Listen Very Carefully - The ’Allo ’Allo! Podcast

Plenty to chat about, as ever, starting with respectful recognition of a dazzling performance by the duck. After recording so many episodes, the tripod realise that there are moments they have completely forgotten, and are watching them as though for the first time. Mimi does an oiutstanding turn in the café, with high kicks and tapping, to thunderous applause. To escape the Communist Resistance,...

Following their slightly lukewarm review of the previous episode, the trio are back in fan mode. René attempts to leave the country disguised as an ancient Jehovah’s Witness, which fools no one, but offers the opportunity for a Jack Haig impression. Gruber and Helga get into disguise as a pimp and his lady, in a plan to protect René in his complicated relationship with the Communist Resistance. Ca...

Kim and Richard begin by suggesting that this was not the best episode ever. Guy challenges them robustly, and after finding plenty to talk about, the tripod agrees that it is pretty good after all. René and Edith reminsce about their early romance, and how she was the most beautiful girl in the town – in fact, the only girl in the town. There is the capture of René by the Communist Resistance, an...

Crabtree is is caught up in the demolition of the town convenience, and we are treated to a glimpse of an evening at home with the Flicks. Phoebe Scholfield, who usually plays Henriette – stalwart member of the Maquis Resistance – seems to have changed sides, and appears this week with the Communists. The production team do not seem to have noticed… The airman have some solid scenes this week, whi...

Much to enjoy this week. Kim marvels at the pace of Gorden’s opening monologue, and declares it an example of dynamic playing for all actors. She also pretends not to get excited about the numbering of the podcasts. Kim and Guy notice for the first time that this episode marks the beginning of a romance between Helga and Gruber that will eventually result in marriage and children. Boohoo Herr Flic...

Despite the fact that his episode is entitled Dinner with the General, there is very little talk either of Dinner or the General. Instead the chat covers a range of topics, loosely around the making of 'Allo ‘Allo! – including a fire practice at the studio with the cast of Doctor Who, and the madness of working on the tv series by day and onstage in the West End by night. Guy proves himself to be...

What better setting for an episode about a potato than Kim's kitchen? The usual fun and laughter, as the trio are joined by Ron Hartman for vital insights. Gruber is surprised in his bath by René, as Helga lets down her hair for Herr Flick. Kim tells of her first theatre job as a smoke squirter and mouse puller, and Richard and Guy discuss their first encounters with the paparazzi. Meanwhile, Edit...

Following the success of the first Listen Very Carefully season, this episode introduces the much-awaited Season 2. While the podsters talk about the Desperate Doings in the Dungeon, Kim’s kitchen transitions into a studio, as the pod launches for the first time on video as well: https://www.youtube.com/@HelgaGruberFlick/videos Viewers are treated to the sight of both René and Herr Flick chained t...

We present a special bonus episode, sent to us by Christopher Beswick, of a full-length interview he conducted with Gordon Kaye in 1991, when he had returned to work following his life-threatening accident.

This episode marks the end of Season One, and we celebrate with a surprise guest and a “guess the mystery voice” game. Although this episode is called the Jet-Propelled Mother-in-Law, no one can decide what the episode is actually about – as we encounter the people from the café treading grapes, and various other antics around Nouvion – as well as von Smallhausen savouring his rare moments of reve...

The podders attempt to keep track of the sausages. After the first twenty they give up, exhausted. Kim entertains with a tale of pranks on tour. Christian Dyall gets a bit of worship for his imaginative and lavish costumes. But where is the real painting of the Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies? Did the writers even know?

As Mimi takes to the skies as an airborne nun, it is an astounding week for cast impressions. Guy treats us to a Bertorelli, as well as a Michelle of the Resistance, and Kim delivers a terrifyingly realistic von Smallhasuen. A double disguise for Herr Flick – first as a gypsy playing the fiddle with gloves on – then into Helga's uniform to fool no one as Frau Kinkenrotten. Kim entertains with a ta...

This week, despite distractions from Alexa, a photographer called Rowan and a bottle of Prosecco, Kim, Guy and Richard maintain their usual level of sober professionalism while discussing the episode in which the new characters of Captain Bertorelli and Mimi la Bonq are introduced.

Is there such a thing as an episode-numbering nerd? Or geek? Or both? Question: Who literally cares which season or blinkin' episode this is? Answer: Kim, as well as some of the show's most militant archivists. Anyway, this is Pod 24, and the fun starts long before we unveil our literally special guest. Tune in and meet her/him/them. The series says farewell to Sam Kelly as Hans, as he is catapult...

The committee starts to get strict about overuse of the word "wonderful" – which is likely to have little effect. More fun and frolics in the prison camp, and the trio celebrate the rare privilege of seeing Richard Marner do the Can Can, Gruber dressed as a nun, and Helga singing a long-overdue Lili Marlene. 

Amid panto reminiscences from our pod trio (tripod), we discover that Fanny's pet name for her lover van Gogh was Bobby. While Guy and Richard get all knowing about the McGuffin device in detective stories, Kim insists it is a burger chain meal deal. They discuss the lengths that some performers will go to in order to secure a close-up, including gaining access to the camera scripts (some of them...

British airmen dressed as ladies of the night; Maria and Yvette disguised as ancient crones; a melodramatic fake murder scenario during a flamenco performance by Edith in the café; a plan to smuggle the airmen into the prison camp via a tunnel from the mortuary; a priceless van Gogh that has been hanging unnoticed in the café and turns out to have been a gift from the painter to Fanny during a pas...

More nuggets from Kim’s kitchen, as the trio mull over the events of the double-length Christmas Special – involving attempts from all sides to bump off General von Klinkerhoffen. Sam Kelly receives a well-deserved round of applause from the studio audience for his virtuoso speech about “the pill in the till, the drug in the jug and the Gateau from the Chateau”. There is talk of a crashing air bal...

Now that René has recovered the painting, Michelle plans to catapult the airman away in a glider, using elastic from men's braces. But collecting them in the dead of night presents yet another problem for the long-suffering café owner. A runaway steamroller flattens Herr Flick's staff car, which is only insured third-party. As the village clock chimes eight outside Kim' cottage, it's time for our...

Rene is busy in the cellar, bricking up the painting, while Flick and Helga have their first date in the back room. But this episode is well out of order – it was the third one of the series, instead of the 18th, but who really cares anyway? The Big Boobies get their first mention, accompanied by an on-air mime, and the team are impressed by the modest grace of Carmen's movement.

Maria is sent to Gruber's quarters at the chateau with the real Fallen Madonna for him to copy, but is intercepted by von Klinkerhoffen. René and Edith, and the Colonel and Hans infiltrate the chateau to steal back the painting, and a suit of armour with a distinctive limp joins the trail. Helga performs the strip of a lifetime – causing Kim to put her back out.

Monsieur Alphonse’s ransom loan is repaid in notes forged by Monsieur Leclerc, as the Resistance smuggle out the motor from General von Klinkerhoffen's lawn mower in Madame Fanny's wheelchair. Gruber’s little tank makes its debut with its feeble little horn, while its owner is delivered to Herr Flick’s cellar rolled up in a carpet. Anna Stubley gets a special mention for her magnificent costumes,...

Rene delivers his opening monologue from the bath, Monsieur Alfonse slurps his soup and passes out, Madame Fanny fits four in her bed, and Paul Cooper makes his debut as Herr Flick’s tailor. When the knockwurst is snatched by Gruber’s dog, the chase turns into one of the most outlandish horizon shots of the series.

Once again, the team claims this as a favourite episode. The classic dungeon scene features Herr Flick on his mighty organ, as Helga lets down her hair and turns the wheel to bring the ceiling down on their captives. Gorden supplies a severed head in the rehearsal room, and John D Collins knocks himself out and breaks both ankles. Meanwhile, Monsieur Alphonse’s wooing of Madame Edith continues una...

More fun and laughter as we discover Edith selling tickets to the duel between Rene and Monsieur Alphonse, Helga trying to eat peas while handcuffed, share tales of von Smallhausen’s beginnings in a strip club, and hear of the origins of a famous catchphrase.