As an irritating student I was all over this, and I still think it's a fun series. Made Andrew O'Connor millions selling it all over the world, and I was delighted for him as I was a big Andrew O'Connor fan

Why Don't YouTube?@whydontyoutube.bsky.social · 10h ago

30 YEARS AGO TODAY: amiable pre-lunch BBC1 quiz fare ahoy in The Alphabet Game, one of the first works of Objective Productions and fronted by its founder Andrew O'Connor. Jim Bowen, Carol Smillie and Ken Morley are among those linking letters.

Much as I love Armando, I was not desperately broken hearted we didn't get a second series of this

Why Don't YouTube?@whydontyoutube.bsky.social · 2d ago

20 YEARS AGO TODAY: set in 2031, Time Trumpet satirises TV and politics with weapons grade wilful absurdity, which obviously means it's Armando Iannucci. A whole host of famous faces appear, some not even yet famous (Tim Key, A Place In The Sun's Leah Charles-King)

FUN FACT: The first episode now has an exclamation mark in the title because otherwise some platforms would reject it as they can't cope with an episode having the same title as a series

Pip@pipmadeley.bsky.social · 2d ago

Kudos to BBC iPlayer for putting up an old sitcom that isn't readily available to buy on DVD. And that's the only positive thing I have to say about this, so we'll leave it there.

Jimmy Cricket also responsible for the greatest ever This Is Your Life moment when he contrived to bump into his big surprise guest who he hadn't seen for thirty years when he was walking down the street the day before the show

Mark Simpson@marksimpson.bsky.social · 2d ago

PA News confirms that comedian Jimmy Cricket has died after a short illness.

I recorded this the night before we went on holiday, spent the whole week wondering what it might be like and watched it within minutes of arriving home. The anticipation was far more exciting than the actual programme

Why Don't YouTube?@whydontyoutube.bsky.social · 3d ago

30 YEARS AGO TODAY: one of Simon Munnery's many low budget pilots actually makes it to TV for once. London Shouting is a vehicle for Alan Parker Urban Warrior featuring Peter Serafinowicz, Julian Barrett, Mel Gierodyc and Super Furry Animals.

It featured a Radio Times parody, as all sketch show tie-in books were required to by law. Though this one is much more like TV Go Home than the others.

Good to see Nitro playing the game as it's supposed to be played, by just offering up a random lyric from the song as the title

MrPaulRobinson@mrpaulrobinson.bsky.social · 4d ago

Starting to think people off Gladiators might be contractually obliged to wear this clobber at all times. Doing some shopping, cleaning their car, appearing on The Hit List, the lot

My dad can instantly match the reg number to the year (when it was letters, not now it's the actual year) whereas I have to extrapolate from remembering Gary Numan released Cars (E Reg Model) in 1987 and that one of the working titles for Introspective by Pet Shop Boys the following year was F

Ricardo Autobahn@ricardoautobahn.co.uk · 4d ago

1st August! Have you been out spotting new car number plates yet? I've seen a Y Reg Metro and Escort Ghia.

This used to be such a staple of going on holiday, up there with the excitement of visiting a different supermarket

Ricardo Autobahn@ricardoautobahn.co.uk · 4d ago

1st August! Have you been out spotting new car number plates yet? I've seen a Y Reg Metro and Escort Ghia.

Briefly corresponded with someone from Skegness I contacted via (my sister's) Get Along Gang comic

Tim Worthington@outonbluesix.bsky.social · 4d ago

Did you ever have a penpal either from a magazine column or one of those services you could send off to and get matched with someone? Who were they, where were they from and most importantly how... odd were they? timworthington.org/2017/09/08/l...

Like when there's an escaped convict on the news and they tell you not to approach them #totp

I will retweet that clip every time Neil posts it

Or at least play the clip of Gary Byrd rapping with Bob Carolgees even though a) it hadn't happened yet and b) it was on ITV #totp

Sorry, way behind here, so I'm sorry to interrupt KC and the Sunshine Band to point out I love Jamelia #totp

I love that All Saints did some awkward shuffling on the first show so really tried to come up with a fancy routine for the second #totp

We used to frequent High Street Video and I regularly used to rent the series of Disney Channel videos, which despite not especially liking Disney I found absolutely fascinating as it featured idents and continuity, like a proper channel www.videocollector.co/disney-chann...

Tim Worthington@outonbluesix.bsky.social · 5d ago

There's a fantastic story in this about renting bad movies on video from a man in 'a van'... but what was your video shop? What terrible non-functional pun name did it have? And which video covers freaked you out every time that you saw them? timworthington.org/2017/09/08/l...

Inspired triple bill on this week's Sounds of the 80s

Love that ITV had wrestling scheduled for five minutes after the final whistle

RadioJottings@radiojottings.bsky.social · 6d ago

OTD in 1966 television coverage of the World Cup Final. BBC1 had Grandstand presented by David Coleman and that now-famous commentary from Kenneth Wolstenholme. Over on ITV World of Sport was introduced by Eamonn Andrews and the match commentator was Hugh Johns.

Slightly surprised "TV programmes axed" is on the news when that happens all the time

"MAKE ME A SANDWICH"

Richard Herring@herring1967.bsky.social · last wk.

Fan of 1990s double act Lee and Herring may enjoy this youtu.be/WgkO_aJy3jk?...

HOW HAS THIS BEEN ON YOUTUBE FOR THREE MONTHS AND NOBODY THOUGHT TO TELL US, IT'S BEEN WDYT?'S HOLY GRAIL FOR YEARS www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGPA...

Statutory Right of Entry - Richard Stilgoe

YouTube video by Matt Poole

youtube.com

Always remember Select making the wonderful observation that Tarrant presented this with his hand in his pocket throughout

Why Don't YouTube?@whydontyoutube.bsky.social · last wk.

30 YEARS AGO TODAY: reverse beauty pageant Man O Man, in which a group of blokes are judged and routinely pushed into the studio swimming pool, is feminist empowerment really, RIGHT, LADIES? Chris Tarrant thinks of where the cheques are going.

You know guys, there’s a block button you can use, you don’t have to drive yourselves insane arguing with every two bit account. Treat yourselves.

Surprised by the numerous replies to this, it seems to have absolutely bemused US BlueSky

Pip@pipmadeley.bsky.social · 2w ago

Things kids today will never understand: watching the first hour of a film, then being forced to wait half an hour to see the ending

I know we'd already had Abba Gold and the Erasure EP but this Abba doc did as much as anything to aid their renaissance

Did You See?@tvdidyousee.bsky.social · 2w ago

#WhatWeWereWatching #OTD 33 years ago 📺TV Ratings for w.e. 25 July 1993 1. #EastEnders 16.42m 2. #CoronationStreet 15.80 3. #Neighbours 13.45 4. #HomeAndAway 12.10 5. Stars In Their Eyes 11.29 6. #TheBill 11.15 7. Wheel of Fortune 10.92 8. Through The Keyhole 10.31 9. #Emmerdale

I would also like to express my fondness for, er, that particular record

Emma Stump@pisci.bsky.social · 2w ago

Roses is a fucking banger. #TOTP

Funny how they never cite that and So Macho in the ten million docs about how MTV changed pop music forever

Jim Lynn@jimlynn.uk · 2w ago

I'm enjoying this video for Sun Street. #totp

I actually remember this being a far bigger hit than it was because I remember Adrian John playing it a lot on Radio 1

Extreme Rice@extremerice.bsky.social · 2w ago

I'm not sure Sun Street ended up being a big enough hit to recoup that video. #TotP

That Sinitta video used every sound stage at Pinewood and its costume budget alone bankrupted the record company. If you haven't seen it on IMAX you really haven't seen it at all #totp

"This is BBC1. Now the news at six minutes past nine because we had to play Stool Pigeon by Kid Creole and the Coconuts in its entirety" #totp