17:35 – Sheepy’s opening caption and 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. Repeated from Sheepy’s Show #37 – Thu 2023/02/02.
18:09 – Michael Bentine’s Potty Time S03E12 – The Mighty Press / Camouflage Corps – 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, through the endeavours of reporters like Scoop Pottby and Marjorie Potts, the circulation of the Potty Times has steadily increased; we learn that it really is the paper that counts. We also observe the ingenious tactics of the Royal Potty Camouflage Corps as it goes into action! First broadcast on Sat 2nd Apr 1977 by ITV.
18:32 – The Intruder S01E02 – Jane – 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, following the stranger’s claim to be the real Arnold Haithwaite, Arnold questions himself. Visiting the beach, Jane offers to teach him to swim but someone rolls a large rock in their direction. The stranger vanishes but life isn’t normal. First broadcast on Sun 9th Jan 1972 by ITV.
18:56 – INTERMISSION: courtesy of Monty Python.
18:59 – Clangers (New CBeebies Version) S01E25 – Home Sweet Hoot – 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, a little Hoot lands on the Clangers’ planet and causes mayhem with his incessant mischievous hooting. The Clangers decide it has to go home. But with the Hoot planet so far away, how can they attract its attention? First broadcast on Fri 17th Jul 2015 at 5.30pm by CBeebies.
19:10 – Star Trek (The Original Series) S03E11 – Wink of an Eye – This week, normally invisible time-accelerated aliens take over the Enterprise and attempt to abduct the crew for use as breeding stock. First broadcast in the USA on Fri 29th Nov 1968 by NBC.
20:00 – Tales of the Unexpected S02E09 – Georgy Porgy – 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, attractive vicar George Duckworth had an unusual childhood which leads to problems with the insatiable spinsters of his parish. First broadcast on Sat 26th April 1980 by ITV. With John Alderton, Joan Collins and Margaretta “Daphne Porter from Together” Scott.
20:25 – Special Branch S04E02 – Catherine the Great – 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, informed that Rehfuss, a dangerous assassin, has slipped into the country, Craven is ordered to bring him in. A difficult task: the policeman has no idea what he looks like – or the name of his intended victim. First broadcast on Thu 21st Feb 1974 by ITV. With Jacqueline “Servalan” Pearce, Michael “Mr. Bronson” Sheard, Terry “Dr Who stuntman” Walsh; directed by Douglas Camfield. Roger Rowland, as Bill North, makes a final one-off appearance in this episode.
21:15 – Eurotrash S08E02 – 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 Linda Lampenius, European Gigolos, Fiddle On Me, Russian Hippy University, Lova Moor. First broadcast on Fri 16th May 1997 by Channel 4.
21:40 – The Persuaders! E12(P20)/24 – That’s Me Over There – 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: it’s high time the mask falls off and a crooked colossal entrepreneur finally gets what he deserves. This is definitely a job suited to Lord Brett Sinclair, or better still, a job suited to Danny impersonating Brett. First broadcast on Fri 3rd Dec 1971 by ITV. Featuring Allan Cuthbertson, Peter “James Onedin” Gilmore, and Patrick “Mother in The Avengers; Inspector Lestrade in Sherlock Holmes (1979-80)” Newell.
22:30 – Keep It In The Family S01E05 – Some Enchanted Evening – 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, Dudley plans an intimate dinner for Muriel and himself, however as usual nothing goes to plan. First broadcast on Mon 4th Feb 1980 by ITV. With Roy Kinnear and Steve Plytas.
22:55 – Whoops Apocalypse E05/06 – The Violet Hour – 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: President Cyclops is still in hospital recovering from minor wounds. The Deacon tells him that he might need brain surgery. The Russians now have a firm grip on power in Iran. Dave is tempted to try to kill the PM, Kevin Pork. First broadcast on Sun 11th 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.
23:20 – The Frighteners S01E02 – The Night of the Stag – 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: Ginny receives a phone call from her lover, Mike, telling her that it is over between them. He is calling from the pub where he is celebrating his stag night. Ginny convinces Mike that they should spend one more night together before his wedding the next morning. First broadcast on Fri 14th July 1972 by ITV. Featuring Jennie Linden, Robin Ellis, Prentis Hancock and Bill Stewart.
23:47 – Closedown music.
23:51 – Closedown.
NOTE: There will be no Sheepy’s Show next Monday as I’m on holiday. Sheepy’s Show will return on Monday 9th October.