The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d (1956)

Country

United Kingdom

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A Victorian newspaper editor presides over a series of comedy sketches. The show was an early attempt to bring Goon Show style humor to television.

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What happens

The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d was a 1956 British television series produced and directed by Richard Lester. Although written mainly by Spike Milligan, there were many contributions from members of Associated London Scripts, the writers' co-operative, including Dave Freeman, John Junkin and Terry Nation. Eric Sykes was credited as the script editor. It was made by Associated-Rediffusion during 1956 and was broadcast only in the London area. It was the first real attempt to translate the humour of The Goon Show to television. It combined elements of a sitcom and sketch comedy with Peter Sellers as the editor of a fictional tatty Victorian newspaper, The Idiot Weekly. The headlines of the paper were used as links to comedy sketches. It was followed in the same year by A Show Called Fred and Son of Fred. The title was revived by Milligan for his 1958 Australian radio series The Idiot Weekly. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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