View source for Danger - Men at Work!

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Infobox radio show
| show_name    = Danger - Men at Work!
| image        = 
| image_size   = 
| caption      = 
| format       = [[Comedy]]
| runtime      = 
| first_aired  = {{start date|1939|05|11|df=y}}
| last_aired   = {{end date|1947|05|13|df=y}}
| starring     =  Doris Nichols<br />[[Jacques Brown]]<br />[[Clay Keyes]]<br />[[Frank Tully]]<br /> etc.
| writer   = [[Max Kester]]
| country      = United Kingdom
| language     = English
| home_station = {{ubl|[[BBC Home Service]]}}
| syndicates   = 
| num_episodes = 48
}}
'''''Danger - Men at Work!''''' was a British radio comedy programme, broadcast by the [[BBC Radio|BBC]] over seven series between 1939 and 1947.

The show was written and produced, at first, by [[Max Kester]] and Anthony Hall, with later series by Kester alone.  It was the first British radio comedy in the "crazy" style of the [[Marx Brothers]], and centred on the attempts of wealthy widowed hotel owner Mrs Ponsonby (played by Doris Nichols) to have work done by men who would invariably try to trick her out of her money.  The workmen were played in the first series by American [[double act]] Van and Allen;<ref>[https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Radio-Pictorial/Radio-Pictorial-1939-05-12-S-OCR.pdf "Danger! - Men Still At Work", ''Radio Pictorial'', 12 May 1939, p.23]</ref> in the second series by [[Jack Train]] and [[George Moon]]; and in later series by [[Haver and Lee]] (Clay Keyes and Frank Tully), as the characters Eggblow and Duckweed.  A recurring character was Nikolas Ridikoulos, played by [[Jacques Brown]].<ref name=gifford>[[Denis Gifford]], ''The Golden Age of Radio'', B.T. Batsford Ltd, London, 1985, {{isbn|0-7134-4235-2}}, p.65</ref>

The show was later described as "...relentlessly fast-paced (on one occasion a live transmission ended ten minutes early)...  surreal, innovative and inspired...  groundbreaking in its use of sound effects and insult comedy."<ref name=foster>Andy Foster and Steve Furst, ''Radio Comedy 1938-1968: A Guide to 30 Years of Wonderful Wireless'', Virgin, 1996, {{isbn|0-86369-960-X}}, pp.24-27</ref>  After five series totalling 29 episodes in 1939-40, the show was revived for 1946-47, with Tully replaced by Charlie Irwin.<ref name=gifford/><ref>[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?order=asc&q=%22Danger+-+men+at+work%22#search  "Danger - Men at Work!", ''BBC Genome'']. Retrieved 5 April 2021</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:BBC Radio comedy programmes]]
[[Category:1939 radio programme debuts]]
[[Category:1947 radio programme endings]]


{{BBC-radio-stub}}