Bentine left The Goons after just two series, deciding to concentrate on a solo career and his family. Sellers successfully crossed over into film UFO Milligan was credited with writing the majority of the scripts but during series three he suffered a breakdown and had to miss 12 episodes. Sellers took over some of his characters while temporary replacements such as Dick Emery were called in to fill the void. One of the most memorable sketches was in December 1953, when a spoof broadcast announced a UFO flying across London. Anyone who spotted it was asked to ring a fictitious number.
Thousands rang the line.
Secombe played Neddie Seagoon, a central figure in all the shows. He was a cheerful but gullible character who's greed regularly landed him in trouble. Milligan played, among many others, the extremely stupid Eccles, Miss Minnie Bannister and Count Moriarty. All three took the roles of other characters when the script required. Ying Tong Sellers and Milligan, who had both lived in India, regularly slipped into Hindi accents for a succession of roles.