A compendium of radio sitcoms and retrospectives celebrating the legendary duo
Ray Galton and Alan Simpson were Britain's best-loved and most successful comedy writing partners. Together, they created two of the greatest sitcoms of all time, Hancock's Half Hour and Steptoe and Son. This compilation brings together some of the finest programmes from their 60-year career, as well as interviews with them both.
Galton & Simpson's Half Hour comprises four comedy dramas: You'll Never Walk Alone (starring Frank Skinner), Impasse (starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb), I Tell You It's Burt Reynolds (starring Rik Mayall and June Whitfield) and The Blood Donor (a remake of the famous Hancock's Half Hour episode starring Paul Merton). Originally written for BBC TV, all are specially adapted for radio by Galton and Simpson and introduced by Paul Merton.
The Galton and Simpson Radio Playhouse features three more adaptations: Naught for Thy Comfort (starring Robert Daws and Nina Wadia), A Clerical Error (starring Keith Barron and June Whitfield) and The Offer, a reworking of the TV script that inspired Steptoe and Son, starring Freddie Jones and John Thomson.
A fourth drama from Radio Playhouse - Clicquot et Fils, starring Richard Griffiths and Roger Lloyd Pack - can be heard in I Did It My Way: Galton and Simpson, in which the pair chat to Peter Reed and select some of their favourite work. Also included is Hancock's Half Hour: The Threatening Letters; 'Up Je T'Aime', Frankie Howerd and June Whitfield's parody of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg's hit song; the 1963 Royal Variety performance Steptoe and Son at Buckingham Palace; Steptoe and Son: Porn Yesterday and the classic Hancock's Half Hour TV episode, The Radio Ham, recreated before a live audience for an album release in 1961.
Topping off our collection is Very Nearly an Armful: The Galton and Simpson Story. Talking to Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, Stephen Merchant explores how their ground-breaking work brought social realism to British comedy, and helped lay the foundations for modern-day classics like The Office. Contributors include David Mitchell, Ben Elton, Denis Norden and Damaris Hayman, and among the archive interviewees are Tony Hancock, Sid James and Harry H Corbett.
Credits
Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson
Thanks to Tessa Le Bars
Collection compiled by Martin Gibbons
With thanks to the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society
Contents
Galton & Simpson's Half Hour: You'll Never Walk Alone
Galton & Simpson's Half Hour: Impasse
Galton & Simpson's Half Hour: I Tell You It's Burt Reynolds
Galton & Simpson's Half Hour: The Blood Donor
The Galton and Simpson Radio Playhouse: Naught for Thy Comfort
The Galton and Simpson Radio Playhouse: A Clerical Error
The Galton and Simpson Radio Playhouse: The Offer
I Did It My Way: Galton & Simpson
Very Nearly An Armful: The Galton and Simpson Story
Frank Skinner performed his first stand-up gig in December 1987, and four years later went on to win the prestigious Perrier Award. During the 1990s Frank established himself as a major name in entertainment - both in live comedy and on television. In 1994 and 1997 he sold-out two UK tours, the second of which culminated in a performance at London's Battersea Power Station - what was then the largest ever audience for stand-up comedy in the UK. On television, Frank has created and starred in a succession of hit comedy shows, including nine series of The Frank Skinner Show from 1995 to 2005; and with his comedy partner David Baddiel, Fantasy Football (1994 - 2004), and Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned (2000 - 2005).
As well as live stand-up and television, Frank has attained three number one hits with the iconic football anthem 'Three Lions' alongside David Baddiel and the Lightning Seeds. He has starred in the West End in both Art and Lee Hall's Cooking with Elvis; and his critically acclaimed first book Frank Skinner was the bestselling autobiography of 2002, spending a total of 46 weeks in the Sunday Times bestsellers' list. In 2006 Baddiel and Skinner's World Cup podcasts caused an online sensation with over one million downloads leading to yet another number one chart hit.
In 2007 Frank Skinner returned to stand-up with another sell-out tour of the UK.
Frank currently divides his time between London and Birmingham - and, of course, his beloved West Brom.
Paul Merton was born in 1957, long before such things were fashionable. He spent his first eight years living within cheering distance of Fulham Football ground at Craven Cottage although he cant remember any cheering. Upon leaving school with two ropey A Levels and a CSE Grade 5 Maths, Paul enlisted in the Civil Service where he survived for two and a half years. He made his stand-up debut at Londons Comedy Store in 1982 where his policeman on acid routine regularly stopped the show. In 1985 he joined the Comedy Store Players, an improvised comedy group which led, in 1988, to him appearing on Whose Line is it Anyway? for the first few series before he couldnt stick it anymore.
He has appeared on Have I Got News For You as a team captain since 1990 and is also proud of his other long running gig, Radio 4s Just a Minute. Other TV highlights include his eponymous surreal sketch series from 1991-3; interviewing Spike Milligan in what was to be his last major television appearance as host of Room 101; and making several programmes about early cinema, including The Birth Of Hollywood which he co-wrote with his wife, Suki Webster.
He still performs with the Comedy Stores Players every Sunday.
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