Brian Clemens, the thriller writer who gave The Avengers its glossy coat, drives his blue Ferrari to a suite of offices in Pinewood Studios, gets behind a desk of gothic proportions, nods at the larger-than-life picture of Alfred Hitchcock, a fellow…
The doorway was just south of Shaftesbury Avenue on the west side of Wardour Street. Walk along the echoey hall, down the stairs to the basement. It was dark, atmospheric. A bar, a small dance floor and the stage straight…
It’s really quite simple: This is Moonbase – These are the folk who are supposed to stop the UFO’s entering the Earth’s atmosphere in the first place This is also where the good looking women in the purple wigs are.…
Only Fools And Horses has been named as the nation’s favourite British sitcom in a poll conducted by Channel 4. The network, which revealed a top 50 list in the two-part TV show Britain’s Best Loved Sitcoms, decided on the…
The Ramones & Toto This is just one of those lineups that makes less and less sense the more you think about it, but The Ramones supported Toto, who were big in the ’70s and ’80s with cheesy, commercial pop/rock…
The Ronnie Lane Memorial Concert. Royal Albert Hall, London. 8 April 2004 For anyone up to speed with the tragic trajectory of Ronnie Lane, the circumstances surrounding his May 2004 Memorial Concert, ‘One For The Road’, struck a familiar chord.…
1 9 6 9 – 1 9 7 4 (UK) Another classic from Yorkshire Television, this hilarious and unusual game show series was guaranteed to give viewers a laugh a minute . . . literally. The teeming working men’s clubs in…
1 9 7 8 – 1 9 8 0 (UK) 16 x 45/60 minute epiosdes Thames Television presented this kind of superstar It’s A Knockout hosted by Michael Aspel in which comedians, DJs and personalities from the television and music scenes tested…
1 9 7 9 – 1 9 9 7 (UK) Michael Aspel presented this television version of the Victorian parlour game charades game with Lionel Blair and Una Stubbs (and later Liza Goddard) as team captains, joined by teams of celebrity…
1 9 6 2 – 1 9 7 8 (UK) 801 x 25/50 minute episodes Writer Troy Kennedy Martin was confined to bed with a bout of mumps and passed his time listening to a police radio. It was then he…
1 9 5 5 – 1 9 5 8 (UK) 143 x 30 minute episodes The Adventures Of Robin Hood was made for the American market and was one of Lew Grade’s first big money-spinners. Shown from the very first week of…
1 9 5 5 – 1 9 6 3 (UK) 560 x 16 minute episodes Picture Book (featuring Bizzy Lizzy and Sossidge the dachshund) was part of the early Watch With Mother series. It started off the week, screening on Mondays, ahead…
England 1978. The mood is of disillusion, economic decline, political failure. Fascists demonstrate in the street. The left-wing clash with the police (not the band!) and Fascists demonstrate in the street. The left-wing clash with the police (not the band!) and The…
Director Ken Russell was the perfect choice to direct The Who’s landmark rock opera Tommy, transforming it into a stream-of-consciousness catalogue of wild performances from Roger Daltrey, Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Tina Turner, Elton John, Keith Moon, Jack Nicholson and others. Tommy…
This eight-piece group was the brainchild of Al Kooper, former Bob Dylan sideman, Brill Building songsmith and kingpin of The Blues Project, but he had dropped out by the time Blood, Sweat & Tears topped the US album charts in Spring…
With a score consisting of 29 compositions by John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band must have sounded like a great idea at the time. And with Robert Stigwood at the helm and “fifth Beatle”…
When Ray Brown died in August 1996, Australian rock & roll lost one of its unsung achievers. After bursting onto the pop scene at Sydney’s legendary premier discotheque of the day, Surf City in 1964, Ray Brown and The Whispers…
1 9 6 8 – 1 9 7 5 (UK) 68 x 50 minute episodes Cilla Black got a surprise when she set out to film street interviews for her 1968 BBC TV show Cilla. Most people didn’t recognise her. The idea was…
“Please Sir, can I have some more?”. Mark Lester nabbed the classic line as Oliver Twist in this immensely popular musical film version of Charles Dickens’ classic novel. Set in 19th Century London, the film tells the story of a…
In a world of gangs, one man – private eye/gun for hire Moon (Michael Latimer) – will stop at nothing to take the spoils. Moon is simultaneously hired by two warring northern property developers – Sam Bryant (Derek Francis) and…
As war is about to break out, a party of wealthy English schoolboys is flown to the supposed safety of the South Pacific. But their plane crashes on a lonely island. Initially, Ralph (James Aubrey) takes charge, sees the need…
This horror anthology – an attempt to mimic the successful Amicus formula – begins with a late-night meeting at an anachronistic and rain lashed maximum-security asylum. Dr Tremayne (Donald Pleasence) receives visiting colleague Dr Nicholas (Jack Hawkins with his voice…
Incestuous twins Jacki (Judy Geeson) and Julian (Martin Potter) fall into the Swinging London scene during a break from university. The pair see Jacki’s stuffed teddy bear, Agamemnon, as a father figure and often speak to him as if he…
Dr Paul Steiner (Bryant Haliday) and Dr Chris Mitchell (Ronald Allen) are hard at work on a projection device that can transmit objects up to a few miles away. The objects are zapped by a big laser gun which sucks…
Fanned by the flames of the wild American custom vans, the van craze spread throughout the western world in the 1970s. Australians initially made do with some radically customised Bedfords, Ford Transits and Escorts hitting the streets but with a…
Ice lollies and choc ices on sticks became a major market during the 1960s. In the UK these were mostly produced by Walls and Lyons Maid. A never-ending supply of ‘with it’ names were now required, among them Fab, Kinky…
Throughout his long movie and television career, Cherokee actor “Iron Eyes” Cody became the all-time American Indian hero. Known to a generation as the “Crying Indian” for his appearances as the symbol of the ‘Keep America Beautiful’ anti-litter television campaign…
Perusers of supermarket checkout displays will be familiar with the standard arrays of Kit Kats, Who Magazine’s 100 Most Infuriating People Who Are Already Famous and Little Golden Books. One of their biggest-ever sellers is The Poky Little Puppy. I am unqualified…
The partnership of British comedy scriptwriters Ray Galton and Alan Simpson lasted over 50 years. They met in 1948 whilst recuperating from tuberculosis at the Milford Sanatorium, near Godalming in Surrey. They are best known for their work with comedian…
John Simons Little did he know it, but in 1965 the clothes stylist John Simons was about to start the skinhead movement in Britain. Simons, a pure Mod at heart, had just opened the Ivy Shop in Richmond, Surrey. His plan was to introduce…
January 01 – Albanian fighters shoot down a British freight plane that allegedly strayed into Albanian airspace. 01 – The European Economic Community (the “common market”) comes into being. The UK is not included. 01 – West German forces join…
In February 1954, actress Marilyn Monroe travelled to Korea to entertain the American troops stationed over there. Marilyn was asked if she wanted to do a solo show or entertain as part of a ten-man package show which had been…
Squatters had been taking over derelict properties in central London for years, but when a group of hippies took over 144 Piccadilly – an empty five-storey Georgian mansion at Hyde Park Corner in Mayfair – in September 1969, the ensuing…
French Indochina was captured by the Japanese during WWII. After 1945 the French tried unsuccessfully to restore their rule in Vietnam, and in 1954 they were defeated by the Vietnamese (led by the Communist Ho Chi Minh) and had to…
To mark the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on 4 July, the government and people of the United States celebrated in 1976 with a nationwide celebration commemorating the war which gave rise to the creation of the American…
27 September 1986 Balloonfest ’86 was intended to be a harmless fundraising publicity stunt that would help elevate Cleveland in the eyes of the American public as a happening city while raising money for the United Way, a nonprofit organisation…
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Latest Posts
Free-spirited 15-year-old Connie Wyatt (Laura Dern) is too young to drive, but not too young to drive the boys crazy. She also wants to escape the boredom of family farm life.…
A team of five astronauts from earth – commanded by Luther Blair (American actor Anthony Dexter) – land on the 13th moon of Saturn to investigate as they believe conditions…
The Asphyx is – in ancient Greek mythology – the spirit of death, said to have existed in constant unspeakable agony since time began. Each person has their own Asphyx…
Beaty (Helen Mirren) is a high-class prostitute working as a “hostess” at a Soho (London) nightclub where handsome American Emory (John Shea) is a technician who works the lights for…
Mike (11-year-old Greg Rowe) is a lonely boy living in a coastal wildlife sanctuary amid the Coorong sandhills of South Australia with his reclusive father, “Hide-Away” Tom (Peter Cummins). In…
1 9 9 6 (UK) 7 x 30 minute episodes Disillusioned thirty-somethings Max (Sara Crowe) and Bernice (Ann Bryson) have been best friends for many years, attending the same teacher…
Featured Aussie Posts
Teacher Simon Robinson (Nick Tate) arrives at the isolated Australian fishing community of Bannings Beach to take over the small local school. He discovers that his predecessor, Peter Flynn, has…
Beautifully filmed, expertly acted and meticulously directed by Bruce Beresford, Breaker Morant tells the true story of the court-martial of three officers – two Australian and one British – from…
In Sydney in 1925, Caddie (Helen Morse) gets a job as a barmaid in an inner-city pub after walking out on an unfaithful husband. She has no money and two…
Australian Bruce Beresford (Breaker Morant) directed this poignant, humorous examination of adolescence set in the Sydney beachside suburb of Cronulla. The film focuses on two teenage high school girls -…
Featured Canadian Posts
1 9 8 3 – 1 9 9 1 (Canada) 85 x 30 minute episodes Deadly Nightmares – originally titled The Hitchhiker – was an adult anthology series of cautionary…
1 9 8 8 (Canada) 13 x 30 minute episodes Robert Randall is a single father (separated from his never-seen wife, Anne) who cares for his two teenage children, Ellen and Mark. Robert…
1 9 5 7 (Canada) 26 x 30 minute episodes French explorer and fur trader Pierre Radisson (Jacques Godin) and his partner, Medard (René Caron), are adventurers who roam the American Northwest…
Investigative television journalist Deborah Balin (Lee Grant) falls foul of a mentally deranged viewer and is brutally attacked in her home. She is taken into hospital by her friendly news…
