Audio Comedy - TNL - S11 (4) - Video

S11E14 - Trying For The Jackpot
S11E16 - Bashing Up The Radar
S11E15 - Dartmouth Naval College Has Had A Narrow Escape
S11E16 - Bashing Up The Radar

Cast
Dennis Price as Lieutenant Price ("Number One") (Series 1)

Leslie Phillips as Sub-Lieutenant Phillips, Captain McDoom

Jon Pertwee as Chief Petty Officer Pertwee, Commander Weatherby, Vice-Admiral "Burbly" Burwasher, The Master

Stephen Murray as Lieutenant/Lieutenant Commander Murray ("Number One")

Richard Caldicot as Commander/Captain Povey

Ronnie Barker as Able Seaman "Fatso" Johnson, Lieutenant Commander (Archibald) Stanton, Lieutenant Queeg (Series 1as9), Commander Bell, Intelligence

Heather Chasen as WREN Chasen, Mrs. Ramona Povey, Lady Toddhunter-Brown, Rita Murray (née Ffont-Bittocks), Second Officer McCluty, The Mistress

Tenniel Evans as Able Seaman (later Leading Seaman) "Taffy" Goldstein, Admiral Ffont-Bittocks, Ebeneezer Pertwee, Sir Willoughby Toddhunter-Brown

Michael Bates as Able Seaman Ginger, Lieutenant Bates, Rear Admiral Ironbridge, Padre, Captain Ignatius Aloysius Atchison, Flag Lieutenant Claude Dingle

Judy Cornwell as WREN Cornwell (Series 4 only)

Laurie Wyman as Able Seaman (later Inspector) Burt Tiddy, various

April Walker as WREN Barrett (Series 15 only)

Guests:

Jan Waters as WREN Waters (Series 7, ep 1,2)
Derek Francis as Sir Jeremy Crichton Buller (Series 8, ep. 10)
Frank Thornton as Henry Pettigrew (Series 8, ep. 10)

Production

A Radio Times magazine extract from 1960, showing the cast of the show and promoting the show's return.
The series used accents and characterised voices to supplement the humour, as well as a good deal of innuendo.

The show's theme tune was "Trade Wind Hornpipe" written and performed by Tommy Reilly on a Barry Music compilation of short interlude pieces published in 1958 on BMC118.

The programme was strong on creating identifiable characters; the listener was able to clearly differentiate each person Laurie Wyman created, many of whom acquired enduring catchphrases, most notably from Sub Lieutenant Phillips: "Corrrrr", "Ooh, nasty...", "Oh lumme!", and "Left hand down a bit". "Ev'rybody down!" was a phrase of CPO Pertwee's, necessitated by a string of incomprehensible navigation orders by Phillips, and followed by a sound effect of the ship crashing. Also, whenever Pertwee had a menial job to be done, Able Seaman Johnson was always first in line to do it, inevitably against his will: "You're rotten, you are!". The telephone response from Naval Intelligence (Ronnie Barker), was always an extremely gormless and dimwitted delivery of "'Ello, Intelligence 'ere" or "This is intelligence speakin'".

Other recurring verbal features were the invented words "humgrummit" and "floggle-toggle" which served to cover all manner of unspecified objects ranging from foodstuffs to naval equipment. Unspecified illnesses include "the twingeing screws", an illness to which Pertwee was a martyr, especially when hearing about being under sailing orders. Ronnie Barker's versatile contributions were recognised and Laurie Wyman (later known as Lawrie Wyman) was asked by the producer to write more parts for Barker.

Dennis Price returned for a guest appearance in the fourth series episode A Hole Lieutenant. Other 'guest stars' included April Walker, Norma Ronald and June Whitfield.

The Big Business Lark
Another Wyman creation, The Big Business Lark was broadcast as one series in 1969. It starred Jimmy Edwards and Frank Thornton

The show is set in the boardroom of fictional company British United Plastics, and concerns the business machinations of the chairman, Sir Charles Boniface (Edwards), and his son and deputy chairman, Frank Boniface (Thornton).

Adaptations
Film and television
In 1959, a film version was released, also called The Navy Lark. Written by Laurie Wyman and Sid Colin and directed by Gordon Parry, it stars Cecil Parker, Ronald Shiner, Elvi Hale, Leslie Phillips and Nicholas Phipps. The setting was changed where "The Island" was named Boonsey, a fictional Channel Island. According to Jon Pertwee's co-written memoir, published shortly after his death in 1996, the film was also supposed to star Pertwee and Dennis Price. However, according to Pertwee the film's producer Herbert Wilcox refused to employ Price "because he was gay." Pertwee was among those who objected to Price not being in the film and believed that this contributed to his own replacement in the cast by Shiner. Pertwee noted that the film "bombed" and said audiences did not consider the film to be The Navy Lark due to the absence of himself, Price and Stephen Murray.