Beyond Our Ken

"Beyond Our Ken" (1958-1964) was a radio programme, the predecessor to "Round the Horne" (1965-1968). Both programmes starred Kenneth Horne, Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden and Bill Pertwee, with announcer Douglas Smith. The name is a pun on Kenneth Horne's name and the (now mainly Scots/Scottish English) word "", meaning 'knowledge or perception'.

Background

Eric Merriman had previously written material for Kenneth Horne on "Henry Hall's Guest Night" and "Variety Playhouse" and written some stand up comedy material for Barry Took. In June 1957 the BBC Radio Variety department asked Merriman to come up with an idea radio series starring Horne. Merriman devised a format for the show with the working title "Don't Look Now". The original memo on the subject still exists in the BBC archives.

However another memo from the following month prophetically refers to "Around the Horne" as an alternative title. Some of these issues were resolved and a pilot was recorded.

Pilot

The script for the pilot was written by Eric Merriman and Barry Took, and recorded on October 2nd, 1957. The supporting cast included Pat Lancaster, Betty Marsden, Ron Moody, Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Williams. It was very well received by the studio audience and the BBC agreed to proceed with a series. [Johnston, "Round Mr Horne", pp 171-2]

The project was put on hold in February 1958 after Kenneth Horne suffered a stroke which left him partially paralysed. However Horne made a rapid recovery and was left with only a slight limp [Johnston, "Round Mr Horne", pp 164-178] .

Work on the series resumed within months but with a very tight budget of only £285 per episodeFact|date=December 2007.

eries 1

The first edition of "Beyond Our Ken" was broadcast on July 1, 1958.

Series 1 ran for 21 episodes plus a Christmas special. The scripts were written by Eric Merriman and Barry Took. The cast was Kenneth Horne, Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden, Ron Moody, Stanley Unwin (for the first episode only), announcer Douglas Smith with music by Patricia Lancaster, the Malcolm Mitchell Trio and the BBC Revue Orchestra. The Malcolm Mitchell Trio was replaced by the Fraser Hayes Four from the 17th episode. The producer was Jacques Brown, except for episodes 20 and 21 which were produced by Charles Maxwell.

eries 2

Series 2 ran for 20 episodes from March 19th, 1959 plus a Christmas special. The scripts were written by Eric Merriman and Barry Took. The cast was Kenneth Horne, Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden, Bill Pertwee, announcer Douglas Smith with music by Patricia Lancaster, the Fraser Hayes Four, Edwin Braden and the BBC Revue Orchestra. The producer was Jacques Brown.

eries 3

Series 3 ran for 14 episodes from April 19th, 1960. The scripts were written by Eric Merriman after Barry Took left over a disagreement. The cast was Kenneth Horne, Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden, Patricia Lancaster, Bill Pertwee, Janet Waters, announcer Douglas Smith with music by Patricia Lancaster, the Fraser Hayes Four, the Hornets, Edwin Braden and the BBC Revue Orchestra. The producer was Jacques Brown.

eries 4

Series 4 ran for 20 episodes from October 20th, 1960. The scripts were written by Eric Merriman. The cast was Kenneth Horne, Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden, Bill Pertwee, announcer Douglas Smith with music by Patricia Lancaster, Edwin Braden, the Fraser Hayes Four and the BBC Revue Orchestra. The producer was Jacques Brown.

eries 5

Series 5 ran for 20 episodes from October 12th, 1961. The scripts were written by Eric Merriman. The cast was Kenneth Horne, Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden, Bill Pertwee, announcer Douglas Smith with music by Jill Day, Edwin Braden, the Fraser Hayes Four and the BBC Revue Orchestra. The producer was Jacques Brown.

eries 6

Series 6 ran for 13 episodes from December 27th, 1962. The scripts were written by Eric Merriman. The cast was Kenneth Horne, Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden, Bill Pertwee, announcer Douglas Smith with music by Eileen Gourlay, Edwin Braden, the Fraser Hayes Four and the BBC Revue Orchestra. The producer was John Simmonds.

eries 7

Series 7 ran for 13 episodes from November 24th, 1964. The scripts were written by Eric Merriman. The cast was Kenneth Horne, Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden, Bill Pertwee, announcer Douglas Smith with music by Eileen Gourlay, Edwin Braden, the Fraser Hayes Four and the BBC Revue Orchestra. The producer was John Simmonds.

Characters

"Beyond Our Ken" featured characters similar to those later featured in "Round the Horne", for instance Betty Marsden's Fanny Haddock (parodying Fanny Cradock). It was also notable for Pertwee's Frankie Howerd impersonation, Hankie Flowered, and Hugh Paddick's working-class pop singer Ricky Livid. Another favourite was Kenneth Williams' country character, Arthur Fallowfield, who was based on Dorset farmer Ralph Wightman (1901 - 1971), a regular contributor to the BBC radio programme "Any Questions?" Fallowfield's lines were full of innuendo and "double entendre" - on one occasion Horne introduced him as the man who put the sex in Sussex. Fallowfield's reply to any question began: "Well, I think the answer lies in the soil!" Also, on one occasion, Paddick's character Stanley Birkenshaw, aka "Dentures" who would re-appear in "Round the Horne", gave a noble and rather damp version of Hamlet's soliloquy: 'To be - or not to be - that issssssssss the quesssssssssstion ....'

Williams and Paddick also played a couple of camp men-about-town Rodney and Charles, in many ways (although not as extreme) a precursor of Julian and Sandy in "Round The Horne".

Transformation

Eric Merriman was now very much in demand for television work and decided to end writing "Beyond Our Ken". Because of the show's huge success, the BBC were determined that the comedy series continued. The show's name had to be changed because Eric Merriman had given "Beyond Our Ken" its original title. Barry Took returned together with Marty Feldman to write a new series with the same cast which became "Round the Horne", one of the most popular and influential shows of its day despite having a shorter run. Without "Beyond Our Ken", "Round the Horne" would not have existed.

Adaptations

In 2004 the BBC began releasing the series on CD in box sets, one per season.

References

Bibliography

*Johnston, Barry: "Round Mr Horne: The Life of Kenneth Horne", Aurum Press, 2006 ISBN 1-84513-123-1