Topic: School Dread on Sundays

[kngen]

Yep, count me as another one for whom the LOTSW theme tune sounded the death knell of fun and freedom. I rarely, if ever, have agreed with Julie Burchill about anything, but when she said something along the lines of "one of the most wonderful things about being an adult is thinking - on a Sunday night - 'I don't have to go to school tomorrow'", I felt a molecule of kinship with her. Of course, I still had the dread of going to work the next day, compounded by a hangover from drinking away the stresses of the previous week, while she swanned around penning unreadable bilge while pretending to be a chav or a communist or something, but - hey - it's these miniscule connections that stop us from murdering each other with abandon, I suppose.

[imitationleather]

There's a bit on the Andy Hamilton Room 101 about Sing Something Simple, you're not alone it seems:

 Clip

Brrrr... It's like something from a Dennis Potter play.

[robhug]

No mentions for The Clothes Show 'starring' Selina Scott and Jeff Banks?

[An Actual Propeller]

It was the South Bank Show that sounded the death knell for me, I might have been into artsy stuff way earlier if I didn't treat that theme tune as "MUH, SCHOOL TOMORROW", who knows.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I now get work dread on Sundays. It's not much better.

[Norton Canes]

Definitely 'That's Life' for me too, but also the theme to The South Bank Show - I'd often be bidding the rest of my family goodnight and leaving the living room just as the titles played, and would always wonder what such a spectacularly titled and themed programme could actually be about.

[imitationleather]

Definitely 'That's Life' for me too, but also the theme to The South Bank Show - I'd often be bidding the rest of my family goodnight and leaving the living room just as the titles played, and would always wonder what such a spectacularly titled and themed programme could actually be about.

A family gathering round the TV to watch The South Bank Show. That's beautiful. I'm welling up here!

[BlodwynPig]

BUT WORDY IS ON MONDAYS!

[gilbertharding]

I see someone's mentioned Holiday '81 with Cliff Michelmore (or was it Frank Bough by then?) and the weekly chance to spot 3 (three) bare nipples on a Spanish beach on a Sunday teatime (in addition to the 2 (two) bare nipples in the title sequence).

Followed by Songs of Praise, a film, Solo (by Carla Lane) and then That's Life.

[the]

I see someone's mentioned Holiday '81 with Cliff Michelmore (or was it Frank Bough by then?) and the weekly chance to spot 3 (three) bare nipples on a Spanish beach on a Sunday teatime (in addition to the 2 (two) bare nipples in the title sequence).

Plus the tit behind the desk.

[holyzombiejesus]

Tales Of The Unexpected moved around the schedules during it's run, including Sunday evenings. It moved to Sundays during series 3 (9/11/1980) and stayed there for series 4. It moved back to Saturdays for series 5 and 6, then moved to Sundays again during series 7 (19/08/1984) and for most of series 8, then back to Fridays for the last series.

Again, Birds Of A Feather was moved around the schedules, but Series 4 (Sept-Nov 1992), 5 (Sept-Nov 1993) and 6 (Sept-Dec 1994) all aired on Sunday evenings.

You didn't have to look that up, did you?

[MidnightShambler]

I didn't  get home from playing football til about 1pm and Little House On The Prairie would be on. Or Highway To Heaven, something shit like that. Followed by a night of Bread and Howard's Way. Or Bergerac and That's Life. It was only when Football Italia started that Sunday's became bearable but even then there'd be fucking rubbish like The Darling Buds Of May or The House Of Elliot following it.

Luckily by the time a load of old dogshit like Ballykissangel started I was old enough to either be out or I could stay up to whatever time I wanted. Kids today will be saying the same thing about Lark Rise To Candleford in a few years, the poor fuckers.

[Bazooka]

Because we'd usually have a Sunday roast for lunch, it was usually crumpets and cake for tea, as delicious as they are, I would projectile vomit over my mother, knowing in 14 hours I'd have to enter an educational institution.

[willpurry]

Because we'd usually have a Sunday roast for lunch, it was usually crumpets and cake for tea, as delicious as they are, I would projectile vomit over my mother, knowing in 14 hours I'd have to enter an educational institution.

Fishpaste and boiled fruit cake.

[MidnightShambler]

Tinned mandarins in evap.

[Glebe]

Sundays have their own peculiar energy...

Theme from Antique's Roadshow...
Theme from Songs Of Praise...
Theme from Last Of The Summer Wine...

Theme from That's Life.

#HAPPINESS CANCELLED

Haha, yes, Summer Wine also had the added grim village misery to add to the dreary atmos, but That's Life! remains the nadir of TV memory dread for me, despite some amusing things (and to be fair they highlighted some important issues)... it just had a grim 'the misery of ordinary life' vibe about it, and sent you to bed with it's blowsy trumpet theme.

Aside from a number of the aforementioned - Highway (with Harry Seagoon), Bullseye, Spitting Image, All Creatures, Bread, Heartbeat and Howard's Way (which my parents never missed) don't forget Supergran and Terrahawks. There was the school-tomorrow anxiety, but at least some of the shows were actually entertaining.

Oh yeah, and:

It was the South Bank Show that sounded the death knell for me, I might have been into artsy stuff way earlier if I didn't treat that theme tune as "MUH, SCHOOL TOMORROW", who knows.

Definitely 'That's Life' for me too, but also the theme to The South Bank Show - I'd often be bidding the rest of my family goodnight and leaving the living room just as the titles played, and would always wonder what such a spectacularly titled and themed programme could actually be about.

Aside from the fantastic theme tune, TSBS had some fantastic episodes, like 'The Art of Walt Disney', which featured animator Richard Williams talking about The Thief and the Cobbler. So there was the possibility of going to bed feeling excited and thrilled, despite the Monday-to-come blues!

[the]

I see someone's mentioned Holiday '81 with Cliff Michelmore (or was it Frank Bough by then?) and the weekly chance to spot 3 (three) bare nipples on a Spanish beach on a Sunday teatime (in addition to the 2 (two) bare nipples in the title sequence).

This has unfortunately led to an avatar situation

     

Tinned mandarins in evap.

Yes, without even draining the syrup.

[Norton Canes]

Because we'd usually have a Sunday roast for lunch, it was usually crumpets and cake for tea, as delicious as they are, I would projectile vomit over my mother, knowing in 14 hours I'd have to enter an educational institution

Drop scones.

[Glebe]

Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure it was broadcast on a weekday, but World in Action is worth mentioning for inspiring dread with it's John Paul Jones-going-mental-on-downers theme tune.

[Bad Ambassador]

Mondays at 8.00pm.

[kngen]

Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure it was broadcast on a weekday, but World in Action is worth mentioning for inspiring dread with it's John Paul Jones-going-mental-on-downers theme tune.

Not just the title music (which was potent by itself) but World In Action also had a deadening effect on my soul because, even up to the late 80s, it seemed to be filmed in brine, like the film stock had been found in a puddle out the back of the Thames studios, and they said: 'Give it to the WIA crew. They refused to use video because it doesn't look 70s enough.' It gave me a hugely dispiriting, disconcerting feeling that - even though the events were current - these were dispatches from a beige-and-brown alternative time strand where the 3-day week was still in force and the only place to buy olive oil was a chemists. As such, I've never truly landed on a fully rounded point of view about the Gibraltar Three.

[Bazooka]

Drop scones.

Yes scones off all kinds were a Sunday doomsday harbinger, Mum is a good baker, but flower and butter can not fend off Monday.

[Bazooka]

Yet the Sunday evening before Easter or Summer holidays is euphoria, not even Lucifer's devil chorus manifesting itself as the Songs of Praise theme tune can ruin that, smoking a spice cigar can not replicate that elevation.

[Jumblegraws]

Whilst I have strong memories of Sunday school-tomorrow depression from my primary days, I don’t really associate it with the TV I was watching at the time. The ITV schedule of Corrie and Heartbeat was total comfort food that soothed glumness rather than becoming Pavlovian trigger for it (although since Corrie was on a million times a week and Heartbeat is now repeated every day, forever, it’s kind of impossible for me to associate them with one particular day anyway).

Related tv theme triggers:

Songs of Praise: used to evoke the feeling of a sterile Sunday afternoon where boredom and laziness had reached a stalemate in my head. I’ve since heard it performed solo on a pipe organ and realised it’s a banger.

Working Lunch: being off school ill when I probably didn’t need to be but fancied a skive, then wondering if I’d be having a better time in school.

[Camp Tramp]

Channel Four afternoon programming, or rather shows they imported from America.

Shows like Lost In Space or Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea let me know the weekend was coming to an end.

Bullseye would sound the death knell.

[Jumblegraws]

Channel Four afternoon programming, or rather shows they imported from America.

Shows like Lost In Space or Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea let me know the weekend was coming to an end.

Bullseye would sound the death knell.

Fuck, I’d forgotten all about Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Was Land of the Giants a Sunday time-slot as well? I remember only a single scene from that, where a guy saves a bot from a giant spider web, gets stuck himself and is killed (offscreen) by the spider.

[gilbertharding]

Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure it was broadcast on a weekday, but World in Action is worth mentioning for inspiring dread with it's John Paul Jones-going-mental-on-downers theme tune.

According to the comments below that (I mean, I think I believe it) the person who played the thing, and in fact more or less composed it, given that it was improvised off a chord progression, was totally ripped off. Which is somehow appropriate.

[gilbertharding]

There was always something big but vaguely scary for kids on a Sunday evening too... Tripods. Box of Delights.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Working Lunch: being off school ill when I probably didn’t need to be but fancied a skive, then wondering if I’d be having a better time in school.

I was once off school with the horrifying shits and I saw Milky Bar adverts so often that I associated white chocolate with gastroenteritis for years.

I also watched one of the Ashes tests during that time and whilst I really enjoyed it, I couldn't watch any more cricket after that because I'd also associated it with having the runny guts.

As for that Sunday feeling, it was always the dreaded Highway. Such a dull thing to watch whilst you're eating your crumpets and bakewell. Apparently, my dad always insisted on watching it because he loved the Goon Show and was convinced that, at any moment, Harry Secombe would break out into the Ying Tong Song, instead of the usual hymns. It never happened.

[Norton Canes]

There was always something big but vaguely scary for kids on a Sunday evening too... Tripods. Box of Delights

Tripe-ods was Saturday.