What both these programmes have in common is that they feature actors rather than comedians in the lead roles and they are beautifully written. Even though the characters are larger than life, we nevertheless care about them.
The Steptoe radio series started on 3 July 1966, when the very first episode “The Offer” was broadcast. There were six series in all.
All of the radio episodes were reworking's of the original television programmes, therefore some of the more visual episodes were not considered for radio. While it is possible for a radio audience to use their imagination to create almost any circumstance, the amount of additional dialogue required to re-create an episode like “Divided We Stand”, where the entire house is split in two, would either mean that the episode would overrun or most likely lose some of it’s impact.
The first two radio series were adapted by Gale Pedrick, with Ray and Alan taking over from series three.
While the dialogue in the radio shows remained true to the television originals, there were a number of opportunities with the radio series to alter things around and develop some of the scenes for additional laughs. Perhaps one of the most obvious examples of this comes at the start of “And Afterwards At…” This episode sees Harold in church only moments away from marrying his latest girlfriend. In the radio version the character of the vicar is expanded to marvelous comic effect. In a caricature of many clergy men, this vicar is so familiar with the service that he sings the service almost to himself, rather than consider the actual meaning of the words. The comic climax of this occurs when the vicar, hardly pausing for breath, recites a whole series of vows to Harold in a high falsetto voice. In reply Harold nervously sings his reply……. “I will”.
It does appear that it is the same episodes that are continually broadcast, and therefore just like the TV series it must be assumed that some of there radio recordings have also been lost. Any information that could shed some light in this subject would be most welcome.
In 1998 BBC Radio 4 broadcast a “Galton and Simpson Playhouse” series in recognition of their 50 year partnership. The series kicked of with a new version of “The Offer”. There was no studio audience and the play was set in the north of England and starred Freddie Jones in the role of Albert. While to was still obviously funny, the lack of an audience highlighted the quality of the writing and the drama of the situation. The comedy doesn’t come from straight jokes but from the real human characters created by the entire Steptoe team.
The radio episodes have been broadcast continuously since they were made and can still be heard from time to time on BBC7, the BBC’s spoken word digital radio service, which is also available via the internet. They have also been released on cassette and more recently on CD.
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