Hello Cheeky was a British radio comedy series (which enjoyed a short-lived transfer to TV) originally broadcast between 1973 and 1979. The stars were Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer, John Junkin (the three of whom wrote it), and Denis King.
It's relevant here in my opinion because Cheeky's first starring strip in Krazy, which was the template for the Cheeky's Week strips in Cheeky Weekly, was called 'Ello, It's Cheeky and I suspect this title was a nod to radio's Hello Cheeky.
The major part of each Hello Cheeky episode consisted of a series of gags with no overall narrative thread, much like the Cheeky's Week format, so it seems plausible that when 'Ello, It's Cheeky was being developed, someone used Hello Cheeky as inspiration. Of course, Hello Cheeky was aimed at an adult audience, and unlike the Cheeky strips, the radio show featured very few recurring characters, but the idea of stringing together a slew of jokes of varying quality was common to the radio series and the Cheeky strips.
Anyway, you have a chance to judge for yourselves as BBC Radio 4 Extra are now repeating some of the Hello Cheeky episodes, and you can catch the current programme via the BBC iPlayer (no doubt the BBC does something devilish based on your IP address, so overseas visitors may be unable to listen). A word of caution - the vintage nature of Hello Cheeky means that some of the 'humour' would be considered inappropriate today.
yay. It seems that audio programs seem to be exempt from regionalisation.
ReplyDeleteVery funny program. What a shame it didn't air in Australia as our ABC shop stocks many of the BBC's radio programs, but not that one.
I wonder if it's available to buy through Amazon.co.uk?
Glad you could listen and enjoyed it, Bruce. I'm not sure if the radio version is currently available to buy, but the TV spin-off DVD is on sale. My memory of the TV series is that it wasn't as good as the radio shows.
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