Show 28

"Handsome Harry is Taken Prisoner in the Army by the British"
The Goon Show episode
Episode: no.	Series: 2 Episode: 11
Written by	Spike Milligan Larry Stephens
Announcer	Andrew Timothy
Produced by	Dennis Main Wilson
Music	Stanley Black and The BBC Dance Orchestra Harry Secombe: With a Song in My Heart Max Geldray: Saint Louis Blues Ellington Quartet: If You Knew Susie Incidental music: Wally Stott
Editing by	Jimmy Grafton
Recording Number	SLO 5684
First broadcast	8 April 1952 (1952-04-08)

The series 2 shows didn't have 'official' episode names per se, but for ease of reference using the show number and Handsome Harry sketch name is to differentiate them.

The show had now changed its name from Crazy People to "The Goon Show, featuring those crazy people…"

Show 28 (aka Handsome Harry is Taken Prisoner in the Army by the British) is an episode from The Goon Show. It is the eleventh show in the second series.

Spike Milligan didn't appear in this show due to him suffering from influenza.

Harry Secombe's musical section was recorded separately from the main show session at 6pm on Sunday, 6 April 1952 (SLO 5684a). The main show recording session commenced later that Sunday, 6 April 1952 at 9pm. Both recording sessions were recorded at Aeolian I, 135–137 New Bond Street, London.

The first British public broadcast was on the Home Service on Tuesday, 8 April 1952 at 9.30pm (except Northern Ireland). It reached a peak listenership of 1.8m.

The show's repeat was broadcast the following Thursday at 7.30pm, 10 April 1952 on the Light Programme to an audience of 5.1 million listeners.

Sketches

• Handsome Harry is Taken Prisoner in the Army by the British in which Harry recalls what happened in the last war when he was a Colonel of Intelligence in the Western Desert.
• Pureheart’s excavations at Pompeii (unearths the Roman Villa) features Pureheart telling Andrew Timothy of his great achievement in Italy.
• Wacklow & Crun censor a show: Sees Crun scrutinising a Goons love scene between Bentine and Clara Wilmington.
• ‘Colonel Slocombe and the Southern Army’ tells the tale of how Colonel Josh Slocombe joined the Civil War conflict.

Music

• Harry Secombe sang With a Song in My Heart (Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers).
• Max Geldray performed Saint Louis Blues (WC Handy).
• The Ray Ellington Quartet (pays tribute to Eddie Cantor with) If You Knew Susie (BG De Sylva/Joseph Meyer).

Show Trivia

The start of the show had Andrew Timothy's announcement ‘Without Spike Milligan who is away with influenza,’ Spike’s various roles, such as Eccles and an upper class officer, were divided out amongst the cast for the recording, and the Pureheart sketch had a rare appearance of Sir Harold Porridge while Clara Wilmington (Harry) reappeared in a sketch where Crun acted as a critic for a love scene. Colonel Slocombe was also back, complete with his own theme, in place of the closing Bloodnok item.

Technical

Originally recorded on SLO 5684 (Secombe's pre-recording session on SLO 5684a). (33⅓ rpm, coarse-groove 16" disk recorded at Broadcasting House).