLO 73044 The Six Ingots of Leadenhall Street(8) 24 8-3-55 TLO 73495 Yehti 25 15-3-55 TLO 74145 The White Box of Great Bardfield(1) 26 22-3-55 TLO 74489 The End(9) (TS: - reissue only: Confessions of a Secret Senna-pod Drinker) Notes to 5th series With the beginning of this series, the first to be taken by the BBC Transcription Services, the shows become the familiar and well- remembered full-length stories, featuring by now most of the best- known characters. This is the only series honoured by Radio Times with a synopsis and cast list for most shows (although these get progressively more divorced from reality as the series wears on). 1. Not coherently announced. 2. Announced as 'Death in the Desert'. 3. Announced as 'The Terror of Bexhill-on-Sea'. 4. Announced as 'The Lost Music of Purdom'. 5. Inspired by Nigel Kneale's television adaptation of Orwell's 1984. The show was such a success that the script was repeated by popular demand: the second appearance is not a recorded repeat, but a new performance of the script, which was re-typed, in- corporating all but one of the timing cuts made for the first version. In the second show Snagge (pre-recorded) reads the telescreen announcement near the beginning: in the original this is read by Sellers. 6. Billed in Radio Times (and Programme Index) as 'The Six Ingots of Leadenhall Street'; the script was changed at short notice to a story inspired by the appearance of a photograph of the floating pier at Westminster under several feet of water with an 'Out of Order' notice being pinned to it. Greenslade tries to announce the show as 'The Six Ingots of Leadenhall Street' (insisting that the Radio Times is never wrong): finally Sellers announces it as 'The Port of London Authority's valuable hand-carved, oil-painted, valuable floating pier'. 7. 'Milton Street' is the name of a village in Sussex. 8. The title situation for this show can best be described as confusing. The front of the script, Radio Times, Programme Index and the 'Programme as Broadcast' files give the title as 'The Terrible Blasting of Moreton's Bank'. However, the show is in fact 'The Six Ingots of Leadenhall Street', the script postponed from 15-2-55 (see note 6), is announced as such, and titled as such by TS. Strictly speaking, the title opposite ought to match the official files, but since the 'Six Ingots' title makes more sense, and in fact would have been the official title of the script had not the last-minute change of plan happened, I have decided to adopt It 9. Announced as 'The Confessions of a Secret Senna-pod Drinker'. 6th Series Scripts by Spike Milligan (SM) except where indicated; ES=Eric Sykes, LS=Larry Stephens. Produced by Peter Eton (nos. 1-21) and Pat Dixon (nos. 22-27). Broadcast Tuesdays, pre-recorded the previous Sunday (except nos. 10 & 15). 1 20-9-55 TLO 86722 The Man Who Won the War(2) (SM & ES) (TS: Seagoon MCC) 2 27-9-55 TLO 87028 The Secret Escritoire (SM & ES) 3 4-10-55 TLO 87493 The Lost Emperor(1) 4 11-10-55 TLO 88253 Napoleon's Piano(3) 5 18-10-55 TLO 88477 The Case of the Missing CD Plates(4) 6 25-10-55 TLO 88977 Rommel's Treasure(5) 7 1-11-55 TLO 89727 Foiled by President Fred(6) 8 8-11-55 TLO 90136 Shangri-La Again(7) 9 15-11-55 TBU 52103 The International Christmas Pudding(8) 22-11-55 (No. 10 postponed to 3-4-56,(9) replaced by repeat of 'China Story', first broadcast 18-1-55) 11 29-11-55 TLO 91637 The Sale of Manhattan(10) (TS: The Lost Colony) 12 6-12-55 TLO 92346 The Terrible Revenge of Fred Fu-Manchu(11) SP 8-12-55 TLO 92849 The Missing Christmas Parcel - Post Early for Christmas (ES) (15 minutes- broadcast in Children's Hour; recorded 27-11-55: without musicians). Devised and produced by Peter Eton and John Lane 13 13-12-55 TLO 93483 The Lost Year 14 20-12-55 TLO 93839 The Greenslade Story (with John Snagge) 15 27-12-55 TLO 93838 The Hastings Flyer - Robbed(12) (recorded 18-12-55) 16 3-1-56 TLO 94673 The Mighty Wurlitzer 17 10-1-56 TLO 94832 The Raid of the International Christmas Pudding(1) 18 17-1-56 TLO 95608 Tales of Montmartre (SM & ES) (with Charlotte Mitchell) 19 24-1-56 TLO 95990 The Jet-Propelled Guided NAAFI(1) 20 31-1-56 TLO 96271 The House of Teeth(1) (with Valentine Dyan) 21 7-2-56 TLO 97228 Tales of Old Dartmoor (orch. cond. by Bruce Campbell) 22 14-2-56 TLO 97297 The Choking Horror (orch. cond. by Bruce Campbell) 23 21-2-56 TLO 98295 The Great Tuscan Salami Scandal(13) (without musicians, with John Snagge - pre-rec.) 24 28-2-56 TLO 98661 The Treasure in the Lake(14) (orch cond. Bruce Campbell) SP 1-3-56 TLO 98662 The Goons Hit Wales (5 1/2 minute insert in St. David's Day programme, recorded 26-2-S6) 25 6-3-56 TLO 98778 The Fear of Wages(15) (SM & LS) 26 13-3-56 TLO 98950 Scradje (SM & LS) (with John Snagge - pre-rec.) 27 20-3-56 TLO 99481 The Man Who Never Was(16) (SM & LS) 10 3-4-56 TLO 90647 The Pevensey Bay Disaster(9) (recorded 20-11-55) SP 29-8-56 TLO 11466 China Story (SM & ES)(17) (recorded 24-8-56 at the National Radio Show. Produced by Dennis Main Wilson) Notes to 6th series 1. Not coherently announced. 2. Announced as 'Seagoon MCC' (because he was a batman...). 3. The script and the Programme Index entry are wrongly titled 'The Sale of Manhattan'. 4. Announced as 'A Strange Case of Diplomatic Immunity'. 5. Announced as 'The Search for Rommel's Treasure'. 6. Announced as 'In Honour Bound'. 7. Announced as 'Lost Horizon'. 8. Announced as 'The Great International Christmas Pudding'. 9. On the day the show was recorded there was a serious train crash at Didcot in which 10 people were killed and 116 injured. In view of the fact that the show contains a train crash, the broadcast was cancelled and replaced with a repeat of 'China Story' from the previous series. (See 'The Hastings Flyer - Robbed'(12)). 10. Announced as 'The Lost Colony'. 11. Announced as 'Fred Fu-Manchu and his Bamboo Saxophone'. 12. This script is identical to that for 'The Pevensey Bay Disaster' (see note 9), incorporating the timing cuts made for that oc- casion; only the announcements are changed, to 'The Hastings Flyer'. The earlier version of the show is the one issued by TS, as they recorded directly by line from the studio, so that to them 'The Hastings Flyer' was a repeat. 'The Pevensey Bay Disaster' was eventually broadcast two weeks after the end of the series, so that to the British listeners 'The Hastings Flyer' is the original version. 13. There was a musicians' strike on at the time. In common with other Variety shows, the cast made do without music. This show and the next also include Milligan's famous ballad 'I'm Walking8 Backwards for Christmas'. The programme is not coherently announced. 14. Announced as 'The Treasure of Loch Lomond'. 15. Inspired by the film 'The Wages of Fear'. 16. This is an expanded version of the script which formed parts 2 & 3 of the 20th of the 3rd series. It appears again in the 8th series. 17. This is a new production of no. 17 of the 5th series - the script is almost identical.