A Show Called Fred
| A Show Called Fred | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Spike Milligan |
| Starring |
Peter Sellers Spike Milligan Valentine Dyall Kenneth Connor Graham Stark Patti Lewis Max Geldray |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 5 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes per episode |
| Release | |
| Original network |
Associated-Rediffusion ITV |
| Original release | 2 May – 30 May 1956 |
A Show Called Fred was the successor series to The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d. It was made by Associated-Rediffusion and broadcast only in the London area. It was 25 minutes plus adverts.
It was predominantly a sketch comedy attempting to translate the audio antics of the The Goon Show into visual antics in bizarre and often surreal comedy sketches which just suddenly ended with a new sketch beginning. Many performers played small parts in the shows, like Ernest Clark, Jon Jon Keefe, Patricia Driscoll, etc. Famous people of the day like Hans and Lotte Hass were parodied. Canadian star Patti Lewis had a singing spot about the middle of the show, and Max Geldray a music spot later on. There were few taboos, with sketches showing people in various states of undress, cameramen, behind the scenes workers and the studios. The Ying Tong song was sung for no apparent reason at various times.
The series was written by Spike Milligan and produced and directed by Richard Lester.
It was followed by Son of Fred later in 1956.
A half-hour special, Best of Fred, was broadcast on 18 September 1963 combining surviving sketches from A Show Called Fred and Son of Fred.
The 1995 convention of the Goon Show Preservation Society was billed as A Weekend Called Fred, followed in 2003 by its successor, the Great Grandson of a Weekend Called Fred, held in Egham, Surrey.