''Life with the Lyons'' was a British

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

domestic

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

from the 1950s (1950–1961 on radio, 1955–1960 on television).

Overview

''Life with the Lyons'' featured a real American family.

Ben Lyon Ben Lyon (February 6, 1901 – March 22, 1979) was an American film actor and a studio executive at 20th Century-Fox who later acted in British radio, films and TV. Early life and career Lyon was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Alvine ...

and his wife

Bebe Daniels Phyllis Virginia "Bebe" Daniels (January 14, 1901 – March 16, 1971) was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer, and producer. She began her career in Hollywood during the silent film era as a child actress, became a star in musicals such ...

had settled in

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 ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and featured with

Vic Oliver Victor Oliver von Samek (8 July 1898 – 15 August 1964) was an Austrian-born British actor and radio comedian. Early life He was born in Vienna into a Jewish family, the son of Baron Viktor von Samek. He studied medicine at Vienna University but ...

in the radio series'' Hi, Gang!'' that ran from 1940 to 1949.

Radio

''Life With the Lyons'' followed and, with Ben and Bebe, featured their children Richard and

Barbara Lyon Barbara Bebe Lyon (September 9, 1931 – July 10, 1995) was a singer of popular songs and actress, born in the United States but primarily active in the United Kingdom. Life and career She was born in Hollywood, California. Her parents, Ben Ly ...

. Although scripted, it expanded on real-life events including Barbara's real-life marriage to Russell Turner in 1957. The radio series premiered on 5 November 1950 and ended in 1961 was the first

situation comedy A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

in the United Kingdom. Writers included

Jill Allgood Jill Allgood (15 November 1910 - 1995) was a British producer, director, script writer, author and broadcaster who worked for the BBC. Allgood was a personal friend of Bebe Daniels and Ben Lyon, and worked with them professionally. In 1944 she w ...

, and

Bob Block Bob Block (20 July 1921 – 17 April 2011) was a British radio and television comedy scriptwriter. Career His earliest work was for radio, best known for co-writing the domestic sitcom ''Life with the Lyons'' for Ben Lyon, as well as working wi ...

who created the BBC television series ''

Rentaghost ''Rentaghost'' is a British children's television comedy show, originally broadcast by the BBC between 6 January 1976 and 6 November 1984. The show's plot centred on the antics of a number of ghosts who worked for a firm called Rentaghost, which ...

''.

Molly Weir Mary Weir (17 March 1910 – 28 November 2004), known as Molly Weir, was a Scotland, Scottish actress. She appeared as the character Hazel the McWitch in the BBC TV series ''Rentaghost''. She was the sister of naturalist and broadcaster Tom We ...

was their Scottish housekeeper Aggie Macdonald, Doris Rogers the nosy neighbour Florrie Wainwright and Horace Percival played Mr Wimple.

Films

Two

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

s both directed by

Val Guest Val Guest (born Valmond Maurice Grossman; 11 December 1911 – 10 May 2006) was an English film director and screenwriter. Beginning as a writer (and later director) of comedy films, he is best known for his work for Hammer, for whom he direct ...

were made with the cast of the series between the radio and television versions. The Lyons' contract called for them to receive a percentage of the film's profits. * ''

Life with the Lyons ''Life with the Lyons'' was a British radio and television domestic sitcom from the 1950s (1950–1961 on radio, 1955–1960 on television). Overview ''Life with the Lyons'' featured a real American family. Ben Lyon and his wife Bebe Daniels ...

'' (1954) * ''

The Lyons in Paris ''The Lyons in Paris'' (also called ''The Lyons Abroad'' and ''Mr. and Mrs. in Paree'') is a 1955 British comedy film directed by Val Guest and starring Ben Lyon, Bebe Daniels and Reginald Beckwith. It was a sequel to the 1954 film ''Life with ...

'' (1955)

Television

The show then transferred to

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

television. It later transferred to

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 ...

, the first series ever to cross the channels. A 1955 episode was shown on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

on 27 March 2005 as part of the "TV on Trial" season. The episode was not shown "in the clear"viewers had the choice of a version without commentary but with on-screen logos, or with commentary by

Roy Hattersley Roy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley, (born 28 December 1932) is a British Labour Party politician, author and journalist from Sheffield. He was MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook for over 32 years from 1964 to 1997, and served as Depu ...

and Kathryn Flett. Many radio episodes were not kept by the BBC and only three episodes are in the archives; these were on

BBC Radio 7 BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British Digital radio in the United Kingdom, digital radio broadcasting, radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a ...

in early 2011. Following this broadcast, the BBC were alerted to a private collection of around 200 episodes owned by Graeme Stevenson in Scotland, and a selection of 14 episodes were rebroadcast on Radio 7's successor

BBC Radio 4 Extra BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a day. It is the sister station of BBC Radio 4 and the p ...

between July and December 2011 BBC Radio 4 and 4 Extra Blog, 7 May 2011
/ref> and rebroadcast at later dates.

Missing TV episodes

Only six episodes survive in television archives, one from the first series, two each from the third and fourth, and one from the final series.

Other versions

''Life With the Lyons'' also appeared as a play, and in seven

Royal Command Performance A Royal Command Performance is any performance by actors or musicians that occurs at the direction or request of a reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. Although English monarchs have long sponsored their own theatrical companies and commis ...

In popular culture

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

and

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...

paid tribute to the show in the naming of their second album, '' Unfinished Music No.2: Life with the Lions''. In his song
Post World War Two Blues
(''Past, Present & Future'', 1973), Al Stewart sang, "We were locked up safe and warm from the snow / With 'Life with the Lyons' on the radio ...".

References

External links

* *
''Life with the Lyons'' (radio series)
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Life With the Lyons BBC Radio comedy programmes 1950 radio programme debuts 1961 radio programme endings Radio programs adapted into films 1950s British sitcoms 1960s British sitcoms 1955 British television series debuts 1960 British television series endings BBC television sitcoms Black-and-white British television shows English-language television shows ITV sitcoms Radio programs about families Radio programs adapted into television shows BBC Light Programme programmes