The Navy Lark: 60th Anniversary Special Edition

A 60th anniversary celebration of the much-loved nautical comedy, featuring seventeen classic episodes plus bonus material

On 29 March 1959, The Navy Lark sailed the airwaves for the very first time. Starring Leslie Phillips, Jon Pertwee and Stephen Murray, with regular appearances from Ronnie Barker and Heather Chasen, it soon became a radio favourite, and ran for 18 years – one of the longest-running radio sitcoms.

This 60th anniversary collection comprises seventeen hilarious episodes – one from every series of the show, plus the pilot episode and the special Jubilee edition. We start with Operation Fag End (5 April 1959), The Hank of Heather (17 May 1959), The Lighthouse Lark (29 January 1960), A Deliberate Bashing (19 April 1963), When Sub Lt Phillips Was at Dartmouth (29 October 1967) and The Jubilee Navy Lark (16 July 1977). The other eleven episodes included are: Commodore Goldstein (22 February 1961), The Northampton Hunt Ball (6 October 1961), Chasing the Kepeac (29 November 1963), Let Loose with a Chopper (22 August 1965), Mr Phillips’ Promotion (30 October 1966), The Redundancy Drive (20 October 1968), The Forbodians Hijack Troutbridge (8 March 1970), Impressions For Survival (23 May 1971), Friday the 13th (11 Jun 1972), Povey – An Admiral at Last (9 September 1973) and NANA (16 November 1975).

Bonus items include a mini-episode from The Light Entertainment Show and two episodes from spin-off series The Embassy Lark: National Grumpshnog Week (Series 1, 12 April 1966) and Sub-Lt Phillips Drops In (Series 3, 16 April 1968). Plus, there’s a discussion from Bob Holness Presents: Farewell to the Paris, which sees Leslie Phillips and Jon Pertwee reminiscing about the making of The Navy Lark. As well as a 'lost' episode from season 2 of The Navy Lark; Return to Potarneyland, first broadcast on 26th February 1960.

So step aboard HMS Troutbridge for laughs ahoy!

Produced by Alastair Scott-Johnston

A BBC Studios production