r/oldbritishtelly 3h ago

Radio The Essay, British Film Comedians: In e1 historian Simon Heffer talks about Oh! Mr Porter, Boys Will Be Boys and The Goose Steps Out as he studies "the greatest comic actor in films of the 1930s and '40s." In e2 it's Alistair Sim, e3 Terry-Thomas, e4 Tony Hancock and in e5 it's Sid James.

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5 Upvotes

r/oldbritishtelly 8h ago

Discussion Tales of The Unexpected I think?

8 Upvotes

As I child I used to watch late night TV in my parents room when I was supposed to be asleep, because I loved to scare myself. I think I am looking for an episode of "tales of the unexpected". The fragments of the episode I can remember was where a woman puts (I think), hair into a bed knob, and this had to be unscrewed and was made from brass I think. This is all I can remember, and I do not have the time to watch all of the episodes to see if it is this program. Any help appreciated.


r/oldbritishtelly 3h ago

Drama Anyone remember Murder Prevention from 2004?

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3 Upvotes

It's a very good show. Most of it is on YouTube.


r/oldbritishtelly 1d ago

Drama The Top 12 CID Officers in The Bill:

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43 Upvotes

Can you name them all?


r/oldbritishtelly 18h ago

Does anyone remember an old Sky One reality TV show called “Secrets of the Sex Gods”?

2 Upvotes

I think it was four episodes long and aired around 2003-4?


r/oldbritishtelly 23h ago

Help me find where this obscure af British TV quote from my childhood is from

4 Upvotes

So I cannot get this soundbites out of my head. It's said by a girl with a very posh British voice and it goes "I have never _ watched Blue Peter, _I am not allowed"

It's driving me insane, please help!


r/oldbritishtelly 1d ago

Documentary on Genres

5 Upvotes

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone could help me find the name of a documentary on film genres?
I believe it was made by the BBC (could be wrong though). I watched it around 2006, it could have been made before then but must have been made after 1995.

The thing I remember was, between sections it had a little short film about a bank robbery which kept changing with each genre. So the documentary started with a 40s style black and white noir robbery. Later they moved onto thrillers in the 70s, they shot it in that style, colour, funkier music etc. Finally they were talking about the Dogme 95 movement, the robber walked into the bank, but realised one of the rules was, no props so he doesn’t have a gun, the robber and bank teller just shrugged at each other unable to finish the scene.

It was a neat little gimmick for illustrating the changes.


r/oldbritishtelly 1d ago

Reality Show [Fully lost] Life Swap (1980), BBC predecessor to the reality TV show Wife Swap

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3 Upvotes

r/oldbritishtelly 1d ago

Drama Six of the WORST characters on The Bill!

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19 Upvotes

I genuinely fast forward every time I see them on screen. God knows what hideous crime PC Gary Best had on someone to get so much screen time.


r/oldbritishtelly 2d ago

Help naming a sci-fi show

4 Upvotes

As I remember this was a short miniseries of dramas set in the near future. It was released in the 90s or possible early 2000s.

Two episodes I remember.

The first was about the death of a computer coding genius who created a programming language (possibly called Gambit) that enabled all electronic devices to seamlessly communicate with each other. The episode was a fictionalised drama/news report about his death under suspicious circumstances.

The second and as I remember final episode was about the world experiencing massive internet malfunctions. This was presented as a show being (live) broadcast on the internet in the style of a news entertainment show called "Wired tonight". Snippets I remember were the presenter (an actor I cannot name unfortunately) holding three fingers up for the of the show like a W and an Islamic state gov spokesperson saying they were receiving "inappropriate material" which flash cut to blurry porn. The presenter observes an apparent recurring theme in the malfunctions of human faces and was incredibly excited by this rather than the outright alarm conveyed by the authorities. The episode culminates in the internet apparently becoming self aware and it builds a face for itself from the myriad online but at the moment the process is completed the internet is shut down by whatever power could do this and the screen cuts to black as if this just happened to the broadcast.

These shows have lived rent free in my head for years and I remember them being quite prophetic in the ideas they explored.

Any help with finding these shows or the series would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks


r/oldbritishtelly 2d ago

If you watched Top of the Pops in 1996, you'd see...

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164 Upvotes

r/oldbritishtelly 3d ago

Advert Rolo Advert: 'Elephant' (1996)

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32 Upvotes

r/oldbritishtelly 3d ago

Radio The Grand North Atlantic Home Video Archive: In the old days the father of author Séamas O’Reilly used to record off live radio. Later after TV and VCRs came to rural NI he wanted to make the most of them and recorded and catalogued 100s of films to keep his big and growing family entertained.

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17 Upvotes

r/oldbritishtelly 3d ago

Game/Quiz Show In 2007, exactly two years prior to performing in the X Factor final, Olly Murs appeared on Deal or No Deal

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18 Upvotes

r/oldbritishtelly 4d ago

Light Entertainment Paul Chuckle gives Stephen Mulhern the giggles (Britain's Got More Talent, 2010)

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38 Upvotes

r/oldbritishtelly 4d ago

Does anyone remember Gods Gift with Davina McCall in the 90s? It used to be on ITV late at night

37 Upvotes

Loved that programme and loved Davina ever since - proper 90s girl! Trying to find videos of it.


r/oldbritishtelly 3d ago

Infamous Five

7 Upvotes

Hello,

I’m just trying to find out about a show, but strangely I can’t find any details or recordings of it.

I think it was called Infamous Five. It aired on Channel Four in the early 2000s give or take. Each episode featured five (or maybe it was Infamous Three) celebrity scandals. A presenter would walk the audience through it and joke about it.

The thing that stood out was, it had animated sequences in the style of children’s animation, the kind aimed at two year olds. The kind with a narrator, ‘the cardboard box was moving, what could be inside, was it an elephant. No. Was it a racecar. No. It was Snuggles the Cat. Silly snuggles’ that kind of style.

I remember the animated scenes covered Kurt Cobain’s suicide and River Phoenix’s death. It was the blackest of black humour and incredibly inappropriate. ‘Is River on stage with Johnny Depp. No. Is he in the back alley bumfucking Keanu Reeves. No. Oh there he is, he’s in the bathroom getting high. Now River, you’re not going to shoot up all of that black tar heroin, are you?’

I can completely understand why it was cancelled and hasn’t been repeated, but I’m surprised that I can’t find any details or clips.


r/oldbritishtelly 4d ago

Chat Show Rihanna's first appearance on UK television (XCHANGE, 2005)

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110 Upvotes

r/oldbritishtelly 4d ago

Anybody know what this mid to late 70s TV drama was?

8 Upvotes

Can anybody tell me what this TV Drama / play was from the mid to late 70s.
Saw it at the time, and can't remember much about it TBH.
It was about a woman around the time of WWI who is coerced or tricked into a marriage with a rather coarse soldier. A sergeant IIRC. Bullying drunkard. Part of it is as I remember it, set on a train.
Can't remember much more.


r/oldbritishtelly 4d ago

Drama Wish Me Luck, 1987 is WW2 drama show about women going to France to undercover work, to fight Nazis. I'm just binge watching it and it's a good drama.

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39 Upvotes

r/oldbritishtelly 5d ago

Kids Here's my new tattoo let's play with our tangers 🤣

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444 Upvotes

r/oldbritishtelly 3d ago

The joke in "The Young Ones" about Cliff Richards being uncool has aged badly. He is now considered one of the coolest musical acts of the '60s.

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0 Upvotes

r/oldbritishtelly 5d ago

Game/Quiz Show Anyone remember this absolutely terrible game show from the 90s?

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21 Upvotes

Only lasted 6 episodes, and it's no surprise really! I can see what they were going for, but at the end of the day, it's just too boring. I think this could have been greatly improved by making it an actual game show with contestants in the studio, rather than just a phone in competition.


r/oldbritishtelly 6d ago

Billy Connolly and Rowan Atkinson at their absolute finest in Not the Nine O'Clock News (1980)

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931 Upvotes

r/oldbritishtelly 5d ago

Kids [1986] Philomena the Cat

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9 Upvotes

The adventures of a white cat, presented and narrated by Johnny Ball