The Omar Khayyam Show

2022-05-07T15:15:24Z

2A00:23C7:2909:5801:459:FC40:BD4B:C6DE:

{{Short description|Australian radio comedy program starring Spike Milligan}}
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{{Use British English|date=July 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Refimprove|date=February 2020}}
'''''The Omar Khayyam Show''''' was a 1963 [[BBC]] radio comedy programme, written by [[Spike Milligan]] based on six episodes of his ''[[The Idiot Weekly]]'' made for the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|Australian Broadcasting Commission]] in 1958–1962.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0075b2t|title = BBC Radio 4 Extra - the Omar Khayyam Show, the Flying Dustman}}</ref>

The cast was [[Spike Milligan]], [[John Bluthal]], [[Bob Todd]], [[Bill Kerr]] and [[Barry Humphries]] with music by [[George Chisholm (musician)|George Chisholm]] & his Jolly Jazzers. Bluthal had also appeared in two of the three series of ''The Idiot Weekly''. [[Brian Wilde]] appears in episode 1 and [[Tim Gudgin]] in episodes 2–6, whilst in one episode Barry Humphries is heard doing a character voice similar to [[Dame Edna Everage]]'s. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05xwsnj|title = BBC Radio 4 Extra - Barry Humphries: Gladdies All over}}</ref> The producer was [[Charles Chilton]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0075b2t|title = BBC Radio 4 Extra - the Omar Khayyam Show, the Flying Dustman}}</ref> who had also produced some episodes of ''[[The Goon Show]]'', on which ''The Idiot Weekly'' was based.

It was broadcast weekly from 27 December 1963. The episodes were (in broadcast order) ''Ned Kelly'', ''The Ashes'', ''The Prime Minister's Trousers'', ''The Flying Dustmen'', ''The America Cup'' and ''Walzing Matilda''. The scripts had minor changes to remove some references to Australian locations and personalities unfamiliar to British audiences. However, some better known personalities remained, notably [[Donald Bradman|Sir Donald Bradman]].

{| class="wikitable"
|- bgcolor="#CCCCCC"
! Episode || Title || Original broadcast date || Preservation
|-
| 1 || ''Ned Kelly'' || 27 December 1963 || Edited BBC "ring main" (internal distribution system) recording, and unedited domestic off-air recording
|-
| 2 || ''The Ashes'' || 3 January 1964 || Domestic off-air recordings
|-
| 3 || ''The Prime Minister's Trousers'' || 10 January 1964 || Domestic off-air recordings
|-
| 4 || ''The Flying Dustman'' || 17 January 1964 || Unedited BBC Sound Archives copy
|-
| 5 || ''The America Cup'' || 24 January 1964 || Edited BBC "ring main" recording, and unedited domestic off-air recording
|-
| 6 || ''Waltzing Matilda'' || 5 May 1964<ref>Radio Times/BBC Genome</ref> || Domestic off-air recordings
|}

== Commercial release ==
The complete series has been released on CD as bonus material on ''The Goon Show Compendium Volume 11'' (2015), comprising the best available recordings as detailed above, compiled into complete episodes and remastered by restoration expert Ted Kendall.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Omar Khayyam Show, The}}
[[Category:BBC Radio comedy programmes]]
[[Category:Works by Spike Milligan]]

{{BBC-radio-stub}}
{{UK-radio-show-stub}}

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The Omar Khayyam Show