The Goon Show

The Goons included Spike Milligan, PeterSellers and Harry Secombe. They burst onto the radio with surreal storylines, absurd logic, puns, catchphrases and groundbreaking sound effects. They ridiculed the pomposity of those in authority and laughed at the stupidity of mankind.
Characters such as Ned Seagoon, Eccles, Bluebottle, Major Bloodnok, Minnie Bannister, Henry Crun, Grytpype-Thynne and Moriarty all helped to create an alternative and ludicrous view of the world. (For more information on the Goons and series/episode notes go to http://www.thegoonshow.net/index.asp)

All Available Goon Show Episodes are in Orange Text

Series 1 (1951) Billed as 'CRAZY PEOPLE, featuring Radio's own Crazy Gang - "The Goons".' The shows consists of four or five short sketches separated by musical items. Cast includes Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan, Michael Bentine, The Ray Ellington Quartet, The Stargazers and Max Geldray. Shows were announced by Andrew Timothy and The BBC Dance Orchestra was conducted by Stanley Black except where stated below. Shows in the first series have never been given titles. No episodes from this series are known to exist.
00 :The Ying Tong Song
01 : No Title (1951-05-28)
02 : No Title (1951-06-04)
03 : No Title (1951-06-11)
04 : No Title (1951-06-18)
05 : No Title (1951-06-25)
06 : No Title (1951-07-02)
07 : No Title (1951-07-09)
08 : No Title (1951-07-16)
09 : No Title (1951-07-23)
10 : No Title (1951-08-02)
11 : No Title (1951-08-09)
12 : No Title (1951-08-16)
13 : No Title (1951-08-23)
14 : No Title (1951-08-30)
15 : No Title (1951-09-06)
16 : No Title (1951-09-13)
17 : No Title (1951-09-20)
Special: Cinderella (1951-12-26)

Series 2 (1952)
Billed as 'THE GOON SHOW, featuring those crazy people...' Cast includes Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan, Michael Bentine, The Ray Ellington Quartet, Max Geldray, The Stargazers (episodes 1-6) and Andrew Timothy as announcer. The BBC Dance Orchestra was conducted by Stanley Black except where stated below. Shows in the second series have never been given titles. Only 2 episodes from this series are known to exist.
01 : No Title (1952-01-22)
02 : No Title (1952-01-29)
03 : No Title (1952-02-05) very poor quality
04 : No Title (1952-02-19)
05 : No Title (1952-02-26)
06 : No Title (1952-03-04)
07 : No Title (1952-03-11)
08 : Her (1952-03-18) The Goons' version of Rider Haggard's 'She' - entitled 'Her'. This is the first in-series show to have a single plot lasting through the programme.
09 : No Title (1952-03-25)
10 : No Title (1952-04-01)
11 : No Title (1952-04-08)
12 : No Title (1952-04-15)
13 : No Title (1952-04-22)
14 : No Title (1952-04-29)
15 : No Title (1952-05-06)
16 : No Title (1952-05-13)
17 : No Title (1952-05-20)
18 : No Title (1952-05-27)
19 : No Title (1952-06-03)
20 : No Title (1952-06-10)
21 : No Title (1952-06-17)
22 : No Title (1952-06-24)
23 : No Title (1952-07-01)
24 : No Title (1952-07-08)
25 : No Title (1952-07-15)

Series 3 (1952-53)
From now on billed as 'THE GOON SHOW'. The shows have 3 parts with the title given usually being that of the middle section. Cast includes Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan, The Ray Ellington Quartet, Max Geldray, Andrew Timothy as announcer and The BBC Dance Orchestra conducted by Wally Stott. Michael Bentine has now left. At the start of this series Spike Milligan suffered a major nervous breakdown and missed 12 performances. However, he soon resumed writing in colaboration with Larry Stephens. No episodes from this series are known to exist.
01 : Fred of the Islands (1952-11-11)
02 : The Egg of the Great Auk (1952-11-18)
03 : I Was a Male Fan Dancer (1952-11-25)
04 : The Saga of HMS Aldgate (1952-12-02)
05 : The Expedition for Toothpaste (1952-12-09)
06 : The Archers (1952-12-16)
07 : Robin Hood (1952-12-26)
08 : Where Does Santa Claus Go in the Summer? (1952-12-30)
09 : The Navy, Army, and Air Force (1953-01-06)
10 : The British Way of Life (1953-01-13)
11 : A Survey of Britain (1953-01-20)
12 : Flint of the Flying Squad (1953-01-27)
13 : Seaside Resorts in Winter (1953-02-03)
14 : The Tragedy of Oxley Tower (1953-02-10)
15 : The Story of Civilization (1953-02-17)
16 : The Search for the Bearded Vulture (1953-02-24)
17 : The Mystery of the Monkey's Paw (1953-03-03)
18 : The Mystery of the Cow on the Hill (1953-03-10)
19 : Where Do Socks Come From? (1953-03-17)
20 : The Man Who Never Was (1953-03-31)
21 : The Building of the Suez Canal (1953-04-07)
22 : The De Goonlies (1953-04-14)
23 : The Conquest of Space (1953-04-21)
24 : The Ascent of Mount Everest (1953-04-28)
25 : The Story of the Plymouth Hoe Armada (1953-05-05)
Special : Coronation edition (1953-06-03)

Series 4 (1953-54)
By the second half of this series, shows begin to have a single plot rather than short sketches. Cast includes Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan, The Ray Ellington Quartet and Max Geldray. Episodes 1-5 were annouced by Andrew Timothy and the rest by Wallace Greenslade. Only about 10 episodes from this series are known to exist. However, 14 scripts were re-used in the Vintage Goons Series.
01 : The Dreaded Piano Clubber (1953-10-02)
02 : The Man Who Tried to Destroy London's Monuments (1953-10-09)
03 : The Ghastly Experiments of Dr. Hans Eidelburger (1953-10-16)
04 : The Building of Britain's First Atomic Cannon (1953-10-23)
05 : The Gibraltar Story (1953-10-30)
06 : Through the Sound Barrier in an Airing Cupboard (1953-11-06)
07 : The First Albert Memorial to the Moon (1953-11-13)
08 : The Missing Bureaucrat (1953-11-20)
09 : Operation Bagpipes (1953-11-27)
10 : The Flying Saucer Mystery (1953-12-04)
11 : The Spanish Armada (1953-12-11)
12 : The British Way (1953-12-18)
13 : The Giant Bombardon (1953-12-26)
14 : Ten Thousand Fathoms Down in a Wardrobe (1954-01-01)
15 : The Missing Ten Downing Street aka The Missing Prime Minister (1954-01-08) (From the Vintage Series)
16 : Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Crun (1954-01-15)
17 : The Mummified Priest (1954-01-22) (Go to the Vintage Series)
18 : The History of Communications (1954-01-29) Part one of the script is 'The History of Communications', originally part of the 7th episode of the 1st series and later re-worked into 'The GPO Show'. Parts 2 and 3 are 'The Siege of Khartoum', originally part of the 18th episode of the 3rd series.
19 : The Kippered Herring Gang (1954-02-05) (Go to the Vintage Series)
20 : The Toothpaste Expedition (1954-02-12)
21 : The Case of the Vanishing Room (1954-02-15) (From the Vintage Series)
22 : The Great Ink Drought of 1902 (1954-02-22) (Go to the Vintage Series)
23 : The Greatest Mountain in the World (1954-03-01)
24 : The Collapse of the British Railway Sandwich System aka The Mustard And Cress Shortage (1954-03-08)
25 : The Silent Bugler (1954-03-15)
26 : Western Story (1954-03-22)
27 : The Internal Mountain (1954-03-29)
28 : The Invisible Acrobat (1954-04-05)
29 : The Great Bank of England Robbery (1954-04-12)
30 : The Siege of Fort Knight (1954-04-19)
Special : Short insert in 'Christmas Crackers' (1953-12-25)
Special : Archie in Goonland (1954-06-11)
Special : The Starlings (1954-08-31) With Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan and Andrew Timothy. The show was unusual as it was performed without musicians or an audience, making it more of a radio play than a Goon Show. It was written as a satire on the efforts of the Ministry of Works to get rid of starlings on public buildings.

Series 5 (1954-55)
From the start of this series, the shows are recorded by the BBC Transcription Services for overseas sales. From now on, all shows contain a single full-length plot featuring the best known Goon characters. Cast includes Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan, The Ray Ellington Quartet, Max Geldray and Wallace Greenslade as announcer.
01 : The Whistling Spy Enigma (1954-09-28)
02 : The Lost Gold Mine (of Charlotte) (1954-10-05)
03 : The Dreaded Batter-Pudding Hurler (of Bexhill-on-Sea) (1954-10-12)
04 : The Phantom Head Shaver (of Brighton) (1954-10-19)
05 : The Affair of the Lone Banana (1954-10-26)
06 : The Canal (1954-11-02)
07 : Lurgi Strikes Britain (1954-11-09)
08 : The Mystery of the Marie Celeste (Solved) (1954-11-16)
09 : The Last Tram (from Clapham) (1954-11-23)
10 : The Booted Gorilla Found(1954-11-30)
11 : The Spanish Suitcase (1954-12-07)
12 : Dishonoured, aka The Fall of Neddie Seagoon (1954-12-14)
13 : Forog (1954-12-21)
14 : Ye Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1954-12-28)
15 : Nineteen-Eighty-Five (1955-01-04) The show was such a sucess that it was re-performed as episode 20 later in the series.
16 : The Case of the Missing Heir (1955-01-11)
17 : China Story (1955-01-18)
18 : Under Two Floorboards - A Story of the Legion (1955-01-25)
19 : The Case of The Missing Scroll aka The Lost Music Of Purdam(1955-02-01)
20 : Nineteen-Eighty-Five (1955-02-08) (See S05E15) This is a repeat of episode 15. It is a new performance of the same script, which was re-typed, incorporating all but one of the timing cuts made for the first version. In this show John Snagge (pre-recorded) reads the telescreen announcement near the beginning.
21 : The Sinking of Westminster Pier (1955-02-15) Billed in Radio Times (and Programme Index) as 'The Six Ingots of Leadenhall Street'. The script was changed at short notice to a story inspired by a photograph of the floating pier at Westminster under several feet of water with an 'Out of Order' notice pinned to it. Greenslade tries to announce the show as 'The Six Ingots of Leadenhall Street' (insisting that the Radio Times is never wrong). Finally Sellers announces it as 'The Port of London Authority's valuable hand-carved, oil-painted, valuable floating pier'.
22 : The Fireball of Milton Street (1955-02-22)
23 : The Six Ingots of Leadenhall Street (1955-03-01) The title situation for this show can best be described as confusing. The front of the script, Radio Times, Programme Index and the 'Programme as Broadcast' files give the title as 'The Terrible Blasting of Moreton's Bank'. However, the show is in fact 'The Six Ingots of Leadenhall Street', the script postponed from 15th February 1955, is announced as such, and titled as such by TS. Strictly speaking, the title ought to match the official files, but since the 'Six Ingots' title makes more sense, and in fact would have been the official title of the script had not the last-minute change of plan happened. Hence the given title.

24 : Yehti (1955-03-08)
25 : The White Box of Great Bardfield (1955-03-15)
26 : The End aka Confessions of a Secret Senna-Pod Drinker(1955-03-22)  Announced as 'The Confessions of a Secret Senna-pod Drinker'.

Series 6 (1955-56)
Cast includes Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan, The Ray Ellington Quartet, Max Geldray and Wallace Greenslade as announcer.
01 : The Man Who Won the War (1955-09-20)
02 : The Secret Escritoire (1955-09-27)
03 : The Lost Emperor (1955-10-04)
04 : Napoleon's Piano (1955-10-11)
05 : The Case of the Missing CD Plates (1955-10-18)
06 : Rommel's Treasure (1955-10-25)
07 : Foiled by President Fred (1955-11-01)
08 : Shangri-La Again (1955-11-08)
09 : The International Christmas Pudding (1955-11-15)
10 : The Pevensey Bay Disaster (1956-04-03) On the day the show was recorded there was a serious train crash. Due to the fact that the show contains a train crash, the episode was not broadcast until two weeks after the end of the series. Despite this, it is still refered to as episode 10. The script was also reused for episode 15 under the title 'The Hastings Flyer - Robbed'.
11 : The Sale of Manhattan aka The Lost Colony. (1955-11-29)
12 : The Terrible Revenge of Fred Fu-Manchu (1955-12-06)
13 : The Lost Year (1955-12-13)
14 : The Greenslade Story (1955-12-20)
15 : The Hastings Flyer - Robbed (1955-12-27) This script is identical to that of episode 10 'The Pevensey Bay Disaster', incorporating the timing cuts made for that occasion. Only the announcements are changed to 'The Hastings Flyer'.16 : The Mighty Wurlitzer (1956-01-03)
17 : The Raid of the International Christmas Pudding (1956-01-10)
18 : Tales of Montmartre (1956-01-17)
19 : The Jet-Propelled Guided NAAFI (1956-01-24)
20 : The House of Teeth (1956-01-31)
21 : Tales of Old Dartmoor (1956-02-07)
22 : The Choking Horror (1956-02-14)
23 : The Great Tuscan Salami Scandal (1956-02-21) With John Snagge (pre-recorded). Without Musicians because there was a musicians' strike on at the time. In common with other Variety shows, the cast made do without music. This show and the next include Milligan's famous ballad 'I'm Walking Backwards for Christmas'.
24 : The Treasure in the Lake (1956-02-28)
25 : The Fear of Wages (1956-03-06)
26 : Scradje (1956-03-13)
27 : The Man Who Never Was (1956-03-20) This is an expanded version of the script from part of episode 20 in the 3rd series. It is also reworked later in series 8.
Special: The Missing Christmas Parcel - Post Early for Christmas (1955-12-08)
Special: The Goons Hit Wales (1956-03-01)
Special: China Story (1956-08-29) This is a new production of episode 17 of the 5th series - the script is almost identical. It was recorded at the National Radio Show.

Series 7 (1956-57)
Cast includes Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan, The Ray Ellington Quartet, Max Geldray and Wallace Greenslade as announcer..
01 : The Nasty Affair at the Burami Oasis (1956-10-04) (And Rehersal Version)
02 : Drums Along the Mersey (1956-10-11)
03 : The Nadger Plague (1956-10-18)
04 : The MacReekie Rising of '74 (1956-10-25)
05 : The Spectre of Tintagel (1956-11-01)
06 : The Sleeping Prince (1957-02-14) This show, which parodies a Latin-American revolution, was postponed 3 months owing to the international situation at the time (among other things, the Hungarian uprising was taking place). Despite this it is still referred to as episode 6.
07 : The Great Bank Robbery (1956-11-15)
08 : Personal Narrative (of Captain Neddie Seagoon R.N) (1956-11-22)
09 : The Mystery of the Fake Neddie Seagoons (1956-11-29)
10 : What's My Line? (1956-12-05)
11 : The Telephone (1956-12-13)
12 : The Flea (1956-12-20)
13 : Six Charlies in Search of an Author (1956-12-26)
14 : Emperor of the Universe (1957-01-03)
15 : Wings Over Dagenham (1957-01-10)
16 : The Rent Collectors (1957-01-17)
17 : Shifting Sands (1957-01-24)
18 : The Moon Show (1957-01-31)
19 : The Mysterious Punch-up-the-Conker (1957-02-07) This show contains the well known 'What time is it Eccles?' sketch.
20 : Round the World in Eighty Days (1957-02-21)
21 : Insurance, the White Man's Burden (1957-02-28)
22 : The Africa Ship Canal (1957-03-07)
23 : Ill Met by Goonlight (1957-03-14)
24 : The Missing Boa Constrictor (1957-03-21)
25 : The Histories of Pliny the Elder (1957-03-28)
Special: Robin Hood (Not broadcast in UK)
Special: Operation Christmas Duff (1956-12-24) (A BBC General Overseas Service (GOS) only overseas edition. The GOS was at this time broadcasting entirely on short waves, so that this show could only have been heard in the UK by listeners equipped with short-wave receivers. The show was aimed largely at the British Armed Forces overseas)
Special: The Reason Why (1957-08-22) (Music pre-recorded, no audience)

Series 8 (1957-58)
Cast includes Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan, The Ray Ellington Quartet, Max Geldray and Wallace Greenslade as announcer..
01 : Spon (1957-09-30)
02 : The Junk Affair (1957-10-07)
03 : The Burning Embassy (1957-10-14)
04 : The Great Regents Park Swim (1957-10-21)
05 : The Treasure in the Tower (1957-10-28)
06 : The Space Age (1957-11-04)
07 : The Red Fort (1957-11-11)
08 : The Missing Battleship (1957-11-18)
09 : The Policy (1957-11-25)
10 : King Solomon's Mines (1957-12-02)
11 : The Stolen Postman (1957-12-09)
12 : The Great British Revolution (1957-12-16)
13 : The Plasticine Man (1957-12-23)
14 : African Incident (1957-12-30)
15 : The Thing on the Mountain (1958-01-06)
16 : The String Robberies (1958-01-13)
17 : The Moriarty Murder Mystery (1958-01-20)
18 : The Curse of Frankenstein (1958-01-27)
19 : The White Neddie Trade (1958-02-03)
20 : Ten Snowballs that Shook the World (1958-02-10)
21 : The Man Who Never Was 3(1958-02-17)This script is a re-working of episode 27 and of the 6th series, itself an expanded version from part of episode 20 of the 3rd series.
22 : World War One (1958-02-24) The script is titled '_____!' as are the BBC Transcription Services issues: the announced title is written as '_____!' and pronounced as a faint murmur - Milligan's interpretation of illegible writing on a faded manuscript.
23 : The Spon Plague (1958-03-03)
24 : Tiddleywinks (1958-03-10)
25 : The Evils of Bushey Spon (1958-03-17)  With A. E. Matthews. Inspired by a real-life row A. E. Matthews was having with his local council about a concrete lamp-post they wanted to put outside his house. (There is also a reference to this in the previous show). Mr Matthews appears only in the last five minutes of the show, which are ad-libbed by all concerned owing to Mr Mathews's utter refusal to stick to the plot.
26 : The Great Statue Debate (1958-03-24)

'Vintage Goons' Series (1957-58)
The 'Vintage Goons' series was specially recorded by the BBC Transcription Services. All episodes were based on scripts from series 4 (with some reworking) and were recorded on the same day as series 8 shows. Six episodes were then broadcast on the BBC Home Service immediately proir to series 9. Cast includes Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan, The Ray Ellington Quartet, Max Geldray and Wallace Greenslade as announcer..
01 : The Mummified Priest (Originally S04E17)
02 : The Greatest Mountain in the World (Go to S04E21)
03 : The Missing Ten Downing Street aka The Missing Prime Minister (Go to S04E15)
04 : The Giant Bombardon (Go to S04E13)
05 : The Kippered Herring Gang (Originally S04E19)
06 : The Vanishing Room (Originally S04E21)
07 : The Great Ink Drought of 1902 (Originally S04E22)
08 : The Collapse of the British Railway Sandwich System aka The Mustard And Cress (Go to S04 E24)
09 : The Internal Mountain (Go to S04E27)
10 : The Silent Bugler (Originally S04E25)
11 : The Great Bank of England Robbery (Go to S04E29)
12 : The Dreaded Piano Clubber (Go to S04E01)
13 : The Siege of Fort Night (Go to S04E30)
14 : The Albert Memorial to the Moon (Go to S04E07)

Series 9 (1958-59)
Cast includes Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan, The Ray Ellington Quartet, Max Geldray and Wallace Greenslade as announcer..
01 : The Sahara Desert Statue (1958-11-03)
02 : I Was Monty's Treble (1958-11-10)
03 : The £1,000,000 Penny (1958-11-17)Announced as 'The Story of a Crime-Type Murder'. After the first musical break it becomes 'Ned the Miser' - it is this plan which is the story of the £1,000,000 Penny. The BBC Transcription Services publicity for their re-issue of this as 'Pick of the Goons' No. 81 wrongly describes it as 'The £1,000 Penny'.
04 : The Pam's Paper Insurance Policy (1958-11-24)
05 : The Mountain Eaters (1958-12-01)
06 : The Childe Harolde Rewarde (1958-12-08)
07 : The Seagoon Memoirs (1958-12-15)
08 : Queen Anne's Rain (1958-12-22)
09 : The Battle of Spion Kop (1958-12-29)
10 : Ned's Atomic Dustbin (1959-01-05)
11 : Who Is Pink Oboe? (1959-01-12)
12 : The Call of the West (1959-01-20)
13 : Dishonoured - Again (1959-01-26) Announced as 'I Knew Terence Nuke' ('From the book, I Knew Terence Nuke, by Eileen Beardsmore-Lewisham, tiddley-doo spot, we present the play, 'I Knew Terence Nuke', from the book by Eileen Beardsmore-Lewisham'). This show is a new production of the script 'Dishonoured' from episode 12 of the 5th series; there are only slight variations in the text. It is this later version which was issued on Parlophone Record (PMC 1108), despite their title of 'Dishonoured'.
14 : Quatermass O.B.E.aka The Scarlet Capsule (1959-02-02)
15 : The Tay Bridge (1959-02-09)
16 : The Gold Plate Robbery (1959-02-16)
17 : The £50 Cure (1959-02-23)

Series 10 (1959-60)
Cast includes Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan, The Ray Ellington Quartet, Max Geldray and Wallace Greenslade as announcer..
1 : The Christmas Carol (1959-12-24)
2 : The Tale of Men's Shirts (1959-12-31)
3 : The Chinese Legs (1960-01-07)
4 : Robin's Post (1960-01-14)
5 : The Silver Dubloons (1960-01-21)
6 : The Last Smoking Seagoon (1960-01-28)
Special: The Naughty Navy Show (1965-12-25)
Special: The Last Goon Show of All (1972-10-05) Specially written and performed as part of the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the BBC. With Andrew Timothy as announcer.