Beyond Our Ken: The Collected Series 1-4 cover art

Beyond Our Ken: The Collected Series 1-4

The BBC Radio classic comedy series

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Beyond Our Ken: The Collected Series 1-4

By: Eric Merriman, Barry Took
Narrated by: Hugh Paddick, Kenneth Williams, Betty Marsden, Kenneth Horne, Bill Pertwee
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £15.24

Buy Now for £15.24

About this listen

All 60 surviving episodes from the first four series of the fabulous forerunner to Round the Horne - plus bonus programme Forty Laughing Years

An irresistible mix of of sketches, songs, puns and double entendres, Beyond Our Ken kept the nation laughing over seven series and 123 episodes between 1958 and 1964.

With its witty wordplay, zany humour and comic catchphrases, it remains every bit as hilarious and entertaining today. Featuring larger-than-life characters like Rodney and Charles, roving reporter Cecil Snaith and doddery duo Ambrose and Felicity - not to mention avuncular host Kenneth Horne himself - this 'sort of radio show' is full of classic comedy moments.

All your favourites are here in these 60 episodes, including spoof documentary series 'Hornerama', with its regular investigations into 'topics of immediate interest' such as showbusiness, shipping, photography, food, the City - and many more. There's also a wealth of surprising, surreal incidents from Kenneth Horne's week, the latest film releases in 'Picture Go Round', and a unique take on Any Questions, with panellists Hankie Flowered, Ricky Livid, Fanny Haddock and Arthur Fallowfield. Musical interludes are provided by a host of top artistes, among them Pat Lancaster, Janet Waters, The Malcolm Mitchell Trio, The Fraser Hayes Four and the BBC Variety Orchestra.

Scripted by Eric Merriman and Barry Took, these much-loved shows star Kenneth Horne, Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden and Bill Pertwee.


Episode guide
First broadcast on BBC Light Programme on the following dates:
Series 1 - 1 July-12 November 1958
Series 2 - 26 March-21 December 1959
Series 3 - 5 April-15 July 1960
Series 4 - 20 October 1960-2 March 1961
Bonus programme: Forty Laughing Years, 12 November 1962

The following episodes are missing from the BBC archives and therefore not included in this release:
Series 1: Episodes 6, 10-13, 17, 21 and 22
Series 2: Episodes 1, 4, 7, 9, 15, 16 and 19
Series 4: Episode 12

Episodes restored and remastered by Ted Kendall.

(p) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

 Literature & Fiction Satire Funny Witty
All stars
Most relevant
I can read this now I had this as the app on alexa but it kept going back to the same programme so now as I've got this I can read it all

Another classic comedy

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great stories, very funny and read really well.
I would recommend and will listen to rest of series

Great stories

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I thought Beyond Our Ken was very funny when I was a boy but it isn't now. Kenneth Williams silly voices are annoying. The jokes are lame. I rarely laughed more than twice an episode. There are two breaks for songs. The first is from Pat Lancaster. You would enjoy her if she was singing in the pub, accompanied by a pianist but she is accompanied by an orchestra who often drown out important words. The second musical number comes from the Fraser Hayes Four who sing the songs I hated singing at junior school but with a jazz flavour. Sometimes they sing minstrel songs in phony Black dialect. The music improves in the later episodes. Pat Lancaster was replaced by Janet Walters, a better singer singing better songs. The Fraser Hayes Four was replaced by the Hornets who were so similar they might have been the same group but at least they sang better songs. Something that did not improve were the jokes and comedies should have jokes. Between episodes we have what feels like twenty minutes of musical filler but is probably less than five.

Beyond Our Ken is beyond my ken.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.