The Rent Collectors

"The Rent Collectors"
The Goon Show episode
Episode no.	Series 7 Episode 16
Written by	Spike Milligan Larry Stephens
Presented by	Wallace Greenslade
Produced by	Pat Dixon
Music	Orchestra: Wally Stott Geldray: Lulu's Back in Town Ellington: Old Mother Hubbard
Production code	TLO 20042
Original air date	17 January 1957 (1957-01-17)
Running time	30:13
Guest appearance
Bernard Miles

The Rent Collectors is an episode from The Goon Show. It is the sixteenth show in the seventh series and featured an unexpected guest, Bernard Miles..

A pre-recording session took place Sunday afternoon 30 December 1956 at The Camden Theatre, Camden Town, London Saturday (TLO 20041/A – which featured a version of Sewers of the Strand which, ultimately, wasn't used in in the finished programme). The recording for transmission was created the same day and at the same venue at 9pm 14 December 1958 (TLO 20042).

The first Home Service broadcast was almost three weeks later at 8.30pm 17 January 1957, its ratings were 2.3 million.

The show was repeated twice more:

• Monday 8pm, 21 January 1957, on the Light Programme to 3.6 million listeners.
• Saturday 9.30pm, 25 April 1992 on Radio 2 in Comedy Hour: the Radio 2 Comedy Season.

Transcription Service Synopsis

Conned into taking a job as a rent collector, Neddie Seagoon goes to the address he has been given – Death Grange, Slaughter Hill. On his way there he falls into the canal, he's imprisoned for violating By-law 37, and sentenced to hang. Neddie, reasonably enough, appeals against the sentence and is allowed to put his case to the local Squire – none other than the owner of Death Grange and just the man he wants to see. And rightly so, for the Squire has the solution to Neddie's problem.

Music

• The BBC Radio Orchestra was conducted by Wally Stott
• Max Geldray plays Lulu's Back in Town (Al Dubin (lyrics) / Harry Warren (music))
• The Ray Ellington Quartet plays Old Mother Hubbard Babe Wallis / Ray Ellington)

Technical

Originally recorded on TLO 20042 (15 ips ¼" tape recorded at Broadcasting House). This tape survived in TS, and was cut for the POTG issue. Fortunately, the cuts were kept and restored in 1990, and the tape was used for the version of the show included on The Goon Show Compendium Vol 6.

Notes

• The show featured an unexpected guest appearance from character actor Bernard Miles, the driving force behind the Mermaid Theatre and a devotee of the Goons. Next day, Pat Dixon wrote to the contracts department about this additional cast member – who had been prepared to perform for free but had accepted a nominal fee of ₤5.5.0 – commenting that circumstances had arisen ‘which made it desirable that Bernard Miles, who happened to be in the studio, should take part… I thought it best in view of the keenness of the cost that he should participate on this occasion.’
• The Rent Collectors was also notable for the first appearance of Little Jim, a new character played by Spike created solely to speak a contrived, meaningless catchphrase: ‘He's fallen in the water’. Indeed, Spike had delivered this line as an ad-libbed aside after Max Geldray's number in the recording of Wings Over Dagenham.