Editing Whack-O! (section)

{{Short description|British TV series 1956–1960 and 1971–1972}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox television
 | image = Whacko title screen.png
 | caption = The title sequence emulated a chalk blackboard, with caricatures of Jimmy Edwards interposed with credits, often with letters the wrong way around.  
 | genre = [[Situation comedy|Sitcom]]
 | runtime = 30 minutes
 | creator = [[Frank Muir]]<br/>[[Denis Norden]]
 | starring = {{plain list|
* [[Jimmy Edwards]]
* [[Arthur Howard]] (series 1–7)
* [[Julian Orchard]] (series 8)
* [[Kenneth Cope]]
* [[Norman Bird]]
* John Stirling
* [[Peter Glaze]]
* [[Edwin Apps]] (series 1–7)
* Peter Greene (series 8)
* David Langford
* [[Keith Smith (actor)|Keith Smith]]
* [[Brian Rawlinson]]
* Gordon Phillot (series 1–7)
* [[Harold Bennett]] (series 8)
* Frank Raymond
* Gary Warren (series 8)
* [[Greg Smith (actor)|Greg Smith]] (series 8)
}}
 | country = United Kingdom
 | language = English
 | network = [[BBC One|BBC1]]
 | first_aired = {{Start date|1956|10|04|df=yes}}
 | last_aired = {{End date|1972|02|26|df=yes}}
 | num_episodes = 60
}}

'''''Whack-O!''''' is a British sitcom TV series starring [[Jimmy Edwards]]. It was written by [[Frank Muir]] and [[Denis Norden]].

The series (in black and white) ran on the [[BBC]] from 1956 to 1960 and (in colour) from 1971 to 1972.  Edwards took the part of Professor James Edwards, M.A., the drunken, gambling, devious, cane-swishing headmaster who tyrannised staff and children at Chiselbury [[Independent school (UK)|public school]] (described in the opening titles as "for the sons of Gentlefolk"). The Edwards character bore more than a passing resemblance to [[Sergeant Bilko]] as he tried to swindle the children out of their pocket money to finance his many schemes.

The first six episodes were subtitled "Six of the Best". In 1959 a film was made based on the show, called ''[[Bottoms Up (1960 film)|Bottoms Up!]]''. The series was revived in colour with updated scripts in 1971–72, retitled ''Whacko!''. In all, it ran for a total of 60 episodes, with 47 of black-and-white and 13 colour, of 30 minutes each. There were three special shorts. There was also a radio version with [[Vera Lynn]] starring as herself in the second episode. Many of these radio episodes were recovered by a BBC archivist from a listener's collection of tapes in 2012.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

The front of the historic house of [[Great Fosters]] near [[Egham]] in [[Surrey]] was used in the opening title sequence of the TV comedy series, behind the name of the fictional Chiselbury School.<ref>{{cite web|title = Whack-O! Opening titles, BBC TV|url = http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/adults/whacko/whacko.htm|accessdate = 28 July 2008}}</ref>