PART III OF THE BEST 200 CULT TV SHOWS/FILMS THAT REFUSE TO DIE: Ross Hughes dips into the past with this insighful look back at TV Shows you simply can not forget:





THE TOP 200 BEST CULT TV SHOWS THAT REFUSE TO DIE: Ross Hughes dips into the past with this insightful look at TV shows you can not forget.  PART 2

Everyone knows now that my idea of fun is watching humans get slaughtered by all means possible, but there is an inner part of me that can not forget the TV shows  that made me what I am today.  Series that have forever etched into my memory, many long gone and forgotten, but still played a part in my childhood, to the more modern ones that have thrilled me and have actually got me thinking “damn TV is better than cinema” at the moment.

So with that thought in mind, here at HorrorCultFilms I bring you the 200 TV SHOWS that have left a mark in my memory.  TV shows that I simply can not forget or do I wish too.

Please though do not judge me too harshly at some of the choices.  There are going to be some really WTF moments from your guys but please I am from an age where when I was a kid SKY was the thing that we looked up to outside.  When I was growing up I had the only pleasure of having three TV channels, yes THREE!!!!!  Unlike now where my kids have so much choices from I Player to freeview, my moments of pleasure was sitting around a small little box, waiting for the moment when we found out who actually shot JR

The list is going to be varied from cartoons that I have never forgotten, to TV shows that frightened me, to the ones that to this day I can never forget and proudly own, and before anyone asks, sorry I have still not seen it, so there will no mention of The Wire in sight!!!

In Part 3 of this insghtful look back, Ross looks at the best cat superhero cartoon of all time,, his worst childhood film and the best pre X Files of all time……

 

undefined    NO.31 KYTV
 
“Could you all please spell the names of your native country!”
“I.T.A.L.I.A”
“Sorry love, close but it ends with a Y! Next!”
“D.E.U.T.S.C.H.L.A.N.D.”
“(laughs)….sorry not one correct letter there!”……..
 
 
So what is KYTV I hear the youngsters ask.  Well it was a wonderful late eighties, early nineties spoof of Sky Television, back in the days when Sky was well know for its quite basic programming which basically in simple words was a lot of crap.  KYTV was a parody of laughable sketches that managed to create a huge cult following which stretched the shows run for three series that included 19 episodes that lampooned everything from quiz shows (like above) to TV adverts and anything else it could think of.  Devised from an original radio show titled Radio Active, KYTV was wonderfully written by Geoffrey Perkins who also created a quite wonderful character in the shape of Mike Flex, who along with Angus Deyton, gave us a show that paved the way for the the likes and probably the more superior The Day Today and of course Knowing Me and Knowing You!  Criminally forgotten about and never seen the light of day on such channels like GOLD and co, KYTV was probably too far ahead of its time, lost by shows like the two I just mentioned who copied its blueprint!  If you get a chance to ever watch an episode, especially if you are a fan of the style of Alan Partridge, then this may delight you!  From its KYTV TELLY voice over that sounds like KY Jelly!, to its daft news programmes that even Brass Eye has a lot to thank for, this is early parody at its very best, and one show that I dared miss when I was a little un!…..

                               NEXT, My first film, and its the man in tights, a Lincoln penny, and a love story that bored me rigid

 

 

undefined   NO.31SOMEWHERE IN TIME (YAWN!!!!!!)
 
 
Have we ever met before?”…………
 
While the more fortunate of you had the image of Christopher Reeve flying around with a big “S” on his chest,  mine was slightly tarnished by this, a film that seemed to be on every friggin week and one I had to sit and watch as there was nothing else to do.  Even if I wanted to play my ZX Spectrum and Chuckie Egg, the game would take half a day to load, so unless I went outside and pretended to be Bruce Banner and rip off my clothes or do things with my Luke Skywalker figure and Teela (from He-man) that no child should know of, then all was left was to watch this time travel love story that still has my Mum’s voice lingering all over it!  “Ross’ey, Superman is in it”  Me, holding a My Mums Can Of Coke and a sandwich of Mighty White, extremely excited by this prospect, only to be greeted by a story of Supes himself, falling in love of a portrait of Jane Seymour, who was born many years before him, and which her portrait was painted 60 years previous.  Deeply in love with a woman he never met, he somehow “will’s” himself to her time (who needs a mad Doc and a cool car!) and they start a relationship.

Of course, all this was of such great delight to my mum, but for me I sat there waiting for a glimpse of a phone box and a sudden change of clothes, but I must admit, I kind of liked the climax, its outcome has somehow stuck with me forever which shows that all the horror I watched then and now has left me kind of twisted.  Reeves on the brink of having everything he ever wanted, pulls out a coin from his suit that’s dated 1979 and because he glimpsed at it, he gets sucked back to his own time, leaving him heartbroken and with no will to live, he dies, which made me happy as I know the film was all set to end!  Hey, I am not cold hearted, I did cry constantly with one film when I was a kid, but I will come to that one later!!!!  Its a film that every boy at my age cried at, and noooooooo! its not E.T

                       NEXT, The indisputable leader of the gang, he’s the boss, he’s the pip, he’s the championship……..

 

undefined   No. 31  TOP CAT
 
“Sure, Dibble won’t know the difference!  The closest he has ever come to Royalty is when he had two kings at poker!”

Every Saturday at 8:30 in the morning, before Gordon the Gopher hit our TV screen, it was Top Cat time.  The cartoon version of Del boy but with more style and a bette
r eye for a quick buck, Top Cat or as it was originally known in Britain, Boss Cat (changed so it did not clash with a then major cat food chain!), was TV cartoon at its very best, even though its often over looked by the many other  Hanna-Barbera toons that came out at the same time.  What sets Top Cat apart is the wonderful spray of characters that delight in the running of the show.  From the likes of Brain, Choo-Choo, Benny the Ball, Spook, and Fancy Fancy, all cats who aids the wheeling dealing of the boss Top Cat and his ambition to earn a quick buck, usually through illegal means and also save him from the ever watching eye of Officer Dibble who patrolled the Hoagy’s Alley with his need to bring down the antics of these rogues.  I watched one the other day and it still has not lost none of its charm, with its ever so catching theme music that sticks in your brain, with the still funny gags that filter of the screen, Top Cat is an ageless show that makes you wish that they still make them like this!  The show may have ended way back in would you believe 1962 but the character still pops in many shows from the Powderpuff Girls to even The Simpsons (Homer passes him in an alleyway in the episode Homer to the Max) to the more recent Kypto the Superdog (yes, my mouth dropped to the floor!).  It may have only ran for a minor 30 episodes, but its impact has never been dimmed, over the years this Cat has proved that it really is Top of the litter!

                                         Next, Its another film, and its Neil Jordan doing a “Ghostbusters”

 

  No 32 HIGH SPIRITS
 
“You are a ghost, I am an American, It would never work out!”
 
Yes, I am sad.  I remember watching this constantly for reasons I can not explain. It was only added to this list, when a copy arrived in my shop and I remembed the fun I had on watching such a laugh fest with great effects, a true 80’s classic?????????  so I decided to re-watch it.  I was shocked to see the maid from Fawlty Towers in the cast, and a very young Liam Neeson has a ghost, fighting for the attention of Chevy Chase’s wife from the National Lampoon vacation films.  We also have a Jennifer Tilly that you can only tell its her by the voice, Nana from the Royle Family and of course the 80’s biggest star, ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, MR Steve Guttenberg! a man who will forever be remembered as thee comedy genius of the 80’s decade!  Did I just write that?. I must have, I am staring at it, oh well……

I could have put Ghostbusters in this list, I mean that and the song which is forever ruined now by those darn awful 118 adverts, is much a part of my TV memories, but I thought I be different, and now I wished I hadn’t but because I have wrote this much already, then I might as well carry on!   High Spirits was about a hotel owed by Peter 0’Toole which is on a verge of closing down, so he and his staff decide to re invent it as a place where ghosts roam the place.  So they put a plan in action that the next tourists who stay will be spooked and scared by unexplained events (of course all rubbish set pieces by the staff) but things get complicated when actual spooks turn up.

Why I watched this a lot is beyond me, it really is as what elab described a massive misfire, with Daryl Hannah having the worst Irish accent since a certain Cruise, and a ridiculous storyline throughout of love and romance between the living and the dead, with an added line of some very dodgy jokes.  Its a TV memory all right, one that I am throughly ashamed of!!!!

                                        NEXT, Well, its a wonder if this girl did not inspire A.I

 

undefined  No.33  SMALL WONDER
 
I looked into a mirror today, I’ve really let myself go!”
“I have a S.o.l.u.t.i.o.n…..buy a new mirror”
 
For all those having memory blasts from this thread, can you remember Small Wonder?  If you can, it was crap wasn’t it.  If you can’t, well it was an American sitcom that is now referred to as one of the worst ideas ever put to TV.  You can laugh at the bad idea, but the fact that it was turned into a Sitcom that lasted for a stunning four seasons is really unforgivable.  It centred around a robot called Voice Input Child Identicant or in simpler terms V.I.C.I., a ten year old android who is built to serve the family of the Lawsons.  Yes, that’s right, a slave to the household, a young girl who had to do every thing and anything that she was told to!  Now please if you have a sick mind like the thought that just went through my mind, damn you Serbian Film, then thankfully we never go down this route, but there is something quite disturbing about the overall concept of the programme, especially the person who green lit the show thinking it would be funny!  What is funny is that this girl had an AC outlet under her arm, had superhuman strength and speed and an access panel on her back.  She also showed no emotion and the overall gag of the show was how V.I.C.I. tried to interact with her fellow humans.  Despite all this, the show managed to convince the fan base it had, that the Lawson family not only passed her off as an adopted child, but they also put her in the local school. meaning everyone there must be thick not to notice.  They even explained the aging of the actress that played the robot, by stating that Ted the inventor was giving her upgrades so people would not get suspicious???  Yes really, and do not get me started with the theme music.  I still have nightmares over the “Lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalaover and friggin over!

                            Next, Its one of 80’s most lost comedy treasures named after a pack of playing cards

  No.34 HAPPY FAMILIES
 
All Red Dwarf fans should get down on their knees and thank Happy Families.  Despite being a massive cult hit, the comedy drama went over the head of all critics and the more mainstream audience so the planned second series ground to an halt, and the money that was saved for the budget of the next season went towards  the show that is now one of the much loved of the recent era! 

I totally loved Happy Families, a show that got lost between The Young Ones and Filthy Rich and Cat Flap (get to that one later), which is a criminal shame, as a show that boasts the talents of Stephen Fry, Jim Broadbent and Hugh Laurie should really be given a second chance, especially in an age where the likes of GOLD could easily air!

The show centred around Guy Fuddle (Ade Edmondson) who on discovery that his gran Edith (Jennifer Saunders) is dying, decides to reunite the family.  Each episode of the sixth part show, shows Guy trying to track down his sisters and grand children for a final reunion but events thwart him at every opportunity.  Saunders played each sibling from Joyce the Nun, Madeline the poet, Cassie the Hollywood star, to Roxanne the jail bird, with each episode filmed in a wacky style that suited the plot.  For example, the episode of Cassie was filmed in a kind of Hollywood soap opera style and while just that its apparent that maybe Happy Families which was aired in 1985 was just too far ahead of its time!  Writer Ben Elton himself still claims that its the best thing he had wrote, and while I understand back then, those who tuned in with hope for a Young Ones style comedy were disappointed, this still had so much going for it.  It really is one of the eighties most lost treasures………

                           Next, Its Christmas Eve, and the 2nd Doctor show us a wonderful box

         N0,35  THE BOX OF DELIGHTS
 
“Herne the Hunter, keep your lions away from my Unicorns!”
 
Has it really been Twenty Six years since this aired.  That little bit of information blew me away when I noticed the year the BBC actually done something good for Christmas, apart from the Soap big storylines and the annual Doctor Who special.  If there was ever a show that reminds yourself of a child at christmas, the memory of the He-man Figures,  your first “Oh she is nice!” at that female singer blasting out “do you really want to hurt me!” on the record player until your mother confuses you by saying its a man, and of course The Box Of Delights playing on the telly!  A wonderful family show that summed up everything you want out of Christmas Telly.  A magical trip with fantastic story telling and of course with the casting of my 2nd favourite Doctor Patrick Troughton, helping matters, this was picture perfect, a programme that could easily air this year, such is the timeless quality of it all!  If you are too young to know anything about this, and thought the title was some kind of old Chocolate bar that Forrest Gump would chew on, the story centred around young Kay (Devlin Stanfield) whose journey on a train, is interrupted by a strange old man called Cole Hawkings (Troughton) who warns him that the “wolves are running”!  It seems that Cole is a very old man (700 years) who has the power of a magical box that if it falls in the wrong hands then there be a heavy price to pay.  Kay agrees to help the old man from the forces of evil, and there begins a journey that will take the young hero through time, fight off villains in the shape of rats, and overall trying to save the day and the life of Cole!  With impressive acting all round, a budget which back then of a £1 million was quite huge, this is everything that you want in great Television, a show that all the family can sit and watch, and one that stands proud as one of the finest adaption’s that the BBC ever put to screen!

                                                     Next, Its the Welsh answer to the Man In TIghts

 

  No.36 SUPERTED
 
“This is a story about an ordinary Teddy Bear!”
 
Ah, Superted, the only damn thing worth watching on S4C when I was a kid, (S4C is a welsh channel that we had over here instead of Channel 4).  A cartoon about a rejected teddy, picked up from Spotty a yellow alien with spots from the planet SPOT,  who brought him to life with the help of some Cosmic Dust who then took him to Mother Nature where she gave him Magical Powers to fight the evil of the world.  That evil was in the shape of Texas Pete an evil cowboy whose crew had the form of Bulk (big boned) and Skeleton (a skeleton with a fetish for pink slippers).  Every time they planned a rotten scheme,  Ted would change into Mr Super with the help of a secret word (love to know what it is) and off he would fly to save the day which would usually take about ten minutes!  You may laugh and snigger but this was one of the finest cartoons of my generation, but then down my way, it was either this or Pobol Y Cwm
 
                                                         Next, A sort of eerie place that Dr Jones never visited

 

N0.37

undefined

“Live fast! Die Young! Leave a good looking corpse!……………..”
 
Way before the X Files was born and then grew into the massive world wide brand, the more kid like cousin Eeerie Indiana was going about its business quietly, well to put in blunt, too quietly, because after 19 surreal wonderful episodes it was cancelled much to the despair of the growing number of fans who are still hurt and baffled ironically 19 years on!

The show revolved around Marshall Teller (Omri  Katz- whose probably best known as JR Ewing’s son), whose family moves to the town of Eerie with a population of 16,661.  Its on arrival and a meeting with new friend Simon Holmes (Justin Shenkarow) he discovers all is not well within the town, strange events that in another time and place would need the help of Mulder and Scully, like why does it seem like Bigfoot is in his garden, or why the next door neighbour looks exactly like a certain Elvis.  Each half hour episode contained a variety of in jokes and scares.  A “Mummy” escaping from an old video tape, a school eye test causing a Zombie outbreak and many more quite outlandish plots that also had a filter of future stars like  Tobey Maguire has a ghost and Halloween babe Danielle Harris has a girl whose heart transplant goes wrong! 

The show ended with a quite wonderful in joke and if you are a fan of Moonlighting, you may call out “rip off”.  In which Omri played himself being an actor in a series called Eerie Indiana, and h
ad to fight off the shows bad guy Dash X (Jason Marston) from being the star of the TV show.  For some oddity and a reason that I can not explain, the studio were quite happy to cancel this series but then sanctioned a spin off called Eerie Indiana-The Other Dimension, in which the pilot had a crossover of the two shows.  Carrying the same tongue in cheek and episodes tone, the show ran for fifteen episodes before following the fate of its original, it seemed that came out way too soon before the boom of all things spooky Mulder!…
 
                                                        Next,  THUNDER…THUNDER….THUNDER…THUNDER….

                       N0.38 THUNDERCATS
 
“HO!”……………………………………………………………..
 
If there is anything that I totally love and adore of this cartoon, its the theme music.  Just listening to it five minutes before I wrote this (You Tube!), got me smiling.  Thundercats are on the move, Thundercats are loose, feel the magic, hear the roar, Thundercats are loose, it really is a great intro for one of Eighties most faboulous and well loved cartoons.  130 episodes of pure gold, in which we witness the good guys of Lion-O, Tyrga, Jaga, Panthro, Snarf, Lynx-O, Pumyra, Bengali and of course the teen crush which was very wrong by the way in the shape of Cheetara, who for me was one of the only sole reasons for watching.  We, the kids of the eighties would wait patiently for Gordon the Gorpher to snuff it so it so the show would come on during Going Live, and then watch in awe as they fight the evil against the likes of, Slythe, Monkian, Jackalman, Vultureman and of course, the impending doom in the figure of Mumm-Ra, along with Skeletor one of the best bad guys ever in cartoon form!

Like Krypton, the show started with the death of Thundera, and the need for these Alien creatures to find a new home.  But on their way, the ship is attacked and is forced to land on “third earth” where the leader Jaga dies after guiding the ship to safety while the others slept in  hibernation.  The leadership gets carried down to Lion-O, but something went wrong with the journey in which his body may have aged, but his mind is of that of a child.  But with the help of his fellow Thundercats they build a new home and feel safe until the evil Mutants of Plun Dan track them down, aided by the evil Mumm-Ra a mummified Sorcerer, who is determined to get his hands on the Eye Of Thundera, a power source held in the sword that Lion-O carries. And so a battle commences which will last for over four seasons and in numerous comic books in which even Superman gets a look in.  For years fans have been demanding a movie which does not look like happening any time soon, but the good news is, especially for the die hard out there, a new cartoon is being made as we speak, due for release in the summer of next year!!!!  It seems the power of all things Thunder is still as strong as it was way back in 1985………

                                                NEXT, Its not quite the Disney Version but its Terminator kisses Hellboy

 

  No.39  BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Whatever happens!! What ever comes…….Know that I love you!”
 
YAWN!!!!!!!!!!!

My hatred for this is undying.  Even now when I stare at that picture I sigh at those Sunday Nights, knowing that there was School the next day, and this crap was on the telly!  An updated version of the classic tale which thrilled me before watch, for the simple reason it starred the lovely Linda (Sarah Conner) Hamilton, which looking back, what I was expecting from this because of that casting is a mystery.  I mean what are the chances of any robots from the future turning up in a show based on the much loved story, even though I often wished for Arnie and his shades to turn up and shoot the loved up couple to death and putting me out of my misery.  Way too lavish and soapy for my tastes, even though the show started off dark with an attack on Catherine so severe that she is left to die, before being found by Vincent and taken to the “World below” where she encounters a secret world and the start of a love affair.  It was not just all love and cupid’s bow, the show centred around a kind of crime storyline for each episode in which Catherine and her job as a District Attorney led her to danger, with Vincent waiting in the shadows to save her.  A set piece that seemed to happen in all of the 44 episodes until Hamilton came to her senses and quit the role.

Not even her death in the season two finale could bring the show to an end, Jo Anderson taking over has a police woman investigating the strange death of Catherine, which leads her to the society of Vincent and his clan, and while I admit the third season was quite a highlight (more darker in tone and less love) this alienated the core audience and the series was quickly cancelled!  Oh and the Hellboy link in the clue from the last review is because Ron Perlman played the beast

   (By the way I apologise to all fans who love this show has it does have a pretty huge following)
 
                                        NEXT, Maybe tomorrow, I want to settle down, until tomorrow I just keep moving on……..

 

  No.40THE LITTLEST HOBO
 
“he bit me, that flea ridden mutt bit me, that learn you little bastard!”………

I often thought that the “hobo” was nothing but a vicious mutt who had to put down for his cruelty to kids.  Think about it, in some episodes of this widely popular TV show, the mutt would befriend some helpless orphan who had no friends, somehow turn that poor kid’s life around for the better, and then just has this kid, thought he found his one true friend, someone who he could love forever, the mutt would piss off, leaving the poor lad even more traumatised, especially if its an episode where his parents had died.  I mean come on!!

Anyway, by the way that quote above is actually from one of the episodes which I am sure was cut before it got aired on CITV way back in the eighties, when this managed to find a core audience based, not just for its gripping storylines (you wish) but simply for that friggin theme music that most people over thirty could actually remember word for word!

A Canadian Tv show th
at originally run for two years in the sixties, before being revived for a long stretch between 1979 and 1985, the simple premise had this German Shepherd wander from town to town, putting right to what once went wrong, and hoping his next bark would be his bark home!  Ok, went a bit Quantum Leap there, but he really was Dr Sam Beckett without his Al, and the episodes centred around typical lame fare of the dog, saving a pregnant woman, or and get this, witnesses a hit and run, manages to gather all the evidence and then gets a confession out of the culprit…..and that is actually the plot description on the series one box set! 

There is one infamous episode in which Michael Myers of Austin Powers not the one from Haddonfield, guest starred as a wheel chair little kid who when throwing a frisbee, falls out from his chair, in such quite laughable fashion, that Myers himself quite brags about it to this day!  If you can track that moment down anywhere then its worth a giggle…..

Cheaply made and way too sentimental, The Littlest Hobo is still popular to this day and I am still waiting for the mutt to come around my corner and solve my problems, maybe sniff out the bastards who stole from my shop this week.  Maybe though he is too busy, doing more important stuff like helping a prima Ballerina who wants to defect from her Iron Curtain captors…..and yes, again this happened……!

                                      Next, Holding out for hero, but a tragic accident stopped this show from greatness

  No.41  COVER UP
 
Now more infamous for the tragic on set death that occurred doing the making of the first few episodes, when co-star Jon-Erik Hexum put a blank loaded 44 Magnum to his head and pulled the trigger!  A blank cartridge pushed right into his skull causing massive brain haemorrhaging, and when rushed to the hospital he was tragically declared brain dead! leaving this new show without one of its main stars.

Cover Up was an action packed TV show that had Jennifer O’Neil play fashion photographer Dani Reynolds who discovers her recently dead husband was in fact a Government agent.  When his death is recorded has a mystery, she begs for the help of former Marine Special Officer Mac Harper (Hexum) to help her solve the cover up of the death of her husband.  Posing as a male model to her photographer the duo solved the case and done such a good job that the CIA actually offer them a job, and every episode saw these two go to places to uncover the truth!  High octane action will the theme song of Holding out for a hero” blasting from the screens, this was pure 80’s fun, but when with the death of Hexum only eight episodes in, Anthony Hamilton came in as the new agent/model Jack Striker, but the change over spoilt the show and after its first run, was quickly cancelled by CBS……

                                                                         Next, Its time to follow Mr Spoon…….

 

undefined   No.42  BUTTON MOON
 
“We off to Button Moon….to follow Mr Spoon…….Button Moon…….Button Moon!”……….
 
I often wonder the reason why half my mates have ended up in a path of drugs and alcohol is because of children’s TV.  I mean the eighties was some scary place to be sitting in your living room.  There were some shows that were downright scary that shown now would be put on after the 9pm watershed, we had a man with big glasses whacking young children with a massive size hammer every weekend morning.  A huge Rat called Roland presenting what would now be called Daybreak, public information films that scarred me for life.  I swear I have never thrown a Frisbee since, and then of course these shows…..Button Moon, a surreal and quite barmy concept that showed you did not have to be high on dope to feel totally out of it.

Button Moon was about Mr Spoon and his family, Mrs Spoon and er…Tina!.  They all lived in a big box, which had the words BOX scribbled on in case you got confused.  Mr Spoon had a spaceship, and would take his family to the delights of Button Moon in which the family friend Eggbert would tag along. 

Buttom Moon hanged in the blanket sky, and the family would have 10 minutes of adventures, sometimes meeting other friends like Captain Large and Berite and Gertie.  It was all harmless fun, even though in those days you had no idea what was going on.  The characters were all made from Kitchen utensils and it ran for an amazing 91 episodes.  That damn theme music has stuck with everyone over the age of thirty, and it was sang by Doctor Who himself Peter Davision and his then wife Sandra Dickinson who is best known for her role in Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy!

It started with those words in big bold writing below the picture and ended with these: “We’ve been to Button Moon, we’ve followed Mr Spoon,  Button Moon, Button Moon, Be back soon!……”  Sheer class…….

                                       Next, She ruled the weekend, but this hit me right between the eyes………of annoyance

 

  No.43 SUPRISE SUPRISE
 
 
Suprise Suprise….the moment when it hits you between the eyes!”……..
 
So on a Saturday we had her in Blind Date!  Ok, not too bad, growing up as a teenager, watching that show was a must do, I mean watching the pretty girl picking the clown in the hat was quite funny and I admire Cilla for giving me the wish that one day she may get lucky and put on her wedding hat, even though that only ever happened once in the entire run.  What I do not admire Cilla for is this.  Every Sunday, most probably after friggin Howard’s Way….this would come on the other channel.  It started with the credits, and then she would walk on to a massive fanfare and then sing that bastard song…..seriously it only lasted for two minutes but it seemed like a lifetime, and I really wanted Spit the dog who was often a guest star to gob in her face to shut her up.

That may sound a
wful, but having been force fed sprouts for Sunday dinner because “I had too!” or “Mix them in with the potatoes, you won’t taste them then!”  the last thing I wanted was Cilla Black singing to me from my TV screen.    Anyway the show itself was a a mixture of guest stars, practical jokes to the public and then the final act that every week had a member of an audience break down in tears because they have been reunited with a long lost loved one. 

Now, how did that work.  Can you imagine Sweaty Betty who has had a brother she has not seen for forty years.  A month before the show, her family goes “Betty my love, we have tickets for that show! you know the one when they reunite loved ones..oh!, don’t worry about love, she only sings for about a minute anyway how is you long lost brother who lives in America…..”

Surely when they are given the tickets they think “hang on! What’s going on here then!”  But no, they run to Cilla in tears, being totally surprised by who they have been reunited with,  while Bob Carlogess stood looking on with his hand up a dog’s arse.  Of course Cilla is overjoyed by the emotion and decides to look at the camera and sing again, which made me break down in tears, while nursing wind from the sprouts and the thought that I would have to go through all this again, next week…..

                                                                        Next, One heck of a bodyguard

 

  N0.44  MINDER
 
 
“If you want too, I’ll change the e-situation…..
Right people right time, just the wrong location…..
I’ve got a good idea…..just you keep me near…..
I’d be so go-ood for you….Im gonna help ya…love you like you want me too”….
 
Let me tell you about my lame gag I done when I was a kid!  You see I used to grab a copy of a Daily newspaper, say to my parents do you want to see an impression?  They nod, so I rip the paper in half and shout out….half ‘a’ Daily…..which used to be met with a stunned silence as they never got it.  You see half ‘a’Daily was supposed to a Arthur Daley, a man that made Del Boy look like a beginner!

Minder was TV gold!  A TV show that seemed to be always on when every week, and an institution in my home.  Fresh from another TV show that is due to appear on this list, Dennis Waterman intended Minder to be the vehicle all of his own.  But no one could account for the major impact George Cole would have in the show.  His loveable rogue has become a TV icon and the name of the character itself has became a phase for dodgy deals.  What made the show though was the quite incredible chemistry between the two leads.  Arthur and Terry made the whole TV show fun to watch, even though many episodes followed the same path.  Arthur would set up a back handed deal which would earn him a lot of money for himself and “er indoors” .  Of course these deals would sometimes go a bit wrong, and Terry would be sent to sort out the mess with the use of some fists, and being an ex jailbird and a former boxer he knew how to handle himself!. 

Even though this was made before anyone heard from Peckham, its amazing how Only Fools and Minder shared more than just a character that became a national treasure.  Both series so nearly got cancelled before a second series was made.  With the strike at ITV just finishing, the channel was struggling for an audience, and while the critics lavished praise on Minder, the bosses virtually had given the green light to scrap the show.  Like Only Fools a repeat showing of the first series had actually added a massive increase in the figures and so the decision was taken to make a new series, and for the both shows, that resulted in the birth of classic status.

Running for an amazing 15 Years, (yes I will ignore last years redo!) the first two series is well known for having a very violent streak, but with the comedy interplay of the two leads, the show soon became more of a drama with a lot of comedy thrown in!  It also spawned the infectious theme song sung by Waterman himself that reached Number 3 in the UK charts in 1980.  That along with the theme from a TV show about a bunch of builders working in Germany, is probably more associated with the 80’s than any other shows of the era!

Of course, along with Dave (Glynn Edwards) who was in charge of the Winchester Inn, and became the third member of the team, the dynamic of the show was lost in 1991 when Waterman called it a day!  The show carried on with Arthur’s nephew Ray (Gary Webster) taking over the role of Minder.  Apart from a brilliant opening episode which used the Minder theme song playing in the background,  which announced the arrival of Ray fighting off a bunch of crooks to great effect!  The figures dwindled and the show finally ended, only to be brought back last year, will Shane Ritchie playing Archie Daley, another nephew of Arthur.  The series only lasted for six episodes, it seemed such was the impact of Minder, that only two people could ever play those roles, which sadly means due to the age, all we have is now is a memories of a  legacy of what was once, TV at its best!

                             Next, before she became Cruise and danced in a Rouge, she spent some time in Paris’s surname

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About Ross Hughes 532 Articles
Since my mother sat me down at the age of five years of age and watched a little called Halloween, I have been hooked on horror. There is no other genre that gets me excited and takes me to the edge of entertainment. I watch everything from old, new, to cheap and blockbusters, but I promise all my readers that I will always give an honest opinion, and I hope whoever reads this review section, will find a film that they too can love as much as I do! Have fun reading, and please DO HAVE NIGHTMARES!!!!!!

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