The current run of Series 7 Goon Show episodes being played in the Tuesday slot by the BBC has reached another episode which hadn’t previously had an airing in the digital era.
The show scheduled on Radio 4 Extra for this week, Tuesday 27th May, is Africa Ship Canal, which was the 22nd episode of Series 7. It was last broadcast by the BBC on the Home Service in May 1957. The script is a satire on the Suez Crisis of 1956, and so this is, perhaps, one of the most political episodes. Africa Ship Canal was included on Volume 6 of The Goon Show Compendium, so it’s not unknown to fans.
There’s another Series 7 episode which hasn’t been broadcast on any BBC station since its first appearance in 1957. That one’s the 24th of the series, a tale of dynamite and corruption in Birmingham City Council, The Missing Boa Constrictor. Will it be played during this run? We’ll know soon.
Update: we know now, it’s on the schedule for 10th June.
Every week, a Goon Show is broadcast four times on a Tuesday on BBC Radio 4 Extra. That episode is then available to stream on BBC Sounds for the following 30 days.
Useful Links:
The Goons on BBC Sounds
BBC Radio 4 Extra schedule
A note for overseas listeners – The BBC had announced that, from Spring 2025, BBC Sounds was going to be geo-blocked outside the United Kingdom. As a replacement, there would be BBC.com/audio and a BBC app for overseas listeners. The content carried on those was to be restricted to Radio 4 and The World Service. However, these changes have now been ‘delayed’ and, at this stage, no one seems to know what’s going to happen. However, the likely outcome is some sort of payment being charged to access the service outside the UK.
The Goon Show Preservation Society 