Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel is a BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...

 1990 situation comedy

Situation comedy

A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

 radio show, adapted from a 1932 American radio show of the same name. The original series starred two of the Marx Brothers

Marx Brothers

The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...

, Groucho

Groucho Marx

Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...

 and Chico

Chico Marx

Leonard "Chico" Marx was an American comedian and film star as part of the Marx Brothers. His persona in the act was that of a dim-witted albeit crafty con artist, seemingly of rural Italian origin, who wore shabby clothes, and sported a curly-haired wig and Tyrolean hat.As the first-born of the...

, and was written primarily by Nat Perrin

Nat Perrin

Nat Perrin was an American comedy writer, who contributed gags and storylines to several Marx Brothers films and co-wrote the play Hellzapoppin that was adapted in to a film. He is credited with writing the screenplay or story for over 25 films, including The Great Morgan and Song of the Thin Man...

 and Arthur Sheekman

Arthur Sheekman

Arthur Sheekman , a graduate from the University of Minnesota, started his career as columnist and drama critic during the 1920s and the early 1930s for the Manhattan Newspaper. He then entered the film industry in 1931 when he became a scenarist for the Marx Brothers' movie Monkey Business where...

. It depicted the misadventures of a small law firm

Law firm

A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...

, with Groucho acting as attorney

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

 Waldorf T. Flywheel, and Chico playing Flywheel's assistant Emmanuel Ravelli. In 1988 the show scripts were rediscovered in the Library of Congress

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...

, and were adapted by the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 two years later. The lead roles are performed by professional Marx Brothers soundalikes, Michael Roberts as Groucho's Flywheel and Frank Lazarus as Chico's Ravelli. Other cast members include Lorelei King

Lorelei King

Lorelei King is a United States-born actress who has been based in the United Kingdom since 1981. She has narrated audiobooks, acted in radio plays for BBC Radio 4 and appeared on television.- Early life :...

 playing all the female roles, with Spike Milligan

Spike Milligan

Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...

 and Dick Vosburgh

Dick Vosburgh

Richard Kennedy "Dick" Vosburgh was an American-born comedy writer and lyricist working chiefly in Britain....

 guest starring.

The scripts for the 1990 series were adapted by Mark Brisenden for a modern British audience, and the performances were directed by Dirk Maggs

Dirk Maggs

Dirk Maggs, a freelance writer and director working across all media, is principally known for his work in radio, where he evolved radio drama into "Audio Movies," a near-visual approach combining scripts, layered sound effects, cinematic music and cutting edge technology. He pioneered the use of...

. Rather than each episode being a direct remake of an individual American episode, the 1990 episodes often included material from two or even three different 1932 episodes, and occasionally with additional jokes from Marx Brothers' films. The success of the first series led to another two series being produced.

Episode list

Series	Episode	Title	First broadcast	Based on 1930s episodes
1	1	The Stolen Rembrandt in which Flywheel and Ravelli investigate a Crime	2 June 1990	1, 4 and 17 with material common to Animal Crackers
	2	Flywheel And Juliet in which Flywheel Treads The Boards	9 June 1990	14, with Lydia from At the Circus
	3	Big Joe Crookley in which Ravelli is kidnapped	16 June 1990	1 and 12, with song from Horse Feathers
	4	Finding Foo Foo in which Flywheel and Ravelli become Dog Catchers	23 June 1990	3 and 9
	5	One Round Gombatz in which Ravelli takes it on the chin	30 June 1990	10 with song from Cocoanuts
	6	The Election in which Flywheel and Ravelli fix some votes	7 July 1990	5, 6 and 16 with song from Horse Feathers
2	1	Dr Hackenbush in which Flywheel becomes a Medical Man	11 May 1991	7
	2	Uncle Abner in which Flywheel nearly buys the Farm	18 May 1991	13
	3	Convict Ravelli in which Ravelli falls foul of the Law	25 May 1991	6
	4	The Big Store in which Flywheel runs a Department Store	1 June 1991	15
	5	Captain John Smith in which Flywheel and Ravelli find an old geezer	8 June 1991	3
	6	Going Hollywood in which Flywheel and Ravelli go into pictures	15 June 1991	25
3	1	Crexton Mansion in which Flywheel and Ravelli have a sleep over with a ghost	11 July 1992	24
	2	The Laughing Hyena in which Flywheel and Ravelli go prospecting	18 July 1992	11 and new material
	3	Fly By Wheel Tours in which Flywheel and Ravelli inherit a bus	25 July 1992	20
	4	The Chicago Clarion in which Flywheel and Ravelli get a scoop	1 August 1992	22
	5	Coney Island in which Flywheel and Ravelli join the carnival	8 August 1992	18
	6	Miracle On Eatwell Street in which Flywheel and Ravelli cook up a Christmas	15 August 1992	5