Classic TV

Classic shows that have almost been forgotten, as well as shows that should probably have been forgotten

Charley says: Always use the Green Cross Code

24 September 2013 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Tufty, it turned out, might be cute but he was a bit of a mummy’s squirrel. What cool kid was going to do what Tufty did?

What the government realised was they needed someone a bit more muscular to get kids to cross the road properly. Enter the Green Cross man, played by Dave Prowse, who would just a couple of years later become the body (but not the voice) of Darth Vader himself.

The Green Cross man would intervene when kids were going to cross the road dangerously. He’d teleport to them from his monitoring station at Green Cross Control using his wristwatch then stop them running without looking or whatever it was they were planning on doing. He’d then teach the kids the Green Cross Code – stop, look, listen, think – and then conclude each advert with “I won’t be there when you cross the road, so always use the Green Cross Code.” 

And if the thought of a big, West Country bodybuilder in spandex popping up next to them wouldn’t scare kids into crossing the road properly, I don’t know what would. Maybe a robot.

Classic TV

Nostalgia corner: John Doe (2002-3)

19 September 2013 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Imagine you knew everything. I mean literally everything. Okay, maybe not the answer to questions about things that haven’t happened yet – although with all that knowledge about everything, you’d certainly do well on the stock market and horse racing, for example – but whatever question anyone ever asked you, you could answer it, provided it was part of the sum of all human knowledge, whether it was a question about an obscure 19th century French law, how to make an explosive or how many dimples there are on a golfball.

Everything, that is, except your own name or indeed anything else about yourself. Are you a god in human form? An alien? A scientific experiment?

That was the set up and central mystery of Fox’s John Doe, a 2002 series that saw Prison Break‘s Dominic Purcell wake up naked on a deserted island off the coast of Seattle, with no memory of who he was, brain chock full of answers, a mysteriously shaped scar on his chest and even more mysteriously only able to see in black and white – apart from a few, very important things that show up in red.

It’s a fascinating idea, and one that requires a fascinating answer. Unfortunately, the show was also a salutary example to serial shows based around a central mystery – whatever you do, you better have some good answers at the end of it all. Here’s the series-explaining title sequence:

Continue reading “Nostalgia corner: John Doe (2002-3)”
The Weekly Play

The Wednesday Play: The Changeling (1974)

18 September 2013 Rob Buckley Post a comment

One of the most famous – and best – plays of the English Renaissance is The Changeling by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley. First performed in 1622, it has two parallel plots, one tragic, one comedic. The main plot involves Beatrice-Joanna, Alonzo (to whom she is betrothed) and Alsemero (whom she loves). To rid herself of Alonzo, Beatrice uses De Flores – who loves her – to murder him. The other plot involves Alibius and his wife Isabella. Franciscus and Antonio are in love with her and pretend to be a madman and a fool, respectively, in order to see her. Lollio also wants her.

To preserve the element of suspense, I won’t tell you which is the comedic plot and which is the tragic one.

In 1974, Anthony Page directed a version of the play for the BBC’s Play of the Month strand that starred Helen Mirren as Beatrice-Joanna, Brian Cox as Alsemero, Stanley Baker as De Flores, Tony Selby as Jasperino and Susan Penhaligon as Isabella. Needless to say, it’s pretty good, and it’s today Wednesday Play.

If you like it, buy it on DVD – it’s one of the Helen Mirren at the BBC collection, which also includes The Apple Cart, Caesar and Claretta, The Philanthropist, The Little Minister, The Country Wife, Blue Remembered Hills, Mrs Reinhardt, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cymbeline and The Hawk. That’s 17 hours for £12.50, which I reckon’s pretty good…

Charley says: Learn to read with Bob Hoskins in On the Move

17 September 2013 Rob Buckley Post a comment

It’s not something that people talk about much these days, but not all adults can read, even those who’ve been to school. But back in the 70s, adult literacy was a pressing concern for a government concerned about social mobility and the white heat of technology.

In 1975, in conjunction with a national government campaign, the BBC did its own little bit by creating a TV show, On The Move, that starred Bob Hoskins in one of his first TV roles. Written by Points of View presenter Barry Took, the series of 50, 10-minute episodes saw illiterate removal man Hoskins driving his van around and learning to read, in various combinations, while the likes of Nigel Stock and Patricia Hayes provided the viewer with various exercises. Along the way, various other future notables, including Martin Shaw, popped up to demonstrate the value of reading.

The show spawned two sequels, Your Move, and Right Away, but you can view some of the original Hoskins show below. The catchy theme was sung by The Dooleys, in case you’re wondering.

Classic TV

Nostalgia corner: Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969-70, 2000-2001)

12 September 2013 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Back in the 1960s, crime stories were all the rage (well, crime stories and spy stories. But crime stories particularly.) Finding a way to differentiate the main characters and give a series a unique selling point compared with others was often a challenge.

Possibly the most differentiated – and indeed interesting – crime show of the 60s was Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) (known more prosaically in the US as My Partner The Ghost because focus group research suggested viewers wouldn’t understand the word ‘deceased’). Its premise was simple: two down-at-heel British private investigators, Jeff Randall (Mike Pratt) and Marty Hopkirk (Kenneth Cope), are investigating a case. The bad guys don’t like this and think they’re getting too close so they kill Hopkirk.

Except that doesn’t stop him. Hopkirk is so dedicated to his friend, Jeff – and so keen to bring his murderers to justice – that he returns as a ghost to help solve the case and stop the bad guys. Unfortunately, it takes him too long and after the bad guys are rounded up, a curse dooms Hopkirk to walk the earth as a ghost in an eternally spotless white suit for 100 years.

So Hopkirk stays on to help Jeff solve further cases as best he can, despite being intangible and invisible to everyone else. Cue catchy theme tune and 25 more episodes.

Continue reading “Nostalgia corner: Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969-70, 2000-2001)”