Idiot Weekly, Price 2d, The

1 9 5 6 (UK)
5 x 30 minute episodes

In 1956 Associated-Rediffusion tried to cash in on the popularity of The Goon Show with this attempt to recreate the lunacy of radio comedy’s finest half-hour.

The Idiot Weekly (price 2d) was a tatty Victorian tabloid run by Peter Sellers and each week its headlines were used as a convenient link for a number of off-the-wall sketches featuring Sellers and Spike Milligan (who also wrote a majority of the scripts).

Other performers on the show were Eric Sykes, Valentine Dyall (radio’s infamous ‘Man in Black’), Kenneth Connor, Graham Stark, June Whitfield, Patti Lewis and Max Geldray.

The series ran for five episodes, ending in April 1956. By May, Milligan and Sellers were back with A Show Called Fred which also ran for five episodes before it re-emerged again in September as Son of Fred.

Peter Sellers
Valentine Dyall
Kenneth Connor
Graham Stark
Patti Lewis
Spike Milligan
Eric Sykes
June Whitfield
Max Geldray