Starring Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan
Announcer: Wallace Greenslade
Music by Max Geldray and The Ray Ellington Quartet
The Orchestra was conducted by Bruce Campbell
Script: Spike Milligan
Producer: Pat Dixon
Recorded: Sunday 26 February 1956
First Broadcast: Tuesday 28 February 1956 on the BBC Home Service
Neddie Seagoon,a destitute Londoner, is summoned to Scotland by his uncle, Laird McGool. He discovers that he’s heir to McGool’s fortune when he dies. After trying to give his uncle a death of cold by opening the window, McGool sets his dog (Eccles) on him. Grytpype and Moriarty, fishing in Loch Lomond. They observe Eccles, behaving like a dog, diving to the lake bottom and surfacing with treasure. To drain the lake, they convince Neddie that the lake waters have life-prolonging properties. Neddie sets about drinking the lake in order to survive Laird McGool and inherit the treasure. Just as the lake waters start to go down, the plan is foiled by a rainstorm. Neddie retires to the adjacent old red lodge. The water from the lodge comes from the lake, so Grytpype and Moriarty turn on all the taps and fix them so that they can’t be turned off. The logdekeepers, Henry and Minnie, are frantically try to turn off the taps before they drown. Bluebottle is sucked through the pipes and emerges in the lodge bathroom. He informs Neddie that Major Bloodnok is drowning in the lake, and that the lake level is receding rapidly. Seagoon realises that the life-giving waters of the lake are being depleted and sets off on Eccles the horse to lead a bucket brigade to return the water from the red lodge to the lake. There ensues a battle between Grytpype and Moriarty (attempting to pump the lake waters into the lodge) and Seagoon (trying to return the water to the lake). What of Bluebottle? When he asks about that, he’s blown up in a gratuitous explosion. Meanwhile, Eccles has retrieved the last of the £20,000 of treasure from the sunken galleon in Loch Lomond. Laird McGool is a rich man and Eccles is a far better swimmer. The rest of the cast give up. The show ends with Adolphus Spriggs performing “I’m Walking Backwards for Christmas”, accompanied by Ruben Croucher (Sellers) on the piano.
The Goon Show Preservation Society 