Three More Gerry Anderson TV Shows Get Their TVTimes Covers

This is a bit of mopping up from a previous post. When I do a "selection" of TV shows, there's always someone who says, "But why haven't you done such-and-such a show?" So these are a few more TVTimes covers for Gerry Anderson shows not included in the last but two post. 

And for anyone who says that ITV didn't broadcast Space Precinct, don't forget that by the time that show made it to the screen, TVTimes was covering not just the BBC channels but also satellite as well.

TVTimes - My Favourite Biscuit

It started out as a little running gag on my Gerry Anderson TVTimes covers (see previous post). Noele Gordon (from TV's Crossroads) revealing her favourite biscuit to readers of the popular ITV listings magazine in a series of articles that on closer inspection seems to have run for nearly thirty years. 

Despite the odd nice comment about the artistic merit of the covers, folk seemed to be more interested in the late soap queen's biscuit preference. 

So, by popular request here it is... together with a selection of other noted celebrities from the late 60s/ early 70s. 

(Oh and Colonel White DOES NOT look like Mike Pence!) 


Click on the images to make them larger... and legible!

Six Gerry Anderson Shows Finally Get Their TVTimes Covers!

I've been doing a bit of design prep for SHADOcon - a convention dedicated to Gerry & Sylvia Anderson's UFO During the process of putting together stuff for the day, it occurred to me that none of their series actually made the cover of the TVTimes. A shocking omission by anyone's standards. 

It was left to their eternal rvival the Radio Times to give Thunderbirds cover status in the 90s during one of the BBC's re-runs of the show. 

Never mind, I said. Let's put things right with the aid of Photoshop...

Columbo in Space Again!!

Yes. I've done Columbo in Space before. An off-the-wall piece with pics depicting the rarely seen crossover episode that the shabby but brilliant detective had with Space 1999 based on a Japanese graphic novel thing I couldn't translate. 

But.

The recent space rocket publicity launch by Elon Musk (I'm sure that's a 70s eau de toilette brand) made me return to the subject in an effort to get a handful of titters. 

Money for old rope... or something more sinister? You decide.

A Selection of Classic Christmas Radio and TVTimes!

It's nearly that time of the year when newsagents and corner shops have to clear out that spare room and make space under the stairs to store their vast deliveries of festive TV guides. 

Mammoth double issues with mammoth double prices will soon be weighing down the dump bins just inside the doors of local supermarkets. Some of the dumpbins may also be still standing by the end of their first day on the job.

So to celebrate and in anticipation of the mad rush to see what five year old movie we'll be sleeping through on Christmas Day, here's a stocking full of seasonal Radio and TVTimes for your amusing...

Columbo: 1999

The Plaid Stallions blog recently posted an image of a rather odd Japanese tie-in book. 

It seemed - as none of their writers spoke Japanese - to be a single publication featuring original fiction based on both Columbo and Space: 1999. You can read the article about it together with some clearer pics of it by clicking here. 

It should be pointed out that there isn't any discernible crossover of the two universes but it didn't stop me imagining one... 

(Apologies for the picture of Olive from On The Buses in a filthy bikini. It's merely provided for historical context.) 

 

ITV's Current Daytime Schedule is Nothing New!

Sorting through my old copies of the Radio Times and TVTimes yesterday, I came across this...

The ITV Doctor Who Christmas Special 1973

It's not a widely known fact that ITV attempted to poach 'Doctor Who' from the BBC back in the early seventies. 

The independent television channel had a long history of doing this with stars like Tony Hancock and Benny Hill and would famously drag Morecambe and Wise to the channel in the 80s with false promises of movie deals and bigger budgets. 

The 'Doctor Who' poach was a mess from the start. Hastily done in the autumn of 1973, ITV quickly commissioned a variety special for Christmas which was recorded in front of a live canned laughter machine that November. 

In the show, Jon Pertwee performed his hit single 'Who is the Doctor?' as a duet with Noele Gordon - there to plug her 'Crossroads Christmas Sing-a-Long' LP whilst comedian Bernard Manning played a somewhat coarse (and possibly drunk) Santa Claus. 

click for larger

Benny Hill's Jackie Wright and Bob Todd were Santa's Time Elves who got into hilarious japes (sic) with some reindeer and a wrapping paper machine that worried the RSPCA whilst Katy Manning performed 'Age of Aquarius' with 'The Jo Jo's' who looked suspiciously like 'The Ladybirds' dressed in silver spandex.

'Doctor Who' hastily returned back to the BBC - its tail between its legs the following January and all was forgiven - just...

Like the later 'Star Wars Holiday Special', the show has never been re-screened and VHS copies of it have become much sought-after by the curious and the naive. It remains a forgotten sully on the world of TV's favourite Time Lord. 

Look Out For Look-in Books That Weren't Very Popular At The Time

Look-in Books Newspaper Ad from Daily Chronic (c1975)

LOOK-IN TV-TIE BOOKS

Published by Piccolo Books/TVTimes

c1974-5

Price: 25p

Look-in was sold as the "Junior TVTimes". It had everything - pop stars, comic strips, posters, footballers, Ed 'Stewpot' Stewart - everything as long as it was on ITV. No stuffy BBC rubbish here.

I particularly liked the comic strips which utilised some of the best British artists at the time including Mike Noble, Martin Asbury and John Burns. There seemed to be a policy that the comic strips were based on all of ITV's SF output no matter what the quality or longevity of it was. Whilst we had long-running strips based on 'The Six Million Dollar Man' and 'The Tomorrow People', there were also ones about 'The Man from Atlantis' and 'Logan's Run' (that's the TV series not the classic movie). 

Look-in also published a number of TV tie-in books usually written by the celebrity contributors to the magazine. I still have a copy of 'Is There Life In Outer Space?' by Peter Fairley (ITN's then science correspondent and star of 'Timeslip'). 

Here's a selection of some of their less well-known titles.