British Comedy Guide
Goodnight From Him. Image shows from L to R: Ronnie Corbett, Ronnie Barker. Copyright: CPL Productions / BBC
Goodnight From Him

Goodnight From Him

  • Radio comedy drama
  • BBC Radio 4
  • 2013
  • 1 episode

Comedy drama following the early lives of Ronnie Barker & Ronnie Corbett, from the first meeting to the beginning of The Two Ronnies. Stars Robert Daws, Aidan McArdle, James Lance and Matt Addis.

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Key details

Genre
Comedy Drama
Broadcast
2013
Channel
BBC Radio 4
Episodes
1
Stars
Robert Daws, Aidan McArdle, James Lance and Matt Addis
Writer
Roy Smiles
Producer
Liz Anstee
Companies

A new comedy drama by award-winning playwright Roy Smiles, writer of previous Afternoon Dramas Ying Tong: A Walk With The Goons, Good Evening, Pythonesque and Dear Arthur, Love John.

Goodnight From Him tells the story of Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker from their beginnings in cabaret and repertory theatre, via their first meeting at the bar of the Buckstone Club in 1963 and being chosen by David Frost for his new show The Frost Report (alongside John Cleese), to getting their own Saturday night BBC1 series The Two Ronnies in 1971. The show ran for an extraordinary sixteen years, always topping the ratings, ending in 1986 with Ronnie Barker's early retirement.

The play explores the differences between the two: Corbett the happy-go-lucky sketch performer and extrovert, comfortable chatting to an audience; and Barker the shy introvert who needed to hide behind his characters to face an audience and worked like a demon behind the scenes.

Using parodies of some of their greatest sketches - Fork Handles, Mastermind and The Class Sketch from The Frost Report - Goodnight From Him tells the story of how two men worked together for twenty years without ever a cross word.

Additional details

Production
Studio

Broadcast details

First broadcast
Monday 27th May 2013 at 2:15pm on BBC Radio 4
Episode length
45 minutes
All previous repeats
  • Monday 2nd April 2018 at 9:15pm on Radio 4 Extra
  • Monday 2nd April 2018 at 11:15am on Radio 4 Extra
  • Monday 17th August 2015 at 2:15pm on Radio 4

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