Band Waggon was a comedy radio show broadcast by the BBC from 1938 to 1940. The first series featured Arthur Askey and Richard “Stinker” Murdoch. In the second series, Askey and Murdoch were joined by Syd Walker; Daina Clare joined the cast during the third series, for two episodes. The first comedy show to be produced for radio, Band Waggon was co-produced by Gordon Crier and Harry S. Pepper.^[1][2]

Together with Monday Night at Seven, Band Waggon established the practice of broadcasting a regular comedy and music programme at the same time each week. The last radio show was broadcast on 2 December 1939, but a stage show of the same name, starring Askey and Murdoch, toured the country for a while. The stage show was last broadcast on 8 June 1940, following which Richard Murdoch joined the Royal Air Force, bringing Band Waggon to an end.^[2]

Adaptations

A film version of Band Waggon was released in 1940, in which the would-be comedians Arthur Askey and Jack Hylton set up a pirate radio station in a castle, unaware that it is a German spy base.^[3]

External links

• Excerpts from the 9 March 1938 broadcast, the earliest recordings to have survived