17:35 – Sheepy’s opening caption and music.
17:40 – Thames TV morning start-up music.
17:45 – Only When I Laugh – S02E04 – The Cosmic Influence – 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, when Figgis becomes obsessed with horoscopes in magazines and believes their predictions the others are sceptical – until Norman continually beats Glover at cards. However, Figgis becomes so preoccupied with astrological predictions he is convinced he is going to die – forcing Dr Thorpe to beat him at his own game to cure him of his obsession. First broadcast on Tue 20th May 1980 by ITV. Repeated from Sheepy’s Show #38 – Sat 2023/02/11; Sheepy’s Show #41 Modified Rerun – Mon 2023/03/06 and even last week’s Sheepy’s Show #69 – Mon 2023/10/09. Quite possibly my favourite episode of the whole series, but for some reason it’s cursed that nobody else will ever get to see it!
18:10 – Michael Bentine’s Potty Time S04E01 – The Invisible Potty / Drake’s Circumnavigation – 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, if you can’t see the solution to a crime then it’s reasonable to assume you can’t see the criminal – so it’s fortunate we have Holmes and Watson on the case of the Invisible Potty. We also look at the many adventures of Francis Drake during his global circumnavigation, and ponder whether his journey might have been shorter had he not plundered all those Spanish galleons. First broadcast on Wed 11th Jan 1978 by ITV – the day Emile Heskey was born, Michael “It Ain’t ‘Alf Hot Mum” Bates died, and Soyuz 27 docked with Salyut 6 & Soyuz 26, the first time three spacecraft linked up. This is the last series that Network published on DVD (out of seven in total, I believe, although information seems scarce), and only consists of seven episodes, not thirteen, so we’re much closer to the end of this than I thought!
18:32 – The Intruder S01E04 – Miss Binns – 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, Sonny, with Valerie Binns return to Skirston, bringing with him major re-development plans including shopping centre and marina. Sonny tells Harold he has no choice but to leave. Peter follows Sonny to a derelict building in Manchester. First broadcast on Sun 23rd Jan 1972 by ITV.
18:57 – Clangers (New CBeebies Version) S01E27 – The Little Chill – 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, it’s a very cold day on the Clangers’ planet, and the Sky Moos are frozen outside! Granny comes to the rescue with a plan to keep them warm. First broadcast, after a five-month gap from the previous episode, on Thu 17th Dec 2015 at 5.30pm by CBeebies.
19:08 – Star Trek (The Original Series) S03E13 – Elaan of Troyius – This week, while transporting an arrogant, demanding princess for a political marriage, Captain Kirk must cope both with her biochemical ability to force him to love her, as well as sabotage on his ship. First broadcast in the USA on Fri 13th Dec 1968 by NBC. Written and directed by John Meredyth Lucas, the only person in Star Trek production history ever to both write AND direct a filmed Star Trek television episode.
France Nuyen (Elaan) – who was married for three years, including during this episode, to Robert “serial Columbo killer” Culp – previously starred with William Shatner on Broadway for two years in the title role of The World of Suzie Wong. She would later guest-star along with Shatner, as husband and wife, in the Kung Fu season 3 episode “A Small Beheading”.
This is the last episode lit by cinematographer Gerald Finnerman, who had been with the show since the first episode. This episode is also the final appearance in the original series (as originally broadcast) of Eddie Paskey as Lt. Leslie. This episode also has the distinction of being the only episode of the series to have all seven principal characters in the final shot on the Enterprise bridge – Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu and Chekov – along with an unidentified female Ensign..
19:59 – Tales of the Unexpected S02E11 – The Umbrella Man – 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, a man’s umbrella scheme and an affair become entwined yielding unexpected results. First broadcast on Sat 10th May 1980 by ITV. Featuring Michael Gambon, John Mills and Michael Sheard.
20:25 – Special Branch S04E04 – Stand and Deliver – 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. This week, the Special Branch team face an explosive situation when they are asked to find the thieves who stole a top-secret weapon fitted with a new laser device. The weapon is unstable – and could blow up at any time. First broadcast on Thu 7th Mar 1974 by ITV. With Dennis Waterman (who got his role in Minder based on this appearance), Ronald “Hunter” Radd, Christopher “DW: Inferno – Sir Keith Gold / DW:Talons: Jago” Benjamin, Stephanie “WPC Howarth in Z Cars / Inspector Darblay in Juliet Bravo” Turner, and Barrie “Knights of God” Cookson.
21:16 – Eurotrash S08E04 – 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 the Doughnut Girl, Valentina, Little Arsehole, Lolopops, Porn in Politics, So What? First broadcast on Fri 30th May 1997 by Channel 4.
21:40 – The Persuaders! E14(P24)/24 – The Man in the Middle – 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: someone inside British Intelligence has turned traitor, but when Brett and Danny’s efforts to smoke out the traitor are intercepted, Brett’s faint-hearted cousin must come to his rescue. First broadcast on Fri 17th Dec 1971 by ITV. Featuring Terry-Thomas, Suzy Kendall (Thunderball; To Sir, with Love; Up the Junction) and Stephen “not-shit Travis from Blake’s Seven” Greif again. This was the last episode made, although not the last shown, obviously.
22:30 – Keep It In The Family S02E01 – Phoney Business – 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, in the first of the second series, Dudley is confined to bed having broken his ankle while at a roller disco with Susan. First broadcast on Mon 1st Sept 1980 by ITV. Featuring Barbara “Beiderbecke / Open All Hours Milkwoman” Flynn. Preceded by a very strange looking (corrupted?) VT clock that reveals it was actually made as episode 3.
22:56 – NEW! – Hot Metal S01E01 – The Tell-Tale Heart – a British sitcom produced by London Weekend Television about the newspaper industry, starring Geoffrey Palmer, Robert Hardy and Richard Kane, with regular appearances by Richard Wilson and John Gordon Sinclair. It aired for two series on the ITV network in 1986 and 1988, along with a special episode for Comic Relief in 1989. Written by David Renwick and Andrew Marshall, it is very much a continuation in style from their previous sitcom Whoops Apocalypse! After its original transmission, the series was repeated on Channel 4 and Forces TV. Series synopsis: The Daily Crucible is a new muck-raking tabloid newspaper in London. Managing editor Russell Spam is always on the lookout for the latest dirt and gossip, while senior editor Harold Stringer struggles to preserve some sense of dignity (usually to no avail). This week, what will the tycoon owner of Rathouse International do to Harry Stringer’s respectable but doomed Daily Crucible? Who is the mysterious new editor, Russell Spam, that no one has ever heard of? And what scandalous front-page story will they have to think up to rocket the Daily Crucible to the top of the market? All is revealed. First broadcast on Sun 16th Feb 1986 by ITV. Featuring Aubrey Morris, and Christopher Timothy in an uncredited voice role as a Newsreader. Meanwhile, I found these (slightly-edited) thoughts on it from a conversation I had with @mumoss on Twitter interesting: “Hot Metal, I think, doesn’t quite invite you into its world well enough. But if you get there, it suddenly clicks and becomes fantastic. It’s the first episode – it just doesn’t set things up quite right. One thing I really do love about the show is the same thing The New Statesman does: it uses a shooting style more akin to drama, but is still an audience sitcom. I find that a highly pleasing mix. But it creates such an unusual atmosphere, that your brain needs to hit the ground running from the start. Also, the first couple of eps are genuinely confusing, which wouldn’t matter so much, but they’re setting up an ongoing plot! I do still highly recommend it, mind.”
23:20 – The Frighteners S01E04 – The Manipulators – 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 lecture on Pavlov’s Dogs. A room full of women being computer-tested for their typing skills. Two blokes, in a flat above a butchers’ shop have been watching the young couple in the flat opposite, and their baby, taping their conversations. The couple’s nerves are frayed. “They’re getting close to breaking point” says one watcher. “Thanks to you” replies the other, more experienced watcher. As they continue to interfere, something terrible happens. One watcher wants to put a stop to it. His superior feels otherwise. But who, exactly is the manipulator and who is the manipulated? First broadcast on Fri 28th July 1972 by ITV. Starring Stanley Lebor (Howard in Ever Decreasing Circles) and Bryan Marshall (Rooms, Warship, The Spy Who Loved Me). Written and Directed by Mike Hodges, who also wrote & directed Get Carter, The Terminal Man, and Omen II; and directed The Tyrant King, Flash Gordon and, er, Morons from Outer Space.
23:46 – Closedown music.
23:50 – Closedown.