The Telegoons

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 Telegoons
Opening title card
Created byGrosvenor Films
StarringVoices of Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan
Music byEdward White
Country of originUnited Kingdom
No. of episodes26
Production
Running time15 minutes per episode
Release
Original networkBBC
Original release5 October 1963 (1963-10-05) –
1 August 1964 (1964-08-01)

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

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, remade as The Hastings Flyer - Robbed, series 6 episode 15
10.   The Mystery of the Marie (sic) 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
  1. "GOONOGRAPHY". roxburgh.org.
  2. "The Telegoons (a Titles & Air Dates Guide)". epguides.com.
  3. http://www.telegoons.org/photo_gallery.htm
  4. "People". roxburgh.org.
  5. "The anniversary of the first showing of 'The Telegoons'". 6 October 2013.
  6. "The Telegoons 4 Dual Layer DVDs Goon Show Puppet TV Series". store.earthstation1.com.
  7. "The Goon Show Compendium: Volume 11 (Series 9, Pt 2 & Series 10), Twenty episodes of the classic BBC radio comedy series by Spike Milligan". www.penguin.co.uk.
  8. "Bill Titcombe". lambiek.net.
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