How It's Made

[Norton Canes]

I was sat watching How It's Made in the early hours of this morning, needing something to keep me awake while I waited for a call from A&E. I've got a lot of time for How It's Made. No frills, no talking heads, just straight onto the factory floor to see people and machines putting shit together. One of the ones I watched was Utility Knives (Warning: narrated by some Canadian, not Tony Hirst). Perhaps not the most fascinating of objects but as always, How It's Made provided an intriguing insight into their manufacture.

A couple of Three things struck me about this one.

1. I want a vibrabowl. Not entirely sure what I'd do with it, but I want a vibrabowl.
2. I love (at 3:50) the way the knife handle parts are taken off their hanger rack. Not by a person, not by a robotic arm, not by tipping the rack up or whatever, but brilliantly by just blowing a jet of air onto each piece.
3. Then a lady puts the spare blades into the housing. But wait OH FUCK, SHE'S GOT PLASTERS ALL OVER HER FINGERS, OH NO NO NO, I CAN'T WATCH THAT, fucking hell, that's... you think they would have done something about that. Fuck. I wouldn't have wanted to be there on her first day on the job. Jesus.

Anyway this is the place to talk about your favourite episodes of How It's Made, or maybe just the last one you watched.

[Egyptian Feast]

I haven't watched it in ages, but my favourite episode is any one where Tony makes lots of shit puns relating to the object in question. It's really disappointing when he doesn't bother and you're left hanging for 15 minutes, waiting for a crap joke that never arrives.

[Bazooka]

Yeah it is a quality show, as you say no bullshitting, just getting told straight up how a wheelie bin is made, you get a glimpse of the workers hands and they tell a tale.

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

Is Tony Hirst the guy who somehow manages to say every single line of narration with the exact same hushed, gently undulating cadence?

It's one of those shows that, when I visit my parents, my dad can have on a seemingly perpetual loop.

[mothman]

Pah! CBeebies' Do You Know? is where it's at. And in this episode she wears a tight, oh so tight wetsuit...

[Norton Canes]

Golden opportunity missed to look at some wave machines in that one.

[jobotic]

Pah! CBeebies' Do You Know? is where it's at. And in this episode she wears a tight, oh so tight wetsuit...

She's lovely isn't she? Not quite as lovely as Rebecca from Let's Play (let it be me indeed) or Topsy and Tim's mum, but even so...

[Morrison Lard]

How It's Made is quite addictive viewing.
Great combinations of things on each episode too; ballet shoes and chainsaws, bobby's police helmets and teacups.

If you like watching things being made,
there's a bloke who's a big hit on Youtube knocking up mud huts and jungle shoe racks,
can't remember his name but chances are you know who I'm on about.

_{Fucking hell, I've just realised the bloke who does the narration on How It's Made was that fireman in Coronation Street.}

[Cloud]

Excellent show, really interesting, but oh dear god those puns.
I'm usually giggling my way through reddit pun wars in their comment threads and even I cringe at Tony's!

[buzby]

3. Then a lady puts the spare blades into the housing. But wait OH FUCK, SHE'S GOT PLASTERS ALL OVER HER FINGERS, OH NO NO NO, I CAN'T WATCH THAT, fucking hell, that's... you think they would have done something about that. Fuck. I wouldn't have wanted to be there on her first day on the job. Jesus.

I think that might actually be protective tape to stop the tips of her fingers being nicked by the blades. It's too fiddly a job to do wearing gloves.

I love How It's Made. The original ones were all in Canada or North America (as it's part-financed by the Canadian government's Film Tax Credit scheme) but in recent years they have ventured further abroad and there have been segments filmed in Europe. The Swiss Army Knife one was quite good, (even though it was filmed at Victorinox and not Wenger) and the snowboard one.

[Twed]

Not quite the same thing, but any excuse to post this delightful Sesame Street crayons video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ_MEFVx5jM

[Ambient Sheep]

I love it too, because it reminds me of my childhood in the early 1970s - BBC2 Trade Test Colour Films like Prospect for Plastics and the "through the window" inserts in Play School.

I did a lot of binge-watching of it around seven or eight years ago, which probably got them largely out of my system; since then have only seen one or two a few months ago.

But am still thrilled that someone, somewhere, still makes this type of film.  My joy when I first stumbled across it was considerable, as I thought such things were long dead in this day and age.

Just a shame it isn't semi-force-fed to today's seven-year-old kids as it was to us back in 1972 when there was a choice of that, the test card, or fucking horse racing from Aintree.[nb]Schedule details may not be exactly as shown, but you get the idea.[/nb]

[Mr Banlon]

Amuse yourself by counting how many times Tony Hirst says 'next' per episode. Or more accurately, how many times he says 'nehhhhkst'.

[turnstyle]

She's lovely isn't she? Not quite as lovely as Rebecca from Let's Play (let it be me indeed) or Topsy and Tim's mum, but even so...

Always felt that there was an undercurrent of melancholy in the way the mum is portrayed. Sure, it's all smiles during the day, but I reckon once the twins are in bed she's hiding in the bathroom drinking prosecco and shouting obscenities at the Gala Bingo app, while her sad sack husband is obliviously fiddling with his model railway in the attic. It's the only coupling action he's going to get.

There was an episode of Holby City or Casulaty, where the same actress went mental, held people hostage and tried to burn the house down with her inside. I kept expecting Topsy and Tim to pop up and ask me if I was good at remembering things, and if I could recall which hand she had held the matches in.

[mothman]

Topsy & Tim's parents are absolutely terrified of them. I think they think they're going to be sent to the cornfield at any moment.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I sometimes put it on for a bit of visual wallpaper when I'm listening to records and a bit mashed.

I went to an Ulrich Schnauss gig with some guy doing 'live visuals' and a lot of it was was similar in tone really.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Just a shame it isn't semi-force-fed to today's seven-year-old kids as it was to us back in 1972 when there was a choice of that, the test card, or fucking horse racing from Aintree.[nb]Schedule details may not be exactly as shown, but you get the idea.[/nb]

As someone born in the mid 80's my lasting memory of early-90's television was horse racing, rugby and without fail a western on one of the channels.

I don't watch much telly at the weekend these days but the western thing has died a death. I'd probably watch them these days. I suppose there's always Columbo.

[Shit Good Nose]

She's lovely isn't she? Not quite as lovely as Rebecca from Let's Play (let it be me indeed) or Topsy and Tim's mum, but even so...

I like it when Maddie does her little hamster face.

Rebecca IS lovely, and she is also AMAZING at accents.  But she need to do something about her bowl-cut fringe. 

The other CBeebies lovely, Katy Ashworth, used to live near us and we would quite often see her in the local park and soft play place with her baby and old, ugly overweight (now ex) husband.  But then she disappeared overnight from CBeebies without notice when she took off to Australia last summer, and then some shit went down - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/30/cbeebies-actress-cleared-of-child-abduction-after-cheating-ex-wa/

[mothman]

We're totally derailing this thread, but Sarah Jane Honeywell has most def still got it. Now married with a son (to a Hollyoaks actor I think he is) she writes a blog about being a mum, which is actually quite interesting as it goes into past abusive relationships, weight problems (and the pressure to be a certain body type/shape, even after being pregnant)... [nb]During which she posted a cracking shot of herself while pregnant with no clothes on.[/nb]

[Shit Good Nose]

Meanwhile, melty-faced Welshman Alex Winters[nb]PHWOOOOOOAAAARRRRRR!!!!![/nb] is getting really old - https://twitter.com/alexwinterstv/status/857333326654427137/photo/1

[jobotic]

The music in the Canadian ones was good too, Jarre-ing away in the background while a golf tee making machine did its business.

[marquis_de_sad]

The other CBeebies lovely, Katy Ashworth, used to live near us and we would quite often see her in the local park and soft play place with her baby and old, ugly overweight (now ex) husband.  But then she disappeared overnight from CBeebies without notice when she took off to Australia last summer, and then some shit went down - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/30/cbeebies-actress-cleared-of-child-abduction-after-cheating-ex-wa/

Fucking hell her ex is a total cunt. His twitter is full of tweets (some @ing her) acting like a wronged father. What a nutcase.

[Bobtoo]

3. Then a lady puts the spare blades into the housing. But wait OH FUCK, SHE'S GOT PLASTERS ALL OVER HER FINGERS, OH NO NO NO, I CAN'T WATCH THAT, fucking hell, that's... you think they would have done something about that. Fuck. I wouldn't have wanted to be there on her first day on the job. Jesus.

I saw a documentary about a fireworks factory once and pretty much every person who worked there had bits missing.

[Dex Sawash]

I like b&w 20s-40s production line things like
https://youtu.be/HPpTK2ezxL0

Music is usually bad though so I mentally substitute an Eminem[nb]which I don't really know any of it so I create a thing that sounds a bit like I think Lose Yourself sounds for a gritty anachronism [/nb] sort of soundtrack[nb]I saw 8 Mile a few years ago and that perma-associated detroit/eminem[/nb]

[Cuntbeaks]

Prozac TV

[Dusty Gozongas]

Pah! CBeebies' Do You Know? is where it's at. And in this episode she wears a tight, oh so tight wetsuit...

Each to their own. I was expecting it to be less than 1/8" thick, and was disappointed.

[mothman]

When you've endured as much Children's TV as I have over the past decade and a half, you count your blessings when you can.

[Dex Sawash]

3mm is widely accepted as the sexiest wetsuit thickness.
Watched it twice.

[Bhazor]

Children's show presenters are just inherently horn inducing. I just imagine them acting like that during a hump. I picture Huq after a sturdy humping, letting out a big breath with a big smile then putting her hands on her hips and going "Wooh, that was a lot of fun. I'll definitely like to try that again. Thank you everyone.". Then she throws over to Angelica Bell with a strap-on. I mean you see how open minded they are and how eager they are to try new things so they'd definitely be up for a threesome or one of those water bondage tanks.

[billtheburger]

Great thread lads.
I love the seamless combination of two of my favourite things here.