17:35 – Sheepy’s opening caption and music.
17:40 – Thames TV morning start-up music.
17:45 – Only When I Laugh – S02E06 – The Lost Sheep – 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 the hospital vicar comes to discuss Norman’s wedding, agnostic Figgis gets into a religious argument but ultimately fears for his soul, because he has not been christened and so he agrees to go ahead with the ceremony. This turns him into a zealous religious missionary – until he hears a confession from Glover, which drastically alters his charitable outlook. First broadcast on Tue 3rd June 1980 by ITV. Repeated from Sheepy’s Show #40 – Wed 2023/02/22.
18:09 – Michael Bentine’s Potty Time S04E04 – The Fun Factory / The Potty Bypass – 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, we’re off to the Potty Fun Factory, where plastic fried eggs and itching powder are among the many items made with pride. Nothing, however, will ever surpass the new all British Mafeking Rouser Mark II – a real cracker, and only five pence. Then we learn how Potty-in-the-Marsh decided which building to knock down to make way for the new Bypass. First broadcast on Wed 1st Feb 1978 by ITV.
18:32 – The Intruder S01E07 – Mavis – 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, Arnold Haithwaite discovers the secret of his identity. The villainous Sonny finds the opposition getting tougher. Arnold has been fighting to save his home from Sonny who wants to make it into a hotel. He is unsuccessful in his fight against him until help from an unexpected quarter arrives. Meanwhile Jane, the spoilt young girl from the manor house, finds her headstrong ways are putting her life into danger. First broadcast on Sun 13th Feb 1972 by ITV.
18:57 – Intermission (courtesy of Monty Python).
18:59 – Clangers (New CBeebies Version) S01E30 – Planty – 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, the Clangers help Granny make her knitting space more special. Major makes her a fan and Mother gives her a purple plant from her garden called Planty. But when Granny wakes up from her nap, Planty has moved. Tiny and Small try to solve the mystery. First broadcast on Tue 24th May 2016 at 6.00pm by CBeebies.
19:10 – Out Of This World S01E04 – The Imposter (Audio Only) – a British science fiction anthology television series made by the ITV franchise ABC Weekend TV for ITV. It was broadcast on ITV in 1962. A spin-off from the Armchair Theatre anthology series, each episode was introduced by the actor Boris Karloff. Many of the episodes were adaptations of stories by science fiction writers including Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick and Clifford D. Simak. The series is described by the British Film Institute as a precursor to the BBC science fiction anthology series Out of the Unknown, which was created and produced by Out of This World creator Irene Shubik after she left ABC. This episode is based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, adapted by Terry Nation, and is presented here in an audio-only copy, which is all that survives. Synopsis: Earth is at war with the Outspacers. Security officer Maj. Peters believes that an Outspace robot bomb is masquerading as top scientist Roger Carter. Condemned to death, a horrified Carter tries desperately to prove his innocence. First broadcast on Fri 21st Jul 1962 by ITV. Starring Patrick “Mine is the last voice that you will ever hear” Allen.
19:54 – Tales of the Unexpected S02E14 – Back for Christmas – 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 only the second non-Dahl-penned episode (it’s by John Collier), a philandering physician with an obsession for orchids cultivates a deadly plot to see off his wife. First broadcast on Sat 31st May 1980 by ITV. Featuring Siân Phillips, Artro Morris and Cyril Luckham.
20:20 – Special Branch S04E07 – Sounds Sinister – 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, it’s blackmail with a difference. Key public figures are having dirty linen washed in public by a pirate radio station. Craven and Haggerty tune into the people behind the scheme and DS Ross becomes a DJ. First broadcast on Thu 28th Mar 1974 by ITV. Featuring, amongst others, John “Robert’s Robots” Clive, Valerie Leon, Peter Cleall, Heather Page and Peter John.
21:11 – Eurotrash S08E07 – 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 Lolo and Lola, Marchioness Marina, Lolopops, The King of Yodelling Farmers, Siegfried & Roy, Preaching to the Perverted, Funky Diamonds. First broadcast on Fri 20th June 1997 by Channel 4.
21:35 – The Persuaders! E17(P03)/24 – Five Miles to Midnight – 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: In Rome, Frank Rocco, a Mafia hitman, is on the run from the Mob after offering to turn state’s evidence. Fulton asks Brett and Danny to get him out of the country, but when a beautiful photographer gets involved the boys find themselves in a shooting war. First broadcast on Fri 7th Jan 1972 by ITV. Featuring Joan Collins, Jean Marsh and Arnold Diamond; written by Terry Nation.
22:25 – Keep It In The Family S02E04 – And Not a Drop to Drink – 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, after Dudley discovers that Susan has been out drinking, he decides to put her off alcohol for good. First broadcast on Mon 22nd Sept 1980 by ITV. Featuring Damaris Hayman!!
22:50 – Hot Metal S01E04 – Casting the Runes – 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, while the Daily Crucible makes hay with its outrageous depiction of Father Teasdale as a militant Marxist, its proprietor Twiggy Rathbone finds reason to denounce public misrepresentation. Meanwhile, Bill Tytla’s on the trail of a murderer. First broadcast on Sun 9th Mar 1986 by ITV.
23:16 – The Frighteners S01E07 – Miss Mouse – 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 hen-pecked husband brings his marriage to a life-changing conclusion one evening after a night out with his wife. Meanwhile their neighbour, Miss Mouse, hears everything via the intercom she uses for babysitting their child. First broadcast on Fri 25th August 1972 by ITV. This episode, sadly, was made in black-and-white due to the ITV colour strike.
23:42 – Closedown music.
23:47 – Closedown.