The front cover of "The Radio Active Times" written by
Angus Deayton and
Geoffrey Perkins. Michael is the good looking hunk with his
back to the camera.
This photo was done in the studios of Capital Radio. What
tortured webs we weave!
RADIO ACTIVE ran for seven series on BBC Radio Four
for more info email me at
info@michaelfentonstevens.com
for the Radio Active chat room go to http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/radioactive.html
Series One 1981 (six programmes)
Series Two 1982 (six programmes)
Series Three 1983 (six programmes)
Christmas Special 1983
Series Four 1984 (eight programmes)
Series Five 1985 (eight programmes)
Series Six 1986 (eight programmes)
Series Seven 1987 (eight programmes)
Light Ent. Writers Room 1984
Angus and Geoffrey either writing a script or choosing lunch
FOR MARTIN BROWN EXTRACT
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This quintessential 1980s series ran for far longer than most of its contemporaries and, though it was obviously unable to reach the kind of mass audience enjoyed by the programmes of earlier years, is remembered by its fans with very much the same kind of nostalgic affection. The show, which eventually transferred to television, supposedly consisted of half hour samples from the output of "Britain's first national local radio station"-- a huge joke, in other words, at the expense of amateurish, cliché-driven local broadcasting.
Radio Active grew out of the late seventies Oxford student comedy fraternity: its main spur to success was the HeeBeeGeeBees HeeBeeGeeBees, a parody band set up around 1980 by Philip Pope, Angus Deayton and Michael Fenton Stevens (then known simply as Michael Stevens). The trio laid mercilessly into the then hugely popular Bee Gees with a single entitled 'Meaningless Songs In Very High Voices', which enjoyed very moderate success in Britain but became a surprise runaway hit in Australia, the spiritual home of the tribute band. Out of this success came two albums, and the group began to train their fire on other artists (Phil Pope, the musician of the outfit, possessed a natural gift for pastiche on which he has since built a substantial career). 'Radio Active' was originally a touring comedy show created to broaden the approach, also appearing in Australia as well as at home; before long, a radio version was in development.
A transmitted pilot, entitled The Oxford Revue Presents Radio Active, went out in 1980, and was followed by seven radio series (an astonishing total for a modern sketch show) running to 51 programmes. The radio cast - all of whom shared the same comedy background - were Deayton, Pope, Fenton Stevens, Helen Atkinson Wood and Geoffrey Perkins (Morwenna Banks and Kate Robbins deputised for Atkinson Wood on a couple of occasions). Deayton and Perkins wrote most of the material, with significant additional contributions from, at various times, Jon Cantor, Richard Curtis, Michael Fenton Stevens, Jack (then John) Docherty and Moray Hunter, and the various musical elements provided by Pope. Four producers worked on the series over the years (Jimmy Mulville, Jamie Rix, Paul Mayhew Archer and David Tyler).
The show had a very different feel from On The Hour, the later series based on a similar concept (with news presentation, rather than local radio, as its main target) with which it is often compared: Radio Active was not wholly dominated by the central concept in the same meticulous way, and was more obviously a 'spoof'. There was scant regard paid to the internal logic of any particular situation (a favourite trick was to close a sketch by destroying the premise on which it had been based). Each programme's sketches and link pieces ran along a general theme, but really the only rule was to keep the jokes flowing at a decent rate, and the format proved adaptable enough to sustain the show over seven series.
One of the clunkier jokes was the naming of most of the presenters after items of sound equipment. In practice this meant that, apart from Atkinson Wood's Anna Daptor, they were all called Mike: Mike Flex and Mike Channel, who engaged in a good deal of not-particularly-good-natured banter; "kiddies' favourite" Uncle Mike Stand; and -- in case we hadn't got the idea -- Mike Cable, Mike Hubbard and "the oh-so-daring Mike Hunt", none of whose death defying stunts (jumping off a brick, etc.) was anywhere near as daring as his name, always pronounced with scrupulously careful aspiration.
Also present from the beginning was Nigel Pry, the incomprehensible reporter who displayed an eloquence of which Alan Partridge would have been proud, but it was not until Series Four that the station's best loved character made his first appearance. Martin Brown, brilliantly voiced by, was a quivering, ingenuous half wit, wildly incompetent even by Radio Active standards, and plucked from hospital radio obscurity to present his own show on account of his ignorance of broadcasting minimum wage standards. The working through of Martin's many and varied inabilities (such as his attempt at gag writing: "I went to a Norwegian restaurant the other day... but the problem was... I couldn't af-fjord it") punctuated many of the later shows. On the subject of that nation, I feel that mention should also be made (though I'm not really sure why) of Oivind Vinstra, Radio Active's Norwegian correspondent, who spoke no English and very little Norwegian, and never failed to contribute less than was expected of him.
Then (because Active was not, perish the thought, a BBC station) there were the adverts. A 'Commercial Time' jingle comfortably longer than the commercials themselves heralded the arrival of Mary and June, who would advertise a different product each week in a spot-on parody of the dire '2TK' ("two-tarts-in-a-kitchen") commercials which had littered radio and television for years. There was also 'Honest Ron', a typical eighties entrepreneur whose enforcement methods usually involved out-of-work jockeys with sledgehammers.
But the music was unarguably the show's finest feature. Each show featured one or two pre recorded songs based on the work of a contemporary band or singer, usually announced with a punning name ('The Human Leek','Kate Bosh' etc.) and coupling parodic lyrics with dazzlingly accurate representations of the relevant artists' output, made all the more impressive by the range of subjects chosen. 'Mobile Home of Love' by 'The House Marvins', for instance, managed to be genuinely poignant in spite of its zit squeezing and incest references, where as the England World Cup Squad song 'Next Time', aired in 1982, rendered all subsequent football songs unnecessary and hollow. Like the asinine jingles which punctuated each show, they were very nearly indistinguishable from the real thing.
The members of Radio Active planned a move to television almost from the outset, but had a long wait before a version entitled KYTV finally aired on BBC2 in 1990 - perhaps surprising given that members of their generation of Oxbridge writer-performers had by this point come to dominate British television comedy production. The target this time around was not local broadcasting but Rupert Murdoch's Sky TV satellite network, then (as now) a thread bare and soul destroying experience; the new show drew heavily on recycled radio material. A transmitted pilot, 'Siege-SideSpecial', was followed by three six part series (the last in 1993), which met with declining critical interest. This, however, was eclipsed by the coincident meteoric rise of Angus Deayton as a media star, thanks to his concurrent chairmanship of Have I Got News For You, a slow burning adaptation of Radio 4's The News Quiz which grew to become BBC2's most popular show. He has since appeared in a multitude of television projects.
Geoffrey Perkins has received a similar degree of success in the production career he pursued throughout his involvement with Active. Starting in radio (he produced episodes 2 to 12 of The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy) he moved on to television in the eighties, becoming one of the directors (ex-Active producer Jimmy Mulville being another) of the omnipresent Hat Trick Productions. He has since become Head of BBC Light Entertainment and is now a director of Tiger Aspect, Rowan Atkinson's TV production company. Phil Pope became involved with various music related projects in comedy and advertising; his work on Spitting Image resulted in a No1 hit with the 1986 'Chicken Song' single. Occasional performer Morwenna Banks, together with early writers Jack Docherty and Moray Hunter, later found fame with Channel4's Absolutely, while fellow writer Richard Curtis, of course, has become something of a script writing legend thanks to the success of Blackadder and Four Weddings and a Funeral.
Commercial releases: a compilation album (plundered from the early episodes) was put out on BBC Records in 1983. Ten years later, the BBC released two episodes, 'Mega Phone-In' and 'Martin Chizzlenutt' (minus signature tune for copyright reasons), on its Canned Laughter label (ZBBC1522, ISBN 0563 402 318). In 1994, these shows were re-released on a double cassette alongside 'The History Of Radio Active' and 'Charity Radiothon'.
Thanks to Radiohaha for the above information [ GO TO]
MORE DETAILS
Back in 1980, commercial radio had only been running in the UK for a few years when a new local station burst onto the airwaves… Radio Active. Being difficult (if not impossible) to pick up with conventional radios, they had to make do with a series of live link ups with BBC Radio 4. Or so the perpetrators would have us believe … it was actually a novel send up of the fledgling industry inspired by the 1978 Oxford University student show which was adapted for the 1979 Edinburgh Fringe.
The first of these so-called "simulcasts" took place on April 8th 1980 as part of The Oxford Review, and starred Helen Atkinson Wood, Angus Deayton, Philip Pope, Karen Rasmussen, Michael Fenton Stevens, and David Jackson Young.
MFS as the "Fetid Sturp" and the cast in "The Socrates Sketch"
from the Radio Active stage show, Edinburgh Festival.
The BBC subsequently commissioned a series of six further link
ups under the title Radio Active which were aired eighteen months later. In
the series, Rasmussen and Young were replaced by Geoffrey Perkins and(occasionally)
Morwenna Banks. Eventually the programme would run to some fifty editions (plus
a couple of specials).
THE RADIO ACTIVE STAFF
ANGUS DEAYTON... ..Mike Channel - the station’s "imploding"
personality, who started out as a presenter of a peak time weekday show,was
moved to the Sunday morning 4 am time slot, and ended up as Aaron The Aardvark
on the Saturday morning kiddies show.
..(Oh so daring) Mike Hunt. - the station's dare devil, who
performed stunts which even a five-year-old would consider tame.
..Sir Norman Tonsil - the pompous, opinionated and downright
obnoxious Chairman.
..The Right Reverend Reverend Wright - the resident Head of
Religious Affairs, with a liking for heavy metal hymns.
GEOFFREY PERKINS... ..Mike Flex - the cocky presenter whose
career was heading in the opposite direction to Channel’s.
..Oivind Vinstra -a Norwegian DJ with a poor command of English
(an inexpensive announcer).
HELEN ATKINSON WOOD... ..Anna Daptor - the podgy host of the
midday show, whose obsession with food caused all sorts of problems.
..Anna Rabies - the very aggressive agony aunt, whose solution
was usually to kill the source of the problem.
MICHAEL FENTON STEVENS..... "Uncle
"Mike Stand - the 'kiddies favourite', whose well intended actions inevitably
lead to his arrest for child molesting.
..Martin Brown - the shyest DJ on radio who started out on
the local hospital radio 4 am show and was employed for one reason -he was
cheap....
....backing singer on most of the songs and co-harmony on
most of the jingles (including some of those incredibly high notes)...
.....Hundreds of other characters, including Generals, vicars,
politicians, Honest Ron and even Mary from the ads....
PHILIP POPE ...The musical genius behind all the songs and
jingles which he always sang on, plus hundreds of different character voices.......
..Nigel Pry - a one man accident black spot who often demolished
the studio within seconds of starting his show.
..Dr Philip Percygo - the singing medico.
Over the years the show sent up just about every sort of radio
programme, ranging from mass debates (Are you in favour of all-out nuclear destruction?),
cookery (I thought everybody knew coq au vin was a recipe with chicken and I
can't be held responsible for what has happened to your husband) and unbiased
election specials (with the station chairman,Sir Norman Tonsil, standing as
the candidate for the Free - Enterprise- Bring-Back-The-Rack-And-Send-Home -
All - Those - With -A - Touch - Of -The-Tar-Brush-In-Them-Democratic-Party in
the Thodding by-election) to a fly on the wall documentary about an average
family (Mr. and Mrs. Famley) with intimate details of their disintegration,
nervous breakdowns and the major fire caused by a faulty microphone lead.
Each episode had a musical break usually written by Philip Pope, but over the series, Steve Brown, Angus Deayton and Keith McCullock all contributed, which consisted of a send up of a popular group or artist. One of these groups was the Hee-Bee-Gee-Bees, that well known trio of Norris, Dobbin and Garry Cribb as portrayed by Pope, Deayton and Stevens. The trio began releasing commercial recordings even before Radio Active began and their"life story" was profiled in a Radio 2 documentary broadcast in 1981.
The shows were broken up by a wide range of advertisements including send ups of real ads (the sound of someone being violently sick followed by "I bet he drinks Carling Black Label") and exclusive products (suck Quillies throat lozenges). A regular advertiser was Honest Ron (Stevens), who threw in a visit from six out-of-work jockies bent on rearranging parts of your anatomy if you didn't pay up on time.
Also broadcast were blindingly obvious public information advertisements to warn you against such activities as letting small children play in the fast lane of a motor way.
Radio Active tried to help the community with a wide range of telephone help lines including the I'm In Trouble Line, the Oh God, I'm Unemployed Line and the Christ Almighty, I'm Starving To Death Here And You Bastards Don't Seem To Be Able To Do Anything About It Line.
Radio Active was immensely popular but had it's controversial moments. The satire on religious broadcasting (aired on September 12 1987) provoked a series of complaint letters in the Radio Times when some took it the wrong way. The duty log on the day of broadcast was jammed with complainants. The show was only broadcast once. The D-Day show (November 1 1986) also received complaints with apologies being demanded by some of those who had fought at Normandy.
The show ran for a total of seven seasons. There were rumours of an eighth season, but instead the team transferred to television in May 1989 as part of the Comic Asides series. This was a showcase for five' pilot' programmes (akin to the Comedy Playhouse series which spawned Steptoe And Son and many others back in the 1960s and 1970s).
In the move from radio to tv, the idea switched from being a commercial radio station to a satellite tv company, and in the process gained a new chairman - Sir Kenneth Yellowhammer. Unfortunately another group was already using the name SKY TV, so the "Sir" part was dropped. He lead the station in an aggressive drive for what the Radio Times described as "ahead long chase for ratings at the expense of quality".
Some new characters appeared such as Mad Hattie, the fitness expert, and Rabbi Rabbit - a glove puppet who appeared in the religious broadcasts.
Much of the material in KYTV was taken from Radio Active including a charity fund-raiser, the D-Day special and a fly-on-the-wall l documentary (this time featuring Mr. and Mrs. Walls). TV send ups included Challenge Anna, in which Anna Daptor had to locate a spleen for a life-saving transplant operation and a documentary about the making of the play David Chizzlenut(loosely based on an idea by Charles Dickens). Other Radio Active ideas surfaced in modified form such as Brown Nose Day, sending up the BBC's Red Nose Day.(where twenty five barefoot East End kiddies set off across Antarctica with KYTV T shirts, sandwiches and buckets and spades to recreate Captain Scott's expedition).
The shows were principally written by Angus Deayton and Geoffrey Perkins, with additional material by Jon Canter, Richard Curtis, John Docherty, Michael Fenton Stevens, and Moray Hunter, and the series was produced, over the years, but Jimmy Mulville,Jamie Rix and David Taylor.
Radio Active was honoured with the BPI Award for Best Radio Comedy Show of 1981, the Sony Award for Best Light Entertainment Programme of 1982 and the Premio Ondas of 1983. KYTV won the Silver Rose of Montreaux in 1994.
Thanks to britishcomedy.org.uk [ GO TO]
The Hee Bee Gee Bees Story was first broadcast on BBC Radio
Two.
All of the other shows were first broadcast on BBC Radio Four.
SHOW
EPISODE TITLE
Transmission
Pilot
The Oxford Review
8/4/80
1/1
The Late Show - Mike Channel
8/9/81
1/2
Bedrock - The Early Morning Breakfast Show - Mike Flex 15/9/81
1/3
Midday Show - Anna Daptor
22/9/81
1/4
The Radio Active Road show
29/9/81
1/5
What's News
6/10/81
1/6
The Mike Stand Show - Radio Active Awards
13/10/81
Special Show The Hee Bee Gee Bees Story (Intro. by Paul Burnett) 19/12/81
2/1
The History of Radio Active
16/8/82
2/2
Charity Radiothon
23/8/82
2/3
Good Day Sport
30/8/82
2/4
What's Going On
6/9/82
2/5
The Nigel Pry Show
13/9/82
2/6
Pick of the Week
20/9/82
3/1
Euroshow
12/7/83
3/2
Probe Round The Back
19/7/83
3/3
Funday
26/7/83
3/4
Repeat After Three
2/8/83
3/5
Lunchtime With Anna
9/8/83
3/6
What's Going On at the Edinburgh Festival
16/8/83
Christmas Special Radio Active's Christmas Turkey 20/12/83
4/1
Salute to New York
9/7/84
4/2
The Martin Brown Show
16/7/84
4/3
Round Your Parts
23/7/84
4/4
Breakfast Show
30/7/84
4/5
Minorities Programme
6/8/84
4/6
Bio Show
13/8/84
4/7
Gigantaquiz
20/8/84
4/8
Martin Chizzlenutt
27/8/84
5/1
Wimbledon Special
5/7/85
5/2
Nuclear Debate
12/7/85
5/3
Out of Your Depth
19/7/85
5/4
In Australia
26/7/85
5/5
Get Away With You
2/8/85
5/6
Wey Hey It's Saturday
9/8/85
5/7
Music Festival
16/8/85
5/8
Did You Catch It?
23/8/85
6/1
A Thodding By-Election Special
11/10/86
6/2
The Fit and Fat Show
18/10/86
6/3
Radio Active's Bogie Awards
25/10/86
6/4
The D-Day Show
1/11/86
6/5
Radio Active Goes to the Movies
8/11/86
6/6
Stop That Crime UK
15/11/86
6/7
In House Documentary
22/11/86
6/8
Backchat
29/11/86
7/1
It Was 20 Years Ago Last Tuesday
29/8/87
7/2
Radio Radio Programme
5/9/87
7/3
God Alone Knows
12/9/87
7/4
Probe Round The Back
19/9/87
7/5
Mike Says - Here's a Bit of Talent
26/9/87
7/6
Flu Special
3/10/87
7/7
You and Your Things
12/10/87
7/8
Mega Phone In
19/10/87
21/12/02 Radio Active's Digital Turn On
In 2002 the Radio Active team got back together to record a one-off show to
celebrate the 21st anniversary of the programme. Excerpts can be heard on the
comedy page of this site.
click
All of the following were first broadcast on BBC2
Episode Title Transmission
Pilot Comic Asides 12/5/89
1/1 The launch of KYTV 3/5/90
1/2 Big Fight Special 10/5/90
1/3 The Green Green Show 17/5/90
1/4 Those Wonderful War Years 24/5/90
Click for extract
1/5 It's A Royal Wedding 31/5/90
1/6 Challenge Anna 7/6/90
2/1 KY Telethon 17/3/92
2/2 God Alone Knows 24/3/92
2/3 Good Morning Calais 31/3/92
2/4 Crisis Special 7/4/92
2/5 Talking Head 14/4/92
2/6 Speak For Yourself 21/4/92
3/1 Making Of David Chizzlenut 17/9/93
3/2 Those Sexiting Sixties 24/9/93
3/3 Fly On The Walls 1/10/93
3/4 2000 'n' Whither 8/10/93
3/5 Hot Crimes 15/10/93
3/6 Get Away With You 22/10/93
COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE MATERIAL
Meaningless Songs / Posing In the Moonlight Original records/
R.C.A. single ABO2 (1980)
439 Golden Greats - The Original Hee Bee
Gee Bees Original records/RCA LP TWITS101 (1981)
Meaningless Songs (The Hee Bee Gee Bees) / (Dancing) Up The
Wall (Jack Michaelson) / Dead Cicada (The Beagles) / Quite Ahead Of My Time
(David Bowwow) / You're My Son (Kenny Rogered) / Boring song (Status Quid) /
Ah! (The Hee Bee Gee Bees) / Too Depressed To Commit Suicide (The PeeCees) /
Simple Song (Paul McCarthrob and Wangs) / Granma (St Winnalot's Reform School
Choir) / Music Machine (Babba) / Oh Me! (Larry Pilsson) /Bird Of Peace(Neil
Dung, Bob Vylan, The Bland, Frank Sumatra, Dean Martian, Leonard Crowing, George
Harrassing)
Too Depressed To Commit Suicide / Up the Wall + Meaningless
Songs Original Records / R.C.A. single HGBG 1 (1981)
Boring Song / Dead Cicada Original Records / R.C.A. single
HGBG 2 (1981)
Radio Active BBC LP REH 471 (1983)
Highlights from series 1 and 2: Police File + Shipping Forecast
/ Commercial Break / Ches And Des / Luscivia In The Foyer / Dedication +Wordplay
Jackpot / Radiothon / Kate Bosch / Pensioner At The Ritz / Soapbox Corner/Commercials
(Wilson’s Cricket Bat + Martin’s Of Bond Street)/S.O.S. Message/Thought
For The Day / Sword Fighting / Results Service /Next Time/Incorrect Traffic
Report / Commercial Time (Bad Breath Advert) / Bob Dylan Sings / Sooty’s
Magic Show / David Copperfield /Hymen and Carbuncle/Playhouse / Masterquiz/Commercials
(The Basement + Nappies)/ Adventure Holiday/Wang Wang / Should You Find Any
Fault
Hee Bee Gee Bees Present - 20 Big No. 2’s J&B LP
(Australia only) JB197
Pretty Boys On Video (Drone Drone) / Kiss And Make Up (Couture
Club) / Purple Pants (Ponce) / When Two Songs Sound The Same (Frankie Goes To
the Bank) / Wherever I Lay (Paul Yuk) / Scatological Song (Supertrash) / Down
Tools (Men Relaxing) / Dancelot (Poxy Music) / Toyland Rhapsody (Queer) / Gary
Clitter Is Back (Gary Clitter) / Get ‘Em Off, Irene (Sexist Midnight Runners)/
I Don’t Want Your Baby (Human Leak) / Me! (The Kids From Shame)/Bored
In The USA (Bruce Springbok) / Song Without A Tune (Billy Idiot)/ Curdled Milk
And Boot Polish (Paul McCarthrob And Stevie Blunder)/Are Trains Electric? (Gary
Inhuman) / Out Of Proportion (Jack Michaelson)/A Don’t Wanna Smoke Any
More Dope (Eddy Grunt) / Lies (Spamdown Belly)/We Can’t Have Hits Of Our
Own Anymore (Stars Over 45: Kenny Rogered,Dolly Hardon, Julio Insidias, Bob
Vylan, Frank Sumatra, Paul McCarthrob,John Denture, Jack Michaelson and The
HeeBeeGeeBees)
When two songs (sound the same) - Frankie Goes To The Bank
/ Purple pants - Ponce 10 Records single TEN61 (1989)
Radio Active BBC / Canned Laughter ZBBC 1522 (1993)
Features Mega Phone In and Martin Chizzlenut
Further Selections From Radio Active BBC / Canned Laughter
ZBBC 1718 (1995)
Radio Active BBC/ ZBBC 1718 (ISBN 0563 390549)
This double cassette contains the material previously released
on the first canned laughter tape (ZBBC1522) and the BBC Record REH 471
VIDEO
KYTV BBCV 5193
Featuring The Making Of David Chizzlenut / Those Sexiting
Sixties / Fly On The Walls
BOOKS
Radio Active Times
Sphere Books paperback, 1986
The Utterly, Utterly Amusing And Pretty Damn Definitive
Comic Relief Revue Book
Penguin paperback 1989
(Includes the scripts of Three Way Quiz and Martins’
Of Bond Street)
Thanks to Britishcomedy.org.uk [ GO TO]
