17:35 – Sheepy’s opening caption and music.
17:40 – Thames TV morning start-up music.
17:45 – Only When I Laugh – S02E05 – The Visitors – 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’s overbearing, hypochondriac mother comes to visit and he is initially scared to tell her he is romancing nurse Jenny. Norman’s cowardice gives Glover the opportunity to try and make a move but Figgis puts him off with lies about Jenny and the young couple eventually stand up to Mrs Binns. Figgis meanwhile shares a passionate embrace with a visitor who is not his wife – and is also unaware that he has one… First broadcast on Tue 27th May 1980 by ITV. Repeated from Sheepy’s Show #39 – Wed 2023/02/15.
18:10 – Michael Bentine’s Potty Time S04E02 – The Secret War / The Potty Roman Games – 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, after the success of the Blotting-Paper Bomb, an aircraft carrier made of ice wasn’t such a daft idea; it did bring about the surrender of a German U-Boat. And at the Potty Roman games, gladiatorial bouts, fights with lions, and chariots pulled by the fastest racing snails are just some of the exciting events to be witnessed! First broadcast on Wed 18th Jan 1978 by ITV.
18:32 – The Intruder S01E05 – Peter – 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, Simon is caught, by Sonny, spying in a derelict Manchester abattoir. Sonny threatens him with a razor and will leave him to die but Valerie agrees to return to Skirston if he frees the boy. Simon lies to Arnold but later calls the police. First broadcast on Sun 30th Jan 1972 by ITV.
18:57 – Intermission (courtesy of Monty Python).
18:59 – Clangers (New CBeebies Version) S01E28 – The Brilliant Surprise – 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, when Tiny Clanger receives a message from the Iron Chicken that “it’s coming”, she is mystified as to what the “it” might be – and even more puzzled that no-one will tell her. Everyone seems to be in on the secret, but in the end, Tiny gets a brilliant surprise! First broadcast on Mon 14th Dec 2015 at 5.30pm by CBeebies.
19:10 – Star Trek (The Original Series) S03E14 – Whom Gods Destroy – This week, Kirk and Spock are taken prisoners by a former starship captain named Garth, who now resides at, and has taken over, a high security asylum for the criminally insane. First broadcast in the USA on Fri 3rd Jan 1969 by NBC. Featuring Yvonne “Batgirl” Craig as Marta, whose “suggestive dance” in this episode (together with the “sadistic plot elements” of Captain Kirk being tortured, yet again) was felt by the BBC to be “unsuitable for children” and thus led this episode to be the fourth and last that was banned from British TV until 1994. Unusually, German TV also banned it for similar reasons, although they relented earlier, in 1988.
20:00 – Tales of the Unexpected S02E12 – Genesis and Catastrophe – 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, in 1889, Austrian customs officer Alois is desperate his wife Klara will pull through a difficult labour and both she and baby will survive. First broadcast on Sat 17th May 1980 by ITV.
20:26 – Special Branch S04E05 – Something About a Soldier – 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, when two children run riot in the luggage department at London Airport and cause a mix-up with passengers’ baggage, it inadvertently results in the discovery of a sinister secret – which leads Craven to investigate two army officers. First broadcast on Thu 14th Mar 1974 by ITV. With Garfield Morgan (Haskins in The Sweeney), Rula Lenska, Godfrey James (Inspector Dinas in The Aphrodite Inheritance) and William Marlowe (DCI Russell in The Gentle Touch; Brian Kettle in Rooms; DW: The Mind of Evil; DW: Revenge of the Cybermen).
21:16 – Eurotrash S08E05 – 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 Bettina, Denmark’s Diskofil, New-Age Huns, Lolopops, Fily Houtteman, Michou the Dancing Diva. First broadcast on Fri 6th June 1997 by Channel 4.
21:40 – The Persuaders! E15(P14)/24 – Element of Risk – 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: A concealed microfilm in a dark grey attaché case dropped inconspicuously in Danny’s luggage trolley, will trigger a game of masquerade as unlucky Danny will need to play along and act as an undisputed American criminal mastermind. First broadcast on Fri 24th Dec 1971 by ITV. Featuring Shane “Scott Tracy” Rimmer, Peter Bowles, June “A Kind of Loving” Ritchie, David “NASA bloke in You Only Live Twice” Healy, Carol Cleveland (as “Girl at Airport”), James Cosmo, and William Marlowe again!
22:30 – Keep It In The Family S02E02 – Home Is Where the Heat Is – 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 decides to play detective when Jacqui’s handbag is stolen. First broadcast on Mon 8th Sept 1980 by ITV.
22:53 – Hot Metal S01E02 – The Modern Prometheus – 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, after successfully relaunching the Daily Crucible with his Royals Porno Storm story, editor Russell Spam is about to unveil his Sensational Sex Secrets of the Soviets – from the mouth of Nikita Khrushchev, who reporter Greg Kettle has found alive in Switzerland. Meanwhile, the government would like a little support on a humanitarian matter. First broadcast on Sun 23rd Feb 1986 by ITV. Featuring Helen Atkinson-Wood as a TV interviewer.
23:17 – The Frighteners S01E05 – The Disappearing Man – 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 tired and worried man fails to see his reflection in a train window. He comes to the conclusion that he is being ignored in life because he is disappearing from the world. First broadcast on Fri 4th August 1972 by ITV. Featuring Victor Maddern (grouchy cabbie from Together), Avis Bunnage, John Ringham, Margo Cunningham, Talfryn Thomas, Dorothea Philips, Morgan Richardson and Leslie Schofield.
23:42 – Music video.
23:46 – Closedown music.
23:50 – Closedown.