The Navy Lark: Volume 33: The classic BBC radio sitcom

Wyman, Lawrie

ISBN 10: 1785299565 ISBN 13: 9781785299568

Publisher: BBC Physical Audio, 2018

Jon Pertwee, Leslie Phillips and Stephen Murray star in four more classic episodes of the much-loved nautical comedy

Hijacked! (‘Working Their Passage’) 13 October 1961
Mr Merrivale of Naval Expenditure decides to split up the troublesome crew of HMS Troutbridge, but a plan to remove the ship while they are away on leave goes somewhat awry...

Admiral Troutbridge (‘Working Their Passage’) 20 October 1961
At a nosh-up for the late Admiral’s 220th birthday, Pertwee has a historical tale to tell, and relates the true story of the events of 1797.

The Smugglers Return (‘Dredging Their Way Through’) 27 October 1968
When HMS Troutbridge accidentally knocks a customs officer into the dock, the crew must rescue him from one side while hastily dumping their smuggled contraband over the other...

Commander Trotter Takes Charge (‘Instructing Their New CO In The Ways Of ’) 3 November 1968
With Commander Bell away on compassionate leave, the crew are allocated a new CO – Commander Trotter, who hasn’t been to sea in years.

Starring Jon Pertwee, Leslie Phillips and Stephen Murray, with Ronnie Barker, Richard Caldicot, Heather Chasen, Tenniel Evans, Michael Bates and Judy Cornwall.

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Book Description:

Four episodes of the classic BBC comedy available in volume form.

About the Author:

The Navy Lark is the second longest-running comedy in British radio history (the topical Friday night show, Week Ending, which ran from 1970 to 1998, is currently the longest). In 1958, writer Laurie Wyman announced that he wanted to build a series around talented comic actor Jon Pertwee. Having secured Pertwee as the lead, he looked for other main characters and is quoted in the Radio Times as saying 'I felt we needed an idiot, and there was no one better at playing idiots than Leslie Phillips - so we got him.' The first episode of the series went out on 29 March 1959 and, from the start, the light-hearted and affectionate spoof on the Senior Service won many fans - some of the highest order! On the occasion of the show's 21st anniversary, for example, the crew were asked by WRNS to put on a special performance. They duly obliged, and in the audience that night at the Royal Festival Hall was Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother. Sir Charles Lambe, who was the first Sea Lord at the time, had also visited the studio during rehearsal. The crew of HMS Troutbridge were a motley bunch: Jon Pertwee, who actually served in the Navy during the Second World War, played the conniving Petty Officer and was established as a household favourite by the series. Leslie Phillips was the vague chinless wonder Sub-Lieutenant. His parrot cry of 'left hand down a bit' has passed into A Dictionary of Catch Phrases, whose author Eric Partridge writes 'within two years, it was a standard piece of Navalese'. The young Ronnie Barker (long before attaining fame as a television comedy actor) also appeared in the series, playing two parts: (Un)Able Seaman Fatso Johnson and Lieutenant-Commander Stanton. The Navy Lark gripped the nation for the best part of twenty years. Its signature tune, composed by Tommy Reilly and James Moody, was the jaunty Trade Wind Hornpipe and did much to contribute to the popularity of the series. The key to the show's popularity, though, was its irreverent but essentially gentle humour and, most of all, the many-voiced talents of its stars. As Leslie Phillips remarked in 1987, 'I caused more damage to Naval property than the Navy had done in two world wars'. The final episode was broadcast on 18 January 1976. However, the crew all jumped on board one last time for a Jubilee Special on 16 July 1977.

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