Roy Hudd

Haven't read the other threads on this but I've listened to recent episodes. The scripts are unambitious sub-goonery at best (there were even Bloodnok references in the last episode) but the warmth of Roy Hudd makes up for a great deal. Difficult to think of another performer who could make such material palatable.

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It's certainly true that the Casebook is a world away from the News Huddlines. The beauty of that show, at its best, was that it would use references its target audience would understand, like Gert and Daisy, but weave them into something topical.

I would love to hear selected repeats of those shows - it's my impression that earlier series were fairly sharp though it became broader and more vulgar later;lacking the chance to hear them again, however, I admit that this may be a rose-tinted view. Nevertheless, I do recall in one show, possibly in the eighties, the line "If you'll pardon my being pantheistic for a mo," which I can't imagine in the Casebook. Could it be as simple as saying a team of young, hungry writers is more likely to produce good material than an individual? Either way, the Casebook is testament to Hudd's ability to make bricks out of straw.

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"anyone else old enough to remember when 'Huddlines' used to get a repeat on Radio 4?"

I wasn't aware of that - and wasn't Weekending covering the same ground in a distinctly Radio 4 way?

But my memory is that Huddlines became broader and more vulgar with time so if this happened it must have been very near the start.

Re Huddlines in general, although RH held it together he was not, as I'm sure he'd agree, the greatest of impressionists; Chris Emmett added a lot to the programme - his Harold-Wilson-as-Max-Miller turn was a regular delight. And he is a big part of the Casebook series too.