Archive on 4: Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band

I worked closely with the wonderful Neil Innes to produce a mess of a history of The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band for BBC Radio 4, commissioned by Mohit Bakaya.

2016 marked the 50th anniversary of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band going "professional" - and this programme charted their absurd career.  Archive interviews and performances accompanied new interviews with Legs Larry Smith, Rodney Slater, Vernon Dudley Bowhay Nowell, Sam Spoons, and Bob Kerr, and contributions from friends and fans including Terry Gilliam, Adrian Edmondson, Kevin Eldon, Diane Morgan, Rick Wakeman, and Stephen Fry.

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Neil and I collated hours of archive material, and recorded over 24 hours of new material and interviews.  Neil said, "This is an audio blockbuster! This kind of production – certainly in human terms - does not come cheap. It is truly labour intensive and all credit is due to the painstaking diligence of producer and editor Laura Grimshaw. It takes courage and generosity to allow people to waffle on and on and go wherever their fancy takes them. Furthermore, it takes soul-sapping concentration and stamina to trawl through all the subsequent 'anarchy' and rescue any best bits. It is entirely thanks to Laura – and her love of the band and of making radio - that this programme sounds as natural and as 'organised' – as it does."

Neil was wonderful, generous, creative and brilliant, and I am proud of the work we did together.

You can hear the show in all its glory right here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03n0rj7