Round the Horne

British comedy

Round the Horne's ground-breaking mix of wordplay, camp caricature and risqu innuendo proved an irresistible combination with millions of listeners worldwide (the show pulled in a regular audience of fifteen million listeners). It is was one of the best loved programmes in radio history.

It was a direct successor to Beyond Our Ken, which had been on the air from 1958 to 1964, with 7 series. Though having been on the air for twice the time of Round The Horne, with all cast members from Round The Horne taking part, and dispite being similar in content and style, it is much less remembered.

Round The Horne ran for 4 series and 66 editions, and for the most part was written by Barry Took and Marty Feldman (50 of the total episodes), whose scripts were always of the highest standard.

The series occupied the much sought-after Sunday lunchtime slot on the Light Programme (later Radio 2). The Radio Times said at the time "Many a Sunday lunch will be hurried, delayed, or just plain interrupted to catch every word".

Barry Took had written the first two series of Beyond Our Ken with Eric Merriman, but left in 1959 to write Take it From Here, but returned to write Round The Horne with partner Marty Feldman. These scripts added a speed which had begun to be lacking by the end of Beyond Our Ken's run.

There were far more topical references than in Beyond Our Ken, references to films, fashion and even politics, many of which are completely baffling, and were even at the time!

The Radio Times commented "This is satire, also in the best sense: intelligent and amusing comment on the time, creative comment too, to the extent that it can invent its own language and still be intelligible"