Now Screening - What Are You Watching Right Now?

[Macca]

'Moonraker' (1979)

On ITV4 right now.

Past peak Bond but still better than any of them that came after.

Some good lines - 'Look after Mr Bond. See that he comes to some harm.'

The g-force thing he nearly gets killed in is just a slightly jazzed-up motorcycle sidecar. I never noticed that before and I've seen this many, many times - including at the pictures when it first came out.

[Alex_UK]

One of my guilty pleasures as a man of a certain age is Springwatch. My daughter decided to join me and we watched a couple of episodes, and I think she is now as much of a geeky fan as I am. I then decided to show her some YouTube clips of Michaela Strachan on “Hit Man and Her” from the early 1990’s…. (Now that programme was really a guilty pleasure back then, but not going to discuss that with my 15 year old daughter!)

She was quite flabbergasted by “Hit Man and Her” - I don’t think she could grasp the concept, and to be honest, over 30 years later, neither can I! Suffice to say, she will happily watch Michaela on Springwatch, but watching her on Hit Man and Her…. Er, no.

Then it got even more surreal - Jim Moir (Vic Reeves to you and I) was a judge on some sort of wildlife award on the show. I was going to show her some Reeves & Mortimer clips, (“Dove from Above”, anyone?) but I decided against it - I know she knows the Childline phone number off by heart….

[Macca]

'Hit Man And Her' had a concept now?

[Pigmy Pony]

Jim Moir (Vic Reeves to you and I) was a judge on some sort of wildlife award on the show. I was going to show her some Reeves & Mortimer clips, (“Dove from Above”, anyone?) but I decided against it - I know she knows the Childline phone number off by heart….

No, I think your daughter should see why the British music industry is the envy of the world, so here you go:

[Alex_UK]

Classic! I’ll let you know what she thinks….

[Macca]

Those were the days - when celebrity panel shows had celebrities you'd actually heard of.

[Macca]

'The New Avengers'

I'm classing this as proper telly even though really there's only a few good things about it. Essentially - the theme tune, and Purdey.

The only other point of interest was the cars since they did a deal with British Leyland who supplied the cars so you get the Jag XJS, Range Rover, Rover SD1, Triumph TR7, MG 'B' and a modified Jag XJ12.

It's not that realistic - Gambit's XJS doesn't suffer from catastrophic electrical failures, Purdey's MG doesn't leak oil like the Torrey Canyon - but those cars really do look good.

Makes you wonder what might have been

[Macca]

'Batman' - on Talking Pictures channel.

Caesar Romero as The Joker.

Proper telly.

Possibly some of the best telly ever made.

[Pigmy Pony]

'Batman' - on Talking Pictures channel.

Caesar Romero as The Joker.

Proper telly.

Possibly some of the best telly ever made.

As a kid I never missed Batman, was the highlight of the week. Iirc it came on about 7.30pm Saturday and Sunday. We must have been watching it in black & white, because at some point 'swap' cards which came in a pack with bubble gum went on sale, and we were all amazed at the colours. Same thing happened with Man from UNCLE.

If I close my eyes I can still smell the bubble gum cards.

[Macca]

As a kid I never missed Batman, was the highlight of the week. Iirc it came on about 7.30pm Saturday and Sunday. We must have been watching it in black & white, because at some point 'swap' cards which came in a pack with bubble gum went on sale, and we were all amazed at the colours. Same thing happened with Man from UNCLE.

If I close my eyes I can still smell the bubble gum cards.

I seem to recall it being on Saturdays after Grandstand finished - around tea time. One episode a week. But that would be mid/ late 1970s.