Take It From Here

Take It From Here (often referred to as TIFH, pronounced "tife") was a British radio comedy programme broadcast by the BBC between 1947 and 1960. It was written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, and starred Jimmy Edwards, Dick Bentley and Joy Nichols. When Nichols returned to Australia in 1949 she was replaced by June Whitfield. The show is perhaps most famous for introducing The Glums. Through TIFH Muir and Norden reinvented British post-war radio comedy — amongst other influences, it was one of the first shows with a significant segment consisting of parody of film and book styles, later used extensively in programmes such as Round the Horne and many television programmes.

Influence

The parody sketch, previously used in stage revues but brought to radio by Muir and Norden for Take It From Here, was very influential on comedy shows such as Round The Horne and many television programmes.

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In one of the parody sketches, a take-off of the films of English north country factory owners, Muir claimed that they introduced the phrase "Trouble at t'Mill". An off-stage character played by Wallas Eaton was Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells, another phrase that entered the language.

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Many of the jokes and comic exchanges from Take It From Here were recycled in the series of Carry On films when the scriptwriter ran out of time, and Muir and Norden gave him some old TIFH scripts — for instance the line spoken by Julius Caesar on being killed by Brutus and others: "Infamy! Infamy! They've all got it in for me!"

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While the humour was undoubtedly parochially British, in his autobiography Frank Muir expressed gratification and wonder that the show was so well received in Australia — where TIFHs subtlety, and the show's implied confidence in the listeners' level of intelligence, were commented on in the Australian press as characteristics one would have expected to lead to the show's failure there!

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