The Goon Show

The Goon Show was a hugely popular and extremely influential British radio comedy programme, which was originally produced and broadcast by the BBC from 1951 to 1960 on the BBC Home Service.

Regular cast members

• Harry Secombe as
• Neddie (Hairy) Seagoon, affable but gullible idiot, around whom the plot usually revolves. The patriotic Neddie is always willing to lay down his life for the Crown, and this often gets him into difficult situations. Neddie is often unemployed, and some episodes begin with him accepting a new job. Some jokes are made about his enormous girth, especially when contrasted to his lack of height.
• Uncle Oscar, uncle of Henry and Min. A very old pensioner who usually speaks but soon collapses.
• Unteroffizier Krupp, a German side-kick to Seller's Eidelberger. Also occasionally a spy, and a chemical idiot involved with the tails of men's shirts.
• Spike Milligan as
• (The Famous) "Mad Dan" Eccles, idiot supreme. Eccles is a man with no more wits than a small child. Occasionally he will be performing some absurd task, and when questioned why, it will come out that he misinterpreted instructions. Eccles is often paired with Bluebottle as a friend, and sometimes is an underling or lackey for Neddie. When people around him tell him to shut up, he often joins in, and has been known to go on telling himself to shut up long after everyone else has given up. Another catchphrase is his distinctive rising-and-falling "Ooooooooh..." when comprehension dawns on him. Milligan based Eccles on one of his childhood cartoon favourites, the Disney character Goofy.
• Miss Minnie Bannister, elderly spinster with a quavering voice, an interesting past, and an addiction to "sinful modern-type dancing". Minnie is as flirtatious as a girl a third her age.
• Count Moriarty, impecunious French idiot and Grytpype-Thynne's sidekick. He often utters meaningless foreign-sounding curses like "Sapristi!" Over the course of the series Moriarty changes from being a competent international criminal to a cringing whelp forever being picked on by Grytpype-Thynne; this deterioration is reflected in his voice, which over the course of five years goes from a deep, sinister purr to a high-pitched croak. Surprisingly, this character arc seems to have been completely unplanned but developed naturally from the characters' increasingly impoverished status.
• Throat or Miss Throat, with the very gravelly voice.
• Little Jim, whose single line "He's fallen in the wa-ater" became a national catchphrase.
• Jim/Adolphus Spriggs, who makes frequent appearances on the show. He often repeats his lines in a high-pitched falsetto and calls everybody "Jim".
• Peter Sellers as
• Major Dennis Bloodnok, military cad, lecher and idiot. Seagoon's former officer and in love with Minnie Bannister, to Henry Crun's disgust. In contrast to most military officers in fiction, Bloodnok is a flatulent, world-class coward who'll betray his country for £5. See also the movie Shrek, wherein Shrek refers to a constellation as "Bloodnok, the Flatulent."
• Hercules Grytpype-Thynne, a suave, well-educated impecunious homosexual cad. He often collaborates with Count Moriarty to swindle Neddie. His homosexuality was never mentioned openly in the show, but "came out" in a biographical note in the book The Goon Show Scripts (1972). Sellers' characterisation was based on renowned British actor George Sanders.
• Henry Crun, aged idiot inventor and beau of Minnie Bannister. His famous catchphrase, "You can't get the wood, you know", was a satirical reference to British postwar austerity.
• Bluebottle, young lecherous Boy Scout and idiot from Finchley, a direct ancestor of Kenny of South Park. He is usually a playmate or companion of Eccles and can usually be convinced to carry out any task, however dangerous, in return for a bag of sweets. Bluebottle is always willing to help anyone, but normally is as bad at interpreting instructions as Eccles is and frequently ends up being "deaded" (killed), usually by a huge explosion. The voice and character were inspired by an actual person, ostensibly a scout-master, who arrived uninvited one day, in uniform, to audition for the show.
• Cynthia, ROE (Rose of England), a breathy femme fatale from Earl's Court. Neddie's occasional love interest, with a jealous lover called Raoul (played by Ray Ellington with a George Sanders patina). Jilted for an elephant.
• Willium "Mate" Cobblers, working-class cockney idiot. His catchphrase, "You can't park 'ere, mate", was a Goon in-joke that took a swipe at officious BBC commissionaires. (Sellers used a similar voice for trade union leader Fred Kite in the movie I'm All Right Jack).
• Havaldar Sinjiz Thingiz, an Indian idiot. The various Indian characters derived from Milligan's childhood in India, where his father had served in the British Army.
• also either Mr Lalchaka or Mr. Bannerjee, the other played by Milligan.
• Eidelberger, a German Threat. Sometime Dr. Frankenstein, who invented Eccles, aided and abetted by Yakamoto. Camp Commandant of Stalag 10, 12, and 13, and nominal Kapitan.
• Flowerdew, a seemingly effeminate person who made infrequent appearances in the middle of the show's run. Jewish, with an aversion to non-Kosher water. Flowerdew is also an impresario, who cajoles actors in the wings with two broken legs to break another one.
• Captain Hugh Jampton, an army officer but primarily getting "one over" on the BBC censors. with "Huge Hampton" - see Cockney Rhyming Slang "Hampton Wick."
• Fred Nurke, a Cockney.
• Lew/Ernie Cash. Another Jewish character; a theatrical agent or some other position of authority (railway president, etc.)
• Michael Bentine was part of the regular cast for the first two seasons, often playing Prof. Osric Pureheart. As a tribute of sorts, unheard characters called Bentine are sometimes referred to in later episodes.