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Life with the Lyons
Life with the Lyons
Mar 30, 2026 8:56 AM

Author:Bebe Daniels,Bob Block,Bill Harding,Ray Sonnin,Ronnie Hanbury,Full Cast,Bebe Daniels,Ben Lyon,Richard Lyon,Barbara Lyon

Life with the Lyons

The vintage radio comedy series starring a real-life American family - husband and wife Ben Lyon and Bebe Daniels, and their children

First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in 1950, Life with the Lyons was the first UK 'situation comedy'. Over 11 million listeners tuned in to the hilarious fictional misadventures of real-life Hollywood stars Bebe Daniels and Ben Lyons and their two children Barbara and Richard, as well as Scottish housekeeper Aggie and next-door neighbours Florrie and Mr Wimple. Such was its popularity that the series ran for 11 years, spawning a TV spin-off, a West End play and two feature films.

Included here are 32 of the very best episodes, among them an early one from the first series and the very last show, Roaming Scandals. Molly Weir co-stars as Aggie, with Doris Rogers as Florrie, and there are special guest appearances from comedian Ted Ray, his son Robin Ray and boxer Freddie Mills, as well as cameos from household names including Charles Hawtrey, Roger Delgado andNorman Shelley. There's never a dull moment in the Lyons household, and these fast, frantic and funny slices of life are sure to have you roaring with laughter!

Production credits

Written by Bebe Daniels, Bob Block, Ronnie Hanbury, Bill Harding and Ray Sonin

Produced by Tom Ronald

BBC Variety Orchestra led by John Jezard and conducted by Paul Fenoulhet

BBC Revue Orchestra conducted by Robert Busby

Incidental music by Arthur Wilkinson

First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme on the following dates:

Time Marches Back (26 February 1951)

Accidents Will Happen (25 October 1951)

Let Them Eat Cake (15 November 1951)

I Don't Know What To Get Her (6 December 1951)

The Play's the Thing (3 April 1952)

Home Again (16 November 1952)

The Christmas Story (26 December 1952)

The Barbecue (23 January 1953)

Ben's Birthday (6 February 1953)

How To Be A Good Father (13 March 1953)

You Can't Get Blood Out Of A Stone (10 April 1953)

Lovely to Look At (3 June 1953)

Once A Ham... (19 June 1953)

Coming Home (12 November 1953)

Nature Boy (19 November 1953)

Let the Men Do It (26 November 1953)

Come To The Fair (3 December 1953)

No Rest for Ben (10 December 1953)

Christmas Shopping (17 December 1953)

'Twas The Night Before (24 December 1953)

Who Gave Me That? (31 December 1953)

Once Upon a Mime (7 January 1954)

Father's Day (21 January 1954)

Back in the Autumn (6 May 1954)

Danger, Richard at Work (16 December 1954)

The New Job (30 December 1954)

A Crooner in the House (20 January 1955)

An Afternoon on the Thames (21 April 1955)

Three Blind Dates (12 May 1955)

The Rising Son (9 February 1958)

Dial Special Branch (16 February 1958)

Roaming Scandals (19 May 1961)

Cast

Bebe - Bebe Daniels

Ben - Ben Lyon

Barbara - Barbara Lyon

Richard - Richard Lyon

Florrie Wainwright - Doris Rogers

Aggie MacDonald - Molly Weir

Mr Wimple - Horace Percival

With Dennis Arundell, Wilfred Babbage, Clive Baxter, Richard Bellaers, Barbara Blair, Bob Block, Alanna Boyce, Hugh David, Roger Delgado, David Enders, Angela Ferguson, Patricia Field, Ronnie Harris, Charles Hawtrey, Arthur Hill, Arthur Lawrence, Gwen Lewis, Freddie Mills, Harry Morris, Hugh Morton, John Pullen, Philip Ray, Robin Ray, Ted Ray, Ian Sadler, Norman Shelley, Brian Smith, Selma Vaz Dias

© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

(p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Reviews

An INSTANT CLASSIC, a work to rank alongside other modern masterpieces of fantasy such as Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series or Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Everything fantasy should be: original, magical, well read, compelling

—— Guardian

Intricately plotted and gorgeously written, THE ABSOLUTE BOOK has something for everyone: the search for a mysterious book, talking ravens, police detectives and academics, gods and demons, a giant saltwater crocodile, the bucolic English countryside and magical gates to hidden worlds. Here is a cinematic tale that is by turns dark and dreamlike, yet ultimately hopeful

—— Deborah Harkness , author of A Discovery of Witches

An angelic book, an apocalyptic book, an astounding book

—— Francis Spufford

Gripping and hugely ambitious, the broad narrative flood sweeps us on to an extraordinary conclusion

—— Daily Mail

Gorgeous. The payoffs and reveals are mind-blowing

—— Laini Taylor , author of Daughter of Smoke and Bone

A marvellous argument for stories. There are Norse gods, references to Merlin, a tour through purgatory and a strange parallel world where magic is real and humans are bit players in the clash of supernatural realms. Bewitching

—— The Times

A magical book; doors between worlds; talking birds, vicious fairies and a trip to Purgatory. Stuffed with literary allusion and mythic echoes from the Norse legends to Alan Garner, straddling dimensions and hopping genres with ease, this is a one-of-a-kind fantasy novel that's worth getting lost in

—— Guardian, 50 Hottest Books

Epic, imaginative and exquisitely written, this is a feat of fantastical world-building

—— Daily Express

Reminded me of how I felt reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell or His Dark Materials - this is a masterpiece

—— Dan Kois , Slate

A triumph. Book where the best hearts meet the best minds meet the best imaginations are few and far between

—— Pip Adam

An enchanting weaving together of mythologies and a meeting of worlds, all bound up with the power of stories and the fate of the ultimate book. Far-reaching and profound, this is a novel to lose yourself in

—— Alison Littlewood , bestselling author of A Cold Season and The Hidden People

Every page is a declaration of love for story, for literature, for libraries

—— Maria McMillan

Savour and absorb the world Knox conjures

—— Sunday Times

An ambitious, gripping, and multifaceted [novel], animated by a sharp imagination

—— SFX

A murder, a mysterious library and something called the Absolute Book feature in this fantastical new outing

—— The Times

A book about books, a psychological crime novel, a romance, a portal fantasy, a technothriller, a historical fantasy, and an allegory - this melding of modes and mixing of genres, this surfeit of stories, is The Absolute Book's greatest strength. Accomplished, exuberant, generous, original . . . readers will have few regrets

—— Matthew Keeley , Tor.com

A tour de force. Ursula Le Guin would have loved this book

—— Jane Stafford

The power is in the skill and pace of Knox's storytelling, the perfect spinning of the intricate plot, the sharp dialogue and luminous evocation of place

—— Charlotte Grimshaw

A bibliophile's daydream

—— Scotland on Sunday

A propulsive parallel-worlds fantasy epic about the power of stories and storytelling

—— Guardian, 'What to look forward to this year'

Contains multitudes, spanning the geographies of Canada, Britain and New Zealand; the cosmologies of fairies, demons and angels; and the genres of thriller, domestic realism and epic fantasy. Reading the book is like holding folds of shot silk to the light, finding green flash in something that looks purple, and appreciating how thoughtfully the warp and weft embrace each other. I'm in awe of it

—— New York Times Review of Books

A mind-blowing optical illusion of a novel. This grand ode to Story itself is one that begs for a reread

—— Booklist

Full of intrigue, mystery, magic, and history, this is a fascinating read that is hard to put down

—— Buzzfeed

If you love a little supernatural magic and mystery, you will love this clever blend of myth, religion, folklore and reality, as the story draws the reader into the realm of faerie and demon, immersing us in a fantasy world where bliss can be found

—— Living Edge

One of those books which will never let you go. A beautiful, fantastic, ride that travels from one end of the earth to the other and beyond, Knox takes you on a journey that will amaze and astound you . . . The Absolute Book takes readers on a journey they won't soon forget. Fantastic and wondrous, it is a delight and will leave readers wistful for a world as magical as the one she's created

—— Blogcritics

Epic and exquisitely written, this is a feat of fantastical world-building

—— Sunday Express

The dream for any book lover - a story about the importance of stories and all the ways we pass them on

—— Foyles

Where better to get lost than a mighty, make-believe kingdom reminiscent of Swift

—— i

Enchanting . . . Knox hits the mark

—— Herald
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