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The Goons at Rediffusion

Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2026 7:28 pm
by Finch
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Description

In the mid-1950s, four outstanding Associated-Rediffusion television shows - The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d, A Show Called Fred, Son of Fred and Yes, It's the Cathode-Ray Tube Show!– adapted the brilliantly bizarre humour of BBC radio comedy The Goon Show into visual form.

Initially innovatively overseen by director Richard Lester and starring Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan, but only broadcast in the London region, these supremely silly and surreal sketch shows remain the most uproariously successful attempts to capture the quicksilver genius of the Goons on the telly-box.

This long-overdue box set gathers together all available archival material that still exists from these shows – newly scanned and re-presented in the best possible quality, for new generations of comedy fans to enjoy.

Also included is a lavish array of hens’- teeth rarities, featuring members of the Goons or their entourage, also from the Associated-Rediffusion collection, much of which appears here on disc for the very first time.


Extras
Newly remastered and presented in High Definition and Standard Definition
Audio commentaries on A Show Called Fred by Goon Pod’s Tyler Adams (Episode 1), the BFI’s Dick Fiddy (Episode 4) and Goon historians Glenn Mitchell and Chris Smith (Episode 5)
Audio commentary on Son of Fred by Glenn Mitchell and Chris Smith
Audio commentary on fragments of Yes, It’s The Cathode-Ray Tube Show! by Peter Sellers historian Mark Cousins
Audio commentary on The Dickie Henderson Show: The Stamp Collector and The Anne Shelton Showby the BFI’s Vic Pratt
Archive interview with Associated-Rediffusion alumnus John P Hamilton (1995)
Archive interview with Interview with Associated-Rediffusion alumna Margery Graham (1997)
Script galleries
Photo gallery with optional audio commentary by Glenn Mitchell and Chris Smith
Includes newly created optional English descriptive subtitles
**FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet featuring new writing by Glenn Mitchell, Chris Smith, the BBC’s Samira Ahmed, the Goon Show Preservation Society’s Peter Embling, Mark Cousins and Vic Pratt