Obscure TV that I remember.

Rubecula

Gerry and Sylvia Anderson made a number of shows for kids, one of the last ones that made was called The Secret Service. Not many folks remember it as it was cancelled after 13 episodes. But I for some strange reason do.

Not as famous as Joe90, Thunderbirds, Stingray, Supercar, Fireball XL5 and so on. Here is a reminder.

Rubecula

And if you liked that try tis collection of themes, how many can you remember?

Jellybaby1

Brilliant stuff Rube! Some of them I never heard of like The Banana Splits but most I do remember.

"Kkk kk kkkk kkk kkk kk!"

"What's that Skippy?"

"Sigh. I said....Kkk kk kkkk kkk kkk kk!"

"Oh I now I understand, "how come every time you hear the Batman music you think of Rodney and Del Boy?"

"I don't know, Skippy. Maybe you just watch too much television"!

EchoO

I remember finding this very disturbing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V6dSNlh0_k

NIMAN

HR Puff n Stuff

poppyvally

NIMAN wrote: »

HR Puff n Stuff

Pat Ingoldsby & the "cuppan tay O'Toole" I'd watch it with the kids in the afternoon. AGHHHH

looksee

I couldn't cope with Pat Ingoldsby at all, could never see what people saw in him.

Cicero

Thames TV....and Michael Bentine....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqXiqiC5dS8

cml387

An episode of a BBC drama series called "Menace" involving a young curate answering an advertisement to visit an elderly priest in Cornwall.

(Elderly priest I have since discovered played by Sir John Gielgud.)

The poor young man is imprisoned by, as it turns out, a deranged old man fearing the end of the world.

I have researched the TX date and it is 1973.

It made a big impression on my brother and I, the sense of helplessness of the young curate and the desperate fears of the old man.

Unfortunately this does not seem to be available in the archives.

One that is on that tube is another BBC gem, the Ghost Story for Christmas series.

These dramas have no Christmas theme, but were mostly adaptations of stories by the master ghost story writer M R James.

I remember being absolutely petrified one Christmas Eve by "The Stalls Of Barchester Cathedral".

Grandad Himself

Doomwatch!

Rubecula

Grandad Himself wrote: »

Doomwatch!

WOW yes I remember that one very well I think Robert Powell was in it wasn't he? It used to be one of my favourite series. But I think I had a sci fi bent too because I enjoyed all kinds of programmes of that ilk.

Mollywolly

The Owl Service back in the late 60's. Although I didn't fully understand what it was about (still don't!), it scared me to death!

Here's the opening titles, just to give the uninitiated a feel for its weirdness:

Jellybaby1

Fell asleep during that intro!

Mollywolly

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

Fell asleep during that intro!

I'm not surprised Can you imagine how weird/scary that would have seemed to a 9/10 year old, even though it looks so dated now?

Grandad Himself

"Making the Most of the Micro"

A long story but as a direct result of that programme, I found a new career!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7G2nyaHaoo

Rubecula

Mollywolly wrote: »

The Owl Service back in the late 60's. Although I didn't fully understand what it was about (still don't!), it scared me to death!

Here's the opening titles, just to give the uninitiated a feel for its weirdness:

Molly I had totally forgotten about that show. Great memory you have.

Remember this?

Mollywolly

Rubecula wrote: »

Molly I had totally forgotten about that show. Great memory you have.

Remember this?

It rings a bell somewhere at the back of my foggy brain, but I loved the spinning top flying saucer at the beginning.

Oh, and was that Noel Edmonds I saw on the spaceship at 2:32 :eek:

stoneill

The Tomorrow People

Disturbing intro to an impressionable young lad, and always left me very wary of electricity pylons.

Davidth88

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

Brilliant stuff Rube! Some of them I never heard of like The Banana Splits but most I do remember.

The Banana Splits , I never liked them , my younger brother did. It was on around 18:30 ish on Sat evening , the slot The Monkees used to have .


I remember most of them , although some ( like Mr Ed ) are very American and I never saw .

The Tomorrow People , god that was scary stuff .

Rubecula

Many years ago now, I visited my parents, and we say and had a cup of tea, Dad dozed off in his chair (as he often did, after a stroke he had suffered.) The television was on and both myself and my mum were engrossed in a children's show. So engrossed, I was around there to watch each episode with her every week. A kind of shared pleasure, just my mum and me. I am sure she would love to have seen it again.

Anyway, it was leading up to christmas (according to google it was 1984) and it was a wonderful show called The Box Of Delights.

This is the opening sequence to any of you that might remember it.

OldGoat

TV nostilgia threads merged together in a mad fit of housekeeping.

Hilly Bill

sat morning tv is not the same these days. Champion the wonder horse , arabian nights, banana splits, Tiswas, skippy, swap shop.

There is one programme that i cant remember the name of and it was a girl being looked after by gypsies and trying to find her mother. All i remember was a electricity pylon at the start and the girl walking in a crowd shouting out to someone who she thought was her mother but it wasnt.
It was on around 4/5 during the week in the early 70's.

namenotavailablE

Anyone remember 'Dusty's Trail'? It was screened in Ireland early to mid 70's I think (can't remember if it was RTE or one of the UK channels). We used to watch it in my family.

cml387

After the success of Cop-in-a-wheelchair Ironside, tv execs decided that having a detective or investigator who was handicapped was now "in".

A Blind P.I? I give you... Longstreet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClcsM9h80nk

nlgbbbblth

cml387 wrote: »

An episode of a BBC drama series called "Menace" involving a young curate answering an advertisement to visit an elderly priest in Cornwall.

(Elderly priest I have since discovered played by Sir John Gielgud.)

The poor young man is imprisoned by, as it turns out, a deranged old man fearing the end of the world.

I have researched the TX date and it is 1973.

It made a big impression on my brother and I, the sense of helplessness of the young curate and the desperate fears of the old man.

Unfortunately this does not seem to be available in the archives.

One that is on that tube is another BBC gem, the Ghost Story for Christmas series.

These dramas have no Christmas theme, but were mostly adaptations of stories by the master ghost story writer M R James.

I remember being absolutely petrified one Christmas Eve by "The Stalls Of Barchester Cathedral".

The Ghost Stories for Christmas are now out on DVD - single volumes and box due in November.

Menace - just two episodes still exist. Man On A Mission and Killing Time. I have DVD-Rs of both, fourth-generation VHS dubs from the early 1980s.

nlgbbbblth

Hilly Bill wrote: »

sat morning tv is not the same these days. Champion the wonder horse , arabian nights, banana splits, Tiswas, skippy, swap shop.

There is one programme that i cant remember the name of and it was a girl being looked after by gypsies and trying to find her mother. All i remember was a electricity pylon at the start and the girl walking in a crowd shouting out to someone who she thought was her mother but it wasnt.
It was on around 4/5 during the week in the early 70's.

Kizzy?

Was shown on RTE during 1977.

nlgbbbblth

namenotavailabl wrote: »

Anyone remember 'Dusty's Trail'? It was screened in Ireland early to mid 70's I think (can't remember if it was RTE or one of the UK channels). We used to watch it in my family.

Very funny. Shown on RTE a couple of times - 1977 and early 1980s.

nlgbbbblth

The Owl Service and Children Of The Stones were excellent - spooky and compelling.

Network DVD url]www.networkdvd.net[/url have released loads of quality 1970s and 1980s drama.

cml387

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

The Ghost Stories for Christmas are now out on DVD - single volumes and box due in November.

Menace - just two episodes still exist. Man On A Mission and Killing Time. I have DVD-Rs of both, fourth-generation VHS dubs from the early 1980s.

I have "The Signalman" and "A Warning to the Curious" (picked up for a relative song from Vibes and Scribes in Cork).


Lost episodes of Menace I believe are near the top of the list of most wanted in the BBC's hunt for archive stuff.

nlgbbbblth

Anyone remember Brian Clemens' Thriller anthology series?

43 stories - ran for four years. Each tale was about 65 minutes long. Shown on HTV in the 1970s and RTE ran some of them in the early 1980s.

In my opinion - one of the best ever.

Jellybaby1

I can't remember when this was on the telly. I am a big fan of John Hurt and loved 'The Storyteller' series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT8Pw1CStWI

namenotavailablE

Anyone remember the 'über cool' (but screened perilously close to my bedtime) series "Space 1999"

Rubecula

A series by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson starring Martin Landau and his wife Barbara Bain. Yes indeed I remember that show. I really liked it back then.

(Know-it-all Rubes strikes again :pac:)

nlgbbbblth

I loved Barbara Bain in Space 1999.

Jellybaby1

Rubecula wrote: »

A series by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson starring Martin Landau and his wife Barbara Bain. Yes indeed I remember that show. I really liked it back then.

(Know-it-all Rubes strikes again :pac:)

Mission Impossible? Loved it!

Rubecula

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

Mission Impossible? Loved it!

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=mission+impossible+tv+series&docid=4799652472356939&mid=EE499DD43CAE4740FA5AEE499DD43CAE4740FA5A&view=detail&FORM=VIRE8

Jellybaby1

"Good morning, Mr. Phelps". That's how the taped voice started, but I think by the end of the tape 'Mr. Phelps' had become 'Jim', probably because they didn't expect he would survive the mission!

cml387

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

"Good morning, Mr. Phelps". That's how the taped voice started, but I think by the end of the tape 'Mr. Phelps' had become 'Jim', probably because they didn't expect he would survive the mission!

and who was this secretary who would disavow all knowledge?

"I'm sorry sirr but there is no-one of thater namer worrking in this departament."

muffler

My first ever experience with a TV was watching it in a neighbour's house a long, long number of years ago. They were farmers who we visited most days and they used to allow myself and bigger brother in to watch The Lone Ranger.

Good old Ke-mo sah-bee

Skerries

I remember a short lived BBC space show called Star Cops

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btCcbLJ3ADU

looksee

muffler wrote: »

My first ever experience with a TV was watching it in a neighbour's house a long, long number of years ago. They were farmers who we visited most days and they used to allow myself and bigger brother in to watch The Lone Ranger.

Good old Ke-mo sah-bee

Lol, my first memory of television is also watching the Lone Ranger in a neighbour's house!

Jellybaby1

muffler wrote: »

My first ever experience with a TV was watching it in a neighbour's house a long, long number of years ago. They were farmers who we visited most days and they used to allow myself and bigger brother in to watch The Lone Ranger.

Good old Ke-mo sah-bee

Don't forget good old 'Tonto' too! And their horses, Silver and Scout!

muffler

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

Don't forget good old 'Tonto' too! And their horses, Silver and Scout!

Hah! Scout was the name I couldn't remember

Jellybaby1

muffler wrote: »

Hah! Scout was the name I couldn't remember

Good 'ould Google!!

sweetie

i loved this too and bought it on video a few years back, has aged well.

Was fascinated by chocky and sapphire and steel years ago too

Rubecula wrote: »

Many years ago now, I visited my parents, and we say and had a cup of tea, Dad dozed off in his chair (as he often did, after a stroke he had suffered.) The television was on and both myself and my mum were engrossed in a children's show. So engrossed, I was around there to watch each episode with her every week. A kind of shared pleasure, just my mum and me. I am sure she would love to have seen it again.

Anyway, it was leading up to christmas (according to google it was 1984) and it was a wonderful show called The Box Of Delights.

This is the opening sequence to any of you that might remember it.

Rubecula

Ah yes Sapphire and Steel. (Joanna Lumley and David McCallum I think?) I liked that show too. Remember they brought in a third character called Lead at one point.

BrensBenz

Some of yiz had very sheltered childhoods. Everybody knows that Torchy, Torchy the Battery Boy was THE best TV programme ever. Everything since then has been pale imitiations.
If I could figure out how to add links I would, but go check youtube. You can also download the theme tune. Classic. There may be a box set available for Christmas - to go with my Fireball XL5 and Supercar collections....hint hint.

Warning: Torchy, Torchy the Battery Boy is not recommended for the faint-hearted.

Rubecula

Torchy was the first of my favourites as a kiddy

"Torchy Torchy the battery boy, I 'm a walking talking toy ....... "

Thank you for reminding me BrensBenz.

Jellybaby1

BrensBenz wrote: »

Some of yiz had very sheltered childhoods. Everybody knows that Torchy, Torchy the Battery Boy was THE best TV programme ever. Everything since then has been pale imitiations.
If I could figure out how to add links I would, but go check youtube. You can also download the theme tune. Classic. There may be a box set available for Christmas - to go with my Fireball XL5 and Supercar collections....hint hint.

Warning: Torchy, Torchy the Battery Boy is not recommended for the faint-hearted.

Rubecula wrote: »

Torchy was the first of my favourites as a kiddy

"Torchy Torchy the battery boy, I 'm a walking talking toy ....... "

Thank you for reminding me BrensBenz.


All right you two, calm down! So what's your problem with Pinochio then? Sure he's the Superman of all toy boys!!! :D

looksee

Warning: Torchy, Torchy the Battery Boy is not recommended for the faint-hearted.

Dead right! Where to start?... Funny though, I remember the theme tune and even the intro, but I don't remember the story at all. Maybe my infant mind was too boggled to take it in!

Rubecula

looksee wrote: »

Dead right! Where to start?... Funny though, I remember the theme tune and even the intro, but I don't remember the story at all. Maybe my infant mind was too boggled to take it in!

Not sure if I have this right looksee, but I think the pets all found their way to the planet where the animals could talk and didn't want to come back as they could now chat with each other. Torchy was sent there to persuade them to return. I think there was a place where the toys came to life too. although I am even less certain about that bit.

I soon matured from Torchy and went for Four Feather Falls. A much more grown up series :pac: and from there to Supercar.