Just the one recording today, another edited episode of Charlie and Lola – It’s a Secret.
Charlie’s birthday is coming, and there’s going to be a secret birthday surprise. Lola knows what it is. Will she be able to resist telling him? She teases a lot of things it could be, like football boots.
Or a skateboard, like Marv’s.
Or a ride on a rollercoaster.
Charlie hides to stop Lola telling him the secret, but then she comes in with imaginary friend Soren Lorenson and almost tells him the secret when Charlie jumps up and goes “La La La I’m Not Listening”.
After hiding with Marv until it’s time to go to his treat, Charlie tries to distract Lola in the car by suggesting what the treat might be. A trip to the pyramids?
“No, it’s much older than that.” Maybe it’s a ride on a huge elephant?
“No, it’s much bigger than that.” Perhaps it’s a ride on the scariest ghost train ever?
“No, it’s much scarier than that” says Lola. What could it be?
It’s a visit to the dinosaur museum.
Media Centre Description: Children’s animation. Join Lola and Charlie, a brother and sister, as they deal with topics that affect their everyday lives. Lola has to keep Charlie’s birthday surprise secret.
It’s a slightly busier day today, starting with Charlie and Lola – It Wasn’t Me!. This episode comes with a warning – my 23 year old daughter, when she saw I was watching this, said that this was the one episode she couldn’t bear to watch again. Be warned.
Charlie has built a beautiful model of a spaceship. It won first prize, and it’s very special, so he asks Lola not to play with it, because it’s so special.
Charlie goes out to play football with Marv. So Lola plays with her imaginary friend Soren Lorenson. It doesn’t take long for Soren Lorenson to suggest they use Charlie’s rocket in their game. I’m beginning to think he’s a bad influence on Lola.
She tries to get it down from the very extremely high shelf Charlie put it on…
But it falls down and breaks into pieces.
Lola hasn’t quite mastered invisible mending.
“Did you break my rocket, Lola?” “Me? I didn’t break your rocket.” She even denies that Soren Lorenson did it.
But Charlie threatens to tell their parents, so Lola and Soren Lorenson have to discuss what to do.
She tells Charlie about the game they were playing – how they had to take Ellie the Elephant back to Animal Land because the Hyenas were laughing at here, and they got there, but it was such a squish in the rocket that it fell apart. Charlie isn’t convinced and tells his parents about it.
Lola knocks on Charlie’s door, but instead of apologising, she totally throws Soren Lorenson under the bus for the crime. Charlie is having none of it.
But Lola knocks again, and this time she admits it was her, and apologises. Which is all Charlie wanted – for her to tell the truth. And they hug. It’s all about the hugging.
Media Centre Description: Children’s animation. Join Lola and Charlie, a brother and sister, as they deal with topics that effect their everyday lives. Lola’s imaginary friend, Soren, persuades her to use Charlie’s home made rocket.
Next, it’s another edited recording of Blue Peter, but this edition is at least complete. There’s even a frame of Angellica Bell in a Superman T-Shirt just before the programme starts.
The episode opens with some drummers drumming along with the theme tune – a tie-in with the Music Makers competition that they’re running.
Then, there’s a rather delightful piece looking at the future of watching TV, 80 year since John Logie Baird first demonstrated his television system. The fact that he chose a ventriloquist’s dummy for the demonstration, and wasn’t immediately burned as a witch shows how compelling the idea really was.
There’s a sneaky glimpse of the Sky TV guide which zooms across – with the Sky branding almost erased, to demonstrate a DVR – Sky Plus was almost the only game in town, if you weren’t, like me, prepared to devote a whole PC to your TV recording.
There’s a true bit of history, as Matt demonstrates the BBC Interactive Media Player, or iMP, one of the prototype systems that would eventually evolve into the rather better named iPlayer.
These kind of portable devices you could watch downloaded programmes on. The PSP was touted to become the supreme handheld console and media device – I’ve even seen adverts in this recent run which mention UMD as well as DVD for movies. But it never really took off the way Sony were hoping, and in terms of consoles, I think people preferred the Nintendo DS. I’ve got DVD that came with Edge magazine, covering an E3 from around this time, and both the DS and the PSP were launched, and everyone wrote off the DS, and declared the PSP as the unmissable device. Another example of a long history of people underestimating Nintendo based mostly on hardware specs.
Zoe shows off a TV watch.
Here’s another idea that never really gained traction – it’s a device that you connect to your broadband, and your TV aerial, which can let you watch live TV over the internet from wherever you are.
There’s another prototype which promised you could “search the entire broadcasting world, past and present, and then download whatever you want.” It even lets you see what programmes other people have been watching. Even Liz thinks that might be a problem. “Matt, you’re being a little bit nosey.”
This is all such a lovely snapshot of TV history, here’s the whole piece.
Next, after being trailed for the last few weeks on the programme, Gethin starts his basic training with the Royal Marines. His challenge is to train enough so he can complete a 30 mile hike across Dartmoor in less than eight hours.
Liz introduces todays ‘make’ from the lighting gantry above the studio – Blue Peter always liked showing how TV is made.
It’s how to build your own miniature Blue Peter Studio. This was a fairly elaborate make, but it was quite impressive.
Liz has an announcement – she’s going to be leaving the show after Easter.
Media Centre Description: Gethin Jones starts his training with the Royal Marine commandos, preparing to take on a supreme physical test. Also, how to make a mini version of the Blue Peter studio.
The next recording is from E4 and it’s Smallville: Superman the Early Years – Hidden. We appear to have missed the first two episodes of Season Five, and some momentous happenings, judging by where things are in this episode. Don’t worry, though, dear reader, we will eventually see those two episodes, as I’ve checked, and my Smallville archiving gets a bit insane at points. But that won’t be for a while.
This episode opens in a nuclear missile silo, where a young man is holding the soldiers there at gunpoint and forcing them to initiate the launch. After which he shoots them both, and starts accessing the computer system.
You can tell he’s an elite hacker, because he types commands with one hand like only people in movies ever do.
Then he makes a call – to Chloe, telling her to get out of Smallville, and to tell his story. Because in an hour “Smallville’s going to be finally gone forever.”
Still, never mind – Clark can stop the missile easily. Or can he. Because Clark is human now, waking up next to Lana at home, and stubbing his toe as he rushes to get dressed and leave before the parents wake up. Only you have to get up very early in the Kent House to sneak past Ma and Pa. Lana makes a very swift exit, and Ma and Pa have The Talk with Clark. Clark must be relieved when Chloe turns up to tell them about the strange call she got from Gabriel the one-handed hacker.
Lana gets home to find Lex there. He’s been looking at her pictures, of the spaceship she saw (at the end of the last episode of Season 4 and presumably in the two missing episodes). She tells him off for not believing her.
Clark and Chloe go to Gabriel’s house to find some clues. They find a room filled with information about Meteor Freaks. They wonder why Gabriel’s dad didn’t stop him – then they find his body in the next room.
Lex has the spaceship Lana saw in a research lab. He’s berating one of the scientists for not having made any more progress. I think Elon Musk learned his management style from Lex.
Chloe and Clark know that Gabriel must be in one of the many missile silos strewn across the state, so to lure him out, Chloe stages a car accident and phones him for help. Now why, if she’s able to phone him, and he answers, do they not have the police tracing the signal? This is very reckless.
Lex finds a strange marking has appeared on his spaceship. He goes to visit Lionel who, for reasons we will presumably discover later, is on an asylum, looking a bit milky-eyed. “You’ll never open it. Only he can open it.”
We find out how reckless Chloe is being, when Gabriel turns up on his moped, Clark confronts him, and Gabriel shoots him.
Gabriel bundles Chloe off to the bunker. Lucky for Clark, a farmer heard the shot and found him, so he’s in hospital, and his parents are there.
Gabriel explains his plans to Chloe. He wants to wipe Smallville off the map to get rid of all the meteor freaks. And it was his dad who was obsessed with them first, clearly making a big impression on his son. Until dad was also mutated by exposure, and Gabriel had to kill him.
Lana goes to see Clark, confesses her love for him, he opens his eyes and smiles at her, then his heart stops. As the crash team are using the defibrilator, Lionel’s eyes suddenly clear, and he gets up, smashes the window on his cell, and runs away at super speed. But back at the hospital, Clark is pronounced dead.
Maybe it’s my age, and my concerns have changed, but John Schneider and Annette O’Toole really are the best. The core importance of Clark’s parents to the story was well understood by this show, and part of the reason that the later Man of Steel fumbled this so very badly, despite the excellent casting of Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent.
Back in the bunker, Chloe gets out of the ropes he tied her with, and bashes him with a big stick. Good. But she can’t cancel the missile launch, and he gets up and waves his gun about. They tussle, and the gun goes off, killing him. I’m not sad about that.
Clark wakes up. He’s in the Fortress of Solitude. We’ve missed the whole creation of this, that I knew was coming at the end of Commencement. It’s good that they’ve kept the brilliant design that John Barry came up with for the 1978 Superman, still a high-water mark in the on-screen portrayal of the character, and the crystalline Fortress of Solitude wasn’t, to my knowledge, taken from anything in the comics. Clark is greeted by Jor-El, who is currently inhabiting Lionel Luthor’s body.
Jor-El tells him that yes, he did die, but he’s being brought back. At a cost. “Unfortunately, this… rectification does not come without a price. The life of someone close to you will be exchanged for yours.” Clark doesn’t waver. “No, I would never ask for that.” Jor-El is in dick mode, though. “You already did when you decided to relinquish your powers and disobey me. It was your choice.” “Then just don’t put me back.” “It’s too late.”
Then Clark is transported back to Kansas, in time to see the missile flying. He does a super-jump to grab on to it, manages to pull himself to the top, and pull out the nuclear core. Nice that he knows how these things are put together.
He returns home to his very surprised parents. Sorry to sound like a broken record, but these two are the best.
It is always all about the hugs.
All about the hugs.
Lana returns, and I refer the reader to my previous comments.
Lana has obtained Clark’s medical file. She shows it to Lex. All his tests were completely normal (because, of course, at that time he was human). Perhaps this will stop Lex thinking Clark is different. Yeah.
Lana leaves and Lionel arrives. He’s been reading my blog because his first words are “Aren’t you going to give your old dad a hug?”
Finally, Clark sees Chloe. She tells him he really should tell Lana the truth, but he doesn’t think he can. Then Clark tells her that he should have listened to Jor-El and not given up his powers. “Chloe, I think I’ve made a terrible mistake.”
Media Centre Description: Drama series following the teenage years of future Superman Clark Kent. Chloe is warned by former classmate Gabriel that he is going to set off a missile and obliterate Smallville. A powerless Clark confronts him and is shot, but only Jor-El can save him.
Recorded from E4 on Monday 23 January 2006 21:00
After this, the recording continues with a bit of live Celebrity Big Brother, which is very dull.
The final recording today – recorded the same time as Smallville so I definitely had two tuners available – starts with a look at what’s on the BBC Channels. Afghan Ladies Driving School – what backward days these were, unlike our enlightened modern times when Afghan women aren’t allowed to work, study, or pretty much everything else.
There’s a trailer for Hotel Babylon and a teaser for Six Nations Rugby.
Then, episode 3 of Life on Mars. Sam is hearing voices from his present, telling him to hang on.
They’re called to a stabbing in a textiles factory, on the future site of Sam’s apartment building.
Sam talks to another man from the factory who knew the victim – he’s played by John Henshaw, who’s also in Johnny and the Bomb a Councillor Seeley.
Gene Hunt thinks that when they talk to the workers outside the factory, “The golden rule in all these cases is the first one to speak did it.” The first to speak is the man Sam was talking to, Ted Bannister. He tells Hunt it must have been robbery.
Back at the station, Hunt is visited by DCI Litton of the Regional Crime squad. There’s clearly a rivalry going between them. Litton is played by Lee Ross, looking a lot older than his early roles, in Press Gang and a Colgate advert that was on one of my oldest tapes.
Sam finds a fresh bloody footprint in the factory.
An eyewitness saw Ted Bannister leaving the factory after the murder, And Hunt has found a bloody shirt in Bannister’s back garden. It’s looking bad for him. Then he tells them that he did it. Sam wants details. Where’s the knife. How did he do it. Bannister gets angry and just keeps saying he did it.
Hunt thinks he’s got the case sewn up, but Sam thinks there’s something else going on, and Ted is covering for someone. He brings Ted’s son Derek to see him in his cell. Ted is more worried about getting the factory reopened than he is about himself.
Forensics come back showing that the victim was killed much earlier than either of the Bannisters left the pub, so it doesn’t seem like either of them could have killed him. Back at the factory, Sam wonders why the belts on one of the machines has been replaced. He realises that the victim was actually killed by a broken belt on the machine. Bannister found the body later and tried to clean it up, as a death in the factory could have got the factory closed.
Then they realise that another case – of stolen shotguns – ties in with this, and there’s going to be a raid on the factory to steal the payroll.
One of the robbers is Bannister’s son. He’s shot in the attack. His father talks to him. “It was down to me. I had to fight.” “You stupid boy! I mean, you’ve got your workmates, your mam and dad, your family. You’re not on your own, nobody is. Not unless you want to be.”
After this, there’s a trailer for The Virgin Queen and The Bigger Picture with Graham Norton. Then there’s the start of BBC News with Huw Edwards, leading with a Russian claim to have discovered British Spies.
At least today we have more than one recording. The first starts with the end of Big Cook Little Cook.
There’s a trailer for Doodle Do. Then CBeebies presenter Pui gives a short presentation on the basics of Set Theory, as she has one set of round, red fruit, and one set of long, green vegetables.
Then, an episode of SMarteenies. Jay draws a cow and a zebra.
They’ve let Lizi do more than just thumb painting today. She’s been helping the children draw their shadows.
Kirsten is in her Pattern Palace.
Mark makes a picture of a penguin with sugar.
And a big floor picture as well.
Media Centre Description: Exciting ideas to help viewers experiment with art and crafts. With Mark Speight, Kirsten O’Brien, Jay Burridge, Bizi Lizi and Doogy the dog.
There’s a trailer for The Roly Mo Show, Pui shows off some wintry pictures, and then there’s the start of an episode of Postman Pat – Postman Pat and the Playful Pets.
The next recording is effectively a repeat of the last one, but with signing for the deaf.
The final recording today starts with the end of Songs of Praise. There’s a trailer for The Virgin Queen and for Big Cook, Little Cook.
Then, it’s the second episode of Johnny and the Bomb – The Butterfly Effect. Johnny is in the shopping centre, wondering what they’ve done in the past that has changed so much, including that his grandfather never married, and had no children or grandchildren. He sees a woman who looks just like his mum, but who doesn’t know him. (I didn’t understand this bit – it doesn’t seem to follow the time travel rules that seem to be in play here).
He runs up the stairs and meets the mysterious man in the big car who’s been looking for him. “Read the paper, Johnny, it’s all in the paper” he says, as Johnny runs off to have a musical montage, running past people who have frozen in time.
Johnny rejoins Kirsty and Yo-Less. His newspaper which he got from Mrs Tachyon now says that nineteen people died when Blackbury was bombed, when before, nobody died.
The mysterious man joins them. He’s being very cryptic, even though he appears to know everything that’s happened. I suppose if he just told them exactly what to do, that would make for a dull show. He asks if they’re heard of The Butterfly effect. Kirsty has. “Is that when you step on a butterfly, and thousands of years later it turns out you’ve started World War III?” He tells Johnny that something changed as a result of them going back, and because of that, the air raid siren didn’t go off, and the people in the street died. He tells him to go back and fix it. And advises them to get less conspicuous clothes.
The only place they can find ‘old clothes’ is the costumes for the dress rehearsal of The Sound of Music at the local community centre. Kirsty is mortified at having to wear a dress.
Meanwhile, back in the past, Wobbler is helping Councillor Seeley and his wife with the gardening. She’s played by Felicity Montagu. They’re quite taken by him.
Johnny goes to see Rose, his grandmother, and tries to warn her about the air raid.
The police and Captain Harris are still questioning BigMac. His mobile phone is particularly interesting. All it says is “Searching for Network”. BigMac takes a picture and shows it to them. “If I had a signal, I could send that to someone.” “Really, would that be someone on the network?” “Yeah, I suppose.” “But first you’d need a signal?” “A signal for his network of Nazi spies.”
Kirsty and Yo-Less are eavesdropping on the interrogation when they’re spotted by a policeman, one that they met during the last trip, and Kirsty threw down with her Judo skills. He recognises Yo-Less. “Where’s the other lad, the one that assaulted me?” Kirsty squares up to him. “No, I don’t believe it. You’re a girl.” Once again, Kirsty throws him to the floor and they run.
Wobbler is enjoying a meal with the Seeleys. Clearly, being councillor means he doesn’t have to worry about rationing.
Johnny has been invited in by Rose, and Tom Maxwell – his Grandad to be – is there, getting ready for his shift as lookout on the hill, as part of the Home Guard. Johnny asks what would happen if the phones were dead because of a storm. “Doctor Harris would drive to the station in his MG.” But we know his MG was damaged by BigMac when he accidentally drove it down the hill. And if that doesn’t work, Tom would use the police bicycle to ride to the station. They’ve thought of everything.
BigMac uses a tea break as an opportunity to try to escape. Harris shoots at him but misses, and hits the control for the air raid siren, breaking it. And BigMac steals the police bicycle to ride away.
Johnny spots BigMac cycling past the chapel and stops him. He dumps the bike and runs inside. He’s upset and just wants to go home. But they still need to find Wobbler. Yo-Less suggests the use the time bags to jump to when they first arrived. BigMac is still whining about his ordeal. She says “You’ve got to pull yourself together from it. OK?” “I’ve been shot at.” “Yeah. Yeah.” “By a soldier” “I know. But in a minute you won’t have been, because we’re going to go back to before any of it happened and all the bad men will have gone away. OK? So stop wazzing about and get your hands on that trolley.” I’m really starting to warm to Kirsty. It must be really hard being the smartest person there. “Honestly, it’s like herding cats.”
But instead of going back to where they first landed, they land in the water feature of the future shopping centre.
Back in 1941, Wobbler is helping Mrs Seeley with tea. She asks him if he has mince very often. He doesn’t know what mince is (slightly strange) but tells her about burgers. Which she’s never heard of. She tells Wobbler that if he ever needs somewhere to stay, they have a spare room. “And you can show me how to make those burgers.”
Back in the future, the mysterious man gives burgers to the soaking children. “Walter’s Wobblers. The biggest and the Best.” They realise who the man is – it’s Wobbler, now over 50 years older.
Walter tells Johnny that he was adopted by the Seeleys, and his invention of burgers (?) made him a billionaire. He tells Johnny he has to go back and fix things. And he says that he wouldn’t mind if they brought their Wobbler back. He could have another life. “I’ll invent something else. Something bigger.”
Johnny goes to his Grandad’s house looking for something. But Grandad comes home and catches him.
Recorded from BBC ONE on Sunday 22 January 2006 17:33
After this, there’s trailers for CBBC Drama, and for The Virgin Queen. Then the recording ends after the start of Last of the Summer Wine – The Second Husband and the Showgirls.
This is a quick bonus entry for today, because it’s a recording of UFO – Close Up but that’s an episode I already looked at, and since it’s an edited recording, there’s no extras. But let’s just repeat what I said in the previous article with screenshots of this recording, just so I don’t feel like I’m shortchanging you.
Shado are tracking a satellite from Skydiver and from land. I’m assuming this is a miniature, but it’s so good I couldn’t be sure.
The satellite is a test for another project – a spy satellite to track UFOs back to their own planet. This technology moves fast – their project is approved, and they have a NASA launch slot in four weeks. I bet the JPL wishes they could get a satellite designed, built and launched in such a short time.
Although I’m unsure why they need NASA to launch a satellite, since they travel to and from the moon practically daily.
I love how proud Straker is of his satellite.
The way this is done is most odd. They launch the satellite, via NASA, then fly up to moonbase to meet the satellite and attach an additional piece of equipment. I have no idea why this might be necessary.
This episode is a bit like a day in the life of Shado. Straker is the kind of boss who’ll happily get a cup of coffee for one of his staff.
He even tries to give a handy pep talk, but it all goes a teeny bit 1970s.
But there’s a slight problem with the probe. Although it’s sending back pictures from the UFOs’ home planet, it’s not sending back information about distance and magnification. Straker doesn’t think this is a big deal, but the scientist in charge demonstrates how not knowing the scale of something can be a problem – by pointing a close-up camera at Lt Ellis’ crotch. I’m not joking. Note from this broadcast: This is missing a close-up of the screen that was in the Bravo recording. I wonder why?
Oh UFO, you try so hard, have plenty of women in positions of authority, but you’re still not averse to a bit of up-skirt photography.
Media Centre Description: Sci-fi adventure series about a secret organisation set up to combat alien invaders. A deep-space telescope gives SHADO staff a headache.
Recorded from ITV4 on Saturday 21 January 2006 18:58
Another single recording today, with an edited edition of Blue Peter, and another recording that cuts off the start.
Zoe is still training with the RNLI, and we’re reminded that Blue Peter has been sponsoring lifeboats for a very long time. Here’s Valerie Singleton launching the very first Blue Peter 1.
Zoe takes part in a simulated rescue, where she has to treat someone affected by a gas explosion.
Liz goes back to the 1940s, visiting the house of Glen and Melanie Sanderson, whose whole house is as it might have been in wartime.
She has a makeover.
For a snack, she tries a Nasturtium Leaf sandwich. With margarine, obviously.
Back in the studio, they’re still promoting their theme tune orchestra competition.
In the Blue Peter garden, Konnie joins gardener Chris to make some bird cake. I remember being surprised at how small the Blue Peter Garden was when I saw it, when I worked at the BBC. TV can make very small areas look large – the same is true of a lot of the smaller studios.
There’s music, from Christopher Orton, playing Premonitions of Spring, on two recorders.
Recorded from BBC ONE on Friday 20 January 2006 16:58
Today, the only recording is an edited recording of Charlie and Lola – But That Is My Book.
Lola wants to go to the library to take out her favourite book, Beetles, Bugs and Butterflies.
She’s having trouble finding it on the shelves.
Her book is missing.
Charlie tries to find another book she’ll like. Maybe one about Romans? “Too many big words, Charlie.”
An encyclopaedia isn’t quite what she wants.
Maybe a pop up book?
She gets very upset when she sees someone else taking out her favourite book.
But finally she finds another favourite book, about Cheetahs and Chimpanzees.
Media Centre Description: Children’s animation. Join Lola and Charlie, a brother and sister, as they deal with topics that effect their everyday lives. Lola can’t find her favourite book at the library.
The first recording today is another Charlie and Lola – There’s Only One Sun, And That Is Me. Lola wants to be picked as The Sun in the school play.
But she isn’t. “I’m not the sun. I’m not the sun.”
She has a plan. She makes her own Sun costume, so that her teacher will realise she made a mistake.
But Lola has been given the part of a leaf. A brown leaf. She thinks it’s boring so Charlie tries to show her that leaves aren’t boring.
They make umbrellas for insects
In the end, Lola’s leaf costume is the best.
Media Centre Description: Children’s animation. Join Lola and Charlie, a brother and sister, as they deal with topics that effect their everyday lives. It’s the school play and Lola is determined to be The Sun – what part will she get?
The next recording is Blue Peter, and once again, I’m missing the start of the episode. Which is strange given that the Media Centre timing definitely says there was two minutes padding before the programme was supposed to start. I do vaguely remember moving to adding five minutes padding at the start because I’d frequently miss the start of programmes. I wonder when that’s going to happen. Or if I imagined it.
Anyway, they’re all walking round the studio as a fitness challenge, to see how many steps they can do during the episode.
Zoe does some training with the RNLI.
Konnie is doing some climbing, along with a group of army cadets, who are going to climb a mountain in Nepal.
The children in the studio are all pupils of the World’s Strongest Teacher.
Matt and Konnie make some Pizza.
There’s another reminder of the Music competition, to have a chance to help record a new version of the Blue Peter theme. They’ve arranged the A-Z of musical instruments.
Media Centre Description: Zoe Salmon’s rescue skills are put to the test when she joins the RNLI for some very wet training exercises, and army cadets face a revolving climbing wall live in the studio.
Today only has one recording, an edited recording of Charlie and Lola – You Won’t Like this Present as Much as I do.
It’s Lotta’s birthday tomorrow, and Lola has been given some money to buy her a present. Her first idea is a pony.
Or a musical skipping rope.
Or crayons that draw by themselves.
Or some wings.
But Charlie tells her she probably should try to get a present that actually exists. So they visit the toy shop.
Unfortunately, Lola is distracted by a doctor’s kit, which is something she’s always wanted herself. She wants to buy it for herself, but then she’d only have a little money left for Lotta’s present.
In the end she buys it for Lotta. It’s almost time to go to Lotta’s party. Lola talks to her imaginary friend Soren Lorenson, and can’t resist unwrapping the kit and showing him all the things in it.
Charlie gets her to pack up the present again, re-wrap it, so they can go to Lotta’s party. Lola almost can’t bear to give it to Lotta.
But Lotta loves the kit as much as Lola, so they spend their time looking after Charlie.
The first recording today is Charlie and Lola – But I Am An Alligator.
Lola has an alligator costume which she loves, and wants to wear all of the time.
She knows lots of alligator facts. “Sometimes they grow as large as our table.”
She wears it going shopping.
It’s not very good for skipping.
Lola has to give a talk at school all about her, and she wants to do it in the alligator costume. Charlie doesn’t think she should, that it will be embarrassing, and tries to persuade her not to. But come the day of the speech, there she is. But her speech is all about her, and how she likes dressing up. “At the moment I like dressing up as an alligator.”
“I used to like dressing up as a Spanish Lady”
Her posh lady is hilarious. “Law-dee-daw”
She can be a circus performer.
Then she does a series of quick changes. Now she’s a doctor.
Or a Ladybird.
“Sometimes, I can be a mushroom.”
“Or a caterpillar.”
“Who turns into a Butterfly.”
Her speech gets a round of applause.
And next morning, she’s changed again.
This really is a superb programme. If you weren’t a kid or didn’t have kids in the 2000s you really missed out.
Media Centre Description: Children’s animation. Join Lola and Charlie, a brother and sister, as they deal with topics that affect their everyday lives. Dressing up is one of Lola’s absolutely favourite things to do and now she’s got this fabulous new alligator costume, she’s not ever going take it off…not ever!
That was an edited recording. The next recording is Blue Peter and it looks like it started late, or the show started early. So we missed the excitement of seeing the totaliser finally hit 50,000.
When Lauren (Catherine Tate) arrives with her phone and coins, and hears they’ve already hit the target, she says “You ain’t having it then.”
She stays completely in character. When they sit down, after another Childline montage, and she does give her phone and coins in, Gethin pats her on the shoulder and says “Thanks, Lauren.” “Don’t touch me” she says.
There’s a performance of ‘Electricity’ from Billy Elliot.
Matt and Gethin go canoeing off the coast of Namibia, with a lot of Seals.
They go shark fishing, to tag them and measure them.
Then they return it to the sea.
Honestly, Catherine Tate’s Lauren is very, very funny in this. I presume, because the show is live, much of this was improvised.
Recorded from BBC ONE on Monday 16 January 2006 16:58
The final recording today starts with the end of On The Fiddle? – one of those vile documentaries ‘exposing benefit cheats’.
There’s a look at what’s on now on all the BBC channels.
There’s a trailer for the FA Cup Third Round Replay, and a rather steamy looking trailer for Hotel Babylon.
Then, it’s Life on Mars, and I’m perplexed that I don’t seem to have a recording of the first episode from its original broadcast. What on earth was I doing? I suspect I’ll have a repeat recording later on, but for now, we’re starting at episode two, so John Simm’s Sam Tyler has been run over in the present day, and woken up in 1973, in Manchester, and met his new boss, Gene Hunt, grappled with the deep existential questions of reality and existence, and, by the end of the episode, come to terms with being there for the time being, until he can find out what’s really happening.
He sleeps with the TV on, which is very bad for him. I wonder if it’s only TV nerds like me who notice immediately that that’s not the original Test Card girl, or if everyone who grew up in the 70s would have spotted it? He’s hearing voices which sound like they’re in a hospital room, which might just be dreams, or they might be his comatose mind from 2006 leaking through.
Cut to Tyler, Hunt and Skelton bursting out of a swimming baths in pursuit of a wrong-un, all in trunks. I love Skelton wearing arm bands.
As they catch the man and bundle him to the ground, Skelton is trying to keep him from kicking, pulls off one of his shoes, and yells in alarm “Ah! Get off him! He’s got a verruca!” I’d sort of forgotten how funny this show could be.
The bad guy is Kim Trent, a known villain, who’s suspected on being involved with several armed robberies. They don’t have much evidence, except for a common MO. Hunt pulls out a bundle of cash, telling Trent that it’s marked bookies’ cash they found, but he says he’s never seen it. Sam pulls Hunt out of the interview, worried that he’s inventing evidence. Hunt argues that they know it’s him, and they need to keep him off the streets so he can’t do the second job they know he must be going to do. So, thanks to Sam’s pressure, Trent is released.
Next day, there’s an alert that a jewellers is being held up. Gene and Sam get there as the robber are running, and one of them starts shooting at them , so they jump into a parked car.
But there’s a woman in the parked car, who’s shot, and who works at the police station. Her name is June. Hunt is furious, and blames Sam for letting Trent go, otherwise the raid wouldn’t have gone ahead.
Sam has nightmares of being visited by the testcard girl.
He visits June in hospital. Hunt comes in and punches him int he face. “Oh, that feels better.” Sam does the Matrix thing. They fight a bit more. That seems to break the ice between them.
Going back to the scene, they find a potential witness, Leonard, who saw one of the men in the gang without his mask on. But he’s too scared to identify him, especially when the identification is face to face.
Tyler still thinks they can get him to testify, and sends Annie Cartwright to look after him in his flat, but they lose contact, and Sam goes to find her while Gene coordinates the police response. Sam finds Annie and Leonard, but the crooks find them, and it looks like it might be all over.
But Gene rocks up just in time to punch Trent, and save them. Leonard now feels able to identify Trent, and the case is done.
Later, Sam visits June in the hospital, and hears more voices from the present. There’s also some flashes of a green wood, and someone running in a red dress, which are a recurring motif. It’s been so long since I last watched this, that I really can’t remember how these were resolved in the end. I hope I’ve got the whole series.
Media Centre Description: Drama series about Sam Tyler, a Manchester detective who suffers a near-fatal car crash and wakes up in what seems to be 1973.
After this, there’s a trailer for The Bigger Picture with Graham Norton, and one for Judge John Deed.
Then there’s the start of the BBC News, leading with changes to incapacity benefits. Bloody tories. Oh wait, it’s a Labour government. And programmes like the one that preceded Life on Mars don’t help in demonising people on benefits.
It’s Sunday 15th, and we have two recordings, but one is a repeat.
The first starts with the end of Songs of Praise, and trailers for Friends and Crocodiles and The Story of Tracy Beaker.
Then, a new series starts, Johnny and the Bomb. The first episode is called Mrs Tachyon and the Bags of Time.
It opens in World War Two, in an English town where the street has recently been bombed. Two wardens see an old woman pushing a shopping trolley, and going into one of the houses, where there’s an unexploded bomb.
The old woman finds the hole where the bomb fell through the whole house. As she’s looking, a piece of brick falls and disturbs the bomb. It starts to tick. The two wardens get out, and the bomb explodes.
But then we cut to a modern scene, there’s a strange blue mist, and suddenly the old woman’s shopping trolley drops through the mist.
Some young boys come out of the cinema, having one of those arguments about who would win in a fight. “The Predator, The Alien, six Orcs, or that flying thing in Harry Potter?” There’s Johnny Maxwell, played by a very young George MacKay.
Wobbler, who thinks he’s desperately cool, played by Kyle Herbert.
Yo-Less is played by Lucien Laviscount. He doesn’t appreciate being given “Style Counsel” from Wobbler.
Finally there’s BigMac (Scott Kay). He’s a skinhead, complete with a swastika on the back of his hand (I’d hope that’s drawn on with a pen rather than a tattoo). He’s interested in cars.
As they’re leaving the cinema, they can hear someone moaning near some recycling bins. It’s the old woman who was looking at the bomb in the war. They call her Tacky Nora, so she’s obviously a well known local character. Her name is Mrs Tachyon, she’s played by Zoe Wanamaker, and she’s not dead. They call an ambulance for her. As she’s being wheeled in, she talks to Johnny. “Johnny Maxwell, the lad himself. Poison Ivy, Johnny boy, you can look but you’d better not touch.” She hands him a bundle of chips, wrapped in newspaper.
Her shopping trolley is there, filled with strange black bags, which feel rubbery, rather than plastic. Johnny is worried that these might be her only possessions, so he takes them home with him.
The newspaper which wrapped the chips that Mrs Tachyon gave Johnny appears to be from the second world war.
He shows it to his grandfather, Frank Finlay.
He remembers the night, then notices himself and Johnny’s grandmother in the picture. It was described as a lucky escape. “Not one person killed.”
He gives Johnny a pack of playing cards, where the backs are the shapes of different aircraft, so that he can tell the difference between friendly and enemy aircraft when he was a spotter in the Home Guard.
He goes to Judo, and practices with his friend Kirsty, played by Jasmine Franks. She’d later go on to appear in Hollyoaks.
They visit Mrs Tachyon in hospital. She’s looking better. She asks Johnny of he’s got her trolley, and talks about bags of time. “And remember, where your mind goes, the rest of you’s bound to follow.”
Back home, Johnny talks to grandad about a picture of his grandmother, who died when he was a baby, so he never knew her. He asks who the lady was she was talking to and he says it was “Some old biddy – Tacky Nora”. In a picture taken in 1941.
Johnny and Kirsty talk about it in the garage where he’s keeping the trolley and the bags. Kirsty doesn’t believe Johnny when he talks about time travel, but she punches one of the bags, and Johnny, who is holding on to the trolley, disappears.
He reappears, standing in wet cement as someone is doing some building. “Get off there, you young hooligan. That’s still wet.” Johnny gives the bags a thump and vanishes again, reappearing back in the garage where he’d started. And now there are his footprints in the old cement.
The five friends go out to a hill overlooking town. Johnny wants them all to travel, and they vanish from the present,
There’s a fade, a change in the colour grade, and the town looks a lot smaller when the trolley appears, followed quickly by the five of them.
A spitfire flies overhead. Johnny thinks it was because he was thinking about the old planes on the backs of the playing cards from Grandad.
“You know when people say ‘I remember when this was all fields’? Well, I think I remember when this was all buildings.”
They go into town, and one of the first people they see looks very much like Johnny’s grandmother from the picture.
Johnny asks in the shop about her. The woman notices Yo-Less and there’s some traditional casual racism.
Wobbler has gone home, but is confused that his road, Sealey Crescent, is called Twyford Crescent. He asks a man doing gardening. “Look son, I’m councillor Sealey. If they had a Crescent named after me, I think I’d know about it, don’t you?”
Outside the shop, a young man arrives in a fancy car – which, by amazing coincidence, is featured in the car magazine BigMac is reading.
While the man is in the shop, BigMac gets in the car to look at it, and the handbrake just releases, leaving him driving down the hill. Naturally, this causes a kerfuffle. Johnny, Yo-Less and Kirsty almost get arrested as well as BigMac, but they run, and use the bags to get away.
The man whose car BigMac ‘stole’ is the local doctor, Dr Harris, and also the captain of the Home Guard, played by William Beck.
It’s not looking good for BigMac – all the evidence is against him. “Look, he’s a spy.” (To be fair, the idiot was asking for that one).
His penkife also look incriminating. “It’s only a Swiss Army Knife.” “And are you in the Swiss Army?” “No, he’s in the German Army. Look, sir. ‘Vorsprung Durch Technik’ If that’s not German I’m a Dutchman”
Johnny pops into his house to check on Grandad. He’s asleep. Johnny heads upstairs, to find his bedroom is now full of junk. He hears a knock on the door. Grandad answers it, and it’s a man looking for Johnny. He says there’s no Johnny there. “I’m looking for your grandson, Johnny, Johnny Maxwell” “I’ve got no grandson. I’ve got no children.” “I’m sorry. There must be a mistake.” “You’ve made it. I’m on my own. I always have been. The only woman I’ve ever loved was killed in the war more than 60 years ago. And if you don’t mind, I’ve got to close the door.”
Johnny rejoins Kirsty and Yo-Less. He tells them everything’s changed. He wants to go back to see Mrs Tachyon, but before they get far, a large car blocks their path, and the man who spoke to Grandad gets out. “Johnny Maxwell, I want a word with you.”
They run, and manage to keep ahead of the car, although because they’re running down narrow alleyways, the car can’t really get ahead of them without running them over.
They get to the end of an alley blocked by a bollard, and are able to get away. The driver apologizes to his passenger. “I’m sorry, sir, they appear to have got away.” The man in the back replies “Don’t worry, we’ll find them. Believe me, Johnny Maxwell has nowhere to go.” Whoever he is, he’s played by Keith Barron.
This was an excellent first episode. The story is fun, and there’s plenty of dialogue that explains the dangers of time travel for viewers who might not be steeped in the genre. The performances are… OK. George MacKay is very good, some of the other kids are a little stiffer, and some of their dialogue had a whiff of “How do you do, fellow kids”. But casting Frank Finlay and Keith Barron adds some acting class to proceedings. And Time Travel stories are my catnip. I love them when they’re done well, and this one is doing all the right things so far.
Although the show doesn’t appear to be available on the regular streaming services, all three are on YouTube, and it’s great fun. Here’s the first episode.
Media Centre Description: Children’s drama series based on the book by Terry Pratchett. When Johnny Maxwell and his friends, Kirsty, Wobbler, Yo-Less and Big Mac, come to the aid of the mad old Mrs Tachyon they don’t plan to get stuck with her trolley full of black bags, the ‘Bags of Time’ as she calls them, but fate has other ideas. The bags propel Johnny and his gang back into World War II for a breathless adventure in which they can’t help tampering with time.
After this, there’s a trailer for New Drama on CBBC, and for The Virgin Queen. Then there’s the start of Last of the Summer Wine – The Man Who Invented Funny Yorkshire Stuff.
VHiStory 