''A Show Called Fred'' is a

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

series best known for being an early television work by

Peter Sellers Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show'', featured on a number of hit comic songs ...

and

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish actor, comedian, writer, musician, poet, and playwright. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British Colonial India, where h ...

, then both regular performers on the

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

as two-thirds of the cast of ''

The Goon Show ''The Goon Show'' is a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme. The first series, broadcast from 28 May to 20 September 19 ...

''. Directed by

Richard Lester Richard Lester Liebman (born January 19, 1932) is an American retired film director based in the United Kingdom. He is best known for directing the Beatles' films '' A Hard Day's Night'' (1964) and ''Help!'' (1965), and the superhero films ''S ...

, it starred Sellers, Milligan,

Valentine Dyall Valentine Dyall (7 May 1908 – 24 June 1985) was an English character actor. He worked regularly as a voice actor, and was known for many years as "The Man in Black", the narrator of the BBC Radio horror series '' Appointment with Fear'' ...

Kenneth Connor Kenneth Connor, (6 June 1918 – 28 November 1993) was a British stage, film and broadcasting actor, who rose to national prominence with his appearances in the ''Carry On'' films. Early life Connor was born in Highbury, Islington, London, ...

and

Graham Stark Graham William Stark (20 January 1922 – 29 October 2013) was an English comedian, actor, writer and director. Early life The son of a purser on transatlantic liners,

– principal contributors it shared with '' The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d'', a comedy show which had finished only a month before. Its five 30 minute episodes were made by

Associated-Rediffusion Associated-Rediffusion, later Rediffusion London, was the British ITV franchise holder for London and parts of the surrounding counties, on weekdays between 22 September 1955 and 29 July 1968. It was the first ITA franchisee to go on air, ...

for

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

and broadcast only in the

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

area. It was predominantly a

, attempting to translate the audio antics of ''The Goon Show'' into visual antics in bizarre and often surreal comedy sketches.

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

player

Max Geldray Max van Gelder (12 February 1916 – 2 October 2004), professionally known as Max Geldray, was a Dutch jazz harmonica player. Best known for providing musical interludes for the BBC radio comedy programme ''The Goon Show'', he was also cr ...

had a music segment in the show, reprising his role from ''The Goon Show'', and Canadian star Patti Lewis had a singing spot. Performers including

Mario Fabrizi Mario Edgio Pantaleone Fabrizi (1924 – 5 April 1963) was an English comedian and actor of Italian descent, noted for his luxuriant moustache. He was active in Britain in the 1950s and early 1960s. Life Fabrizi was born to Italian parents in ...

Ernest Clark Ernest Clark (12 February 1912 – 11 November 1994) was a British actor of stage, television and film. Early life Clark was the son of a master builder in Maida Vale, and was educated nearby at St Marylebone Grammar School. After leaving sch ...

Patricia Driscoll Patricia Noel Driscoll (17 December 1927 – 2 January 2020) was a British and Irish actress, who has appeared both on television and in films.''Picture Show Who's Who on the Screen'' (Amalgamated Press • London) 956p40 Television work Trai ...

, Jon Jon Keefe, Jennifer Lautrec and John Vyvyan had roles over the show's run. Contemporary celebrities such as Hans and

Lotte Hass Lotte Hass (born Charlotte Hildegard Baierl; 6 November 1928 – 14 January 2015 (age 86)) was an Austrian underwater diver, model and actress. She was the second wife of the Austrian naturalist and diving pioneer Hans Hass (1919–2013), and work ...

were parodied. There were a few taboos, with sketches showing people in various states of undress, cameramen, behind the scenes workers and the studios. The " Ying Tong Song", written by Milligan, served as the show's opening theme, and became a hit on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

when released in September 1956. ''A Show Called Fred'' provoked strong reactions upon broadcast for its unusual content. ''

The People The ''Sunday People'' is a British tabloid Sunday newspaper. It was founded as ''The People'' on 16 October 1881. At one point owned by Odhams Press, The ''People'' was acquired along with Odhams by the Mirror Group in 1961, along with the ' ...

'' reported that the show had received more telephone complaints than any other ITV show for being difficult to understand. Reviewing the programme in the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...

'', Clifford Davis described it as "the most meaningless, weird, un-funny piffle ever to have been perpetrated on TV". In other quarters, the show garnered critical acclaim. Kenneth Baily of ''The People'' described it as "a new approach to TV fun" and "just as original as the Goons and radio's inimitable ''

It's That Man Again ''It's That Man Again'' (commonly contracted to ''ITMA'') was a BBC radio comedy programme which ran for twelve series from 1939 to 1949. The shows featured Tommy Handley in the central role, a fast-talking figure, around whom the other cha ...

''". Writing for ''

Truth Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs ...

'', Denis Thomas singled out the show from any other comedy show on television, describing it as "so ''televisually'' funny: this, for once, is a variety programme which owes nothing at all to gramophone records or to the Palladium, or even to

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

". Thomas's comments were echoed by ''Truths

Bernard Levin Henry Bernard Levin (19 August 1928 – 7 August 2004) was an English journalist, author and broadcaster, described by ''The Times'' as "the most famous journalist of his day". The son of a poor Jewish family in London, he won a scholarship t ...

, who noted that the show had been "hailed in many quarters as not only the funniest thing that has ever been seen on television, but as the first programmes to exploit the full resources of the newest medium in a manner which owes nothing to the methods of any older one". It was followed by ''

Son of Fred ''Son of Fred'' was the successor series to ''The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d'' and ''A Show Called Fred''. It was made by Associated-Rediffusion and broadcast only in the London area, English Midlands, Midlands and Northern England. It was the third ...

'' 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 The Goon Show Preservation Society is a non-profit organisation, formed to help preserve and research the history of the ''Goon Show''. The society, founded in 1972, maintains an archive of ''Goon Show'' material, often used by professional rese ...

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. As of 2021, the series's fifth episode is available to stream on BFI Player.

References

External links

*
BBC Comedy Guide - A Show Called Fred
{{DEFAULTSORT:Show Called Fred, A 1956 British television series debuts 1956 British television series endings 1950s British television sketch shows ITV sketch shows British surreal comedy television series Television controversies in the United Kingdom