BBC entertainment in which Alan Melville strung together sketches, songs, parodies and guest appearances to a different letter of the alphabet each week.
Derived originally from a published format by playwright and humorist Wolf Mankowitz, it was somewhat ahead of its time and rather sophisticated for the day.
Melville began the series in October 1956 with Larry Adler, Yvonne Arnaud, Auditions, Tom Arnold, Harold Ahern, Arthur Askey and a host of other A-items. He wrapped things up in August 1957 with a grand three-in-one programme of X, Y and Zs.
Other guests on the series included The Beverley Sisters, Hylda Baker, Hermione Baddeley, Stanley Baker, Dora Bryan, Richard Burton, Petula Clark, Alma Cogan, Charlie Chester, Harry Corbett, Diana Dors, Lonnie Donegan, Shirley Eaton, Gracie Fields, Hermione Gingold, Joyce Grenfell, Tony Hancock, Irene Handl, Donald Houston, Eartha Kitt, Dilys Laye, Vera Lynn, Robert Morley, Bob Monkhouse, The Mudlarks, David Nixon, Eric Sykes, Phil Silvers, Terry-Thomas, Stanley Unwin, Norman Wisdom and Mai Zetterling.
An impersonation of gardening expert Percy Thrower giving advice on how to dispose of unwanted garden gnomes brought anguished letters objecting to such wilful destruction and offering kind homes for spurned statuary.
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