All Gas and Gaiters: Series 1 and 2

A BBC Radio Ecclesiastical Comedy

By: Pauline Devaney, Edwin Apps

Narrated by: Derek Nimmo, Full Cast, John Barron, Jonathan Cecil, Robertson Hare, William Mervyn

Length: 16 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's Summary

TV’s first ecclesiastical comedy, All Gas and Gaiters was enjoyed by more than 10 million viewers on BBC One between 1966 and 1971. Written by husband-and-wife-team Pauline Devaney and Edwin Apps, it was so popular that a selection of scripts were revised and re-recorded for radio with the same star cast as the television series.

Robertson Hare starred as the archdeacon of the fictional St Ogg’s Cathedral. An elderly gentleman fond of a tipple and with an eye for the ladies, he shares the cloisters with his clerical companions, the easy-going Bishop (William Mervyn) and the naïve, accident-prone Chaplain (Derek Nimmo and Jonathan Cecil). All they want is a quiet life - but this wish is constantly thwarted by the overbearing Dean (John Barron) and all too often, chaos and confusion abound as they are caught up in a series of hilarious misadventures.

This collection comprises all 33 episodes of the classic comedy. Among the guest stars are David Jason, Richard Caldicot, Doris Hare, Hugh Paddick, Deryck Guyler and Julia McKenzie.

Written by Pauline Devaney and Edwin Apps.

Produced by David Hatch and John Dyas.

Cast:

Archdeacon...Robert Hare

Bishop...William Mervyn

Bishop’s Chaplain (The Reverend Mervyn Noote)...Derek Nimmo/Jonathan Cecil

Dean...John Barron

Guest starring: Rosalind Adams, Ingrid Bower, Ann Davies, Frank Abbott, Peter Jones, Margot Boyd, Jo Manning Wilson, Sean Barrett, Ronald Forfar, Kenneth Connor, Sam Kydd, Joan Sanderson, Elizabeth Proud, Christine Buckley, Sonia Fraser, Eva Stuart, Betty Baskcomb, John Gabriel, Peter Tuddenham, James Hayter, Nan Munro, Naomi Chance, Nigel Lambert, Patrick Toll, Tania Robinson, David Jason, Richard Griffiths, Richard Caldicot, Jo Kendall, Doris Hare, George Woodbridge, Neil McDermott, Kate Binchy, Hugh Paddick, Ballard Berkeley, Malcolm Hayes, John Samson, Manning Wilson, Robin Browne, Deryck Guyler, Pat Keen, Betty Huntley-Wright, Allan Cuthbertson, Michael Kilgarriff, Erik Chitty, Julia McKenzie, Margaret Wolfit, Billy Milton, Frank Williams, Dudley Jones.

Series 1 (first broadcast 5 Jan-30 Mar 1971).

Please note: the sound quality of this title may vary due to the age of the recordings.

©2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Terrible Sound Quality

While the material is good, the sound quality for a large part of the 16 hours makes the title unusable. I recommend against purchasing this book.

Really enjoyed this

Sound quality as others have mentioned is very poor in places but I wear headphones to listen to audiobooks & didn’t find this much of a problem. The stories made me laugh out loud I thoroughly enjoyed them.

Great Classic Comedy

This is a fantastic radio adaptation of the the classic sitcom! Well overdue we got a full release of both series of this but disappointed in some of the sound quality of certain episodes and no warning of this is on the website,therefore it loses a star for this!

Comedy clergy

Listening to our clergy get into scrapes is funny and the way they have all the luck, must be Devine intervention.
The only drawback is the sound quality in some of the recordings. This does detract from the performances.

Dreadful audio - can’t listen to most of them.

Most of these are of such poor quality sound wise you can’t listen to them.
Should be removed from Audible store and people refunded their cash or credit.
Not fit for purpose!

Nostalgia at its best

Brilliant.... the sound quality is terrible in places but overall a gem of a show

strong cast list

Snappy scripting well performed. Good old fashioned humour. I felt part of the goings on.

Vintage fun ruined by terrible audio

Some chapters of this are almost impossible to listen to, the sound is such poor quality and the recording is extremely bad. It’s such a shame because others are almost perfect.

classic comedy

love these, just harmless innocent humor. the bbc has alway lead the way with this.

Hilarious

This is an old series. So old I can't even remember it mores the pity because it is very funny. Being set in a fictitious deanery with clergy people, there's no swearing, a little suggestive humour on occasions but on the whole its very good, very clean, very funny and well worth buying. Joan Hickson makes a fantastic deans wife and John Barron as the Dean is absolutely spot on. Both utterly frightful both laugh out loud characters. Robson Hare plays a wonderful Archdeacon with a real weakness for sherry. He's not an actor I know but he's so well cast. That leaves the Bishop who is selfish and demanding and his Chaplain played by Derek Nimmo. They are the mainstay with a few guest appearances by others.

Sound quality is variable. It does dip and fade but I could still hear it and that's all that matters to me.