The Telegoons

Too young to remember the original Radio Goon show, this for me, was my first introduction to the genius of the Goons. Far darker perhaps than the audio version but still a must see in its day.

The TelegoonsScript Editor: Maurice WiltshireProducer: Tony YoungSeries 1 Broadcast: 05 October 1963 to 20 December 1963Series 2 Broadcast: 28 March 1964 to 01 August 1964
Three years after the last Goon Show series ended, the BBC broadcast 'The Telegoons'. Television scriptwriter Maurice Wiltshire shortened and re-worked 26 original Goon Show scripts to 2 series of 15 minute puppet films.
Wiltshire had co-written some of original Goon Shows and was well placed to adapt the scripts. He edited the scripts and added a good amount of visual humour to suit the TV medium.
The Goon characters to were brought to life by string and rod puppets, which combined with traditional cartoon animation and library footage gave the programmes a unique look. The puppets' visual characteristics were based on Spike Milligan's doodled impressions of how they might look, creating a somewhat grotesque but worthwhile visual interpretation.
The sound tracks were freshly recorded by The Goons, which brought them back together again for the first time in several years.
The Telegoons was not particularly successful with its adult audience. However, it was popular with the younger television viewing generation which led to regular Telegoon comic strips in 'TV Comic'.
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Michael Bentine

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Michael Bentine was actually even too zany for The Goons where he appeared for the first few shows on the radio back in the 50's. He went off to do his own thing like The Bumblies , a weird puppet show for kids featuring some rubbery aliens and It's A Square World which was a popular series on BBC in the 60's.
Also I remember him in a show for children called Potty Time with puppets and Bentine overseeing the procedings like a smart blazered giant.
This dodgy film clip is pretty typical of his anarchic and inventive style- using only a piece of chair to conjure up the possible uses it may have and creating many variants of the one theme. Tommy Cooper did a similar sketch using a box of hats which he dived into to create characters of a long and involved story. Sadly this type of physical humour has almost vanished and a distant memory along with the music hall and variety theatres where they were spawned.

Discover more about Michael Bentine HERE