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'I didn't think it was possible for the The Navy Lark to get any funnier, but it has. Our sides are still aching... The humour was fast and furious... I never seem to stop laughing while this programme is on... One of the best episodes... of an absolute top-notch series.' So read listeners' comments in the Audience Research Report for the final episode of the Light Programme's new naval comedy series, broadcast on Sunday 12 July 1959. By the time the enthusiastic report (with requests such as 'Please may we have many more of their adventures') was complied on 29 July, preparations were well underway for a second run of 16 to 20episodes for the Autumn. In late June, location shooting in the Channel Islands started on the movie version of The Navy Lark for producer Herbert Wilcox . Of the radio cast, only Leslie Phillips was contracted to appear as the hapless Lt. Pouter, one of the crew of the minesweeper base HMS Compton on Boonzey Island. The Number One role went to Cecil Parker as Commander Stanton, with Ronald Shiner as the rascally CPO Banyard, Elvi Hale as L.Wren Heather, Nicolas Phipps as Captain Povey and Gordon Jackson as Leading-Seaman Johnson. The story, by Lawrie Wyman with Sid Colin, concerned Povey's attempts to close the base. Schemes concocted by the crew to thwart him included a phoney mine, a yellow fever scare and a revolution staged by the locals. By late July, it was propased that The Navy Lark recordings would recommence on Sunday 4 October, to be broadcast fomr Friday 9 October at 7.31 pm on the Light Programme and repeated on most of the Home Service the following Tuesday at 8.30 pm. Phillips was the first to be re-booked for fifteen shows (with an option on five more) on 23 July, with Jon Pertwee similarly contracted on 28 July. Dennis Price, the original Number One, had left to appear in Heartbreak Hotel in New York, and so a new character was needed while Lt. Price was said to be on loan to the American Navy. As a replacement, producer Alastair Scott-Johnston booked Stephen Murray on 28 August. Murray was best known for serious stage roles, major television plays, or intellectual works on the Third Programme. As Lt. Murray, he was every bit as wily and unflappable as his predecessor, and quickly learnt the ropes to fend off Commander Povey's inspecrtions and foil CPO Pertwee's money-making machinations - while displaying a line in terrible jokes and puns, often at inappropriate moments. During the summer, the first series was repeated at 1.10pm on Saturdays on the Home Service, with the fourteenth show broadcast again in the Light Programme series The Best of the Best on 10 August. By early September, there was considerable interest in the return of the series, coupled with the imminent movie release. Radio Times was keen to give the series a high profile, with Scott-Johnston commenting on 1 September, 'Considering that commercial interests are undertaking two films and that, in bringing Stephen Murray into the cast, we really have, I think, something to talk about, there might well be a case for a front cover.' On 3 September, the Light Programme confirmed that they wanted to broadcast a half-hour abridgement of the movie soundtrack on Saturday 17 October, the day after the new season was now scheduled to begin. J. H. Davidson, Assistant Head of Light Entertainment, noted that by putting transmission back by a week they could 'co-ordinate and take fullest advantage of the launching of the new radio series and the new Herbet Wilcox film under the same title.' Sunday afternoon recording began again at 8.30pm on 4 October, with the cast reassembling at the Playhouse Theatre; Pertwee had recorded an edition of Variety Playhouse for Scott-Johnston that afternoon. From this season onwards, it was decided that the credit order for the three stars would rotate each week, giving each in turn top billing. Of the rest of the cast, Ronnie Barker was still in Irma La Douce at the Lyric, Tenniel Evans was appearing in The Unexpected Guest at the Duchess, Heather Chasen remained the lead in the Ambassadors' The Mousetrap through to mid-December, and Michael Bates did a stint in Look After Lulu at the New Theatre through to Christmas. The three stars - with Heather Chasen and Richard Caldicot - donned naval attire to pose for publicity photographs, one of which adorned the Radio Times cover on 9 October. The inside feature discussed the sitcom's success and promoted the Wilcox film which had a triple premier on 15 October - at the Carlton Cinema in the Haymarket (with proceeds going to the Navy League) and also on board the aircraft carriers HMS Victorious and HMS Courier. The same day that the movie opened, Phillips recorded Roy Bradford's linking narration for the BBC soundtrack abridgement at Maida Vale; this edition of Movie Matinee produced by Alfred Dunning was broadcast on the Light Programme at 1.45pm on Saturday 17 October. A few new characters were to be introduced in the new episodes, including Lt. Bates (a quacking member of Naval Intelligence), Sir Willoughby Todhunter-Brown (the befuddled governor of Potarneyland), Lady Amelia Brown (his diplomatic wife) and the natives of Potarneyland. Wyman's character development became more acute and his humour often more surreal; in one edition, the crew of Troutbridge tuned their radio in to an episode of The Navy Lark itself! The day the new season began, Scott-Johnston and Wilcox were interviewed by Gordon Bradley for the Home Service's Today programme about The Navy Lark. Over two million listeners tuned in at 7.31pm that evening for the first new escapade, an increase on the previous season which would grow to a peak of almost 2.5 million. The audience reaction scores also continued to be strong, never falling below 67. 'we’ve been bursting for the series to start again and were terrified that it might not be so good, but we need not have worried,' said a Civil Servant when interviewed for the BBC Audience Research Report on Murray's debut episode, compiled on 30 October. The Light Programme audience clearly warmly welcomed all these further misadventures of the hilarious Island Draft. Programme note, episode synopses and cast biographies researched and written by Andrew Pixley. |
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