Looks Unfamiliar

Podnose

Writer and occasional broadcaster Tim Worthington is joined by a series of guests for a bit of a chat about some of the things that they remember that nobody else ever does. From Coming On Strong by Broken English and The Order Of The McVitie's Hobnob, to whichever TV programme it was that ended with footage of dandelion seeds being blown away, we're here to try and help, and to confirm that no, nobody else remembers them either.

  • 2 hours 26 minutes
    The Best Of Looks Unfamiliar: The Dublin Gang - Infinity War

    Looks Unfamiliar is a podcast in which writer and occasional broadcaster Tim Worthington talks to a guest about some of the things that they remember that nobody else ever seems to.

    This is a collection of highlights from Looks Unfamiliar featuring Mitch Benn on Channel 4's pre-launch trailers, Ricardo Autobahn on Roadmaker, Donna Rees on The Rise And Rise Of Michael Rimmer, Paul Whitelaw on The Secret Vampire Soundtrack EP by Bis, Ste Brotherstone on TV Tops, Adam S. Leslie on Mystery Train and Bob Fischer and Georgy Jamieson on The Fireworks Code. Along the way we'll be profiling the ubiquity in popular drama of the Glen Matlock Face, waiting eagerly for the repeat broadcast of Three Women Including Juliet Bravo singing that W-O-M-A-N song, playing Make Your Own East India Tea Company and a cardboard remake of Grand Theft Auto, questioning what Margaret Thatcher was doing hogging a double seat at the back of the bus, declining to take style tips from a Karl Howman Mod, celebrating the notorious Video Nasty The Horse Who Came From The Sea, attempting to use ALF as a barometer of celebrity status, debating the optimal costume options for a double-page poster of Arthur English, receiving firework safety advice from the cast of Hot Metal, purchasing a Brian May Firework Assortment from the local supermarket’s John Johnson Counter and trying our hardest not to think about Richard Herring’s imaginary middle of the night television schedules. Plus there's also Tim talking about Harry Secombe on Goon Pod and the build-up to Tim Burton's Batman on Still Any Good? and chats about The Golden Age Of Children's TV with Richard Herring on RHLSTP Book Club and with Andy Miller from Backlisted, and Paul Whitelaw's recollections of watching The Monkees during the school holidays...

    You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at timworthington.org.

    If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. Unlike Micky Dolenz, you do not have time for a bit of conversation-oh.

    6 March 2026, 4:57 pm
  • 1 hour 3 minutes
    134 - Garreth Hirons - Old Jeeves' Special Truffle And Cheese Popcorn

    Looks Unfamiliar is a podcast in which writer and occasional broadcaster Tim Worthington talks to a guest about some of the things that they remember that nobody else ever seems to.

    Joining Tim this time is musician and writer Garreth Hirons, who's sitting through the loading screen waiting for any sign of Copper Blue by Sugar, the Crusader Nuts advert, The Hobbit on the ZX Spectrum, Too Sussed? by These Animal Men, Spring 1994 EP by S*M*A*S*H and Ghoulies Horror Bar. Along the way we'll be querying why ZX Spectrum games with 'Way Of' in the title refused to load, catching up on Season Four of The Weird Butcher Man That Comes And Stands Next To You At The Bar, debating whether the New Wave Of New Wave could have been saved by selling more trousers, revealing how Brett Anderson disqualified himself from appearing on compilations and - of course - trying to attack Thorin with the Trolls' Path.

    Garreth has also appeared on Looks Unfamiliar talking about The Bigger The God, Food Fighters, Saboteur, The Triangle Of Terror, Sizzlin’ Bacon Monster Munch, and Fun At The Funeral Parlour here, The Yellow Album by The Simpsons, the Frankie Goes To Hollywood computer game, Sweet 75, Linc's, Transformers 'Action Masters', The Way Of The Tiger and Quatro here, The Ghosts Of Oxford Street here and the Futurama Christmas Specials here. You can also find Garreth on The Golden Age Of Children's TV talking about Trap Door here.

    If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. We already know Crusader doesn't have any.

    3 February 2026, 1:09 pm
  • 1 hour 8 seconds
    133 - Athena Kugblenu - FANCY THIS MAN!

    Looks Unfamiliar is a podcast in which writer and occasional broadcaster Tim Worthington talks to a guest about some of the things that they remember that nobody else ever seems to.

    Joining Tim this time is comedian Athena Kugblenu, who's frantically pressing pause on the video recorder in the hope of catching glimpses of Street Hawk, the 'I Do Like A Ski, Man' ad campaign, Bad Influence!, Speedball 2: Brutal DeluxeMurder One, Due South and The Dreamstone. Along the way we'll be assessing Serena WIlliams' prowess on the school P.E. apparatus, attempting to stage a Barbenheimer-style double bill of Bagpuss and Roots, rating the Mountie-Adjacent Superhunks and debating whether the Milk Tray man would have had more romantic success if he'd traded exclusively in yoghurt.

    You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at http://timworthington.org.

    If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. I do like a Lavazza, man.

    23 January 2026, 3:19 pm
  • 1 hour 43 minutes
    The Golden Age Of Children's TV - "Ivor The Engine: The Next Generation"

    Tim Worthington has a new book out called The Golden Age Of Children's TV - all about the best, worst and most just plain baffling shows you grew up with in the sixties, seventies and eighties - and the lines are open now for an hour of fun, facts, laughs and thrills. If you're looking for a new hobby to take up and fancy a bit of fresh air, Hilary Machell has a few tips for getting out and about with Go With Noakes. Andy Lewis will be joining us in the studio for a look at some of the locations used in the exciting new serial The Changes. Garry Abbott will be giving us all the up to the minute scientific facts and figures on the latest expedition to Button Moon, Mitch Benn will be dropping by to show us how you can sound like the stars of Clangers, and do we have a rival in our mist? Paul Kirkley is on hand to man the phones and check out the score down at Saturday Superstore. So if you want to join in the fun - or just swap a copy of Noakes At Large for a copy of Super Claire by Claire Usher - ring the show now!

    You can get The Golden Age Of Children's TV in all good bookshops, and from Waterstones here, Amazon here, from the Kindle Store here and directly from Black And White Publishing here. - and if you want to know more about what you can find in it, head for timworthington.org!

    10 January 2026, 3:23 pm
  • 1 hour 45 minutes
    A Perfect Looks Unfamiliar Christmas: Tim Worthington - You're Not Doing Toast Properly

    Looks Unfamiliar is a podcast in which writer and occasional broadcaster Tim Worthington talks to a guest about some of the things that they remember that nobody else ever seems to.

    This time Tim's joining guest host Joanne Sheppard for a festively-tinged chat about Merry X-Mess by Rotterdam Termination Source, The Wassailing Song by Blur, BBC2's A Perfect Christmas, Victoria Wood With All The Trimmings, Victor Lewis-Smith's Bumper Christmas Cracker Cliché and The Hudsucker Proxy. Along the way we'll be debating how 'latex lampoonery' can work in audio only, discovering how Terry Collier invented AI, providing Richard Herring with some Ftone Fuftenance tips, watching Merchant Ivory's A Door With A Hinge, explaining why Ernie Wise was basically every panellist on every panel show ever and taking bets on how would 'win' out of Howard The Duck and The Signalman

    You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at http://timworthington.org/. You can also find Tim as the guest with a festive twist talking about I Was Born On Christmas Day by Saint Etienne Featuring Tim Burgess, Ferrero Prestige, Bod's PresentA Merry Jingle by The Greedies, Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion by Jenny T. Colgan, Mariah Carey's rendition of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Richard Herring's Christmas Emergency QuestionsIron Man 3 (which is a Christmas Film), Joe 90 Christmas Special The Unorthodox Shepherd and Merry Christmas Santa Claus (You're A Lovely Guy) by Max Headroom here.

    If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. Not to be brought by whoever it is that's going around with 'white' toast.

    23 December 2025, 10:12 am
  • 1 hour 35 minutes
    Looks Unfamiliar's Box Of Delights - Richard Marson - I Suspect The Binmen Were Probably Not In That Year's Review Of The Year

    Looks Unfamiliar is a podcast in which writer and occasional broadcaster Tim Worthington talks to a guest about some of the things that they remember that nobody else ever seems to.

    Joining Tim this time for a Special Assignment is writer Richard Marson, author of the definitive history of Children's BBC Box Of Delights - not to mention Doctor Who Magazine veteran and former Blue Peter Editor - Richard Marson, We'll be hearing some of the stories behind the making of Jackanory, Play School, Multicoloured Swap Shop, Grange Hill, John Craven's Newsround and Blue Peter as well as our own memories of watching the shows as younger viewers - including which Kenneth Williams story was wiped before it could be repeated, the shocking truth about Hamble's Cage, the betting odds on who would 'win' out of Giant Pandas and Giant Hogweed, and the uninspiring saga of The Caring Binmen.

    You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at http://timworthington.org/.

    If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. Do not try throwing it over on a fork.

    15 December 2025, 8:48 am
  • 1 hour 17 minutes
    The Looks Unfamiliar Sound Spectrum: Tim Worthington - The Old Nationwide Theme

    Looks Unfamiliar is a podcast in which writer and occasional broadcaster Tim Worthington talks to a guest about some of the things that they remember that nobody else ever seems to.

    This time Tim’s joining guest host Paul Abbott for a chat about the mid-nineties 'loungecore' compilation series The Sound Gallery, and in particular the little-heard spinoff volume The Sound Spectrum. Along the way we'll be debating the relative merits of a whining bloke over-emoting a rewrite of the Weetos jingle and a bloke in another room singing through a cardboard tube, failing to buy an album worth five thousand quid for twenty pence, learning how to throw shade with a rogue capital letter, pondering the proliferation of Johns and Alans in library music and definitely not watching anything whatsoever late at night on SAT1.

    You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at http://timworthington.org/. You can also find Paul standing in for chats with Tim about California FeverGalloping Galaxies!, Bad RonaldIn-Flight EntertainmentThe Chronicles Of Narmo by Caitlin Moran, Pirate Radio FourThe Collings And Herrin Podcast and What’s That Noise? here, Pickwick Talking Books’ Doctor Who: State Of Decay, the BBC PinocchioDoctor Who: Variations On A ThemeThe Paradise Of Death and The Ghosts Of N-SpaceDoctor Who: The Ultimate AdventureThe Sally Lockhart Mysteries, Katarina, David Tennant and Catherine Tate’s Much Ado About NothingMeet The Thirteenth Doctor, that time a Dalek turned up on the BBC Schools programme W.A.L.R.U.S. and Doctor Who: The Interactive Electronic Board Game here, Karen Gillan’s horror short The Hoarding here and The Magic Roundabout here, as well as a chat with Garreth Hirons about Wonderwall by The Mike Flowers Pops here.

    If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. If you were planning to go to Bistro Erotica Italia, please remember that it's invitation only. Though I'm sure Jarvis Cocker would be happy to bring one out for you.

    8 December 2025, 7:38 pm
  • 1 hour 21 minutes
    132 - Mitch Benn - Argos Blade Runner

    Looks Unfamiliar is a podcast in which writer and occasional broadcaster Tim Worthington talks to a guest about some of the things that they remember that nobody else ever seems to.

    Joining Tim this time is musician, comedian and writer Mitch Benn, who's tuning in that mysterious extra button on his television in search of any trace of Channel 4's pre-launch promotional trailers, Imagination by Belouis Some, Space Sentinels, Simon Dutton's turn as The Saint, How To Be A Complete Bastard by Adrian Edmondson and The Six Million Dollar Man's toy adversary Maskatron. Along the way we'll be profiling the ubiquity in popular drama of the Glen Matlock Face, finding out How To Be A Complete Bastard In Space, considering whether Astrea from Space Sentinels is 'above' pants and waiting eagerly for the repeat broadcast of Three Women Including Juliet Bravo singing that W-O-M-A-N song.

    You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at http://timworthington.org. You can also find Mitch on Looks Unfamiliar talking about Nobody’s HouseDon’t Stand So Close To Me ’86 by The Police, Cyborg and Muton, Orion, Two Stage Self-Assembly Ice Cream Cones and Get Stuffed here, 54321, Logan’s Run The Series, Matchbox Zoomy Balloonies, Action Man’s Atomic Man and Bullet Man, King Swamp, and fifties nostalgia in the seventies hereMonday Morning 5.19 by Rialto, The Laughing PrisonerOh Baby by Rhianna, Pocketeers, O.T.T. and the original pre-Geoffrey incarnation of Rainbow here, and Star Turn Challenge, evil Grange Hill teacher Mr. Hicks, StrikerLines by The Planets, Night Raven and the rise of international celebrities acting in pop videos here, Stars by Hear’n’Aid, Into InfinityThe HumanoidA Man Called Sloane, BusyBodies and The Kids Are Alright by The Pleasers here and No Memory by Scarlet Fantastic, The Flipside Of Dominick HideThe DeceiversEureka!, Lady Sovereign and Jentina's feud and Mego Pocket Heroes here.

    If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. Don't be a complete bastard with it.


    19 November 2025, 3:00 pm
  • 1 hour 36 minutes
    The Golden Age Of Children's TV - "His Hair Represents Something Or Other"

    Tim Worthington has a new book out called The Golden Age Of Children's TV - all about the best, worst and most just plain baffling shows you grew up with in the sixties, seventies and eighties - and the lines are open now for an hour of fun, facts, laughs and thrills. If you're a fan of The Adventure Game, Martin Ruddock will be taking your calls and offering a few hints and tips on how to beat the puzzlers and make it across the Drogna Board. They're The Monkees, but Paul Whitelaw will be in the studio for a look at what you can look forward to when Micky, Davy, Mike and Peter take over your television. Ste Brotherstone will be joining us with a few ideas of how you can stay top of the class for the new term at Grange Hill, Danny Kodicek has the long and short on Big John Little John, and Juliet Harris will be coming to us live from Teddington as she meets the stars of The Sooty Show. So if you want to join in the fun - or just swap a copy of Grange Hill Graffiti for a copy of Drogna on the BBC Micro - ring the show now!

    You can get The Golden Age Of Children's TV in all good bookshops, and from Waterstones here, Amazon here, from the Kindle Store here and directly from Black And White Publishing here. - and if you want to know more about what you can find in it, head for timworthington.org!

    5 November 2025, 11:38 am
  • 1 hour 1 minute
    The Looks Unfamiliar Bonfire Night Spooky Display Spectacular: Bob Fischer And Georgy Jamieson - Hashtag Wotsit Slurry

    Looks Unfamiliar is a podcast in which writer and occasional broadcaster Tim Worthington talks to a guest about some of the things that they remember that nobody else ever seems to.

    This time, in a special Halloween slash Bonfire Night edition, Tim, Bob Fischer and Georgy Jamieson are all crowding into a local radio studio with rubber spiders hanging from the walls and a box of indoor fireworks with DO NOT USE written on it, ready to take your calls about some of the politely spooky crepe paper stylings and milk bottle-launched rockets that you just don't seem to get any more. So that's plastic fangs that never fitted anybody, Paul Daniels' notorious 'live' Halloween hoax, Blue Peter's Halloween 'makes', sparkler-themed Public Information Films, the gunpowder-fuelled rivalry between Standard and Brocks, horror-themed sweets and snacks like Trebor Mummies and Count Dracula's Deadly Secret, fireworks with unnecessarily detailed illustrations on them that nobody would see, Words And Pictures exploring the supernatural for primary school audiences and much more besides. In a firework that doesn't go off but we don't dare return to of a chat we'll be lending an ear to Erasure's Bagpuss-esque EP, recalling Timmy Mallett's Inspiral Carpets phase and Jane Asher's Occult Cakes, debating the theoretical existence of Schrödinger's Firework Money, receiving firework safety advice from the cast of Hot Metal, purchasing a Brian May Firework Assortment from the local supermarket's John Johnson Counter, adhering to the image rights restrictions of Fawkes Inc., questioning whether an antique firework can legitimately be described as in 'Near Mint' condition, examining whether 31st October really is the night when seventies ventriloquist puppets be walkin' and issuing a stern warning never to go back to an edition of Crackerjack! that you don't properly remember. Call in and tell us if you ever went bobbing for Wotsits now!

    You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at http://timworthington.org/. Bob and Georgy joined me for similarly seasonal chats about some of their favourite forgotten Christmas trimmings here and the rain-lashed joys of the Great British Summertime here. You can also find Bob on Looks Unfamiliar chatting about The Tom O’Connor Roadshow, Giant Hogweed, Can’t Get A Ticket (For The World Cup) by Peter Dean, Glee Bars, J. Edward Oliver’s ‘Abolish Tuesdays’ and How To Be A Wally here, Eighties ‘Tabloid Celebrities’, Accidentally Kelly Street by Frente!, The Two Ronnies’ ‘Mileaway’, Rude FoodSuggs On Saturday and School Folk Songs here and Tucker’s Luck, Pookiesnackenburger, We Wanna Be Famous by Buster Gobsmack And Eats Filth’, game show contestants’ occupations being booed by the studio audience and the lost ancient art of the paper plate and shaving foam Custard Pie here, and Georgy on Indoor LeagueRe-Joyce!, the The Animals In The Box sketch, the Paul Squire Fan Club, Pippa Dolls, Pig In The Middle and Good Winter Telly here and Wait Till Your Father Gets HomeGo For Broke!Last Chance Lottery, Fry’s Five Centres and Vesta Ready Meals here. You can also find Georgy on The Golden Age Of Children's TV talking about Bod here and Bob on The Owl Service here.

    If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. If you're caught with it just say your name is 'Maxwell House'.

    28 October 2025, 2:38 pm
  • 1 hour 21 minutes
    131 - Adam S. Leslie - Full Richard Harris Intensity

    Looks Unfamiliar is a podcast in which writer and occasional broadcaster Tim Worthington talks to a guest about some of the things that they remember that nobody else ever seems to.

    Joining Tim this time is novelist and screenwriter Adam S. Leslie, who’s marching in step with his hazy recollections of Full Metal Jacket (I Wanna Be Your Drill Instructor) by Abigail Mead and Nigel Goulding, the Return Of The Jedi Read-Along Book And Tape, comedy juggler Michael Davies, Piece Of Cake, Juggernaut and Richard O'Brien's Mystery Train. Along the way we'll be refusing to listen to The Last Temptation Of Christ Rap by Willem Dafoe, declining to engage with Militant Hoojib Deniers, avoiding paying any heed to Andrew Collins' Disaster Movie Unrecommendations and trying our hardest not to think about Richard Herring's imaginary middle of the night television schedules.

    You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at http://timworthington.org/. You can also find Adam on Maths-In-A-BoxI Heard Your Name by Martin Rev, Noble And Silver: Get Off Me!The Great Reality TV SwindleCodename MAT and 1, 2, 3 And Away! here, and on The Golden Age Of Children's TV talking about Mysterious Cities Of Gold here.

    If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. Preferably before it goes as cold as the one invariably left neglected on Kolchak's desk.

    29 September 2025, 8:44 am
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