The Goon Show Compendium Volume 11: Series 9, Part 2 & Series 10

Episodes from the classic BBC radio comedy series

By: Spike Milligan

Narrated by: Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan

Twelve classic episodes of The Goon Show, plus the complete series of The Omar Khayyam Show, The Army Show, The Naughty Navy Show and a wealth of bonus material.

Immensely popular and hugely influential, the groundbreaking series The Goon Show changed the face of British comedy. Now, for the first time, this box set collection presents the episodes in chronological order as they were scheduled to be broadcast.

This eleventh volume includes: 'Dishonoured - Again', 'The Scarlet Capsule', 'The Tay Bridge', 'The Gold Plate Robbery', 'The £50 Cure', 'A Christmas Carol', 'The Tale of Men's Shirts', 'The Chinese Legs', 'Robin's Post', 'The Silver Dubloons', 'The Last Smoking Seagoon', 'The GPO Show', 'The Omar Khayyam Show: Ned Kelly', 'The Omar Khayyam Show: The Ashes', 'The Omar Khayyam Show: The PM's Trousers', 'The Omar Khayyam Show: The Flying Dustman'; 'The Omar Khayyam Show: The America Cup', 'The Omar Khayyam Show: Waltzing Matilda', The Army Show and The Naughty Navy Show.

In addition, there are some rare bonus archive items, including interviews with Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan and a rehearsal sequence from the soundtrack recording of 'The Lost Colony'.

The Goons is a classic comedy which reflects the broadcast standards, language and attitudes of its time.

©2015 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2015 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

More than half NOT Goon Shows

This has been padded out with an hour of rehearsal tapes (listening to same musical stings with long pauses between) and interview shows about the Goons. I never suspected I was buying a binful of Goon-related items.

It’s The End, Moriarty…be a good chap and get the dregs, will you?

I’d like to be happy-go-lucky over the collection, but unfortunately it’s good and bad news. The good news is that it includes the last remaining episodes, and they’re presented fully restored. The bad news is that there’s a lot of repetition through the whole damn thing — Milligan’s puerile “half a knicker” joke comes up over and over — and we don’t get the benefit years between iterations.

Because the final episodes aren’t enough to fill out a decent sized box, we get a bunch 0f Spike Milligan’s other work, including the six episodes of “The Omar Khayyam Show,” which remade episodes of “The Idiot’s Weekly,” Spike’s show for Australia’s ABC. There’s also “The Army Show,” “The Naughty Navy Show,” “The G.P.O. Show”, an episode of “The Telegoons”, and various bits and pieces from interviews, or about the series. Sadly, it’s mostly noisy and tedious after “The G.P.O. Show.”

False advertising

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I downloaded this because 12 hours of goonery seemed hard to pass up. But beware, this is Milligan in a very minor key. Many of the episodes aren't truly Goon Shows at all, minus Sellers, Secombe and the stock Goon characters. Many seems to have been recorded in Australia and have no discernible plot or structure; although intermittently funny, they fall far short of classic Goon standards. And jokes are recycled shamelessly. Another gripe is that there are no "liner notes" that might put all this in context. When were they aired? Where? Who are the players?If you are a Goon fanatic (as I am) this might be worth it for the sake of completeness. But if you are new to the Goons and want to know what all the fuss is about, don't be swayed by the "12-hours-for-the-price-of-two" appearance. Start with the real, 95-proof stuff first.