Parsley Sidings

"Parsley Sidings" was a BBC Radio sitcom created by Jim Eldridge and with actors Arthur Lowe and Ian Lavender, who were starring in the television war sitcom "Dad's Army" at the time of broadcast, as well as Kenneth Connor of "Carry On" fame.

The scripts were Jim Eldridge's (who would later go on to write for many more series, the most successful being the BBC's "King Street Junior"), and are set in a sleepy out of the way railway station on the line between London and Birmingham, in the Midlands. The main characters are Mr Horace Hepplewhite (Arthur Lowe), the station master, his son Bertrand Hepplewhite (Ian Lavender), Percy Valentine (Kenneth Connor) the porter, Mr Bradshaw the signalman and the secretary Gloria Simpkins (Liz Fraser, also from "Carry On" and the Dad's Army feature film). Guest actors included Bill Pertwee and Roger Delgado.

The series was produced by Edward Taylor and broadcast on BBC Radio 2. Due the BBC's former practice of wiping tapes after the broadcast of a show, or not recording it to tape at all, only a minority of the twenty one episodes produced are still in their archives [http://open.bbc.co.uk/catalogue/infax/series/PARSLEY+SIDINGS] - "Goodbye, Parsley Sidings" and "The Entente Cordial" are aired on BBC 7 occasionally and have always remained in the BBC archive, while "A Night Out", "A Bird in the Hand", "The New Level Crossing" and "The Secret Agent" were recovered between 2001 and 2003 as off-air recordings from members of the public. These episodes have also been aired in early 2007 on the same channel. Other episodes are known to exist in private hands.

Episodes

External links

* [http://www.britishcomedy.org.uk/comedy/psidings.htm Parsley Sidings - more information and some episode synopses]
* [http://www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz/Dads%20Army%20Parsley%20Sidings.htm A more in-depth guide]