Items19The creator’s order
  1. 1It's That Man AgainIt's That Man AgainThe show that taught Britain to quote the wireless. Tommy Handley's wartime series ran from 1939 to 1949 and packed each half hour with rapid-fire characters, none more famous than Mrs Mopp the char-lady and her "Can I do you now, sir?", or Colonel Chinstrap treating any remark as an offer of a…0
  2. 2Take It from HereTake It from HereFrank Muir and Denis Norden wrote this Light Programme favorite, which ran for 328 episodes between 1948 and 1960 with Jimmy Edwards, Dick Bentley and June Whitfield. The reason to seek it out now is The Glums, the sketch about dim Ron, his long-suffering fiancée Eth and his father, Mr Glum, in an…0
  3. 3The Goon ShowThe Goon ShowSpike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe turned the BBC Home Service upside down from 1951 to 1960, and no show uses sound itself as the joke quite like this one. Explosions, impossible footsteps and voices that could only exist on radio carry stories that collapse into glorious nonsense,…0
  4. 4Hancock's Half HourHancock's Half HourThe radio original, 1954 to 1959 Ray Galton and Alan Simpson built the modern sitcom here: one pompous, self-deceiving man and the people who puncture him, with jokes that come from character instead of gags. Tony Hancock is surrounded by Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques and Bill Kerr…0
  5. 5Beyond Our KenBeyond Our KenThe warm-up act for Round the Horne, and worth hearing in its own right. Kenneth Horne fronted this sketch show on the Light Programme from 1958 to 1964, with Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden and Bill Pertwee already in place, and Eric Merriman and Barry Took writing. It is gentler…0
  6. 6The Navy LarkThe Navy LarkEighteen years and 241 episodes aboard HMS Troutbridge, a Royal Navy frigate run by men whose main skill is hiding their blunders from the commander, "Thunderguts" Povey. Leslie Phillips plays the hapless sub-lieutenant, Jon Pertwee the crafty chief petty officer and Stephen Murray the bewildered…0
  7. 7The Men from the MinistryThe Men from the MinistryA satire of the civil service that never needed television. Richard Murdoch leads a cast that includes Wilfrid Hyde-White, Deryck Guyler and Norma Ronald as officials whose talent for making things worse turns every simple errand into a national incident, across 146 episodes from 1962 to…0
  8. 8I'm Sorry, I'll Read That AgainI'm Sorry, I'll Read That AgainThe missing link between the Goons and Monty Python. Starting in 1964, John Cleese, Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Bill Oddie, David Hatch and Jo Kendall raced through anarchic sketches, dreadful puns and silly songs in front of a studio audience that clearly could not believe its luck. Hear it…0
  9. 9Round the HorneRound the HorneFour series and 67 episodes, from 1965 to 1968, that still sound outrageous. Kenneth Horne plays the unflappable straight man while Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick and Betty Marsden throw every character and innuendo the BBC would allow at him, in scripts created by Barry Took and Marty…0
  10. 10The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series)The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series)Before the books, the TV series and the movie, there was a Radio 4 science-fiction comedy that first went out on March 8, 1978. Douglas Adams wrote it for sound, and it shows: the Guide's dry narration, voiced by Peter Jones, and stereo sound effects, then a first for BBC radio comedy, make jokes…0