imported>Icaldonta: Corrected His Master's Voice link

2025-03-19T18:46:41Z

Corrected His Master's Voice link

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{{Short description|British radio comedy show (1950–1960)}}
{{refimprove|date=July 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2014}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Educating Archie''}}
{{Infobox radio show
| name = Educating Archie
| image = Peter Brough and Archie Andrews.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Peter Brough and his doll Archie Andrews
| format = [[Comedy radio]]
| runtime =
| start_time =
| end_time =
| television = ''Educating Archie'' (1958–1959)
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| home_station = [[BBC Radio 4]]
| syndicates =
| presenter =
| starring = [[Peter Brough]]<br/>[[Archie Andrews (puppet)|Archie Andrews]]
| announcer =
| creator =
| writer =
| director =
| producer =
| executive_producer =
| editor =
| senior_editor =
| narrated =
| record_location =
| remote_location =
| other_location =
| first_aired = {{start-date|June 1950}}
| last_aired = {{end-date|February 1960}}
| num_series =
| num_episodes =
| audio_format =
| open_theme =
| other_theme =
| end_theme =
| sponsor =
| website =
| podcast = 
}}
'''''Educating Archie''''' was a [[BBC Light Programme]] comedy show which was broadcast for nearly ten years between June 1950 and February 1960, mostly at lunchtime on Sundays. The programme featured [[ventriloquist]] [[Peter Brough]] and his doll [[Archie Andrews (puppet)|Archie Andrews]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/genome/entries/796be208-0b9a-4111-b249-13d630cb017e The Sunday Post: Ventriloquism.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200204161934/https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/genome/entries/796be208-0b9a-4111-b249-13d630cb017e |date=4 February 2020 }} Andrew Martin, ''BBC Genome Blog'', 20 July 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2017.</ref> The show was very popular, despite its unlikely central premise of a ventriloquist act on radio. ''Educating Archie'' averaged 15 million listeners, and a fan club boasted 250,000 members. It was so successful that in 1950, after only four months on the air, it won the ''[[Daily Mail]]''{{'}}s Variety Award.{{sfnp|Briggs|1979|p=714|ps=}}

==Overview==
The programme introduced comedians who later became well known, including [[Tony Hancock]] as Archie's tutor, who would greet Archie with a weary "Oh, it's you again" and always replied to any put-down from him with "flipping kids". Other "tutors" included [[Benny Hill]], [[Harry Secombe]], [[Dick Emery]], [[Bernard Bresslaw]], [[Hattie Jacques]], and [[Bruce Forsyth]] – together with a young [[Julie Andrews]] as Archie's girlfriend. Later, [[Beryl Reid]] took this role, playing the [[St Trinian's School]]-esque Monica with such [[catchphrase]]s as "jolly hockey sticks" and "as the art mistress said to the gardener". Reid also played young [[Brummie dialect|Brummie]] girl Marleen, whose catchphrase was "Good evening, each".{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

[[Max Bygraves]] later played Archie's tutor, with the catchphrases "I've arrived, and to prove it, I'm here" and "That's a good idea ... son!". The duo recorded two songs from the show on the [[His Master's Voice (British record label)|His Master's Voice]] label: "The Dummy Song" and "Lovely Dollar Lolly".{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

''Archie's the Boy'' was a spin-off series that aired from November 1954 to March 1955. The series ran for twenty half-hour episodes broadcast on the [[BBC Light Programme]]. It starred [[Peter Brough]], [[Beryl Reid]], [[Benny Hill]], and [[Graham Stark]].<ref>Lavalie, John. ''Archie's the Boy''. EpGuides. 21 Jul 2005. 29 Jul 2005 <https://web.archive.org/web/20071012001624/http://epguides.com/ArchiestheBoy/%3E.%7B%7Bbroken</ref>

== ITV sitcom adaptation ==

In 1958, ''Educating Archie'' was adapted as a television sitcom produced by the [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] company [[Associated-Rediffusion]] and broadcast under the same name. This version, which was broadcast in 1958–9, featured the ventriloquist's dummy Archie Andrews taking on a life of its own, talking and walking all over its creator [[Peter Brough]], aided and abetted by a housekeeper played by [[Irene Handl]], a non-paying lodger played by [[Freddie Sales]] (later [[Ray Barrett]]), and a jack-of-all-trades played by [[Dick Emery]]. <ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051271/ IMDB: Educating Archie]</ref>

== References ==
'''Notes'''
{{reflist}}

'''Bibliography'''
{{refbegin}}
*{{citation |last=Briggs |first=Asa |authorlink = Asa Briggs|title=The history of broadcasting in the United Kingdom, Volume IV: Sound & Vision |year=1979 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-212967-8}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==

* {{BBC programme|b00fsb9w}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060524040730/https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/e/educatingarchie_1299001017.shtml BBC Comedy Guide article] (Archived copy)
* {{British Comedy Guide|tv|educating_archie}}.

{{Chesney Wolfe}}

[[Category:1950 radio programme debuts]]
[[Category:1958 radio programme endings]]
[[Category:BBC Radio comedy programmes]]
[[Category:ITV sitcoms]]
[[Category:1950s British sitcoms]]
[[Category:1958 British television series debuts]]
[[Category:1959 British television series endings]]
[[Category:Ventriloquism]]
[[Category:BBC Light Programme programmes]]
[[Category:1950s British radio programmes]]
[[Category:1960s British radio programmes]]

Educating Archie - Revision history

imported>Icaldonta: Corrected His Master's Voice link