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.

  • 1 hour 22 minutes
    The Golden Age Of Children's TV - "It's A Bit Like The A-ha Video"

    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. School's out but Emma Burnell is here to take the register for another term at Grange Hill. Mark Thompson will be dropping by to explain why they keep talking about 'bins' in Running Scared. Send in your puns for Al Kennedy, who'll be giving out prizes to any that could work as a Count Duckula episode title. Justin Lewis will be joining us for a live link-up with Emu's Broadcasting Company, and Genevieve Jenner will be going behind the scenes for a look at how they make Faerie Tale Theatre. So if you want to join in the fun - or just swap a copy of You Know The Teacher (What A Smash-Head) for a copy of Count Duckula 2 Featuring Tremendous Terence - ring the show now!

    You can get The Golden Age Of Children's TV in all good bookshops, and from Amazon here, Waterstones here or 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!

    30 January 2025, 12:57 pm
  • 1 hour 35 minutes
    124 - Joanne Sheppard - A Billy Butler For Every Region

    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 book reviewer Joanne Sheppard, who's writing in to an early evening BBC magazine show for confirmation that she's not just making up Fax, rival human-ape hybrid thrillers First Born and Chimera, Next Of Kin, Mother Love, I'm Your Number One Fan, BBC Schools show The History Trail, The Yolk Folk, Angela Rippon's Victoria Plum and ITV's attempt at televised Cluedo. Along the way we'll be stocking up on Mark Phillips And His Horses merchandise, declining to eat some fifty year old corned beef, debating which lasted longer out of Whither Tarrant? and Whither Oddie?, finding out what would happen if you described Mark And Lard to your grandparents and finally explaining the ending of Life On Mars via a series of clues relating to Gene Hunt's thumb.

    You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at http://timworthington.org/. You can also find Joanne talking about The December Rose, Colorado Beetle paranoia, Brontosaurus, Will You Wait For Me? by David Bellamy, Timbuctoo, KP Wickers, The Enchanted Castle, Major Morgan The Electronic Organ and Wilderness Road here, The Bump by MC Mallett, Horror Chews, The Strange Affair Of Adelaide Harris, Matchbox Fighting Furies, Mouthtrap, Connoisseur, World Magazine, All Aboard! and The Guinness Book Of Pet Records here, Dramarama: The Exorcism Of Amy, Spine Chillers, Blue Peter’s Witch Puppet Make, Monsters Of The Movies by Denis Gifford, Nothing To Be Afraid Of by Jan Mark, Paperhouse, Dekker Toys’ Movie/TV Horror Make-Up Kit and Remus Playkits Identispook here and Go For It!, What-A-Mess, My Pretty Pony, John Carradine's The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow, The Water Babies, The Magnificent Race, Amazon Adventure by Willard Price and Snapper Crocodiles here. You can also find Joanne on The Golden Age Of Children's TV talking about The Baker Street Boys here.

    If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. Just make sure Bill Oddie doesn't pay for his own using your PIN number live on air.

    12 January 2025, 5:07 pm
  • 1 hour 15 minutes
    The Golden Age Of Children's TV - "Every Owl She Traced, She'd Be Taking A Selfie"

    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. Bibi Lynch is waiting at the Why Bird Stop to join us on board the Playbus. Rose Ruane will be bringing along some alliterative bits and pieces and telling us all about Bric-A-Brac. Anna Cale is joining us to keep us up to date with the latest headlines direct from the Junior Gazette in Press Gang. Vikki Gregorich will be dropping by to introduce a new animated adventure serial in Ulysses 31 and Bob Fischer is on hand to explain how you too can trace patterns from plates like in The Owl Service. So if you want to join in the fun - or just swap a copy of Press Gang: Public Exposure for a copy of The Making Of The Owl Service - ring the show now!

    You can get The Golden Age Of Children's TV in all good bookshops, and from Amazon here, Waterstones here or 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!

    6 January 2025, 5:26 pm
  • 50 minutes 50 seconds
    Looks Unfamiliar's Yuletide Binge - Ben Baker - The Fickleness Of The Long Distance Ratter

    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 broadcaster Ben Baker, who's hoping that nothing will him dismay in a handful of overlooked Christmas Specials of otherwise well-known television shows including The Goodies' ITV debut Snow White 2, Roland Rat's BBC debut Roland's Yuletide Binge and Imelda Davies, Mr, Griffiths and Harriet The School Donkey's debut in Grange Hill For Christmas. Along the way we'll be debating whether it's possible for anything to be more 'ribald' than Phil Cool's rubber face, trying to make it past the first ad break of the first episode of Astronauts, leafing through The Official Steve Nallon Annual 1985 and trying not to dwell on what Rob Newman was doing lurking outside the School Furniture Shed.

    You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at http://timworthington.org. You can also find Ben on Mr T’s Christmas DreamThere’s Something Wrong In ParadiseGod In The HouseTo Hell With The Devil, Highway, The Flint Street Nativity, the 1990 Bullseye Christmas Special, Adam And Joe’s Fourmative Years and TFI 1998 here, Bernard And The Genie here and the original and now quietly forgotten version of Now - The Christmas Album here.

    If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. Standing next to a BBC Vending Machine and going 'NYEH-HEHH' is very much optional.

    24 December 2024, 9:06 am
  • 1 hour 33 minutes
    The Golden Age Of Children's TV - "A Bloke And A Monkey Filming On A Bus, That's A Usual Sort Of Thing"

    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. Jane Hill will be joining us live from a Bring And Buy Sale and trying to keep Petra off the counter as she takes a look at Blue Peter. Melanie Williams is heading down the Helter-Skelter faster and faster towards Cuckooland and dropping by for a chat about Jamie And The Magic Torch. Phil Norman will be taking a look behind the scenes at a programme that more often than not took a look behind the scenes at itself in Pipkins. Una McCormack is on hand to take us on a tour of The Manor in search of The Children Of Green Knowe, and Grace Dent will be taking us through what she's found in the window of Emily's shop in Bagpuss. So if you want to join in the fun - or just swap a Boots Bagpuss Pyjama Case for a copy of The Blue Peter Book Of Teddy's Clothes - ring the show now!

    You can get The Golden Age Of Children's TV in all good bookshops, and from Amazon here, Waterstones here or 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!

    4 December 2024, 8:54 pm
  • 1 hour 10 minutes
    Looks Unfamiliar: The Golden Age Of Children's TV - "Admittedly Some Are Wil Cwac Cwac"

    Tim has got a new book out called The Golden Age Of Children's TV - an in-depth and occasionally irreverent look at the story of children's television from Pogle's Wood and Pipkins to Pob's Programme and Press Gang and everything in between. That really is 'everything' - well, everything there is actually something worth saying very much about; sorry, The Country Boy - and anyone who likes Looks Unfamiliar will find plenty to enjoy. It's also the ideal Christmas gift for that difficult to buy for relative who can never quite manage to remember PC Copper's name.

    In this special extra instalment of Looks Unfamiliar, Tim joins Garreth Hrons for a chat about the book and what you can find in it, including such evocative names as Outa-Space!, Fingerbobs, On Safari, Space Ghost, Clangers and much much more. You'll also get to find out why Tim thought the BBC was run by a big machine, how to reposition yourself as a Boss Cat hardliner, the secret influence Gran had on David Bowie's Wilderness Years, and a very complicated set of criteria for working out which was 'your' Henry's Cat theme.

    You can find out more about The Golden Age Of Children's TV - and where to get it - here.

    4 December 2024, 10:49 am
  • 51 minutes 29 seconds
    123 - Mitch Benn - A Perfect Storm Of Goth

    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 hoping to prove that he doesn't have no memory of No Memory by Scarlet Fantastic, The Flipside Of Dominick Hide, The Deceivers, Eureka!, Lady Sovereign and Jentina's feud and Mego Pocket Heroes. Along the way we'll be revisiting the genre of Do We Have To Goth, recounting a slightly wrong version of the invention of crisps, trying to make out an individual audible guitar on any given eighties synth duo hit and assessing whether the overall quality of Jor-El action figures is dependent on how straight their legs are.

    You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at http://timworthington.org. You can also find Mitch on Looks Unfamiliar talking about Nobody’s House, Don’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 Prisoner, Oh 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 and Stars by Hear’n’Aid, Into InfinityThe HumanoidA Man Called Sloane, BusyBodies and The Kids Are Alright by The Pleasers here.

    If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. If you want to throw in a slightly incorrect re-enactment of the invention of coffee too that would be very much a welcome bonus.

    28 November 2024, 6:40 pm
  • 1 hour 18 minutes
    The Golden Age Of Children's TV - "It's Always Also Very Important What Schools Everybody Are From"

    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. Donna Rees will be joining us live from Festive Road to see if there's anything in her pocket to help her to remember Mr. Benn. Chris Shaw will be taking a seat next to Derek Griffiths to give us the latest movie news and all the reviews of what's on at your local Roxy in Film Fun. Suzy Robinson has a few tips on how you can make good use of the things that you find and the things that the everyday folks leave behind with The Wombles. Lydia Mizon is on head to lead another couple of teams through the thrills and spills and general mucky messiness of the Fun House, and Deborah Tracey is lining up with the Pink Windmill Kids for another viral song and dance sensation in Emu's All-Live Pink Windmill Show. So if you want to join in the fun - or just swap a copy of Shake Your Groove Thang by Pat'n'Mick for The Reluctant Pote by Rod Hull - ring the show now!

    You can get The Golden Age Of Children's TV in all good bookshops, and from Amazon here, Waterstones here or 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!

    16 November 2024, 7:44 pm
  • 38 minutes 37 seconds
    122 - Mic Wright - This Is The Kind Of Thing You Do Not Get From Jane Fonda

    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 journalist Mic Wright, who’s rummaging around in a crisp bag in search of Cargo by Men At Work, Rocko's Modern Life, Party Animals, Solitary Fitness by Charles Bronson and Tazos. Along the way we'll be discussing how to avoid Ebeneezer Goode Syndrome, ruminating on The Thinking Man's Pog, trying to swap a duplicate Michael Parkinson Tazo for three Matt Smiths and revealing just how close Tupac Shakur came to appearing in Ballykissangel.

    You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at http://timworthington.org/. You can also find Mic on Looks Unfamiliar talking about The Adventures Of Pete And Pete, Army And Navy Sweets, Emergency by 999, Rock On by David Essex, Thunderbirds comic and the murky origins of a certain unsavoury playground rumour here and I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape by The Times, Clarissa Explains It All, 2000 AD strip Nikolai Dante, Sharky And George, Jeff Lint and The Game here.

    If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, why not buy us a coffee here? I'd say they should do a Kenco Tazo, but... it would probably logistically have to be a set based on Tenko.

    13 November 2024, 2:40 pm
  • 1 hour 5 minutes
    The Golden Age Of Children's TV - "Too Much Information About The Krankies Elektronik Komik"

    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. Joanne Sheppard will be dropping in to follow some unreasonably cryptic - and unreasonably perilous - clues left by Sherlock Holmes for The Baker Street Boys. For all you budding Doc Crocs out there, Ben Baker has a few tips on how to get ahead in actual literal gutter journalism in Round The Bend. Ricardo Autobahn will be putting his pop chart stardom to good use by becoming the latest third member of Rod, Jane And in Rainbow. Carrie Dunn has a few tips on why girls are smarter than boys and she's seen Maid Marian And Her Merry Men to prove it, and Georgy Jamieson is ready to take your calls about the philosophical ramifications of citrus milkshakes in Bod. So if you want to join in the fun - or just swap a copy of The Giant Spitting Image Komic Book for Derek Griffiths' Bent Outta Shape - ring the show now!

    You can get The Golden Age Of Children's TV in all good bookshops, from Amazon here or 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!

    1 November 2024, 9:17 am
  • 52 minutes 8 seconds
    The Looks Unfamiliar Horror Bag - Steve Berry - Frankenstein's Monster Ice Lolly Face Disappears When Ice Lolly Removed From Packet

    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 suitably spooky chat is writer Steve Berry, who’s hoping to dazzle the crowds at the village hall Halloween Disco with his knowledge of Words And Pictures' Witches Of Halloween, Smiths Horror Bags and Vincent Price's ill-fittingly horror-themed adverts for MB Games. Along the way we’ll be questioning Richard Herring's historical sources for the story of St. Ian, asking Wittgenstein if he'd like a Dracula's Deadly Secret, pitching a combined biography of Henry Woolf, Wolfe Morris and Gabriel Woolf, estimating how many copies of MB Games' Voice Of The Mummy were piled up at Neverland Ranch and trying to work out exactly where a 'VHS Fonz' fits in to the Classic Horror tradition.

    You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at timworthington.org. You can also find Steve on Looks Unfamiliar talking about Single Versions Of Pop Songs That Never Get Played Any More, Elastoplast Heroes, United States Of Television, Skoal Bandits, Starblazer Electronic Space Command Belt and Morning Has Broken here.

    If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. They never did find a way of making it Dracula-themed. But you can bet they tried.

    31 October 2024, 6:37 pm
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