The Navy Lark

The Navy Lark is a satirical radio sit-com based on board a British warship named HMS Troutbridge, transmitted on the BBC Light Programme and subsequently BBC Radio 2. It was produced by Sir Alastair Scott-Johnston and written by Laurie Wyman.

Related Topics:
Satirical - Radio - Sit-com - British - Warship - BBC Light Programme - BBC Radio 2

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Programmes were self-contained rather than episodic. The three main characters were silly-ass Sub Lieutenant Phillips (Leslie Phillips), scheming CPO Pertwee (Jon Pertwee) and their constantly bemused commander Lt (later Lt Commander) Murray (Stephen Murray) (In the first series, this character was Lt Price, played by Dennis Price). A normal episode consisted in these three trying to get out of trouble they created for themselves without being found out by their direct superior, Captain Povey.

Related Topics:
Leslie Phillips - Jon Pertwee - Stephen Murray - Dennis Price

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The program had a huge number of secondary characters including Captain Povey's domineering wife Ramona Povey, (un)able seamen "Fatso" Johnson (Ronnie Barker), proudly Welsh starboard lookout Taffy Goldstein (Tenniel Evans), Admiral Ffont-Bittocks, sneezing Captain Ignatious Aloitious A-A-A-Atchison (Michael Bates), unintelligible Commander Weatherby, blithering Vice-Admiral "Burbly" Burwasher, WRENs Heather Chasen and Judy Cornwell (later to be cast as Daisy, one of Hyacinth Bucket's sisters in Keeping Up Appearances) and a whole cartload of others.

Related Topics:
Ronnie Barker - Tenniel Evans - Michael Bates - Keeping Up Appearances

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Heavily reliant upon extreme accents and voice impediments for its humour, it also tended to cast women as junior ranks and feature somewhat unsubtle sexist wordplay, which probably remains appropriate to a military satire. The programme featured timeless and distinctive musical breaks and several enduring catchphrases, most notably from Sub Lieutenant Phillips: "Ooh, nasty...", "Oh lummie!" and "Left hand down-a-bit". "Ev'rybody down!" was a phrase of CPO Pertwee's, necessitated by a string of incomprehensible navigation orders by Lt. Phillips, and followed by a sound effect of the ship crashing.

Related Topics:
Accents - Voice impediments - Catchphrases

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The series made household names of Leslie Phillips, Jon Pertwee and Richard Caldicot, but Ronnie Barker's versatile contributions were only recognised after he had become better known through television comedy.

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Repeats of the show may be heard on BBC7.

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There were several TV and radio sequels, including The Embassy Lark and The Big Business Lark. The TV Lark was intended to be a replacement for The Navy Lark starting with what would have been the series' fifth season. The entire cast had been drummed out of the service (as the announcer puts it) and hired by Troutbridge TV Ltd. However, each episode veered closer and closer back to its Naval origins — until finally the ongoing plot was that Murray, Phillips, and Pertwee were in charge of producing a weekly TV show about life in the Navy! At some point, probably due to public pressure, the production team of Sir Alastair Scott-Johnston and Laurie Wyman gave in, and episode ten of The TV Lark revealed that CPO Pertwee had arranged to get the entire crew demobbed so he could flog almost the entirety of HMS Troutbridge!

Related Topics:
The Embassy Lark - The Big Business Lark - The TV Lark

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In 1959 a film version was made, written by Laurie Wyman and Sid Colin and directed by Gordon Parry. It starred Cecil Parker, Ronald Shiner, Leslie Phillips and Nicholas Phipps.

Related Topics:
1959 - Sid Colin - Cecil Parker - Ronald Shiner - Nicholas Phipps

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