Jon Pertwee, Leslie Phillips and Stephen Murray star in four more episodes of the popular nautical comedyFrenchmen in J.41 ('Having a Bit of Trouble with the French') 13 August 1967Troutbridge returns from trials to find a French frigate docked in their berth - to Pertwee's great concern...The Police Drop In ('Tangling with the Law') 20 August 1967Povey is told to co-operate with the law over a theft from a local museum - but the Troutbridge crew get nervous when a police helicopter drops in.The Bumble Spit Lighthouse Affair ('Cavorting About') 23 April 1972Troutbridge has an unfortunate collision with the Bumble Spit Light Vessel, and Murray is feeling tetchy because Rita is away.The Tonipouhaha Treasure ('Digging Themselves Stupid') 30 April 1972An MOD decision that Troutbridge should 'show the flag' in the South Seas leads the Master to head to Tonipouhaha in search of buried treasure...These classic BBC radio episodes also feature Ronnie Barker, Richard Caldicot, Heather Chasen, Tenniel Evans, Michael Bates and Elizabeth Morgan.Duration: 2 hours approx.

Vorwort
Four more episodes of the classic BBC comedy starring John Pertwee, Leslie Phillips and Stephen Murray

Autorentext
The Navy Lark is the second longest-running comedy in British radio history (the topical Friday night show, Week Ending, which ran from 1970 to 1998, is currently the longest). In 1958, writer Laurie Wyman announced that he wanted to build a series around talented comic actor Jon Pertwee. Having secured Pertwee as the lead, he looked for other main characters and is quoted in the Radio Times as saying 'I felt we needed an idiot, and there was no one better at playing idiots than Leslie Phillips - so we got him.' The first episode of the series went out on 29 March 1959 and, from the start, the light-hearted and affectionate spoof on the Senior Service won many fans - some of the highest order! On the occasion of the show's 21st anniversary, for example, the crew were asked by WRNS to put on a special performance. They duly obliged, and in the audience that night at the Royal Festival Hall was Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother. Sir Charles Lambe, who was the first Sea Lord at the time, had also visited the studio during rehearsal. The crew of HMS Troutbridge were a motley bunch: Jon Pertwee, who actually served in the Navy during the Second World War, played the conniving Petty Officer and was established as a household favourite by the series. Leslie Phillips was the vague chinless wonder Sub-Lieutenant. His parrot cry of 'left hand down a bit' has passed into A Dictionary of Catch Phrases, whose author Eric Partridge writes 'within two years, it was a standard piece of Navalese'. The young Ronnie Barker (long before attaining fame as a television comedy actor) also appeared in the series, playing two parts: (Un)Able Seaman Fatso Johnson and Lieutenant-Commander Stanton. The Navy Lark gripped the nation for the best part of twenty years. Its signature tune, composed by Tommy Reilly and James Moody, was the jaunty Trade Wind Hornpipe and did much to contribute to the popularity of the series. The key to the show's popularity, though, was its irreverent but essentially gentle humour and, most of all, the many-voiced talents of its stars. As Leslie Phillips remarked in 1987, 'I caused more damage to Naval property than the Navy had done in two world wars'. The final episode was broadcast on 18 January 1976. However, the crew all jumped on board one last time for a Jubilee Special on 16 July 1977.