Stuart Millard posts
Posts: 334
Files: 300
Wayne Dobson – A Kind of Magic
This job entails chasing down a succession of white rabbits, awake for weeks and pacing a garage whose wall is covered in lines of red string, linking each horrible performance to another atrocious sitcom or wretched performer, and after Wayne Dobson's showing on Barrymore's Saturday Night Out, how could I not sample the full series? A Kind of Magic ran for three years on ITV between 1990 ...
News Post/'House Party Hell' Status
(This isn't a post post; your regular scheduled piece is still coming in a couple of days)Those who follow me on Twitter will know I've had a rough old week. On Friday, I got this notification from YouTube:This means, while ads would still run on my videos, YouTube will get all the revenue. Anyone looking at my viewcount knows I effectively make a pittance, but it's my pittance, and I&...
Owt Good On, Mam? – Sky One Originals
Now I feel like I'm finally getting over the trauma of Beat the Crusher, it's time for another dip into Sky's original programming, starting with Little Monsters from 2003, which means it's only a few ye– sorry, twenty years old. This is right at the beginning of the mid-naughties' obsession with naughty children and broken families, when the subclass of 'chavs' first...
X-Fire
X-Fire understood exactly what it is that all blokes want more than anything – to pretend they're in the SAS. Pronounced crossfire, Channel 4's paintball-based game show was made for your neighbour who plays Call of Duty with the volume right up while his wife puts the kids to bed, as one of those series attempting to be a live-action videogame; specifically a Counter Strike style shoote...
End of Year Business
Some quick notes as we wrap up the year, with the final post dropping a few days early, right after I send this.As 2022 finishes, I'll be doing the yearly calendar reset (months containing 31 days push the posts back a day earlier, and eventually that'll mess up the schedule). As a result, next year's first post won't be up until January 9th , but we'll be coming in hot with a ...
All Star Comedy Carnival
One Christmas special? Try a dozen! Between 1969 and 1973, ITV's annual All Star Comedy Carnivals were an actual televisual selection box, packing miniature festive episodes of the era's popular comedies into a ninety minute feast. Fronted by Jimmy Tarbuck, these were the Monday Nitro to the WWF Raw of BBC's Christmas Night with the Stars. You literally couldn't do this now, as the...
Update on Recent 'Satanic Panic' Video
Hello. Last month's video 'Satanic Panic: Geraldo vs. the Devil' has been pulled from YouTube for, quote:"Our team has reviewed your content, and, unfortunately, we think it violates our harassment, threats and cyberbullying policy."I have no idea what this might be, and they didn't give any details on which specific thing crossed a line. It's not been made public yet a...
Lesser Noel'n Edmonds
Continuing our scholarly appraisal of Edmonds, it's time to really get into the weeds, with a pair of shows which fail to even reach modern standards of existing, with neither deemed worthy of a Wikipedia page. 1999's The World of the Secret Camera filled the gap between House Party's acrimonious end and the final BBC edition of Christmas Presents, suggesting its recording pre-dated No...
The Devil is Real (Sometimes)
Though October means a return to our annual tradition, Highway to Heaven doesn't strictly adhere to the rule of 'paranormal stuff in otherwise-grounded shows', being its conceit is a probationary angel earning his wings with good deeds down here. The ultimate in Sunday afternoon dread, it was an hour of God's Day spent with every mum's choice, Little House on the Prairie's ...
Owt Good On, Mam? - Forgotten Sketch Shows
We know through our shared traumatic experience that all sketch shows have the standard set-ups; travel agent, restaurant first date, train carriage. Most prolific of these is the doctor's surgery. But what if there was a whole show just of doctor gags? Nay, a whole series?! Airing Friday nights on LWT, 1978's The Pink Medicine Show was devised, written and performed by a pair of practisin...
Bonus Video - House Party Hell #10
To get everyone in the mood for C5's Rise and Fall of Noel Edmonds on later tonight.
Keith, Orville & Cuddles - The DVD
“Why this?” you might ask. “Why Keith, Orville & Cuddles – It's a Quacker?” And yes, we have encountered Harris before, on his own Christmas special, and guesting on Royal Varieties, but this is a light entertainment objet worth holding up to the light. Quacker is a DVD, self-produced for Keith to sell from the merch table at his live shows – although Amazon does list a signed copy...
Bonus Video: House Party Hell #9
To celebrate hitting 1,000 YouTube subs this weekend
