Lost episodes of radio classic The Clitheroe Kid will return to the airwaves

Its place in the schedules may owe something to the idea that listeners, up to 10 million of them at the show’s peak, needed a few laughs after the first day of the working week. The show starred comedian Jimmy Clitheroe, who was actually 35 when he started playing the part of the cheeky schoolboy, but because he had not physically grown beyond the age of 11, he could pass for a child of that age, complete with a convincing high-pitched voice.

Clitheroe’s first billing in Radio Times was in January 1952 as Wishee-Washee in Aladdin. Listeners heard a 30-minute excerpt from the pantomime production at the London Casino starring Julie Andrews as the Princess. From 1955, Clitheroe started making regular appearances in radio variety shows, notably the Northern Variety Parade series in which he was soon given his own show, Jimmy Clitheroe as the Call Boy.

In it, he took listeners backstage to meet the stars of radio music hall but, in one edition, he was given a sketch in which his Clitheroe Kid character was introduced to listeners. The audience reaction was very positive and in 1957 The Clitheroe Kid was commissioned as series in its own right, albeit limited to the Home Service in the north. Only in May 1958 did The Clitheroe Kid move to the Light Programme for transmission across the country.

The show became immensely popular and would run for a total of 14 years, finishing in 1972, only 7 months before Jimmy Clitheroe died.

Most of the early episodes of The Clitheroe Kid were missing from the BBC archives, but many have been recovered in recent years thanks to our friends at the Radio Circle. Radio 4 Extra is now scheduling another six which haven’t been heard on our airwaves for over 60 years.

As is often the case, these episodes have been reassembled from multiple sources, which explains why the sound quality sometimes changes mid-way through a programme. The sources include off-air recordings from Clitheroe aficionado Stephen Poppitt and the late broadcaster Ed Doolan, together with transcription copies (edited recordings put on vinyl discs for overseas sales).

The first episode due for rebroadcast is Jimmy the Kid, in which the star develops a cowboy obsession. By the time this was aired on 2 April 1962, the show was in its fifth series and hugely popular. "Do come and join us in radio's happiest family circle, a family circle which is set spinning into a merry-go-round every week by The Clitheroe Kid," said RT.

"Besides Jimmy, waiting to welcome you into the Clitheroe home each Monday will be Grandad (Peter Sinclair), Mother (Patricia Burke), Susan (Diana Day), Alfie Hall (Danny Ross), and those two friends of the family Theodore Craythorpe and Harry Whittle (both played by Leonard Williams)."

Episodes lined up for the subsequent weeks are: What a good boy am I, What a Guy, Sorry You've Been Troubled, Smile Please and When Grandad Papered The Parlour, all from 1962.

Many others remain on the wanted list but may yet turn up as the Radio Circle continues to be offered old radio recordings. The work involved in replaying the tapes on different machines to make digital copies, and then identifying the contents, all takes time, but sometimes gems like these emerge.

If you have any tapes or films of old TV or radio programmes dating from the 1980s or before, please contact us at the Radio Times Treasure Hunt at treasurehunt@radiotimes.com, giving details of what you have.

The Clitheroe Kid will broadcast on Sunday 8th September at 10am on Radio 4 Extra.

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