Edit of start and end of first and last episodes.

My Pal Bob was made by BBC Television for their then only channel lasting two series in 1957 and 1958. Written by comedy writing team Bob Monkhouse and Denis Goodwin, who had been scripting comedy together, mostly for radio, since 1948 and here starred in their own show.

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My Pal Bob, subtitled on screen and in the Radio Times "as told by his friend, partner, and chief victim - Denis Goodwin." The sitcom opened each week with Denis Goodwin introducing the show, as Bob's friend, before we got into his pal Bob's latest scrape of the week. Denis mainly only appeared as on-screen narrator in the opening and briefly between some scenes sat at a desk supposedly in their writing office, not acting in the stories of the week although in the second series he had a couple of brief scenes as himself in the story too. It basically followed the then contemporary Hancock model of being a highly fictionalised comedically heightened version of comedian Bob Monkhouse's life (unfortunately without the benefit of being written by Galton & Simpson)!

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The first series was a short one of just four 30-minute episodes, with the second series being a standard six episodes the following year but like a lot of earlier 50s series the show aired fortnightly so the first series was stretched over 8 weeks and the second over 12 weeks.

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The series managed to attract a great deal of familiar comedy faces in support, many of whom were real friends of Bob Monkhouse or had material written for them by the very prolific Monkhouse & Goodwin team. Many of these familiar faces were also playing fictionalised versions of themselves under their own names but in relationships that weren't real. For example Terence Alexander appeared in all 10 episodes as himself, the actor Terence Alexander, Bob's friend and neighbour. I doubt he really lived next door to Bob in real life, but in the last episode we find he's married to June Whitfield, his wife previously not being seen, explained away as the actress had been away on tour, June Whitfield also playing herself but again wasn't really married to Terence (coincidental we have Terry & June in the 50s though!) Meanwhile in Series 1 the gorgeous Billie Whitelaw plays herself, but is also Bob's wife (in real life Bob was married to Elisaberh Thompson between 1949 and 1970 whilst Billie was married to Peter 'Grouty' Vaughan). In the second series, due to Billie's unavailability, Bob is married to actress Jill Adam, again as herself and without reference to his previously being married to Billie). So real celebrities in unreal situations but presented as if we were looking in on the day in the life of Bob Monkhouse and his celebrity friends. Other familiar faces play entirely fictional characters, such as Pat Coombs who plays Bob's live-in housekeeper Freda in 7 episodes (the 3rd episode of Series 1 and all of Series 2). Other regulars and guest stars as either themselves or fictional characters over the two series, some more than once, include Kenneth Connor (3 episodes), James Hayter (2 episodes), Hugh Lloyd (2 episodes) plus June Whitfield, Irene Handl, Eleanor Summerfield, Esmond Knight, Vera Day, Arthur Mullard, Cardew Robinson and Anthea Askey (Arthur Askey's daughter), all once apiece.

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The casting of a screen wife for Bob proved rather troublesome and very last minute. They screen-tested over 30 women for the role but Bob thought none of them were quite right. With the comediennes they tried Bob thought they didn't have the down-to-earth subtlety that he was looking for in the Hancock model of believable characters, comediennes at that time being mostly brought up in Music-Hall traditions. He didn't want a young OTT Hylda Baker sort of performance. Yet on the other hand the straight actresses he auditioned he felt didn't really have a natural grasp on the comedy and this is some years before Steptoe & Son successfully put straight actors in a sitcom. By 10th January, just one week before the first episode was scheduled to be performed live and 2 days before rehearsals would start they still hadn't found the right actress. It was then Bob's real wife Liz who suggested Billie Whitelaw as Liz was a fan of the actress who was making a name for herself in straight and comedic television plays and films and had the required attributes of being easy on the eye and sexy and a great actress who had handled comedy films, although she hadn't yet done a TV sitcom before, she had done a radio comedy playing Ken Platt's wife in the radio comedy All At Sea in 1955 and 1956. Billie was auditioned and signed up on 11th January with just 6 days left to rehearse.

As was then still typical for television comedy the first series went out live, with a live studio audience although the first episode was telerecorded, achieved by pointing a camera at a monitor showing the live broadcast. The other three of Series 1 weren't which is why they are all lost today, having never been in any archive.

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When the BBC commissioned the series they didn't commission a set number of episodes as was usually the case. Normal practice was to commission say 6 episodes with an option for more if it worked out. With My Pal Bob the BBC kept it open ended intended to let it run as long as seemed natural so that it might stop at six or might continue for the whole season if the public appetite was there. Fate declared it wouldn't even make it to the standard six but not because it wasn't working out. The first series was getting mostly positive reviews. Critics and public alike knew it was no Hancock's Half Hour but it was considered a cut above most of the other TV comedy on offer at that time and a good vehicle for Bob Monkhouse. Unfortunately stress and overwork got the better of Bob. On Tuesday 26th February 1957, 2 days before episode 4 was to go out live, Bob was on stage at the Hackney Empire rehearsing for a live television broadcast compering ITV's gameshow Do You Trust Your Wife? (an American import) to go out an hour later when he collapsed on stage. He hadn't slept for two nights as he'd been worrying about the My Pal Bob script coming up, constantly rewriting it to improve it, aswell as all the other work he was taking on including this gameshow and also then long-term filling in for David Nixon on the BBC's What's My Line? on Sundays plus radio appearances he was doing too much. With Bob ordered to rest by the doctor Denis Goodwin had to fill in for him in the ITV gameshow that night. Despite the order to rest Bob chose to go ahead with Episode 4 of My Pal Bob two days later as it was live but the day after it the BBC decided to bring the series to an early close to allow Bob to properly rest and recover.

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Late that year it was decided that the series, although short, was a successful format and recommissioned it for a second series to begin on 28th January 1958 but Bob and Denis decided to try something different, no doubt inspired by the way the live format had brought them to an early finish, they insisted that the series be pre-recorded in advance, something not generally done at that time. The benefits, other than making sure they were an episode ahead of themselves in the can should anything crop up, included the ability to edit out the fluffs and make it more polished, as the Americans were doing, as well as allowing more creativity where live broadcasts limit things like costume and scene changes due to time constraints. The downsides included the fact that at this time still the only way to 'pre-record' a show was telerecording, pointing a camera at a monitor as it was performed whether live or not, with the results being a fuzzier image than live broadcast due to the archaic tools at hand recording a screen. But they decided it would be the better option and each show was recorded 10 days before broadcast giving plenty of time to edit. It was also decided to record without a studio audience and to add laughter later, something not done in the UK at this time but common to have canned laughter in the US on comedy shows like I Love Lucy. But it was felt that laughter was required for comedy, as people more readily laugh if others are laughing. The plan was to record 10 days in advance, edit then show the recorded film to the What's My Line? audience on Sunday's after that show, so that the audience sat in for two shows. As it happened though they ended up using the audience for Eric Robinson's new series Robinson's Roundabout on Tuesday's, the first episode of My Pal Bob having the audience of the 2nd episode of Robin's Roundabout on Tuesday 14th January, 3 days before My Pal Bob was broadcast, the laughter being recorded, edited and added to the sitcom film. This process would become common later on shows where a live audience wasn't practical and was already common in the US but was experimental here and not entirely successful with critics. 'Canned laughter' was deemed a necessary evil with US import shows but critics weren't keen on it becoming a British habit. The editing, such as it was at this time, was also not slick, with jump cuts and pop sounds on the sound cuts it wasn't the studio staff's experienced way of working and the end result wasn't as polished as American series recorded in this way. Critical response was not as positive to the second series. But the other benefit to Bob doing this the typical American way was that there was talk and hope of the Americans buying the show. They had shown an interest in just buying the British telerecorded episodes to air there but Bob preferred to remake them especially for the American market due to the many British references for the British market. Ultimately there's no evidence that the Americans did buy or remake the series though with or without Bob so the interest seems to have fallen through. But at least the experimental recording process meant that Bob was able to obtain and keep copies of the second series after the BBC junked their recordings.

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Other changes for the second series included Bob's screen wife. Unfortunately the fabulous Billie Whitelaw was unavailable due to a clash of schedules. Following her successful appearance as Bob's lovely wife in the first series she was offered her own starring ITV sitcom by ABC Weekend in the Midlands, Time Out For Peggy, in which she ran a run-down boarding house. That was to start in March 1958 whilst Series 2 of My Pal Bob was still recording and airing so My Pal Bob had to find another wife. They cast actress Jill Adams who was mostly a film actress, largely comedy at that time including The Love Match (1955) with Arthur Askey, Doctor At Sea (1955) with Dirk Bogarde, The Green Man (1956) with Alastair Sim and George Cole, and Private's Progress (1956) and Brothers-in-Law (1957) both with Ian Carmichael and Terry-Thomas, so she had the right comedic and filming experience. She also had television sitcom experience as she'd just done Educated Evans with Charlie Chester in late 1957. There was no comment on the change of wife as if he'd remarried or any continuing to play wife Billie recast, they simply went ahead with actress Jill as ficticious Bob's wife as if she always had been. But sadly Jill didn't last the full second series as contracted, after the first four episodes were recorded Jill was admitted to hospital for observation due to what was only reported in the press as "an internal complaint". She had a successful operation on 19th March at Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital, London a week before Episode 5 was aired but already recorded without her. Episode 5 went without a wife, they were probably able to just cut her role and reasign any necessary dialogue but for the last episode, when Jill was still in recovery, a wife was specifically required as substantial to the plot with the love-letter misunderstanding so Bob ended up with a third wife, this time played by comedy actress Eleanor Summerfield, again as herself without any acknowledgement of Bob's wife not only changing face but name and personality as if celebrity Eleanor was always his wife rather than a simple recast of the same character.

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This series ran on BBC Television as follows (without episode titles);

Series 1

1.1 17/01/1957

Comedian Bob Monkhouse is annoyed that fellow entertainer Eamonn Andrews seems to be everywhere on television and radio more than him, and specifically that Bob himself has yet to be on This Is Your Life like many other comics, which he takes out on wife Billie. When friend and neighbour Terence Alexander pops in with a letter from the BBC Bob becomes convinced it's finally his turn on This Is Your Life. At the same time he recieves a letter from his long lost uncle and aunt from Salisbury Castle and becomes convinced he's of Royal blood and rushes round to claim his inheritance, only to find 'Salisbury Castle' in Hammersmith is the name a bombed out pub occupied by his aunt and uncle who appear to be down-and-outs. Bob leaves not wanting to be lumbered with caring for them, unaware they really are of Royal blood and he could have inherited £8 Million they'd been saving for him. Meanwhile, come This Is Your Life night, Bob learns the guest of the week is actually his writing partner Denis Goodwin.

Guest stars Joan Hickson and Bernard Miles as Bob's aunt and uncle and Eamonn Andrews as himself.

Ironically, given Bob's complaints at the start of the episode of the ubiquity of Eamonn Andrews, a week before the first episode went out one TV critic, unaware of the plot or Andrews' involvement, was complaining in the press about how both Bob Monkhouse and Eamonn Andrews seem to be in everything on both channels and radio at that time!

1.2 31/01/1957*

1.3 14/02/1957*

1.4 28/02/1957*

Series 2

2.1 28/01/1958

Apart from the two episodes I have most episodes are of unknown content as synopses not given in newspaper listings or reviews but there's a mention of some plot here as both James Dale and Ellis Powell appeared in character as their then famous Dr and Mrs Dale radio characters from Mrs. Dale's Diary as Bob presents What's My Line? within the show.

Also guest stars Kenneth Connor.

2.2 11/02/1958

Guest stars James Hayter and Vera Day.

2.3 25/02/1958

Guest stars Kenneth Connor, Hugh Lloyd, Arthur Mullard and Esmond Knight.

2.4 11/03/1958

Again brief mention of the plot of this week as concerning a drug that changes men into women!

Guest stars Kenneth Connor and David Farrar.

2.5 25/03/1958

Guest stars Anthea Askey, Hugh Lloyd, James Hayter and Cardew Robinson.

2.6 07/04/1958

June Whitfield, wife of Bob's friend and neighbour Terence Alexander (in this fictionalised series) returns home from acting in a long tour so Bob and wife Eleanor Summerfield invite Terry & June round for drinks but Bob is soon bored by June's tales and chases them home by reeling off some of his corny old jokes. Terence takes the wrong jacket with him and Eleanor finds a love letter in it thinking it is from a girl to Bob but is actually from Terry to his wife June. Once that's cleared up Bob and Terry fall out leading to Bob needing to repay £500 Terry invested in Bob's summer season show in Bournemouth. Hoping to win £1000 on a gameshow unluckily for Bob it's Terry who wins it.

* At one time no episodes of My Pal Bob were in the archives, despite the second series being telerecorded and the series was thought entirely lost but after Bob Monkhouse's death it was found he had a substantial archive of comedy he'd collected of both his own and other comics' shows both on film in the early days and from the 70s onwards recorded on video. This collection included all but three episodes of Series 1 never telerecorded of My Pal Bob so that now the first episode of Series 1 and all six of Series 2 are back in the archives I have two of these returned rare episodes in my collection; the first and only surviving episode of Series 1 and the last episode of Series 2.

This wasn't Denis and Bob's first TV comedy show they wrote for themselves, the pair had done a comedy sketch show called Fast & Loose that lasted 2 series in 1954 and 1955 with some of the same supporting faces; June Whitfield, Pat Coombs, Irene Handl etc. There it had become apparent though that Denis wasn't as good an on-screen performer as Bob, he lacked the confidence and spontaneity, which is likely why his on-screen role was scaled back to mostly the intro for this following sitcom and even here his woodenness as a performer is rather apparent even just sat at a desk trying to appear relaxed but being really uncomfortable. This was also the complaint when they tried to appear together on stage as a double act in seaside summer season shows around this time that the performing side wasn't his strong point and was holding Bob's natural abilities back. Subsequently going forward Denis increasingly stuck to just the co-writing and left the performing to Bob.

Despite this sadly the "pals" friendship became increasingly strained as Bob's fame increased and Denis became increasingly irrelevant in the years following this series until it totally broke down in 1962. Denis went off to the US to gag write for Bob Hope as part of his team of writers. Unfortunately Denis didn't fit in there either, he wasn't as off-the-cuff as Bob, he liked to take time to work at a gag and polish it, fine in the British way of One or two writers taking the time they want but didn't suit the fast-paced way of working in the US and he soon came back to the UK. Things only deteriorated though and his marriage broke down in 1967 following which he was arrested for shoplifting in the West End and was fined £70 in 1968. Although he did find some further writing work, including the Southern Television children's comedy series Bright's Boffins in 1970, and remarried in 1971, the offers of work were drying up and he fell further into depression. In 1975, aged 45, he committed suicide by overdose of sleeping tablets. 

It was an interesting and fun series, despite its various issues including Denis' lack of screen personality. As was said at the time no Hancock's Half Hour but still very entertaining, if obviously dated now. Interesting to see the fluffs in the first live broadcast Episode, Bob trips over his words massively at one point with Terence. All part of the fun and he recovers and carries on. You can see why public opinion was always split on Bob's personality though, even in real life, half the public found him charming and the other half found him smarmy and oily and there's definitely more of a lean to the latter in fictionalised Bob here, he can be quite unpleasant a character within this show, the way he talks to Billie Whitelaw in the first episode, his rudeness to June Whitfield in the last, the way the last episode ends on Bob harshly spanking a 13 year old girl over his knee for annoying him, he's certainly not presenting himself as the good guy here, not necessarily a problem in a fictitious sitcom but when you're presenting it as the real you the short tempered Bryl-Creemed American style slick fast talker isn't a particularly likeable character. Terence Alexander comes across as the likeable character here.