Video Active

In 2017 you can film, edit and watch whatever takes your cinematic fancy within minutes thanks to the advances in mobile phone technology. And that's at an incredibly amateur level, if you want to film something with higher production values you can achieve this for several hundred pounds thanks to digital technology. Back in the 1980s, though, even if you wanted to film an out of focus wedding reception (not always a bad thing considering the haircuts) it was a much more testing and time consuming task. Thankfully, ready to lend a hand, was Video Active. 

Wake Up!

Jonathan Hughes (Nigel Planer) and his wife Libby (Susie Blake) host the daytime magazine show Wake Up! from the comfort of their garishly 90s armchairs against the backdrop of an equally charmless 90s show home. Producer Jeff Shreeve (Stephen Moore) would love Wake Up! to showcase the chemistry of Jonathan and Libby, but they've been running on empty for some time now. Accordingly, the duo's life is characterised by a creeping sense of misery, compounded by the Jonathan and Libby brand they feel beholden to. Maybe it's time for them to Wake Up!

Windfalls

We're so busy rushing about that we're constantly looking ahead and worrying what's coming towards us. Sure, it's an invaluable skill to possess whilst driving and whilst trying to navigate your way through the Boxing Day sales, but there's a whole world beneath our feet and it's a shame that we miss out on the wonders below. And, if you were to cock your eye towards the grass and leaves, you might be lucky enough to glimpse some Windfalls.

The 8.15 from Manchester

Going Live! Tiswas! SM:TV! Saturday Superstore! These are the shows that are regularly referenced as Saturday morning highpoints for children's TV (some may also mention Zokko! but, technically, that went out in the afternoon) but over the last 50 years there have been many more such shows. As you've probably guessed, I can remember plenty of these less iconic shows but, nonetheless, they still provided a little bit of excitement to otherwise mundane Saturday mornings. One that I remember catching, in particular, was The 8.15 from Manchester.

Past Caring

We all like the good things in life, I mean, why else would we get up in the morning if there was nothing worth pursuing? And, whilst I haven't quite reached the echelons of old age yet, I'm pretty certain that even when I've retired I'll still hanker after good times albeit with a lengthy lay-in each morning. Sure, there's the ever constant worry of colostomy bags, severely rationed pensions and not having enough bread to feed the ducks, but by then I'll probably be Past Caring.

Tottie

The inanimate state that dolls find themselves in severely restricts any sense of control or ambition they may harbour. At the mercy and whims of their human owners - who are acting out their most indulgent deity fantasies - dolls are left with little option but to be forced into various poses and bizarre crossover adventures (I mean, who didn't team up their Chewbacca figure with their sister's doll?). The psychological impact of all this hullabaloo is, of course, lost on the owners for, as we all know, dolls only ever come to life and display their feelings when no humans are around.

Pushing Up Daisies / Coming Next

Ah, the Great British sketch show, now there's a glorious helping of British comedy if ever there was one. Time was that they pretty much ruled the airwaves along with sitcom and, when I was a lad, you could open up a copy of the Radio Times, randomly stick a pin in and chances were it would stick into a listing for a sketch show - much to the chagrin of my Dad who prized his collection of Radio Times stacked in the garage.

Z for Zachariah

Hands up who loves a bit of alone time! That's right, everyone on this busy, congested celestial body comprised of land, water and incessant "HAVE YOU BEEN IN AN ACCIDENT?!" phone calls has to get away from it all every now and then. However, if humans had always been purely solitary souls then we wouldn't even have the option to now pick up a call from Accidents4UDirect. Our ability to socialise and build bonds with one another has allowed us to pool resources like no other organism on Earth and deliver remarkable achievements.

Doris

Back when I was a much younger man, the first pet I came to know and love was our cat, Tussy - a white Persian with one blue and one green eye. He'd been a family pet since long before I was born and, so my first memories of Tussy stem from when he was about 14. Therefore, he wasn't the most agile cat at this point and it was rare I'd see him do anything more strenuous than jumping on a worktop. However, I like to think that, when he was a much younger cat, he would get up to all sorts of adventures such as going to the moon, skiing and dealing with robots. Much like Doris.