Robin Hood

"Robin Hood"
The Goon Show episode
Episode: no.	Series: 7 Episode: Christmas Special
Written by	Spike Milligan Larry Stephens
Based on	Ye Bandit of Sherwood Forest
Announcer	Wallace Greenslade
Produced by	Pat Dixon
Music	Orchestra: Wally Stott Geldray: You're the Cream in My Coffee Ellington: Three-Handed Woman
Recording Number	TLO 17360
First broadcast	25 December 1988 (1988-12-25)
Running time	31:12
Guest appearances
Valentine Dyall, Dennis Price

SPECIAL: Robin Hood• With Valentine Dyall and Dennis Price

Recording: Sunday 2 December 1956, 7pm, The Camden Theatre. TLO 17360.

First Domestic Broadcast: Sunday 25 December 1988, 1.30pm. [Radio 2]

Robin Hood is an episode from The Goon Show. It is the Christmas special in the seventh series.

Two pre-recording sessions took place:

• Wednesday 28 January 1959, 4.15pm/5.15pm. Aeolian Hall Studio 2 (TLO & C/DLO 76382, TLO 77924)
• Saturday 1 February 1959, 5.45pm, The Paris Cinema (DLO 76513/A)

The recording for transmission was created at 8pm on Sunday 14 December 1958, at The Camden Theatre, Camden Town, London (TLO 72138).

The first Home Service broadcast was the next day at 8.30pm on Monday 15 December 1958, its ratings were 1.1 million.

The show was repeated:

• Wednesday 9.31pm, 17 December 1958, on the Light Programme to 2.3 million listeners.
• Friday 9.30pm, 6 March 1964 on the Home Service in Vintage Goons, to 0.5 million listeners.
• Friday 9.30pm, 20 August 1965 on the Home Service in Let's Laugh Again, to 0.2 million listeners (the broadcast was affected by a fault on the reproduction equipment).

Transcription Service Synopsis

Will the Sheriff of Nottingham capture Robin Hood? Who will win the archery contest? How does Robin escape from the dungeon dark, dank and donk? Will Robin's outlaws triumph over the soldiers of Prince John? Listen to the Christmas Goon Show, ‘Robin Hood’, and you may hear some of the answers.

Music

• The BBC Radio Orchestra was conducted by Wally Stott
• Max Geldray plays You're the Cream in My Coffee (Ray Henderson / Buddy G. DeSylva / Lew Brown)
• The Ray Ellington Quartet plays Three-Handed Woman (Ben Raleigh / Irv Taylor)

Technical

Originally recorded on TLO 72138 (15 ips ¼" tape recorded at Broadcasting House).

The TLO 72138 master tape no longer exists, and the version of the show included on The Goon Show Compendium Vol 10 was compiled from the TGS disc, the POTG master tape and domestic recordings of both the original transmission and the 1964 repeat.

SP - Robin Hood. Originally recorded on no 17360, later re-numbered to T6/l 12◄-S, 13/1/65. This show survives more or less as recorded on these reels, and has been so transmitted domestically. For this issue, I have removed the gaffes and tidied up some of Dennis Price's lines. Unfortunately, the retake (presented separately) does not cut satisfactorily into the body of the show, so I submit what I think is the best solution given the available material.