The Grumbleweeds Radio Show
| Genre | Comedy |
|---|---|
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | BBC Radio 2 |
| Starring | Robin Colvill, Graham Walker, Maurice Lee, Albert Sutcliffe, Carl Sutcliffe |
| Produced by | Mike Craig |
| Original release | 1979 – 1991 |
| No. of series | 15 |
The Grumbleweeds' Radio Show was a long-running comedy sketch show that aired for fifteen series between 1979 and 1988, starring The Grumbleweeds and broadcast on BBC Radio 2 (later repeated on BBC Radio 4). The show title was later shortened to The Grumbleweeds.
It also served as the name of a 1980s UK television programme starring the group.
The radio programme was a mixture of fast-moving skits, impressions and sketches, linked by snatches of the band's signature tune "We Are the Grumbleweeds". Recurring sketches included 'Trouble at T'Mill' (a comedic parody of a working-class drama set in a Yorkshire mill at the turn of the 20th century), 'Oh Amanda' (a romantic soliloquy performed by Colvill to his fictional partner Amanda with a suitably humorous punchline) and a parody of Radio 4's Book at Bedtime, where a soft-spoken narrator would attempt to read a story in spite of mounting technical problems such as constantly failing transmitter power, and would end the sketch yelling at the top of his voice in order to be heard. A regular Family Grumbleweed sketch introduced the residents of Grumbleweed Towers and a revolving cast of assorted friends, neighbours and lunatics. The programmes were predominantly broadcast on BBC Radio 2 between 10pm and 11pm, with repeats on weekend lunchtimes.
Key characters included:
The Grumbleweeds Radio Show won Best Radio Show Award in the Television and Radio Industries Awards of 1983, the same year that the group were given an ITV television series.
A half-hour Christmas special, Wilf In Santaland, broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on Christmas Day 1984, switched the usual quickfire sketch-based format for a traditional Christmas pantomime. The following four radio series, running from 1985 to 1988, were produced in a half-hour sitcom format, which was largely an extension of the Family Grumbleweed sketch from the earlier incarnation of the radio show, with scripts still mostly written by Mike Craig and often featuring cameos from other contemporary light entertainment favourites such as Mollie Sugden, Jimmy Cricket, Paul Shane and Stuart Hall. A number of new characters were introduced, amongst them the vagrant Ratface, the spluttering, lisping entrepreneur Sid Squeak and his partner-in-crime Stanley Bubble.
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