17:35 – Sheepy’s opening music.

17:40 – Thames TV morning start-up music.

17:45 – Only When I Laugh – S02E03 – It Can Damage Your Health – A sitcom made by Yorkshire Television for ITV, written by Eric Chappell (Rising Damp, Home to Roost). It stars Christopher Strauli as Norman, a rather naive middle-class man who is admitted to a hospital ward and finds that he is sharing it with a working-class layabout called Figgis (James Bolam) and an upper-class hypochondriac called Archie (Peter Bowles). All three of them cause headaches for the hospital staff, led by Richard Wilson with Derrick Branche. This week, Norman has recently taken up smoking but long term smokers Glover and Figgis are feeling the ill effects of the habit and try, respectively, a pipe and yoga to help quit – but in vain. Glover goes for a job interview but, off the cigarettes, he is a bag of nerves and fails. Figgis carries on secretly smoking behind the others’ backs, leading to Dr Thorpe getting a nasty surprise in the gents’ toilets. First broadcast on Tue 13th May 1980 by ITV. 

18:10 – Michael Bentine’s Potty Time S01E21 – Farmers v Moles – a British children’s TV show, written by and starring Michael Bentine, and directed and produced by Leon Thau for Thames Television. This week, Mr. Bentine and the Potties witness a rather surreal war.  First broadcast on Mon 1st Apr 1974 by ITV.

18:21 – Ace of Wands S03E06/20 – The Power of Atep: Part 3/4 – a British fantasy children’s television show broadcast on ITV between 1970 and 1972. It was created by Trevor Preston and Pamela Lonsdale and produced by Thames Television. It ran for two seasons of thirteen episodes each, and a third season of twenty, which is the only series that still exists. Telepathic stage magician, Tarot, and his two assistants solve mysteries and crimes of a bizarre or magical nature, and battle against villains with various powers. This week, a strange dream about Egypt, shared by Tarot and Mikki, and a powerful voice at a séance, continues to lead Tarot and friends to the tomb of Atep in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. There Tarot confronts his former stage partner and double, Quabal. First broadcast on Wed 23rd Aug 1972 by ITV.

18:45 – Clangers S02E08 – The Seed – the famous Oliver Postgate / Peter Firmin stop-motion children’s television series about a family of mouse-like creatures who live on, and inside, a small moon-like planet. This week, the Clangers tend a seed, and soon their planet is swamped with vegetation.  First broadcast on Sun 6th June 1971 at 5.00pm by BBC1.

18:55 – Star Trek (The Original Series) – S02E06 – The Doomsday Machine – This week, the USS Enterprise encounters the wrecked USS Constellation and its distraught commodore who’s determined to stop the giant planet-destroying robot ship that killed his crew. First broadcast in the USA on Fri 20th Oct 1967 by NBC. A stone-cold classic episode, one of my absolute favourites as a kid, and often ranked in the top four. It features a complete original music score by Sol Kaplan. Writer James Lileks notes that the music cues for this episode are “intended to belong together, and that’s one of the reasons the episode works like few others: it has a unique symphonic score. Played start to finish, it holds together.” Jeff Bond notes, “Although he wrote only two scores for the series, New York composer Sol Kaplan’s music was tracked endlessly throughout the show’s first two seasons.”

19:45 – Spaced S01E04 – Battles – the famous British sitcom created, written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, and directed by Edgar Wright, about the (comedic and sometimes farcical and action-packed) misadventures of Daisy Steiner and Tim Bisley, two twenty-something Londoners who, despite only having just met, decide to move in together after she gives up on squatting and he is kicked out by his ex-girlfriend. Supporting roles include Nick Frost as Tim’s best friend Mike, Katy Carmichael as Daisy’s best friend Twist, Mark Heap as lodger Brian who lives downstairs and Julia Deakin as landlady Marsha. This week, Daisy’s boyfriend breaks up with her, and feeling the need for a loving relationship, she asks Marsha if she can have a dog. Marsha agrees and Tim is hesitant because of his past experiences with dogs which have given him a big fear of them. While Daisy and Twist go out to buy a dog, Mike and Tim go paint-balling. They run into Duane Benzie, who used to be Tim’s best friend until he stole Tim’s girlfriend. First broadcast on Fri 15th Oct 1999 by Channel 4.

20:10 – Special Branch – S02E09 – Love from Doris – Groundbreaking British police drama series following the exploits of the Special Branch of the Metropolitan Police: an elite group of officers tasked with protecting London from spies, terrorists, and subversives. This week, when military security intercepts a letter written to a lonely serviceman by his foreign ‘penpal’ Rita, which contains casual references to secret information, Supt Inman sends DCI Jordan to investigate.  First broadcast on Tue 7th Oct 1970 by ITV. With Kevin Stoney and John Woodnutt.

20:58 – Intermission.

21:00 – Eurotrash S03E03 – It turns out that I actually showed S03E03 this week, not S03E02 as originally designed and billed. Here’s the revised, correct, listing of what I actually showed this week!  The legendary late-night magazine show starring Antoine de Caunes and Jean-Paul Gaultier, exploring unusual and bizarre topics from Europe and around the world. This week we had Gunter the Millionaire Dog, Dog Toilets, La Cicciolina, Alternative Debt Collectors, Billy Ze Kick, Made in Eric, Madame Claude, The Crazy Horse Dancers. First broadcast on Fri 28th Oct 1994 by Channel 4.

21:24 – Another Bouquet E01/07 – Changes – the sequel to A Bouquet of Barbed Wire, the latter based on the novel by Andrea Newman published in 1969. Starring Frank Finlay and Sheila Allen, it was produced by London Weekend Television for ITV. There are no synopses readily available on the internet, but a review I skimmed says that despite the loss of Susan Penhaligon, it still holds up quite well.  First broadcast on Fri 7th Jan 1977 by ITV.

22:15 – Alfresco S01E01 – a sketch comedy series starring Robbie Coltrane, Ben Elton, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Siobhan Redmond and Emma Thompson, produced by Granada Television and broadcast by ITV from May 1983 to June 1984. Running for two series, it totalled 13 episodes and was named Alfresco (from the Italian al fresco, meaning “in the fresh air”) because, unusually for a comedy sketch show of the time, it was shot on location rather than in a studio. Like its pilot/predecessor, There’s Nothing to Worry About (from which several sketches were taken and repeated in this), the show was designed by ITV as an answer to the popular BBC series Not the Nine O’Clock News.  This week, follow the adventures of the Wallies and meet Doctor Quincy DeQuincey. First broadcast on Sun 1st May 1983 by ITV.

22:39 – Rock Follies S01E06 – The Blitz – a musical drama shown on ITV in the 1970s. The storyline followed the ups and downs of a fictional female rock band called the Little Ladies, as they struggled for recognition and success. The series starred Rula Lenska, Charlotte Cornwell and Julie Covington as the Little Ladies, with support from Emlyn Price, Beth Porter, Sue Jones-Davies, Bob Hoskins, Stephen Moore, Derek Thompson, Denis Lawson and Little Nell among others. The series was made on a small low budget for Thames Television, with a style inspired by fringe theatre. It was based on an original idea by Annabel Leventon, Diane Langton and Gaye Brown. The series was a success and won three BAFTA Awards, and the soundtrack album reached No. 1 in the UK chart. This week, in the last of the first series, nostalgia is one thing, but Kuklas’s obsession with World War II seems to be getting out of hand. First broadcast on Tue 30th Mar 1976 by ITV.

23:33 – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (TV Series) E06/06 – The infamous TV adaptation of Douglas Adams’ award-winning radio series, largely ruined by Alan J. W. Bell’s production, although Rod Lord’s brilliant Book animations save it. This week, as a spectacular finale to ‘Disaster Area’s’ rock concert, the megabig superstar ‘Hotblack Desiato’ crashes an unmanned spacecraft into the sun. When Arthur, Ford, Trillian and Zaphod realise that the black spacecraft they have stolen is relentlessly heading towards the sun, certain doubts arise as to the wisdom of their decision. First broadcast on Mon 9th Feb 1981 at 9.00pm by BBC2. This is the extended version containing material cut for time on original transmission.

00:09 – BONUS ITEM: A YouTube video of “Comptine d’un autre été: L’Après-midi” (the Amélie theme) as you’ve never seen it played before.

00:13 – Closedown music.

00:18 – Closedown.