Christmas Telly of Yesteryear

This website has all the UK Christmas (Eve! Day! :box:ing Day!) telly!

http://ukchristmastv.weebly.com

The Woman in Black - Christmas Eve 1989 - horrified me. It could even be the start of my not enjoying being on boats even in shallow water. I liked Paul Daniels Magic Show on earlier Christmas Eves. Much more comforting before bed.

Maybe a New Year accompaniment? I was also traumatized for many years by a New Years special of Taggart starring a porcelain doll and a multiple choice hook that glinted out of the dark at victims who were summoned to various derelict premises.

cosmictanya wrote:
Maybe a New Year accompaniment? I was also traumatized for many years by a New Years special of Taggart starring a porcelain doll and a multiple choice hook that glinted out of the dark at victims who were summoned to various derelict premises.

Oh I think I remember that. I'm sure I remember a sinister Taggart scene where an evil doll was left on a chair in the middle of the road at night, spotted when a car's headlights were shone on it.

I selected 1978 as being a likely classic, and it was rubbish. I remember that when I was that age, we didn't actually have the telly on on Christmas Day till the Queen's speech, and now I know why.

It's the early C4 schedules I find most fascinating.

1983: An Evening with Max Wall





I saw a painting of Max Wall the other day, I was just thinking no one under 40 would have a clue who he was.

Butterfield wrote:

cosmictanya wrote:
Maybe a New Year accompaniment? I was also traumatized for many years by a New Years special of Taggart starring a porcelain doll and a multiple choice hook that glinted out of the dark at victims who were summoned to various derelict premises.

Oh I think I remember that. I'm sure I remember a sinister Taggart scene where an evil doll was left on a chair in the middle of the road at night, spotted when a car's headlights were shone on it.

I looked it up - 'Fatal Inheritance'. Broadcast 1st January 1993. The doll was a portent of death for those who saw it. Hannah Gordon was the only surviving member of her family, and then only barely, having raced to a cosy pub for safety. As the landlord pretended to call the police she noticed a porcelain doll sitting on a chair by a roaring fire, and comforted herself that the door was securely and heavily locked.

Apparently we aren't alone. Various people of our age group can be found around, describing it as rocket fuel for nightmares, for inducing phobias about Glasgow, and for marching their own kids sharply out of toy shops when a porcelain doll has been asked for.

Phobias about Glasgow.

But yes, that must be the episode I remember - my mum used to watch Taggart all the time. And the actual real Taggart actor would have still been in it then. It was all so grim. It all made my first trip to Glasgow a few years ago seem much more boring when it turns out the city is now actually quite generic, sterile and perhaps gentrified - trying to be a bit too much like Edinburgh, lovely as that city is. But Glasgow, in my opinion, should be grey, gritty and scary, not bright, happy and fluffy.

Duplicate

I agree. I disagree it's grey (weather aside) - the rose and blonde sandstone is quite lovely. In their regeneration efforts, they should've preserved a slightly Mean Streets vibe. Played up the Italian heritage and etc. While obviously continuing with the excellent VRU strategies that were taking hold.

I said as much on the Commonwealth Games thread on the other place. I said be true to yourself and be apologetic of nothing - get Maggie Bell to sing the Taggart theme live at the opening - it's a classic. And don't dynamite tower blocks, no matter how dilapidated, live on television.

Make a virtue out of them having been home to refugees - don't blow them up in front of viewers in the developing world (that was the showpiece plan, thankfully abandoned at the eleventh hour) Keep old neon - and judiciously buy more that Las Vegas and Reno scrapped, and stick them up. Demolish and woodland over the suburban council estates (miles from anywhere, and where heating more than one floor and keeping the garden in order is about the last thing the residents can afford to be shelling out for), and move people to mixed tenure, high quality, high density, high amenity central areas around your existing subway network and overground stations. Woodlands on the fringes instead of unsustainable housing estates the residents can't afford to keep or develop - along with free access community farmland where locals could grow, exchange (and sell produce to supplement their incomes), while building their health through almost effortless exercise and a better diet.

Chase these particular brands (lists followed with commercial reasons adding up to one strategy), look at this particular but similar district in another city and what works, mass plant trees and flowers, let talented kids graffiti the place if they're good and it's not offensive - stakeholder ownership and co-production are not just buzzwords. Secure links to Tel Aviv (preferably El Al), potentially Iraqi Airlines going forward, talk to Virgin Atlantic about expanding their offer at Glasgow, get the charters to offer a Gatwick or Manchester destination list - but also accept that a lot of inbound tourism, full carrier, business and weekend low cost is going to go to Edinburgh. So pin down what they can't where Glasgow's advantage is way ahead on - Tel Aviv, Karachi, Accra, Jeddah, somewhere in China/Far East (but not HK because that's clearly an Edinburgh market - likewise Tokyo, so don't waste your time). By hook or crook, get a link to that airport set up that isn't a bus.

For such contributions, I was accused of being an anti-Scottish Zionist b**ch, a privileged English sl*t who wanted Glaswegians to rot in misery in substandard tower blocks before dying in their early 50's, who wanted everywhere outside the M25 to shut up, pay up, and do as they were told. At least one charge of ethnic cleansing was leveled my way. For professionally sound ideas for what I really do believe is the most American city in the UK - with all the potential that could entail for something rather special in the social security of a European context.

I'm sure I even suggested capitalizing on the twinning arrangement I believe they have with Havana - trade essentials that Cubans need and don't get much of, in exchange for all those amazing old cars that could be shipped over to Glasgow, fixed up to modern standards (more jobs!) and sold on to jazz up the streets of Glasgow. That alone would justify another link - a regular Glasgow to Havana flight - Virgin do serve Havana. Before long they could even have a Cuban population of their own adding to the general gaiety of modern day Glasgow.

Still. There we are. Let's either ignore Tanya, joke that she's the love child of Hitler and Thatcher, or send her incredibly explicit and unwanted private messages.

1996 looks to have been a dreadful year for Christmas telly. The Brittas Empire - how grim was that.

I think I remember both the ballet before lunch (fine - love ballet) and Carmen (not fine - it's a rare opera I enjoy) on after lunch.

Evidently from those listings it was a bad Christmas for Pat Butcher. I'm sure Frank walked back in on Christmas Day a year or two before that.

God, that looks like hell on earth.

I think there's a whole other day of it on ing day too.

I've just noticed it's all on between episodes of Poirot - even worse than I thought at first.

That's this year, not yesteryear.

It's quite a good selection though.

Why is there not a Carry On Christmas?

There was.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carry_On_Christmas_Specials

I've got a couple of them on DVD.

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