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Vaguely remembered programmes/ bands/ films from many years ago... what WERE they?

Started by 23 Daves, January 28, 2005, 03:08:27 AM

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23 Daves

I'm none too sure if this is a topic which has come up on Verbwhores before - it does sound like something TJ might have started - but I can't remember a reference to it, can't find a relevant thread, and I'm going to risk it.

It goes like this - is everyone like me in that you will sometimes be bothered by a memory of something unusual you saw or heard from many years ago, but these days you can't place where the hell it actually stemmed from?  This could take the form of anything; a joke, a tune, part of a TV programme, the ident theme, anything at all.  

My examples are as follows.

Back at some point in the mid to late eighties (I think) there was a short film shown on BBC television about a man who was being stalked by a large Victorian house.  It took the form of a monologue, and the only thing from it I can remember in any detail is the part where he ran away to the countryside to escape the house, only for it to follow him there.  "I had to laugh at first," he said in a drab, depressed, monotone voice.  "It looked so funny, just stood there all by itself."  I can remember little else about this film, but I do remember thinking it was absolutely great, and even now I think it sounds slightly proto-bluejam.  Does anyone have any idea what it was, and can anyone remember anything else from it?

My next example:  In early 1983 in the early days of Channel Four there was an advert shown for (what I assume was) a protest singer's new single.  All I can remember from the advert was a picture of a seal in the snow, and the fact that the lyrics contained the lines "killing seals".  I don't think the song troubled the charts, and I don't think the singer ever became famous - but can anyone enlightened me as to who the hell it was, and why their single was constantly being advertised on television using only a very short songclip(which can't have been cheap to do)?

Does anyone have anything else to add?

Mr Skinnylegs

Okay, I'll join in.

A one-off thing shown on (I think) the BBC. Set during the Falklands War. In a pub, owned by an old bloke who is bedridden, and run by an Irish bloke. The War galvanises the old bloke out of bed, and he sticks a campaign map on the wall of the pub and acts like some sort of old officer, keeping a tally of wins and losses.

At the end of the story there's a "victory" celebration, and everyone in the pub turns on the Irish bloke, and turf him out onto the street.

Right, now tell me what THAT was, because no-one I know has a clue...

Jaffa The Cake

Channel 4 comedy about Craig Charles being a pirate. It was shit.

What was it called?

Edit:

It was Captain Butler! It was shit!

no_offenc

Anybody remember an old kids' gameshow thing on CBBC towards the end of the 80s/start of the 90s that had something along the lines of "knock knock, who's there!?" as the title.  Involved kids using pelican crossing buttons/poles to buzz in to answer questions and they got binbags of shite chucked at them every time they got something wrong....

I think.

TJ

Quote from: "no_offenc"Anybody remember an old kids' gameshow thing on CBBC towards the end of the 80s/start of the 90s that had something along the lines of "knock knock, who's there!?" as the title.  Involved kids using pelican crossing buttons/poles to buzz in to answer questions and they got binbags of shite chucked at them every time they got something wrong....

I think.

It was called "Knock Knock" (not to be confused with early 1980s Sunday morning child-orientated Christopher Lillicrap-fronted religious magazine show "Knock Knock"), and was of great interest to the adolescent me as there was a round that necessitated Sophie Aldred to dress up in various 'interesting' costumes (Cleopatra, Victorian ballgown with plunging neckline, 1950s bathing beauty etc).

Ahem.

Morrisfan82

It was called Knock Knock. It was on Friday afternoons & was presented by that Jonathan bloke who used to be in Bread. Though I've a nagging feeling somebody else might've presented it as well, in another series.

Edit: gah.

no_offenc

Quote from: "TJ"
Quote from: "no_offenc"Anybody remember an old kids' gameshow thing on CBBC towards the end of the 80s/start of the 90s that had something along the lines of "knock knock, who's there!?" as the title.  Involved kids using pelican crossing buttons/poles to buzz in to answer questions and they got binbags of shite chucked at them every time they got something wrong....

I think.

It was called "Knock Knock" (not to be confused with early 1980s Sunday morning child-orientated Christopher Lillicrap-fronted religious magazine show "Knock Knock"), and was of great interest to the adolescent me as there was a round that necessitated Sophie Aldred to dress up in various 'interesting' costumes (Cleopatra, Victorian ballgown with plunging neckline, 1950s bathing beauty etc).

Ahem.

Ta for that TJ and Muteki.  Glad to know that I wasn't just dreaming the thing up!

Morrisfan82

Actually, the more I think about it, the more that bit about Jonathan Bread seems like lager-addled rollocks. Don't take my word for it.

Evil Gazebo

I have vague memories of some ITV saturday morning kids show from my youth, called something like 'Ghost Train.' Except whenever I took up the subject with anyone they had never heard of it.

It took me ages to find out it did in fact exist, although I still have no recollection of much of it.

Morrisfan82

TV Cream have a potted history of Saturday morning kids TV, Ghost Train has a small paragraph. It's here.

Satkids also has a page on it here.

Evil Gazebo

Quote from: "Muteki"TV Cream have a potted history of Saturday morning kids TV, Ghost Train has a small paragraph. It's here.

Satkids also has a page on it here.

Cheers for that... In my defense I only had the vaguest of memories of the storyline. Pretty much blocked out the crapness of it all... Ah, the innocence of youth.

Jaffa The Cake

Quote from: "Evil Gazebo"called something like 'Ghost Train.' Except whenever I took up the subject with anyone they had never heard of it.
Well, I remember it. Not only that, I remember when Barry Mafia took over the ghost train for a while. It was ace.

Nobby the Sheep was also on it, who wasn't so ace.

Evil Gazebo

Quote from: "Jaffa The Cake"Well, I remember it. Not only that, I remember when Barry Mafia took over the ghost train for a while. It was ace.

Nobby the Sheep was also on it, who wasn't so ace.

God it's all coming back now. Yeah, I remember Barry Mafia taking over come to mention it. it was probably that that stopped me from relegating the whole thing to the deepest memories of my mind

Jaffa The Cake

I also remember games involving a kid walking around blindfolded an a checkered floor. A bit like Knightmare but worse.

Duffy

Quote from: "Jaffa The Cake"I also remember games involving a kid walking around blindfolded an a checkered floor. A bit like Knightmare but worse.
Sounds like The Adventure Game to me.

falafel

There was a kids' Christmas film about a plan to make lollipops that used the fuel from Santa's sleigh and make people fly... anyone?

It was shit, mind, but I loved it as a kid.

Quote from: "falafel"There was a kids' Christmas film about a plan to make lollipops that used the fuel from Santa's sleigh and make people fly... anyone?

It was shit, mind, but I loved it as a kid.

"Santa Claus: The movie"

massive_bereavement

I saw a BBC kids drama thing in about 1985/6 which left me scarred for a few years. All I can remember is what I think was the end of the last episode:
There was a scruffy, pale, chimney-sweep type lad, possibly with a cap on, his shocked face lit up by an explosion of some kind. In an alley, with metal bins. Definite Victorian vibe. These few seconds comprised a disturbing, recurring nightmare I used to have. It doesn't make much sense I know, explosions in  alleyways blowing up a sweepy at 5.20pm on BBC1, but you never know, someone might understand. Or be able to heal my ravaged psyche.

Jaffa The Cake

This might not fit exactly into this thread, but anyway...

Anyone remember when Milky Ways used to have a chocolate coloured middle bit rather than white mush? When I tell people this (old people than me) I get some very odd looks.

Also, anyone remember the chocolate bar 'Secret' (I think it was called that)? It was like a nested chocolate tube, with moose in the middle. It came in a goldish wrapper with a little white cardboard tray inside.

Adrian Brezhnev

My favourite film that sank without trace was Artemis 81.

I was on holiday with my family in Wales and we were walking to a remote coastal location when I noticed a red telephone kiosk in exactly the kind of place where you wouldn't expect to find one.

Then I saw lots of camera people and I asked them what they were filming- they said it was Artemis 81 and would be on BBC1 in the week after Christmas.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082030/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxzZz0xfGxtPTIwMHx0dD1vbnxwbj0wfHE9YXJ0ZW1pcyA4MXxodG1sPTF8bm09b24_;fc=1;ft=20

It's one of the first films I ever asked my father to record on his Betamax, and it was incredible. Amazing locations, gothic undertones, a bizaare plot, and a great cast, including some young pop singer called Sting.

23 Daves

Quote from: "massive_bereavement"I saw a BBC kids drama thing in about 1985/6 which left me scarred for a few years. All I can remember is what I think was the end of the last episode:
There was a scruffy, pale, chimney-sweep type lad, possibly with a cap on, his shocked face lit up by an explosion of some kind. In an alley, with metal bins. Definite Victorian vibe. These few seconds comprised a disturbing, recurring nightmare I used to have. It doesn't make much sense I know, explosions in  alleyways blowing up a sweepy at 5.20pm on BBC1, but you never know, someone might understand. Or be able to heal my ravaged psyche.

That rings absolute clangers with me, but I'm afraid I'm unable to tell you what it was.  I do know that it's going to bother me as well now until somebody can come up with an answer, though.  Damn.

So it's this question now, and my first two.  Does anyone have a single idea?


massive_bereavement

YES!!!! I almost jumped out of my skin when the page loaded. Thank you.



Shudder. Those sullen eyes haunt me still. Dunno where I got the explosion bit from though.

TJ

Quote from: "massive_bereavement"Shudder. Those sullen eyes haunt me still. Dunno where I got the explosion bit from though.

I can answer that - you've got it jumbled up with "The December Rose", a Children's BBC murder mystery thing from about 1985 involving a Victorian chimney sweep and - ta-daaaaa - an explosion at a key moment in the last episode. Caused quite a stir at the time on account of a rather graphic scene featuring a body being dumped in a river. I believe there was a somewhat edited BBC Video release in the late 1980s, but I've never seen it anywhere.

Cambrian Times

Quote from: "Jaffa The Cake"I also remember games involving a kid walking around blindfolded an a checkered floor. A bit like Knightmare but worse.

This is from "Ghost Train". There was a game where a member of the public would decend with one of the "train-ees" and get asked questions by Barry Mafia, and a group of kids called the "mafiettes". Now if you got them wrong you had to face the mafiettes blindfolded and armed with a paper mace and you had to get to a door at the end of a hall without getting walloped by a mafiette. If you got hit, you had to come back next week as a mafiette. If you made it to the door, you had to be blindfolded and given a mace and had to face off with Barry Mafia. If you hit him, you won some prize. If he hit you, you became one of the mafiettes.

I guess you have to watch it to understand.

Wasn't Mark Heap one of the Mafia guys?

Lt Plonker

Quote from: "Jaffa The Cake"Also, anyone remember the chocolate bar 'Secret' (I think it was called that)? It was like a nested chocolate tube, with moose in the middle. It came in a goldish wrapper with a little white cardboard tray inside.

I remember them! They were scrummy. I thought I had dreamt them up.

massive_bereavement

It must have been a towpath I remember, definitely two things mixed up. If you've seen one sweepy you've seen them all. Fantastic TJ. The fact that it caused a commotion at the time makes me look a little less like a total wuss as well!

Jaffa The Cake

Quote from: "Cambrian Times"This is from "Ghost Train"
Yes, I knew that much (look a couple of posts above the one you replied to). However, you've refreshed my memory with all the detail, cheers. I've heard the Mark Heap thing mentioned before, can anyone smack this rumor up with an injection of fact?

23 Daves

Quote from: "Lt Plonker"
Quote from: "Jaffa The Cake"Also, anyone remember the chocolate bar 'Secret' (I think it was called that)? It was like a nested chocolate tube, with moose in the middle. It came in a goldish wrapper with a little white cardboard tray inside.

I remember them! They were scrummy. I thought I had dreamt them up.

They were part of the New Wave of Posh Chocolate Bars, weren't they, a scene that Cadbury's tried to kickstart but never really got anywhere with.  I'm sure there were some other 'truffle bar' type things as well, but I think the problem was that whilst such things taste fine in the form of chocolate box confectionary, they are inevitably too excessively sickly and rich when consumed in bar form.  

Does anyone remember those coloured, chalky fruit candies shaped like letters that came in a bag?  My mother used to buy me them as some sort of bizarre educational tool, I think, but I'm buggered if I can remember what they were called or what the pack looked like.

Cambrian Times

You can get them in any sweetshop for 39p a bag. Or 3 for a £1

Bonds of London make them.