We're going way back to 1956 for this treat from the airwaves today. Elsie and Doris Waters were a popular double act who were best known for their comedy performances on film and on radio during the Second World War, as characters Gert and Daisy.
Transplanting their Workers' Playtime characters to a family-run general store, Floggit's had a writing team of great pedigree: Terry Nation, John Junkin and Carry On Behind and Bless This House writer Dave Freeman. While providing scripts for this middle-of-the-road radio comedy, Freeman, Junkin and Nation were also working on Idiot's Weekly Price 2d, the first attempt to present Goon Show humour to a television audience.
Aside from the involvement of Dave Freeman, Floggit's had a superb supporting cast of rising stars. Ronnie Barker, Anthony Newley, Ron Moody and future Beyond Our Ken and Round The Horne voices man Hugh Paddick regularly appeared alongside a certain Miss Joan Sims. Joan had already made a name for herself on the stage in intimate revue by this stage and had taken tentative steps into the world of film, with eye-catching cameos in the Norman Wisdom film Trouble in Store, Doctor in the House, Doctor At Sea and The Belles of St Trinian's.
Joan adds her excellent vocal talents to this particular episode of Floggit's, playing a switchboard exchange operator, a flirtatious barmaid and a rather canny little girl hoping to buy some sweets! Joan also gives an early outing to her toothless old lady act which gained greater popularity when she played Gran in Till Death Us Do Part. She's quite superb in the show and you can listen to it here:
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