Premiering in June 1950, this BBC Light Programme comedy show ran for almost ten years and saw an enormous popular following. Normally airing on a Sunday lunchtime, the ventriloquist Peter Brough was joined by his doll Archie Andrews, despite the clear contraindication for using ventriloquy on the radio - indeed its move to television later on was marred by the fact that Peter Brough had difficulties voicing his puppet without moving his mouth.

The show was instrumental in the early careers for many big comedians of the day. Not only did Tony Hancock see major success as Archie's tutor (with the catchphrases 'Oh, it's you again,' and 'Flipping kids!'), a role later held by Benny Hill, Harry Secombe, Dick Emery, Hattie Jacques, and Bruce Forsythe, but the show also helped launch the careers of Julie Andrews as Archie's girlfriend (later Beryl Reed) along with Graham Starkm Bernard Bresslaw, and more.

The show averaged fifteen million listeners and a fan club of almost a quarter million in itself. It earned the Daily Mail's Variety Award after only four months on the air. Unfortunately, the AR-TV sitcom adaption did not achieve the same acclaim, running from 1958-1959, with Archie taking a more dominant role in the dynamic, with Irene Handl as the housekeeper, Freddie Sales (later Ray Barrett) as a lodger, and Dick Emery.

Charles Shadwell

Actor

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