Draft:Comedy Parade

Comedy Parade is a British radio anthology series that was first broadcast non-consecutively from 1964 to 1986. The series aired unrelated comedy pilot episodes each week, with the intention of developing those pilot episodes into full series.

Fifty-one episodes were broadcast during the series run; twelve of these became series. These included: Now Listen; Spare a Copper; There's One Born Every Minute; the 1971 version of Just the Job; Radio Tarbuck; Our Les; Parsley Sidings; I'm Ken, He's Bill; The Motorway Men; Albert and Me; You Start, I'll Join In; and The Phenomenon Squad.

Series 1 (1964)
This series was first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme at 8:00 pm on Thursdays.

This series featured two pilots that were later developed into their own series: "Now Listen" and "Spare a Copper".

Kenneth Horne's appearance in the pilot "Down with Women" resulted in his sitcom, Beyond Our Ken, ending in 1964 and his new sitcom, Round the Horne, beginning the following year. Eric Merriman, the writer of Beyond Our Ken, objected to Horne's appearances in other comedy programmes whilst starring in the writer's sitcom. When the BBC refused to withdraw Horne from "Down with Women", Merriman resigned from writing Beyond Our Ken and the series ended after seven series. Following the broadcast of "Down with Women", the BBC commissioned a replacement series for Horne, titled Round the Horne, which began in 1965 and ended in 1968.

Series 2 (1965)
This series was first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme at 8:00 pm on Thursdays.

This series featured one pilot that was later developed into its own series: "There's One Born Every Minute".

Series 3 (1971)
This series was first broadcast on BBC Radio 2 at 2:30 pm on Sundays.

This series featured six pilots that were later developed into their own series: "Just the Job", "Radio Tarbuck", "Our Les", "Parsley Sidings", "I'm Ken, He's Bill", and "The Motorway Men".

Series 4 (1977)
This series was first broadcast on BBC Radio 2 at 7:30 pm on Wednesdays.

This series featured one pilot that was later developed into its own series: "Albert and Me".

"Albert and Me" was later developed into a full series which ran from...

Series 5 (1986)
This series was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 11:30 pm on Saturdays. For this series, episodes were aired as part of the five winning entries from a 1985 Radio Times comedy writing competition.

This series featured two pilots that were later developed into their own series: "You Start, I'll Join In" and "The Phenomenon Squad".

"The Phenomenon Squad" was later broadcast on 3 October 1987 as the first episode of a five-part series. It was retitled "Hand-Picked" upon subsequent airings.