17:35 – Sheepy’s opening caption and music.

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

17:45 – Only When I Laugh – S02E02 – Where There’s a Will – 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, Glover does not take kindly to eccentric new patient Joe Perkins – with his invisible dog – due to his lack of hygiene and use of Glover’s drinking tumbler for his false teeth. However when he discovers that Joe’s tin box contains a fortune and the man is considering changing his will, Glover – and Norman – both fawn on him to get into his good books. First broadcast on Tue 6th May 1980 by ITV. Guest-starring Patrick Troughton! Repeated from Sheepy’s Show #36 – Sat 2023/01/28.

18:09 – Michael Bentine’s Potty Time S03E11 – The Mighty Rig / Ye Gods – a British children’s TV show, written by and starring Michael Bentine, directed by Michael Custance, and produced by Leon Thau for Thames Television. This week, drilling for oil in the North Sea, though hazardous, is very profitable when successful – and, as we see, the Potties bring their particular brand of logic to the process. Then, to Mount Olympus, home of the Greek gods; their troubles begin when the Gods of the Underworld mount an attack.  First broadcast on Tue 15th Mar 1977 by ITV.

18:31 – NEW! – The Intruder S01E01 – The Stranger – an eight-part children’s drama series made by Granada in 1972, based on a 1970 children’s book by John Rowe Townsend. It was adapted by Mervyn Haisman and producer/director Alan Plummer. In 1969, Plummer had made another Granada series based on a Carnegie Medal-winning children’s novel, The Owl Service. Both step well outside the realms of what might popularly be regarded as children’s fiction, focusing unapologetically an adult themes such as obsession, mental illness and burgeoning sexuality. The series was shot entirely on location on 16mm film – unusual for television of the time – in Ravenglass, a small village on the Cumbrian coast, and is presented here from the Network Blu-Ray, one of the last they ever released. Arnold Haithwaite is a pilot – a sand pilot. He pursues his strange and solitary profession on the sands of Cumbria, beside the Irish Sea. A sand pilot, like a sea pilot, must know his way about; he must have a strong sense of locality and identity. But now another figure haunts this strange landscape: a sinister intruder who claims to be the real Arnold Haithwaite. This week, young Arnold’s life in the sleepy village of Skirlston is happy and uneventful, until a stranger arrives — the sinister, one-eyed Sonny. First broadcast on Sun 2nd Jan 1972 by ITV.

18:56 – INTERMISSION: courtesy of Monty Python.

18:59 – Clangers (New CBeebies Version) S01E24 – Dragon Day – the 2010s reboot of the famous early-1970s 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, Small Clanger decides that there should be a Dragon Day to thank the Soup Dragon for her soup.  First broadcast on Thu 16th Jul 2015 at 5.30pm by CBeebies.

19:10 – Star Trek (The Original Series) S03E10 – Plato’s Stepchildren – This week, after Dr. McCoy helps the leader of a planet populated by people with powerful psionic abilities, they decide to force him to stay by torturing his comrades until he submits. First broadcast in the USA on Fri 22nd Nov 1968 by NBC. This, of course, is the episode with the supposed first interracial kiss, although the Wikipedia article lists other examples. It is also the second of the four episodes that were banned by the BBC until the 1990s, due to its “unpleasant focus on torture and sadism”. Actually, its biggest crime is to be somewhat boring, as I recall.

20:00 – Tales of the Unexpected S02E08 – My Lady Love, My Dove – a British television series that aired between 1979 and 1988. Each episode told a story, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, with an unexpected twist ending. Every episode of series one, eight episodes of series two, and one episode of series three were based on short stories by Roald Dahl, who provided introductions for the first two series. This week, the Beauchamps have invited a young couple to stay with them and Pamela Beauchamp has an idea to spice up her life. First broadcast on Sat 19th April 1980 by ITV. With Elaine Stritch and Shane “Scott Tracy” Rimmer.

20:25 – Special Branch S04E01 – Double Exposure – For its final series, still made by Euston Films for Thames TV, we still have George Sewell as DCI Alan Craven, with Patrick Mower as DCI Tom Haggerty now full time; DS Bill North (Roger Rowland) having left Special Branch after the events at the end of Series 3. Returning closer to the ensemble cast of the first two series, we now have a Moxon figure again, this time in the guise of Strand, played by Paul Eddington, and a Commander (Fletcher), played by Frederick Jaeger. There’s also a new closing credits sequence, and the oft-mentioned overdubbed PUNCH at the end of the opening ones. 🙂 This week, in the first of the fourth and last series, Craven and Haggerty investigate a handsome, successful photographer who takes intimate pictures of the famous. Their assignment: to discover if the man is a patriot – or a threat to national security.  First broadcast on Thu 14th Feb 1974 by ITV – the day of Roy Harper’s Valentine’s Day Massacre at the Rainbow Theatre, Finsbury Park!

21:13 – Eurotrash S08E01 – The legendary late-night magazine show starring Antoine de Caunes, exploring unusual and bizarre topics from Europe and around the world. This week, we have Melinda Messenger, Gizmo the Singing Dog, Sit On Me, German Troubadour, Beatrice Dalle, Lolopops, Mr Penguin, Swinging Hotel, Frankie Vincent. First broadcast on Fri 9th May 1997 by Channel 4.

21:37 – MUSIC BREAK: Sparks perform “This Town Ain’t Big Enough For the Both of Us” on some 1970s pop show to a very bored audience. Ron’s facial expressions are even more amusing than usual, even crossing his eyes at one point!

21:40 – The Persuaders! E11(P04)/24 – Chain of Events – A British action comedy television series starring Tony Curtis and Roger Moore, produced by ITC Entertainment. It was filmed in Britain, France, and Italy between May 1970 and June 1971. The series’ synth-laden theme music was composed by John Barry. The Persuaders are two equally-matched men from different backgrounds who reluctantly team together to solve cases that the police and the courts cannot. This week: things turn volatile when unexpectedly, Danny gets himself handcuffed to a much-wanted attaché case, sparking a relentless manhunt from both MI6 and Iron Curtain agents who need to recover the case at all costs. First broadcast on Fri 26th Nov 1971 by ITV. Featuring Peter “Grouty” Vaughan, Jeremy “too many posh roles to mention” Child, Suzanna “Lust For a Vampire” Leigh, and in an amusing coincidence, Morris “Moxon” Perry.

22:30 – Keep It In The Family S01E04 – The Non-Mechanical Man – a British sitcom, made by Thames Television for ITV, that aired for five series between 1980 and 1983. It was about a likeable and mischievous cartoonist, Dudley Rush (played by CABTV favourite Robert Gillespie), his wife Muriel (Pauline “Mrs Reggie Perrin” Yates), and their two daughters, Jacqui and Susan. Eccentric and childlike, Dudley insists on wearing his large lion ventriloquist glove-puppet on his hand whenever he draws the “Barney, the Bionic Bulldog” comic strip. Unhappy about having to spend what he considers valuable time working, he always procrastinates, so he’s always late meeting the strip’s deadlines, which frustrates his long-suffering agent, Duncan Thomas. This week, everything mechanical is going wrong, if only there were a real man in the house to fix them. First broadcast on Mon 28th Jan 1980 by ITV.

22:55 – Whoops Apocalypse E04/06 – Lucifer and the Lord – a six-part 1982 television sitcom by Andrew Marshall and David Renwick, made by London Weekend Television for ITV. The series features a chaotic and increasingly unstable global political situation in which nuclear alerts are accidentally triggered by malfunctioning Space Invaders machines. The naive and highly unpopular Republican U.S. President Johnny Cyclops (an obvious Ronald Reagan parody, played by Barry “Victor” Morse) is advised by an insane right-wing fundamentalist security advisor, called The Deacon (John “CJ” Barron), who claims to have a direct hotline to God. In the Eastern Hemisphere, things are similarly unstable; Soviet Premier Dubienkin (Richard Griffiths) is in fact a series of clones, which keep dying and being replaced. Meanwhile, the deposed Shah of Iran, Shah Massiq Rassim (Bruce “Leonard from Butterflies” Montague), led by his advisor Abdab (David Kelly) who is always blindfolded to avoid looking upon the Shah’s magnificence, is shunted around the world in search of a refuge. The Soviets have a new ally in British Prime Minister Kevin Pork (Peter Jones), a parody of left-wing Labour politicians Michael Foot and Peter Shore. Pork, who has gone insane and believes himself to be Superman, heads an especially left-wing government (a parody of Foot’s Labour Party). The British Foreign Secretary is blackmailed by the Soviets to join the Warsaw Pact. This situation so unnerves the foreign secretary (Geoffrey Palmer, in a role based on David Owen) and the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Richard Davies) that they also lose their sanity, don Green Lantern and Hawkman costumes, and are locked up in a padded cell at 10 Downing St. This week: the attempt to contact CIA agent Grodd to rescue the Hoppers has failed and he is now a prisoner of the KGB. The Shah is still trapped on a British cross channel ferry, but manages to set up a special CIA secret radio link to Grodd.. First broadcast on Sun 4th Apr 1982 by ITV. Also appearing across the series are Ed Bishop, Alexei Sayle, Rik Mayall, Matt “Alan Tracy” Zimmerman, Ed “Skippy” Devereaux, Michael Melia, Stuart Milligan & Carmen Silvera.

23:17 – NEW! – The Frighteners S01E01 – The Minder – A little-known – not even a Wiki page! – British psychological suspense anthology series that ran for one series consisting of 13 self contained episodes, featuring a wealth of writing and acting talent. From the DVD box: “No cops and robbers… no clanking chains… no well-worn horror themes… this powerful thriller anthology features instead a range of stories in which ordinary people are threatened by situations that slide startlingly, menacingly out of control…” This week: a daring jailbreak is planned – but does Bender mastermind the escape of his boss out of loyalty, or a more sinister motive? First broadcast on Fri 7th July 1972 by ITV. Featuring Tom Bell, Warren Clarke, Brian Glover, and Kenneth J. Warren.

23:45 – Closedown music.

23:50 – Closedown.