The Telegoons
The Telegoons | |
---|---|
Created by | Grosvenor Films |
Starring | Voices of Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan |
Music by | Edward White |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
No. of episodes | 26 |
Production | |
Running time | 15 minutes per episode |
Original release | |
Network | BBC |
Release | 5 October 1963 1 August 1964 | –
The Telegoons is a comedy puppet show, adapted from the highly successful BBC radio comedy show of the 1950s, The Goon Show produced for BBC television and first shown during 1963 and 1964.[1] Two series of 13 episodes were made.[2] The series was briefly repeated immediately after its original run, and all episodes are known to have survived. Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan reprised their original voice roles from the radio series and appeared in promotional photos with some of the puppets from the series.[3] Among the puppeteers were Ann Field, John Dudley, and Violet Phelan.[4][5] The original radio scripts were adapted by Maurice Wiltshire, who had previously co-written a number of radio episodes with Larry Stephens.
The only official broadcasts of any Telegoons material since the 1960s were a short excerpt, claimed to have been newly printed from the original negative, shown on the 1980s BBC archive series Windmill, and a brief excerpt during the quiz programme Telly Addicts. However DVD compilations of all episodes (from unknown sources) are available on eBay and other outlets.[6]
A lengthy excerpt from a cast recording for the episode "The Lost Colony" is included on The Goon Show Compendium Volume 11 CD box set. The recording, made at Olympic Studios, is taken from a tape kept by the studio's former owner.[7]
Comic book adaptation
A Telegoons comic strip appeared in TV Comic, drawn by Bill Titcombe and was published in 1963-1964.[8]
Episodes
Episode | Title | Date | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1st Series (1963) | |||
1. | The Ascent of Mount Everest | 5 October | Based on part of The Goon Show series 3 episode 24 |
2. | The Lost Colony | 12 October | Based on The Sale of Manhattan, series 6 episode 11 |
3. | The Fear of Wages | 19 October | Based on series 6 episode 25 |
4. | Napoleon's Piano | 26 October | Based on series 6 episode 4 |
5. | The Last Tram | 2 November | Based on series 5 episode 9 |
6. | The China Story | 16 November | Based on China Story, series 5 episode 17 |
7. | The Canal | 23 November | Based on series 5 episode 6 |
8. | The Choking Horror | Scheduled for 30 November; postponed due to repeat of Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child, Episode 1; broadcast 28 December |
Based on series 6 episode 22 |
9. | The Hastings Flyer | 7 December | Based on The Pevensey Bay Disaster, series 6 episode 10 |
10. | The Mystery of the Marie Celeste Solved? | 14 December | Based on The Mystery of the Marie Celeste (solved) series 5 episode 8 |
11. | The International Christmas Pudding | 21 December | Based on series 6 episode 9 |
2nd Series (1964) | |||
12. | Scradje | 28 March | Based on series 6 episode 26 |
13. | The Booted Gorilla | 4 April | Based on series 5 episode 10 |
14. | The Underwater Mountain | 11 April | Based on The Greatest Mountain in the World series 4 episode 23, remade as Vintage Goons episode 2 |
15. | The Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler of Bexhill-on-Sea | 18 April | Based on series 5 episode 3 |
16. | Tales of Old Dartmoor | 25 April | Based on series 6 episode 21 |
17. | Lurgi Strikes Britain | 2 May | Based on series 5 episode 7 |
18. | Captain Seagoon R.N. | 9 May | Based on Personal Narrative, series 7 episode 8 |
19. | The First Albert Memorial to the Moon | 16 May | Based on series 4 episode 7, remade as The Albert Memorial, Vintage Goons episode 14 |
20. | The Whistling Spy Enigma | 23 May | Based on series 5 episode 1 |
21. | Tales of Montmartre | 30 May | Based on series 6 episode 21 |
22. | The Africa Ship Canal | 6 June | Based on series 7 episode 22 |
23. | The Affair of the Lone Banana | 13 June | Based on series 5 episode 5 |
24. | The Terrible Revenge of Fred Fu-Manchu | Scheduled for 20 June; postponed due to overrunning coverage of cricket from Lord's; broadcast 1 August | Based on Series 6 episode 12 |
25. | The Nadger Plague | 27 June | Based on series 7 episode 3 |
26. | The Siege of Fort Knight, or, The Underwater Gas-Stove | 18 July | Based on series 4 episode 30, remade as Vintage Goons episode 13 |
Sources
- ^ "GOONOGRAPHY". roxburgh.org.
- ^ "The Telegoons (a Titles & Air Dates Guide)". epguides.com.
- ^ "Gallery".
- ^ "People". roxburgh.org.
- ^ "The anniversary of the first showing of 'The Telegoons'". 6 October 2013.
- ^ "The Telegoons 4 Dual Layer DVDs Goon Show Puppet TV Series". store.earthstation1.com.
- ^ "The Goon Show Compendium: Volume 11 (Series 9, Pt 2 & Series 10), Twenty episodes of the classic BBC radio comedy series by Spike Milligan". penguin.co.uk.
- ^ "Bill Titcombe". lambiek.net.
External links
- Use dmy dates from April 2021
- Articles with invalid date parameter in template
- Articles with short description
- Pages using infobox television with unnecessary name parameter
- IMDb title ID not in Wikidata
- BBC television comedy
- British television shows featuring puppetry
- 1963 British television series debuts
- 1964 British television series endings
- The Goon Show
- Television shows adapted into comics
- 1960s British comedy television series