Advent 6

Beware of pale modern imitations. There will only ever be one authentic Thunderbirds. This fired my infant imagination. 5,4,3,2,1 ... Thunderbirds are go. FAB

Art School Canteen

A gem of a programme on BBC4 last night - I'm Not In Love - the Story of 10cc. 10cc were one of the great bands of the 1970's, whimsical, witty, clever, melodic. Catch it on iPlayer while you can and then go to Spotify (other providers are available) and sample the classic 70's albums - my personal favourite is How Dare You!, the last one before Godley and Creme left the band.

gatefold - from an age when album covers mattered

Advent 5

To those of us of a certain age this series just cries out summer holidays. In our unreliable memories this seemed to be on every year. The theme tune alone (sampled here) takes me back to a gloriously innocent and happy age. All day television was still aeons away so we used to watch this early morning offering and then roar out into sun-drenched summer days of friendship. It must have rained sometimes but I can't remember when. Robinson Crusoe.

Advent 4

The Fast Show. Very British. Very funny. Everyone has their favourite characters but in the end I have plumped for a very brief extract from the "Which was nice" collection.

It is sometimes difficult to put your finger on why things are funny, this being a case in point. Mark Williams gets the required mixture of innocence and smugness spot on. As they used to say elsewhere in the show - nice.

Advent 3

Now for some comedy. This is the smoothest and most educated example of mass-produced, multi-authored American comedy. It ran for years and only got stale for one series when they struggled to surpass the Niles/Daphne unrequited love theme.

The writing on Frasier was never less than tight and the depth of characterisation was impressive, not least the minor characters. As an example I've attached a link to some clips highlighting Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe.

Tomorrow something funny and British. Very British.

Advent 2

Simon Raven - the pen of an angel and the mind of a cad. I've blogged about him before - one of my favourite writers, most particularly for the brilliant roman fleuve Alms for Oblivion. He wrote to make money and Spike Milligan quipped that Raven would have adapted the phone book for television if someone had paid him. Good on him. Raven's most monumental achievement in that field was his twenty-six part adaptation of Trollope's Palliser novels for the BBC, screened in and around elections, power cuts and broadcast union strikes in 1974. Yes you did read that correctly, twenty-six episodes. The sort of thing that British television just doesn't do anymore.

Advent 1

I am not old enough to have lived through the alleged first great shared (British) television experience, the 1953 Coronation. What I can remember vividly is how in 1970 the entire earth seemed to be living through Apollo 13's improbable return to earth. Here is a sample of the BBC coverage that held us all in thrall.

Tomorrow we will have something fictional and connected to an old friend of this blog.