#ITV Schools Broadcast

[littlequeenies]

According to IMDB this was aired on October 23, 1962.

1962 - Jane’s ITV School’s production of Romeo And Juliet.

Found via https://twitter.com/outonbluesix

[pers-books]

Sapphire & Steel have been reassigned! 

Big Finish’s acclaimed audio dramas based on the ITV Studios sci-fi/fantasy series Sapphire & Steel are now available to buy as downloads for the first time. 

All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension. Transuranic, heavy elements may not be used where there is life. Medium atomic weights are available: Gold, Lead, Copper, Jet, Diamond, Radium, Sapphire, Silver and Steel.  Sapphire and Steel have been assigned. 

Sapphire & Steel, created by P. J. Hammond, was originally broadcast between 1979 and 1982. It starred Joanna Lumley and David McCallum as a pair of “interdimensional operatives” tasked with protecting the flow of time. Each story would see them take human form as they showed up in a new location, to investigate a dangerous anomaly. 

Between May 2005 and August 2008, Big Finish released 15 full-cast audio dramas based on the TV series. The late David Warner took on McCallum’s part to play the stubborn Steel, whilst Susannah Harker slipped into Lumley’s role as Sapphire. 

For three of the audio stories, original TV guest star David Collings returned to recreate his performance as Silver. Other notable guest stars in the range included Mark Gatiss, Colin Baker, Sarah Douglas, Richard Franklin, Angela Bruce, Arthur Bostrom and Louise Jameson. 

The audio series was only ever released on CD and has been unavailable for more than a decade.  

Now, in association with ITV Studios, all three series have been re-released as downloads, giving fans the chance to relisten or indeed discover the adventures for the first time. 

Each series comes packaged with a brand-new 30-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, offering an insight into the production of these beloved adventures. 

All three series are available to buy at an exclusive early-bird price for the first month; Series One (comprising five stories) is available for just £19.99, Series Two (comprising six stories) is just £24.99, and Series Three (four stories) is £19.99. 

Big Finish chairman Jason Haigh-Ellery said: “We are delighted to have reached an agreement with ITV Studios to bring back our Sapphire & Steel releases as downloads. We have received regular requests over the years for it to be made available again, so we’re pleased that a whole new generation of listeners will be able to hear the late, great David Warner as Steel and Susannah Harker as Sapphire.” 

Nigel Fairs, who produced the series, added: “I’m absolutely delighted that people will be able to hear our version of Sapphire & Steel again, as it really was a labour of love. Re-imagining such a visual television series for audio was no easy task, but I think my decision to concentrate on the emotional story arcs of the characters who encountered ‘Time’ and our two agents bore some really tasty fruit! Dear David and Susie were the perfect leads, and the recording sessions were amongst the happiest I ever had at Big Finish. Creative times indeed. ‘Roll back time, Sapphire…’” 

The four-part stories in each series are: 

Series One: 

The Passenger by Steve Lyons

Daisy Chain by Joseph Lidster 

All Fall Down by David Bishop

The Lighthouse by Nigel Fairs 

Dead Man Walking by Nigel Fairs (based on a story by John Ainsworth) 

Series Two: 

The School by Simon Guerrier

The Surest Poison by Richard Dinnick

Water Like a Stone by Nigel Fairs

Cruel Immortality by Nigel Fairs 

Perfect Day by Steve Lyons

The Mystery of the Missing Hour by Joseph Lidster

Series Three: 

Second Sight by Nigel Fairs

Remember Me by John Dorney

Zero by Steve Lyons 

Wall of Darkness by Nigel Fairs 

All three series are available exclusively here. Series One is available for just £19.99, Series Two for £24.99, and Series Three for £19.99. 

All the above prices include the special pre-order discount and are subject to change after general release.

-- Well bugger me!

I wonder if this means I've got access to the downloads now, since I bought the CDs way back when?

*goes to check* No, huh. Guess I'll go on using the rips of the CDs then!

[scotianostra]

The Scottish actor Hamish Wilson passed away on March 26th 2020.

Probably most famous for replacing Frazer Hines for two episodes of Dr Who in the 60’s. Wilson was another one who started early, aged just 14 he started studying at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

He was born James Aitken Wilson in Glasgow, in 1942. His family moved to Cambuslang when he was very young. His father, also James, was a sales rep for a paint firm; his mother Isobel (née Willock) worked in the rag trade. After they divorced Isobel married another Wilson, Robert, and Hamish and his sister Jan grew up with step-siblings Leslie, Sheila and Robbie.

He discovered his love of drama while at West Coats Primary School. Later, at the Glasgow Academy, this love drove him to do “that stupidly romantic thing of running away from school to appear on the stage”. He was soon working professionally – he understudied Jimmy Logan for a summer season at the King’s Theatre and appeared in Peter Duguid’s 1957 Glasgow Citizen’s Theatre production of Enemy of the People.

He then attended the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and gained more professional experience during the summer holidays. He played the title role in 1959’s live ITV play, The Boy from the Gorbals, did a 1960 episode of Para Handy with Duncan Macrae, and met Walt Disney while he was working on his film adaptation of Greyfriars Bobby.

“I was trying to chat up a pretty blonde extra, with no success at all”, he once recalled, “and this gentleman with blond hair and a little moustache came over and started chatting to me. We nattered away for five minutes and then he wandered away. The girl was terribly impressed, but I spoilt it because I didn’t recognise him. I said, ‘Who was that?’ and she stopped being impressed. ‘That was Walt Disney!’, she said”.

He graduated from the RSAMD in 1963, winning the award for Most Promising Male Performance, and appeared on stage at Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre , Perth Theatre and Dundee Repertory Theatre (1970-71), where his performance in Mark But This Flea was described as “remarkable” by The Stage, the trade weekly – not least because he had stepped in 24 hours before opening night after the original actor had broken his leg.

On television he appeared in The Wednesday Play, The Vital Spark , This Man Craig (three different roles, 1966), Softly, Softly and The Revenue Men (three different roles.

In 1968 Doctor Who regular Frazer Hines, who played Patrick Troughton’s Jacobite companion Jamie, fell ill with chickenpox while making the adventure The Mind Robber. After an ingenious, hasty rewrite Jamie underwent a temporary metamorphosis and with one day’s rehearsal Wilson took over, cramming his lines overnight and recording the first of his two episodes the next day.

Further TV roles followed, including The Borderers Boy Meets Girls (1969), Adam Smith, and The View from Daniel Pike but he found that he needed to turn his attention away from acting because “ a beautiful girl smiled at me”. Intent on marriage and starting a family, he gained more secure employment as an announcer for STV.

In 1975 he went to Radio Forth as its arts and drama producer. With limited resources but boundless ambition, he broadcast original writing, late-night horror classics, and a six-month long serial about Mary Queen of Scots, told in 130 twelve-minute episodes, broadcast daily. Drama of this kind on commercial radio was largely unheard of.

In 1979 he did an adaptation of The Slab Boys for Radio Clyde, ultimately joining the station and founding Independent Local Radio’s first drama department there.

His many productions at Clyde included The Bell in the Tree a series of dramas about the history of Glasgow by Edward H Chisnall; Donald Campbell’s Till the Seas Run Dry, with Tom Fleming as Robert Burns and Mary Riggans as Jean Armour), and Nick McCarthy’s Elephant Dances with Katy Murphy).

He also encouraged new talent, instigating initiatives which gave professional breaks to aspiring comedy writers and awarded contracts and prized Equity cards to final-year drama students.

He left Clyde in 1989 and joined the BBC, where he produced a huge number of plays and series for Radio Scotland, Radio 3 and Radio 4. He really believed in radio: “It allows you to creep inside somebody’s head”, he said, “and paint pictures that are going to stay long after the programme is finished.”

In all, he won 23 awards for his radio productions – his ‘Oscars’, as he jokingly referred to them – and served a juror in the Prix Italia (where he was also the first ILR producer to be jury chairman), Prix Futura Berlin and the Prix Europa.

When he left the BBC after ten successful years he went back to the old trade, doing voiceover work and acting in episodes of Taggart,, Monarch of the Glen and Still Game .

On March 21st 2020 Tony contracted coronavirus and sadly passed away only 6 days later on March 26th aged 77. He worked for many years for the actors union Equity, the Scottish Secretary of the union said of him:

“He led a full life and touched many people. He was one of life’s enthusiasts and succeeded at most everything he turned his hand to. Time in his company was always enjoyable and often informative. Remember that mischievous grin and raise a glass to him. RIP.”

The beautiful girl who smiled at him was Diana (née Baron), a wardrobe mistress at Dundee Rep, whom he had met in 1972. They married the following year and had three daughters, Emma, Alice and Abigail, who all survive him, as do grandchildren Colin, Finley, Amelia and Gregor.

[terastalungrad]

BB20: Friday 13 October

Live Eviction 1: Farida V Kerry

The biggest change so far to the ITV flavour of Big Brother is that no episode so far has ended with "who goes? you decide".

The housemates nominated on Thursday 12 October, meaninging the nominations aren't shown until eviction night. This feels so strange!

The housemates facing eviction were revealed in companion show Big Brother: Late & Live. I will not be watching that show, no matter how often my mother asks me to.

Nominations are my favourite part of the show, so I'm not going to talk about who's up for eviction yet. I'm going to live in the moment, and enjoy the unfolding story.

OH! One nomination each!! That's new. It's always been two each, hasn't it?

Channelle nominates Kerry, for being blunt and rude towards Farida.

Non-alphabetical order to nominate too. I don't approve. My charts will be alphabetical for certain.

Hallie nominates Farida because she talks over people, and hasn't put in the effort to get to know others.

This really highlights the difference between what's broadcast and the vibe in the house. Footage really makes it look like Farida's bonded nicely with Hallie. But then, the main occasion where we saw Farida ask Hallie questions, it was "is it gay for men to fancy trans women" innit. Not ideal.

Henry nominates Farida because, when Zak asked Henry what boarding school was like, Farida interrupted to explain boarding schools (incorrectly, to Henry's experience).

Matty nominates Kerry because her loud voice goes through him, and also because she moaned about her meal. "It annoys me when people aren't grateful" - here, grateful to Big Brother!

Trish nominates Paul! She doesn't find him deep.

Horrifying thought - these housemates ARE in alphabetical order. Are we skipping housemates?? We've skipped Dylan, Farida, Jenkin, Jordan, Kerry, Noky, Olivia, Paul and Tom so far. Yinrun and Zak left to go too. Am I missing some Nominations Uncut show or something? Dear dear. How very disturbing.

Okay, Marcus Bentley claims only five nominations have been cast so far. Maybe it is just a weird order.

Zak nominates Henry! For not speaking to everyone in the house, and for giving up immediately in the staying-in-bed task. Teamwork, and a positive attitude to tasks, are really important to Zak.

Yinrun becomes the first housemate to nominate out of alphabetical order. This is a relief to me, since it suggests we WILL see everyone's nominations. As if Yinrun didn't already bring me enough joy.

Yinrun nominates Kerry, because she's hurt by Kerry seeming uninterested in her.

Hallie powerfully representing the trans experience of talking with great pride about the vagina and breasts she'll have in the future. I love her.

Jordan nominates Paul because of his bodily fluid-based humour.

"I know they have this phrase, Big Brother, 'gives me the ick'. And that phrase itself gives me the ick."

Dylan nominates Farida, since she still doesn't know people's names after nearly a week. She gets his, Kerry's and Chanelle's names wrong.

Paul nominates Farida for being inconsistent in her aims from the show! Does she want to spread the word of Islam, or does she want other outcomes [presumably promoting her makeup tutorial YouTube]? Paul is here to "have a good time" and "be meself", and nominates Farida for being "fake".

How consciously is Paul casting himself as foundational winner Craig from BB1 here? Ever since that first series, Big Brother has struggled to move past the idea that good winners are direct, consistent salt-of-the-earth types, and villains are inconsistent and manipulative.

This bothers me, since I don't think directness IS a fundamental moral good at all times. I think it's FINE to have a moan about someone, while still being able to be friendly to the person in question. Where is the line between being two-faced and being tactful?

Olivia nominates Farida for helping herself to Olivia's salmon.

Noky nominates Kerry for negativity, both to people's faces and behind their backs.

Tom nominates Farida for talking AT him rather than conversing WITH him. He feels spoken over because of his age.

Jordan talks to Trish about sex and emotional connection, and I WISH we had a longer, less edited version of this conversation. We've only been left with Jordan's punchlines. Which are very funny, but I'd love to know what point he was making.

Tom speaks to Chanelle and Jenkin when he returns from the diary room, claiming that the process is "'eavy".

Fariday nominates Kerry for gossiping and having tantrums.

Jenkin is wearing a shirt with a pattern of birds, because his mam likes birds.

Jenkin nominates Farida because he thinks she's only here for money and fame, and is therefore taking the place of someone who wants to enjoy themselves and learn about themselves.

Kerry nominates Farida, for being hard work, selfish, and hard to like.

Kerry goes to have a lil cry after nominating.

I suspect Farida will go tonight. Both she and Kerry have done stuff the pulblic would find annoying, but we've also seen loads of Kerry's vulnerability.

Voting is free this year. Maybe that's why ITV is less bothered about getting nominations out early. Or maybe it's so the housemates spend less time tortured by the knowledge they face eviction? Bet it's that one, actually.

Since this version of the show is a lot nicer, it's really striking how intense the lights and music are when nominations are announced. Noky shakes with adrenaline.

Jenkin expected to be nominated because of his snoring.

Farida reckons youngsters have turned turned against the older members of the house. A bit rich given she nominated Kerry herself.

Interesting seeing Farida and Kerry bond over facing eviction, given that they nominated each other.

Farida tells Olivia off for smirking. Olivia is offended, because "I wasn't laughing at YOU!" But ... yes she was. Olivia's surprised to be told off not because she wasn't smirking at Farida, but because she didn't intend for Farida to notice. She was just smirking across the room at Paul.

She complains about this later to Paul, Jordan and Henry. And she comes so close to noticing that Farida was right - but she can't move past, "I didn't deserve to be criticised".

Just noticed there's a non-binary person in the sponsorship ads. Marcus Bentley using the word "themself", woo!

Ahh, you can vote for free, but only 5 times each.

Kerry speaks to Olivia about the issue with Farida. Kerry's basically on Olivia's side here. Hallie's attention is drawn, and she comes over to agree with Olivia. They're joined by Trish and Chanelle (neither of whom actually nominated Fariday), and we have the largest-scale bitching session we've seen so far.

This isn't really about Olivia. This is an excuse to vent. Maybe the nomination results have given people permission to talk openly about being annoyed by Farida.

Yinrun teaches Hallie some Chinese. She's shocked by Hallie's excellent pronunciation.

"We've got it on our profile we've been in the Big Brother house", says Farida. This show is primarily about boosting the profiles of influencers.

Kerry tries having a bonding conversation with Farida, and it ends up being a bit of an argument. Farida says, "I'm still the same person I came in here as" - an identity statement.

But Kerry takes it as an implied criticism. That Farida's saying "I'm the same UNLIKE YOU KERRY". But Farida's doing nothing of the sort. She's just making a statement about herself.

This is a common problem in conversation. You're talking to a friend, your partner, and they say something about themselves. This causes you to say something about YOURself - and now it sounds like you're claiming they're the opposite.

"I'm terrible at making new friends at parties," they might say.

And this inspires you to reflect on your own experience in parties.

"I love parties," you say, as you think of parties you've attended. "I always go expecting to have a good time, and end up talking to random people in the kitchen."

"I'm not saying I don't expect to have a good time," they say defensively.

Because in context, it sounds like you offered your personal experience as advice. Not merely, "this is what I do, "but "this is what YOU should do."

Farida tells Zak she doesn't blame him for protecting his friends. The implication here is that Zak nominated her or Kerry because they're older. In fact, Zak nominated Henry.

In any case, Kerry disagrees with the idea that it's young vs old in the house. "Callie's my mate, and she's the youngest!"

Farida's annoyed that Kerry isn't hearing her. "You're like, 'Callies my friend, Callie's my friend'."

"Her name's Hallie, and she is my friend."

Just a bit of fun here. Farida gets people's names wrong all the time. That's a thing. But Kerry did accidentally call her Callie first. An honest mistake, of course.

Argh, Farida brings up stories from her day job, where parents just want to be their children's friends, forgetting that they're the child.

Kerry's offended here, and - well, she's right to be! I don't think Farida realises how offensive that is to say, but it's clear she DOES see 18-year-old Hallie as a child, and 40-year-old Kerry as a sad case that wants to be friends with her.

Kerry: She's just said to me that the reason you lot like me is because you think I'm your mum! I'm shaking. I'm angry.

Olivia: I don't think of you as my mum. You just tell me when I'm out of order.

Kerry: Which is often.

Kerry thinks she's fated to go because Farida has her social media followers.

"No, cause just because someone follows you on social media doesn't mean they actually like you," says Olivia. Horrifying thought.

[jbaileyfansite]

Old Jonathan Bailey’s interview with the OxfordMail (2013)

BROADCHURCH star Jonathan Bailey has paid tribute to his former English teacher for inspiring his acting career. 

The 25-year-old former Oxford schoolboy, who played newspaper reporter Olly Stevens in the smash-hit crime thriller, also said reading his own local newspapers – the Oxford Mail and The Wallingford Herald – helped him prepare for the role.

Mr Bailey, from Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, near Wallingford, fondly remembers reading Shakespeare in the sixth form at Oxford’s Magdalen College School with Dr David Brunton, who died in March 2007 after falling from the tower of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin Church in High Street.

Mr Bailey, who is now playing Cassio in the National Theatre production of Othello, told the Mail: “He was a brilliant man who taught us Othello for A-Level. I’d read it out loud in class with him playing Iago, so it is a fitting tribute to a fantastic teacher that I’m now playing Cassio.”

In Broadchurch, the former Benson Primary School pupil worked opposite top actors including David Tennant and Pauline Quirke.

His character, a junior reporter for the fictional Broadchurch Echo, finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation.

Mr Bailey said: “The Oxford Mail and The Wallingford Herald were of course my inspiration. Growing up in Benson I always read The Wallingford Herald – it was always on the kitchen table. The sense of community that is thrust into the home by local papers is so important.”

The ITV series drew in more than nine million viewers every week and had viewers on the edges of their seats until the murderer was revealed in the final episode, broadcast on April 22.

Filming for a second series is due to start next year.

Mr Bailey, who has also appeared in the popular Oxford detective drama Lewis, said: “In terms of Broadchurch’s success, I am totally shocked. It is great to be a part of something everyone wants to carry on watching.”

Mr Bailey’s father Stuart Bailey, former managing director of Rowse Honey in Wallingford, said: “We believe that it is important to follow your dream and are naturally very proud of Jonathan and what he has achieved. We were totally hooked on Broadchurch and looked forward to watching it every Monday evening.”

He added: “It is great that Jonathan was part of such a popular TV series and that Othello is proving so successful at the National.”

Alan Cooper, who has taught at Oxford’s Magdalen College School for 32 years, said: “Dr Brunton had a brilliant way of making Shakespeare come alive.He would be absolutely delighted. He was always very fond of Shakespeare.He would be thrilled that someone would be able to take that to the theatre.”

Of Mr Bailey, Mr Cooper added: “He is quietly successful. He clearly works hard and is very deserving of success.”

Source

[wist-eri]

You ever think about how a good portion of characters in Despair Time should be like reasonably famous. Like, dunno if any of them have famous talents but not in the spotlight but like so many would be general public famous, if not in their respective niche

Levi is a stylist. He needs to be popular at the least imo

David is clearly very famous. Non religious televangelist guy.

J likely is very famous in their own right given all the effects.

Rose would be, at least by proxy via the spurling foundation iirc

Arei is a sports girl. Feels like shed be at least more well known than Ace given the availability of bowling.

Whit also has to be also by curtesy of his job and being ultimate. Making a few perfect matches? Whatever. Making them consistently?… now that’s a bit of a reputation isn’t itv

Arturo is also likely very very famous. Many surgery groups probs pass his name around even if he’s just a plastic guy.

So… at least seven generally famous talents that aren’t like niche sorta like Nico or Hu at least where the school is.

Now… how many of those are genuinely how they come across? How many have turned out arguably more awful than their reputation suggests? even the nicer ones on the list can’t escape with the Whit is MM theory, Rose is a reformed criminal, and Levi has admitted him and his parents were toxic on eachother iirc.

Idk I’m just musing and figured you’d make sense of it

yeah i kept thinking the same thing—and moreso, if these characters have that much fame (in their respective fields or in the general republic), what changed in the outside world that allowed the team to even broadcast the killing game in the first place? it’s got to have been a while since they were last conscious, and idk about you, but to me the world changing that much in just a few years seems like a bluff. either there’s an even larger of a time gap than we realize, some tragedy-level thing occurred in the real world that changed the general public’s mindset in just a few years, or they’re not actually broadcasting this killing game, they’re only acting like it is.

idk man just my own musings as well

[anotheruserwithnoname]

Jenna Coleman on DVD/Blu-ray: a quick reference

I last did this list a couple years ago, which sadly is an indication of the move away from permanent physical media releases, making collecting a Jenna Coleman library a bit of a challenge (though there's more out there than you may think!)

So time to update for September 2023. Courtesy spoiler break first...

As I am in Canada this list is primarily for North American releases but I acknowledge the UK where known to differ. As of September these are Jenna's shows known to be on DVD, either currently or out of print. Corrections welcome. List does not include bootleg/unofficial releases.

Waterloo Road Series 5: UK only DVD; Jenna's episodes were officially put on Youtube internationally. Season 1 came out on DVD in North America back in 2012, but no sign of the others.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Titanic (TV miniseries)

Dancing on the Edge

Doctor Who: Obviously, though with Disney+ now distributing nuWho it remains to be seen if this continues. Some of the shorts featuring Clara/Jenna, such as Five(ish) Doctors Reboot and Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide, are only in special sets like The Matt Smith Years as far as I know. I can't recall if the 2013 Proms (including the golden ticket sketch) has appeared on North American DVD or Blu-ray.

Death Comes to Pemberley: North American DVD is reportedly the PBS edit, which may differ from UK version. I haven't seen any comparison done with the UK version.

Me Before You: sadly, I see this one a lot in Wal-Mart remainder bins

Victoria: Series 3 is difficult to find and might only be on DVD in North America, but Series 1 and 2 are widely available on DVD and Blu-ray and I've seen DVD box sets of all 3. The North American DVD/Blu-rays have the episodes as they aired on ITV and so do not include the extra scenes added for the PBS broadcast and also lack many of the bonus features of the UK releases; on the other hand, the DVD of Series 3 has the unedited Christmas special, which was edited down quite a bit by PBS (eliminating the entire "Victoria's sexy painting" subplot). I believe in the UK the special was released on its own DVD. I've heard the PBS edits are, or were, available for streaming in the US on the PBS website, but I haven't been able to confirm (which is a shame as there are some cute Jenna moments in the "bonus scenes").

Thunderbirds Are Go: Jenna did a guest voice in Season 2. It's had a DVD issue in the UK, but in North America it's only available on streaming.

The Cry: Only got a DVD release here (UK got a blu-ray too)

Inside No. 9: Jenna's guest appearance in series 5 is available on DVD (and maybe blu-ray) in the UK; it's only on streaming over here.

The Serpent: as it was a BBC broadcast in the UK, they got a DVD release back in 2021. Over here it was a Netflix exclusive, so at least so far, no physical release.

The Sandman: despite being a Netflix series, Season 1, which has Jenna in three episodes as Johanna Constantine, is getting a North American blu-ray in November 2023. According to Amazon UK, the release will be region-free and therefore should be playable in the UK.

---

At the present time, there is no indication of any releases for Emmerdale (given she was in hundreds of episodes, not a surprise. With the sole exception of Dark Shadows "soap operas" never get home video releases); Room at the Top (it's on streaming but given the licensing issues that nearly prevented it from being shown at all, it's unlikely to get a DVD issue anywhere); All My Sons (National Theatre Live has allowed home and school streaming but they don't do DVDs); and Corporate Monster (a short film likely only to be found on Youtube). Too early to say if Klokkenluider and Jackdaw, or the Amazon Prime-streamed Wilderness, will see DVD or Blu-ray release. The Jetty, being a BBC series, will likely get a DVD in the UK, but whether North America gets it will depend if it goes to streaming or gets picked up by the likes of PBS.

[jeanjauthor]

Let me tell you something about PBS, the Public Broadcasting Service.

My parents monitored & regulated what I and my sister could watch.

We couldn't watch certain shows on the main channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, etc), because they were either too adult, or too violent, or too...whatever.

But ANYTHING on PBS?

We could watch it. 100%

Didn't matter if it was a lioness pulling down an impala and ripping into its guts in bloody technicolor. We could watch it.

Didn't matter if it was Benny Hill with topless women jiggling their mammary glands. We could watch it.

Mostly naked men of Southeast Asia wearing gourds as penis sheaths? It was on PBS. It was education, it was culture, it was information, it was completely allowed. We could watch it.

British science fiction comedy series? If it was on PBS, sure! We could watch it.

And of course, The Joy Of Painting with Bob Ross. Just a half an hour of soothing voiced chatting with a gentleman who loved painting landscapes with his imagination. We were encouraged to be imaginative, and to play with any mistakes we made. Whatever it was, we could watch it! (I actually found NerdForge on YouTube because Martina decided to paint her van in the Bob Ross style, and it turned out freakin' fantastic, then I fell down the rabbit hole of all her other scifi/fantasy build projects. I highly encourage folks go check out that channel!)

...We could also watch political shows. Didn't matter if it was liberal or conservative. We could watch it! (ITV News was my favorite since they gave international news that the regular stations wouldn't touch, and I thought it was less biased than the BBC segments we occasionally watched.)

But mostly, if it was a children's show, my parents knew it was good for us kids to watch. Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Wishbone, Reading Rainbow, Ghostwriter, The Magic School Bus, and many more.

If it was an educational show, we watched it. Reruns of Jacques Cousteau's underwater adventures. Wild Animal Kingdom (the aforementioned gazelle snacks) scenes. And when it came online, Bill Nye the Science Guy (double bonus because he was a local science guy) got his day on the television in our household.

The only kids' shows I had more fun watching were the occasional episode of Power Rangers where my dad and I would play Mystery Science Theater 3000, commenting snarkily on everything we saw, and just having a blast enjoying each others' sense of humor.

But at the core of it all...PBS kids' shows like Sesame Street.

I could always watch Sesame Street. It had diversity, it had kindness, it had bilinguality, it had children who were different, and differences that were celebrated, not shamed. Little kids were encouraged to be smart, and not bullied for it. (LIke, y'know, real life was for me, back then.)

TL;DR

PBS is an incredible resource.

In the early 70s Sesame Street was created with an eye towards educating poor, inner-city children for free, and became a massive hit with all children. In 2016, faced with going off the air forever after facing conservative efforts to destroy public broadcasting since basically its beginning, new episodes became a timed exclusive for premium cable network HBO. In 2022 HBO Max, newly merged with and taken over by reality TV channel Discovery, removed Sesame Street episodes and spin-offs from streaming as a tax write-off and scheme to avoid paying residuals.

[valkyries-things]

TRISHA GODDARD // TELEVISION PRESENTER

“She is a British television presenter. She is best known for her television talk show Trisha (1998–2010), which was broadcast on a mid-morning slot on ITV before later being moved to Channel 5, as well as a host on the Australian children's show Play School from 1987 to 1998. Goddard has been based in the U.S. since 2010, when she started working on Maury as a conflict resolution expert. She also hosted a U.S. version of her own talk show titled The Trisha Goddard Show (2012–2014). Since 2022, Goddard has presented You Are What You Eat.”

[thelenazavaroniarchive]

19th August 2024.

𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟔. the Evening times photographed Lena back at school in Rothesay.

𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟔. Lena was mentioned several times in The Stage.

𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟖. Lena’s 9th article appeared in emma girl’s comic.

𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐮𝐠 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟎. Lena appeared at the Villa Marina, Douglas, Isle of Man.

𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟑. In The Fife Free Press, singer Peter Morrison described how the previous September he was phoned up at short notice to stand in for Lena at Kirkaldy Town Hall.

𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟒. To tie in with the ITV broadcast of It's Not Where You Start... It's Where You Finish, The People interviewed Bonnie.

𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟒. To tie in with the ITV broadcast of It's Not Where You Start... It's Where You Finish, The Sunday Mirror wrote about the programme.

𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟒. The Sunday Post mentioned that Lena was on holiday in Norfolk.

𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟒. A short clip from It's Not Where You Start...

𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟖. Lena made her will. Copy courtesy of Fanz Of Lena Zavaroni over on Github.

𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖. The Scottish Mail on Sunday Listed Craigard Mansion for sale on it’s property pages. She didn’t live there, her accountants probably advised her to buy it as an investment / tax shelter.

[culttvblog]

Spyder's Web: Rev Counter

To my shock I see that it has been eleven years since I blogged about this episode of Spyder's Web in a series of posts about the show in the very early days of this blog.

Just as a brief recap about the show since I've barely touched it for over a decae: Spyder's Web is a 1972 ITV series about a secret government espionage organisation - Spyder - which uses a documentary unit run by Lottie Dean (Patricia Cutts) as a cover. The series is about Lottie's exploits with her sidekick Clive Hawksworth (Anthony Ainley), following instructions from their boss J. Smith. These instructions are always delivered in offbeat ways, including by delivering a children's colouring book to their office at one point. It is very eccentric and obviously there are Avengers overtones although it doesn't ape the Avengers at all. The show was made and broadcast in colour although most of it only survives in black and white so it gives an impression of being older than its 1972 vintage - in fact in my opinion this is an advantage because it places it in its milieu of 1960s eccentric TV (Adam Adamant, etc) for the viewer.

In Rev Counter Lottie and Hawskworth are told to join a terrorist revolutionary cell who want to force Britain to give the Isle of Wight independence. It was the final episode of the only series of the show and I see that the last time I wrote about it I said that it was clearly intended to be a high point, although the show wasn't commissioned for another series.

It isn't what you might call a 'heavy' documentary about terrorism and espionage, with a light touch it's more a depiction of everyone involved as eccentric, and also calculated to give some viewers a slight discomfort. I think this would be because it is so entertaining and funny, while being about such a serious and potentially dangerous subject.

And so we see Hawksworth making bombs at home using a textbook he had at school. Personally I want to know what school he went to, because I don't remember that in our chemistry textbook.

There is extensive coverage of rallies by the separatist groups: because one of their leading lights is a vicar they look very much like any other husting would in a church hall, and the way the vicar is happy to use violence is contrasted with his parsonical voice and biblical quotations. At one point he asks one of the ladies to put the teaspoon back in the drawer next to the sub machine guns, as he takes a shilling from the recruits for the parish magazine.

Lottie and Hawksworth infiltrate the terrorist cell in disguise, as it were. Hawksworth wears a fur coat for most of the episode, and Lottie wears a long wig which perfectly makes her look like a hippie. In true eccentric TV style, this makes them look about as unlikely as they ever could be, and while the real terrorists look much more normal the whole just adds to the extraordinary effect.

The vicar asks them for a donation when they join up. Hawksworth says 'I'm afraid I haven't any change,' intending that it would be taken as him not giving, and the vicar replies, 'Neither have I,' as he takes the note he has from Hawksworth. Straight afterwards we go into the new recruits' training, in which they are all wearing berets and being trained by a commander who says that although he may have failed in the commercial growing of watercress, things have got better since he took up schizophrenia. The human foibles and relationships depicted in this show are top-notch.

Despite the show's concentration on details and relationships, shockingly Hawksworth's bomb does actually go off in this episode, which is another strange juxtaposition. I think it quite possible that a lot of people wouldn't take to this series at all, although I'm confident that regular readers of this blog would. I'm not going to give away the ending of this episode, because I'm nice like that.

I don't personally have any real criticism of this show or episode, however I see that criticisms on Amazon include that it seems slower in comparison to current TV and that it is evident that it was studio-bound and made on a low budget. I don't think these will be real criticisms for people who like Our Sort of Television.

The entire episode is available on a DVD box set.

This blog is mirrored at

culttvblog.tumblr.com/archive (from September 2023) and culttvblog.substack.com (from January 2023 and where you can subscribe by email)

Archives from 2013 to September 2023 may be found at culttvblog.blogspot.com and there is an index to the tags used on the Tumblr version at https://www.tumblr.com/culttvblog/729194158177370112/this-blog

[d2kvirus]

Dickheads of the Month: January 2024

As it seems that there are people who say or do things that are remarkably dickheaded yet somehow people try to make excuses for them or pretend it never happened, here is a collection of some of the dickheaded actions we saw in the month of January 2024 to make sure that they are never forgotten.  

Ultra-relatable nice guy Rishi Sunak forgot to have any sort of parliamentary vote before joining Joe Biden in bombing Yemen in "self defence" which is an odd comment given how many thousand miles away it is from the UK or US and hasn't actually attacked those countries, but as some container ships are taking a bit longer to arrive that means they need bombing ASAP - a move which Keir Starmer supported without question, because of course he did

...and the justification which Keir Starmer gave for his support, even though it directly contradicted his stance of taking no military action? Deciding to change the definition of "military action" so it only means boots on the ground and not air strikes

...while man of a thousand pseudonyms Grant Schapps insisted that the situation in the Red Sea has nothing to do with what Israel is doing in Gaza as Yemen is over 2600 miles away - which begs the question why the UK is bombing Yemen (but not deploying troops, that's military action!) considering the Red Sea is over 4000 miles from the UK so clearly that has nothing to do with the UK

Once again Mark Regev was caught using terms such as "done properly" and "finished in the right way" in regards to Israel's definitely-not-a-genocide in Gaza, and as per usual Kay Burley neglected to interject any follow-up questions to ask him to define what those terms mean in the context he uses them in

...meanwhile the always-charming Tzipi Hotevely appeared on LBC to thunder how every school, mosque and second house in Gaza is a target for Israel, which definitely doesn't sound like the genocidal rantings of a war crime apologist in the slightest

...and then Nissim Vaturi decided to make his motives particularly unclear when saying that the people of Gaza must be burned as he has no pity for them, which absolutely nobody could consider to be coded genocidal language if they forgot to code the language

...meanwhile, attempted actress Tracy Ann Oberman decided that the best course of action was to make up a story of how so many of the Israeli hostages are pregnant due to all the multiple rapes they have endured, though when asked to provide a source for this claim her response was to obfuscate for a bit before saying the person asking for a source was not a real Israeli ally

...during all of this the Israeli Defence Force were getting so casual with their casual killing of civilians that they turned an ITV new broadcast into a snuff movie when and IDF sniper shot somebody waving a white flag in the head moments after he had finished being interviewed yet the cameras were still rolling

...but when the ICJ passed their ruling Itamar Ben-Gvir responded with the most pathetic, childish response to a country ever being officially accused of genocide: "Hague schmague"

...which all somehow culminated in Joe Biden cutting all US funding to the UNRWA, while Rishi Sunak merely suspended all funding, all because Israel made totally unfounded allegations of the UNRWA being involved on October 7th which they had never made before yet suddenly found plenty of evidence they weren't going to share with anyone else within a few hours of the ICJ passing judgment saying Israel could be investigated for genocide based of UNRWA findings

...while doing her bit for peace was Mayim Bialik tweeting a video of her cackling along to a Dan Ahdoot routine which boiled down to "Yeah, we're murdering civilians on an industrial scale, isn't that hilarious?" while showing just how brave she is by turning off the replies, which made her look both sociopathic and cowardly while also underlining that being on The Big Bang Theory can cause some fatal damage to what you think funny actually is

So nice to see ultra-relatable nice guy Rishi Sunak and nominative determinism debunker James Cleverly put their heads together to tackle the issue of the asylum backlog, and the solution they came up with was...trying to change the definition of what the asylum backlog actually is and then claim it to have been sorted, in spite thousands of ongoing cases from that very specific timeframe

Good start to the year from billionaire manchild Elon Musk and his love of FREEZE PEACH when there was a mass purge of left-leaning journalists on Twitter (left-leaning journalists who just so happened to criticise Israel...) without warning nor any reason for their bans being given...sorry, make that another mass purge of left-leaning journalists on Twitter without warning or any reasons for their bans being given, as that's happened once before yet for some strange reason doesn't seem to happen to Fox News' loudest screamers - and only reinstated them after Jackson Hinkle asked him to

...and then it emerged that Bill Ackman is the latest person who is unaware of how the Streisand Effect works as it emerged that he handed billionaire manchild Elon Musk lists of people who reported that his name was on the Epstein List (which is what happens to people whose name appears on the Epstein List, funnily enough) and Musk dutifully banned the lot of them under the belief that, a.) Him banning people at Ackman's behest would not come out, and b.) Even more people would be aware of Ackman being on the Epstein List when it came out

...but then billionaire manchild Elon Musk decided that he hadn't acted like an antisemitic twunt for five minutes, so he went to Auschwitz and after his visit he addressed a conference where he said that if Twitter existed during the Holocaust it would have saved lived, before treating people with eyes and ears to his marvelous take that the difference between Auschwitz and a tesla factory is that minorities were willingly allowed into Auschwitz

...yet by the end of the month billionaire manchild Elon Musk was reduced to sulking that his $56bn was clearly too much, howling that people should never do business in Delaware - which he could have avoided altogether if he founded Tesla, but because he didn't all he can do is let that sink in

Remember when Suella Braverman was Home Secretary and tried to ban pro-Palestine marches, going as far as to call them "hate marches"? That would be the same Suella Braverman who attended the Board of Deputies' pro-genocide Israel march and was interviewed while at said march, apparently because "that's different"

Good to see that Keir Starmer's Labour Party are taking the allegations that Rosie Duffield is transphobic to the point that, in Germany, they would be guilty of Holocaust denial due to her statement that the Nazis did not exterminate the trans community seriously, as an internal review ignored the testimony of former staffers and the footage of her appearing on GB fucking News to repeat her statements that would have her convicted of Holocaust denial in Germany and decide there's no case to answer

...and a week later Laura Pascal saw her suspension overturned for numerous transphobic tweets so Keir Starmer's Labour Party could reinstate her to the ballot Hackney council elections, with Pascal showing just how sorry she was with the full "I'm sorry you were offended" act in her nonpology - though Hadley Freeman was appalled that Pascal was made to quote-unquote apologise for liking and posting transphobic material, because of course TERFs are the real victims in this - and then, mere hours after posting her nonpology, Pascal's Twitter feed went right back to the exact behaviour she was suspended for in the first place - which looked really, really clever when she lost the council election in what was previously a Labour safe seat

Superb bit of whataboutism from Alan Dershowitz when being interviewed on Fox News after his name came out on the Epstein list: demand to know how many of the people criticising him for being a sexual predator have criticised Hamas

Unifying force Keir Starmer harrumphed that voter apathy would let the Tories win the next election, apparently forgetting the reason for such apathy is Keir Starmer telling hundreds of thousands of potential Labour voters to stick their votes where the sun doesn't shine as their not welcome in Keir Starmer's Labour Party

...soon followed by unifying force Keir Starmer saying that he isn't Jeremy Corbyn, which is something he has done approximately every six months since becoming leader of Keir Starmer's Labour Party as it players better to the Murdoch press than having actual policies

...and then unifying force Keir Starmer demonstrated the sort of decisive and visionary man who should be leading the UK that he so clearly is when asked about Peter Mandelson's name being on the Epstein list and his response was little more than "I dunno..."

Looks like Aaron Rodgers may be in a spot of bother after he said that Jimmy Kimmell's name was on the Epstein list, to which Kimmell informed him it might be a good idea to lawyer up - though that does let Pat McAfee off the hook somewhat as it was on McAfee's show that Rodgers said this with no pushback whatsoever at the time while on the next edition all he offered was the "It was just a joke!" defence which is definitely going to stand up in court

Amateur snuff photographer Logan Paul is once again blaming "bad actors" for his CryptoZoo scam pyramid scheme game being exposed as a scam as if he went into the obvious scam which he co-founded and put his name and face to promoting with innocent and honest intentions and literally everyone else involved was a crook, which I'm sure he isn't saying as he's having to pay people back a fraction of the money they lost as long as they don't pursue legal action a good six months after he said he would, which of course is not motivated by the lawsuit against him for scamming people out of their money with CryptoZoo

Totally normal behaviour from Julia Hartley-Brewer when she totally lost the plot during an interview with Dr Mustafa Barghouti by shouting over him to try and steer the conversation away from suggesting Israel are not The Good Guys and then capped it off by inferring that Barghouti was sexist as he didn't like women talking which was an obvious dogwhistle, and a few days later followed that up with the definitely not utterly fucking insane question about whether ethnic cleansing is a viable solution as long as you don't kill people when doing so

Looks like somebody needs to tell Bill O'Reilly the issue about hanging around with members of the Leopards Eating My face Party, as his bemoaning how the state of Florida has banned a couple of his books looks like he needs somebody to clue him in with what's happening

Militant TERF JK Rowling unleashed more of her badly-written fiction into the world as she once again bleated about women's rights being erased because that scans better than saying "I'm a bigot who doesn't care about women, hence my complete silence when Rose vs Wade was expunged"

This month it was Shaun Bailey being handed the missive from Tufton Street to bang on about Carol Vorderman, with him appearing on GB News to say she should not participate in political debate as she has an Instagram account or...something. Just a reminder: Shaun Bailey was one of the people habitually attending lockdown-breaking pissups, which apparently means he is perfectly suited for a role in the House of Lords

...and then Shaun Bailey went on TV to address his comments about Carol Vorderman after quite unexpectedly receiving quite some backlash for them, and how did Bailey address this backlash? By doubling down and accused Vorderman of being a bully

Mayor of Amity Island Ron DeSantis showed just how well his campaign to become the Republican nominee was going when he blurted out that getting the Covid vaccine is the cause for Covid cases, clearly trying to capture the antivaxxer vote - which worked so well he announced he was dropping out of the race within days

So it turns out that Vince McMahon is not only the vile piece of shit that it was long assumed that he was, but it turns out that he was even worse than people realised as on top of sexual assault allegations which are already out there there's now sex trafficking and torture on the list of allegations

...so what did Paul Levesque do when the subject came up in the post-Royal Rumble press conference a couple of days later? Claim he hadn't read the list of allegations while taking lame potshots at AEW that unintentionally insulted the new president of New Japan Pro Wrestling, because why stop at insulting people's intelligence when you can fatally undermine WWE fans' insistence that WWE never talks about AEW?

Not only did BrewDog decide that the living wage applies to other companies and not their new hires who will be paid below that as company policy, but if you happened to venture an opinion on Twitter about how this might be shit BrewDog CEO James Watt would be in your replies to lecture you about how this isn't his company being shit to their new staff - which makes it look like he spends more time searching Twitter for mention of BrewDog than he does listening to advice about maybe not opening multiple large pubs in places with high rents in a short space of time

It appears that Joey Barton has committed himself to get in the right wing grift at this point, as after last month's meltdown about Mary Earps he started January by ranting about Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko being pundits for an FA Cup match in a totally sane way by comparing them to Fred & Rose West, and by the end of that week declared he was part of the Gender Critical movement because nothing says "protecting women" like a convicted domestic abuser

Perfectly normal broadcasting from GB News where they had Charles Manson bought off Wish Neil Oliver blathering on about the latest disease which antivaxxers' have invented, "turbo cancer", because apparently vaccines don't give blood clots anymore but an entirely new type of cancer which not a single health authority has identified. I'm sure that Ofcom will do something about this...

According to Andrea Leadsom three year old children have teeth which they began growing four and a half years ago. I'm sure that we'll be hearing people making jokes about her mathematic abilities for years to come off the back of this...

...although Christian Wakeford decided he should get in on the act by claiming 25,000 people attended the pro-Israel rally in Trafalgar Square, when all footage suggests that it would be generous to say that they had 5% of that quote figure in attendance

...but that didn't rule out Therese Coffey attempting to show solidarity when she thought it was a good idea to browbeat Yvette Cooper in Commons for getting her facts wrong when Cooper said that Kigali is the capital of Rwanda. In other words, the Hansard will have a permanent record of Therese Coffey not knowing that Kigali is, in fact, the capital of Rwanda

Apparently the only person surprised that Laurence Fox lost on all three counts when his libel case came to trial was Laurence Fox, as his immediate response was to try and claim that Nicola Fox somehow "lost" because she is "racist" - which is an interesting claim given Fox's attempt at claiming that his saying that he hates black people would not be racist in the context of being habitually gangraped in a Ugandan jail

I'm going to suggest that Alena Habba is not very smart if she tries to delay Trump's many, may trials for a week or so by pretending to have Covid - only to be pictured at a Trump rally, which somehow got the bloke who took selfies with her bundled out by security as if the Streisand Effect doesn't exist and the story wouldn't blow up

I'm sure that James Bikelover thought he was being noble posting a video of him yelling at somebody holding their train ticket in their hand calling them a fare dodger, but in reality he looked a lot like a gammony prick looking for an excuse to yell at brown people and then post the footage of him yelling at brown people online

And finally, we heard registered sex offender Donald Trump give a rare moment of clarity instead of his incoherent rambling where he showed just the sort of the grace and decorum expected of him by responding to the Perry High School shooting by saying "Get over it", sentiments which I am sure was appreciated by the parents of Ahmir Jolliff, the sixth grader who was killed during the spree. But it didn't last, as his response to having to pay over $80m to E Jean Grey because he couldn't shut the fuck up about her after being ordered to pay her $8m was to go right back to ranting and raving about her like a stable genius would

[qnewsau]

Alan Carr's funny autobiographical sitcom comes to streaming

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/alan-carrs-changing-ends-sitcom-streaming/

Alan Carr's funny autobiographical sitcom comes to streaming

Alan Carr’s funny semi-autobiographical sitcom Changing Ends has finally arrived on streaming in Australia.

The British comedian appears as himself, narrating the sitcom, alongside young actor Oliver Savell as Alan’s younger self (both pictured above).

Changing Ends debuts on Australian TV on ABC on Wednesday night (January 3) but yesterday the broadcaster put every episode up early for streaming on ABC iview.

The six-episode sitcom is based on Alan’s life, growing up as the gay son of a football manager in Northampton in the East Midlands in the 1980s Thatcher years.

In the coming-of-age comedy, young Alan grapples with puberty and crushes on boys as well as school bullies and the pressures of football.

“Believe it or not, there was a time before I was a national treasure,” present-day Alan explains in the show.

“Didn’t the ’80s drag? Has anyone checked it actually was a decade? Because it felt a lot longer.

“Don’t get me started on the mid-80s. Puberty came along, punched me in the face, left me with the eyesight of a mole and the voice of an elderly lady.

“Unknown to me, this metamorphosis was fast turning me into a social pariah. For every pube I gained, I lost a friend!”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ITVX (@itvxofficial)

Alan Carr’s Changing Ends gets second season

Alan Carr’s Changing Ends premiered in the UK last year, and was such a success UK broadcaster ITV renewed it in November for a second season.

“Looks like we’re heading back to Northampton!!” Alan said at the time.

“Absolutely buzzing that Changing Ends is back for a second series.

“I have so many more stories from my teenage years growing up in Northampton to tell, about me, my family, my neighbours and, believe it or not, football! Shocker!”

You can watch Alan Carr’s Changing Ends in Australia on ABC TV and ABC iview.

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Alan Carr (@chattyman)

Read also:

Alan Carr is single in Australia and is ‘going to be such a slag’

Alan Carr announces divorce from his husband Paul

‘Big party’: Graham Norton opens up about his secret wedding

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

[scotianostra]

Happy Birthday Kirsty Jackson Young born 23rd November 1968 in East Kilbride.

I first remember Kirsty from her collaboration with Angus Simpson, they had a great chemistry between them.

Kirsty was brought up in Stirling and attended Cambusbarron Primary School and Stirling High School.

Kirsty’s journalistic career began in 1989, when she became a newsreader for BBC Radio Scotland. In 1992, she moved into television to present Scotland Today news programmes mainly with the aforementioned Angus.

She was the launch host of Five News in 1997 During her time as presenter of 5 News Kirsty received the prestigious Sir James Carreras Award for Outstanding New Talent of 1997 at the 46th Variety Club Show Business Awards. A month later, in March 1998, she was named Newscaster of the Year awards.

From January to September 1998,Kirsty co-hosted Talk Radio’s weekday breakfast programme. From 1994-95 she was the host of ‘Kirsty’, a bi-weekly live discussion programme on the week’s hot topics, on STV, also for STV she also presented Late Edition, a live, late-night entertainment and music show. In 1996 Kirsty was a guest presenter of ITV’s The Time, The Place. Her BBC credits include presenting and reporting for Holidays Out, Holiday `96 and Film `96 on BBC1, and presenting BBC2’s consumer affairs show, The Street.

She is a regular guest presenter for BBC2’s Have I Got News For You and was an occasional stand in for Michael Parkinson’s Radio 2 Show and Jeremy Vine’s Radio 2 Show.

From 2006 to 2018 she was the main presenter of BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs and previously presented Crimewatch on BBC One from 2008 to 2015.

In 2019 Kirsty revealed she suffered with fibromyalgia and has since eased back on her working life she is however is president of Unicef UK and still supports many charities.. Last month she did make a welcome return to broadcasting in a series of BBC podcast where she quizzes star guests on their youth, including Jamie Oliver, who admits he was 'really annoying'....what do you mean "was"?

[whywhywhymoney]

"Shouldn't you just start a Youtube channel instead?" AKA Influencing without the Influencer ™️

Youtube - while most definitely evolving considerably from its early days - still has "Broadcast yourself" at the root of it's platform. (Definitely not the heart of it though.

I can't speak for others, but I generally don't think many people get into the business of launching TV channels to put themselves on air (there are many exceptions though).

Almost always, it's to influence people.

The most predatory reasons are ones I already spoke about but it's to use it as a vehicle for influencing opinion in a very polarising way. Mostly, it's for the right wing.

inherently, wanting to influence people isn't bad, it just depends where you're coming from. This thought probably chafes a lot of people, but it's true! I don't think there's a single TV channel that was created without the attention of influencing *somebody*, including the beloved channels of your childhood.

For the most part, Kids TV (pre rapid commercialisation) existed as an opportunity to educate youngsters. This is pretty too still for channels like PBS and various European state broadcasters.

Jeem TV is an interesting example from the Arab world, where they mix dubbed anime and Cartoons with panel shows about current affairs, all catered to kids. It makes sense when you realise that the parent company is Al Jazeera (Qatari state broadcaster).

When kids TV isn't seeking to educate, it's seeking to entertain, often as a direct reaction to the previous example.

Lets look at the UK - CBBC (Children's BBC) had gotten a bit of a reputation in the 60s and 70s for being a bit staid. "Too much like school!"

Now, in 1983, CITV (children's ITV) launched, with american programming, adverts between programmes, and an invested desire to always be "cool". Honestly, for the entirety of its existence, CITV managed to capture that, which isn't easy!

Both of these channels had educational content, but CITV presented theirs in a way that was decidedly more.... chaotic, and appealing to the scatter brained.

Of course, when I was growing up in the 2000s, both channels were cool. You went to CBBC for the homegrown content, and CITV for anime and american cartoons. A healthy equilibrium achieved between the both, while both still had distinct motivations.

CBBC had a daily news broadcast which covered everything, whereas CITV had weekly and monthly "news" roundups that covered games, films and toys. You can already how each channel decided to use their influence!

When you decide to make a YouTube channel, you decide to make YOURSELF and YOUR content the "influence", and the brand, whereas when you decide to make a TV channel, you decide to cultivate an environment which pulls from many different sources to push out your MESSAGE. It's a nuanced difference but I'm very sure it's the truth. We can always be wrong however.

When it comes to my personal desires and I look back on the diary entries I wrote on this topic as a teenager, I wanted desperately to be catered too, but there wasn't much there for it, and when there was, it was very brief. I'm grateful to have gotten to witness it anyway.

I wanted to have something "cool" which challenged me, I wanted anime, action and humour that was just naughty enough but not rude.

If I get to be in the position of being a channel controller, the first thing I'd look out for are programmes which really showcase various relationship dynamics, because that's what I'd want to promote for kids. I'd want to look out for shows that put a child led approach to exploration first, such as Nina and the Neurons or Art Attack or Backyard Science or Tricky TV.

And lastly, I'd want there to be a strong helping of ever so slightly bad behaviour.

Challenge kids, and entertain them too! They'll find so much more value out of interacting with presenters who take calls, show emails and artwork, and hold various segments with viewer participation than they ever would from the daily binge!

I strongly believe it, and the facts back me up too.

Its not a coincidence that kids replaced TV which was ditching live action presenters for streamers and insta/tiktok lives.

As always with the Internet, it's trying to capture a facsimile of television with more of the problems and none of the regulation.

[iz-the-egoni]

oh and some bonus content from one of my "home books" mother and my minder(s) at school used to exchange via our autistic kids minibus team. Only found it recently when I was going through old stuff…

this is a 2nd hand account of pretty much the time I got into Pokémon! It’s dated around late-February 2000, which is like… the year Pokémania really hit England. Karen Bond (black pen) really has the whole card craze down and it’d been like… less than a year at this point >w<

the earliest thing I can date from my obsession is a home recorded video from about mid-April '00 of ITV's first broadcast of "The Breeding Center Secret" (episode 55), though it wasn’t until my 8th birthaversary in July until I got any proper stuff (yellow and GBC!)

please forgive the deadnaming and erroneous pronoun usage >n< they knew not what they wrote for it was a passing note and though the players have moved on that was my name: Dom'nic John

oh yeah! The two cards in question were a Machop and a Diglett ^w^ iirc I asked for an energy card or two but wasn’t allowed 'em >w>