''Parsley Sidings'' is a BBC Radio sitcom of the early 1970s created by

Jim Eldridge Jim Eldridge (born November 1944) is an English radio, film and television screenwriter with hundreds of radio and TV scripts broadcast in the United Kingdom and across the world in a career spanning over 30 years. Eldridge is the creator and ...

. It stars

Arthur Lowe Arthur Lowe (22 September 1915 – 15 April 1982) was an English actor. His acting career spanned 36 years, including starring roles in numerous theatre and television productions. He played Captain Mainwaring in the British sitcom ''Dad' ...

and Ian Lavender (who were starring in the sitcom '' Dad's Army'' at the time) and Kenneth Connor from the '' Carry On'' films. The show is set in a sleepy out of the way railway station on the main line between London and Birmingham, in the

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

. The main characters are the station master, Mr Horace Hepplewhite (played by

); his son, Bertrand ( Ian Lavender); station porter Percy Valentine ( Kenneth Connor); Mr Bradshaw, the signalman (also played by Kenneth Connor, as was Clara the station hen); and station tannoy announcer Gloria Simpkins ( Liz Fraser, who was also in the ''Carry On'' films, and appeared in the Dad's Army feature film). The guest cast in some episodes included Bill Pertwee (also from ''Dad's Army'', appearing in episode 11), Roger Delgado (The Master in ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' in the Jon Pertwee era) with the announcer for the programme being Keith Skues. The scripts are by Jim Eldridge (who would later go on to write for many more series, the most successful being the BBC's ''

King Street Junior ''King Street Junior'' is a radio comedy which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between March 1985 and November 1998. The show ran for ten series and the cast included Peter Davison, James Grout and Karl Howman. The series is written by Jim Eldridge ...

''). The series was produced by Edward Taylor, and was broadcast on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

. Due to the BBC's then practice of wiping tapes after the broadcast of a show, only a minority of the 21 episodes produced were still in the BBC archive; ''Goodbye, Parsley Sidings'' and ''The Entente Cordial'' are aired on

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 ...

occasionally and have always been in the BBC archives, while ''A Night Out'', ''A Bird in the Hand'' and ''The Secret Agent'' were recovered between 2001 and 2003 as off-air recordings from members of the public. These episodes were aired in early 2007. All the other episodes are known to exist in private hands. In 2008, more episodes were 'discovered', including the pilot and "The New Level Crossing". The BBC broadcast some programmes from the series in February 2011. Starting 1 November 2012, 4 Extra began a run of the whole series using audio compiled from both the BBC's own archive and private collections, with intros and outros re-recorded by original on-stage announcer Keith Skues. The signature tune is "Banjo Boy" by Roger Roger, from the LP ''Mood Music Vol. 18'' in the

Chappell Chappell may refer to: Places * Chappell, Nebraska, United States * Chappells, South Carolina, United States * Chappell (crater) on the moon * Mount Chappell Island, Tasmania, Australia * North West Mount Chappell Islet, Tasmania, Australia Organi ...

music library. (This music was also used for the signature tune of the 1969–71 British TV series ''

The Mind of Mr. J.G. Reeder ''The Mind of Mr. J.G. Reeder'' is a British television series which was originally broadcast on ITV in two series from 1969 to 1971. It is based on a series of novels and short stories written by Edgar Wallace featuring the character of J.G. Re ...

''.)

Episodes

References

External links

*
Parsley Sidings – more information and some episode synopses
{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150113180851/http://www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz/Dads%20Army%20Parsley%20Sidings.htm , date=13 January 2015 BBC Radio comedy programmes Lost BBC episodes