Friday 29 July 2022

The Real Ghostbusters / In Loving Memory


It may be warm outside, but the ever-present, preternatural chill in the heart of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour means that even the sunniest months are spent in gleeful contemplation of spooky televisual scheduling. And while Doctor Velvet and Blackout don't engage Full Pumpkin Mode™ just yet, they're still on the blower to a pair of organisations that can help potential patrons deftly dispose of the dead...

Grudgingly lifting the receiver through spent bubblegum and sarcasm is the very first episode of 1986 animated series The Real Ghostbusters, where the title's adjective is every bit as spurious as its proper noun. Next up it's morbid introspection of a far gentler pace, as Thora Hird and Christopher Beeny undertake to bring us all some antiquated laughs In Loving Memory.

Has there ever been a clearer case of buyer's remorse than DIC Enterprises winning the contract to adapt one of the most successful movies of all time to animation? Has there ever been a more bitter works-do than a pan-county gathering of rival organisations who all know how to quietly get rid of a body? And has there ever been a greater disparity of Pegs On The Line between the first and second halves of this podcast?

Figure out who you're gonna call and hit that button...



You can download a special sheet to print out then safely collate your Peggy Mount Calamity Hour Quiz answers each week, here.:



WE HAVE BEEN WATCHING:


Programme:
The Real Ghostbusters
Broadcast: Circa 1988, CiTV
Production/Channel: DIC Enterprises, ITV
Writer: Len Janson, Chuck Menville
Music: Shuki Levy, Haim Saban
Director: RIchard Raynis
Starring: Ron Masak, Arsenio Hall, Lorenzo Music, Maurice LaMarche, Frank Welker, Laura Summer

Programme:
In Loving Memory
Broadcast: Monday 20 October 1980, 20:00
Production/Channel: Yorkshire Television, ITV
Writer: Dick Sharples
Music: Herbert Chappell, Alan Parker
Producer/Director: Ronnie Baxter
Starring: Thora Hird, Christopher Beeny, Derek Benfield, Liz Smith, Elisabeth Sladen




You can Subscribe, Like, Follow, Rate and Review on:



The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional live accompaniments by Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to PeggyMountPod@gmail.com

Friday 22 July 2022

Wizbit / Odd One Out


Ever keen to test the contemporary legitimacy of old idioms, The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour has noted that while good things may come in small packages, it does not stand to reason that all small packages are good. And there are few things smaller and with more questionable good-ness than the subject of this week's podcast...

In a Daniels-centric outing, Doctor Velvet and Blackout are joined by Ozzy Bognops to cast a critical eye over the seminal children's fantasy series Wizbit, before ramping up the tension with a nail-biting edition of the prime time quiz show Odd One Out.

How many excuses can three people give for watching programmes which really are not aimed at them? How many questions does Michael want to get right before he gives someone else a chance to play the ruddy game? And how many other podcasts do you know that would cover a Paul Daniels double-bill where neither of those is his magic show?

It's fingers on Play Buttons and first to find out wins...



You can download a special sheet to print out then safely collate your Peggy Mount Calamity Hour Quiz answers each week, here.:



WE HAVE BEEN WATCHING:


Programme:
Wizbit
Broadcast: Weds 13 January 1988, 16:25
Production/Channel: White Magic Productions, BBC One
Writer: Barry Murray
Music: Mike McNaught
Producer/Director: Barry Murray, Phil Bishop
Starring: Paul Daniels, Debbie McGee, Adrian Hedley, Vicky Licorish, Rob Inglis

Programme:
Odd One Out
Broadcast: Circa 1983
Production/Channel: Action Time / Ralph Edwards Productions, BBC One
Writer: Howard Huntridge, Neil Shand, Julia Smalley
Music: Ronnie Hazlehurst
Producer/Director: Roger Ordish, John Bishop
Starring: Paul Daniels




You can Subscribe, Like, Follow, Rate and Review on:



The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional live accompaniments by Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to PeggyMountPod@gmail.com

Tuesday 19 July 2022

Mister T / Robin's Nest


In the spirit of camaraderie, co-operation and consideration, those kind gentlemen at Mountpeg Towers have lent their facilities to an up-and-coming rival podcast (albeit on strictly limited Soundcloud-only terms). And in the spirit of agile, responsive and seat-of-their-slacks media production, The Margaret Rutherford Misadventure Marathon chose the subject-matter of their copycat drunken analysis on the results of a Twitter-poll. Democracy continues to have much to answer for...

There are, as is traditional, two televisual treats under the microscope, the first of which could not be covered on PeggyMountPod for predictably practical reasons. Yes, Mister T finally makes a full animated appearance as 'The Cap Cod Caper' (or 'Mystery', if you prefer) is chosen for dissection. It's certainly a way to work up an appetite of course, and how better to sate this craving than dropping into Robin's Nest for a bite to eat and some light farce?

How bored and easily distracted are the New England staff-reporters at a gymnastics convention? How much comedy-milage can two sitcom writers be expected to wring out of a Chinese restaurant? And will Proctor Helmet and Cackout be allowed back in Pod Producer Ken's studio after the way they went on?

Press Play and see what you think...




WE HAVE BEEN WATCHING:


Programme:
Mister T
Broadcast: 1983 (US), 1984 (UK)
Production/Channel: Ruby Spears, ITV
Writer: Janis Diamond
Music: Rudy Larriva
Director: Rudy Larriva
Starring: Mister T, Alan Young, Phil LaMarr

Programme:
Robin's Nest
Broadcast: Tuesday 11 January 1977, 20:30
Production/Channel: Thames Television, ITV
Writer: Johnnie Mortimer, Brian Cooke
Music: Richard O'Sullivan / Brian Bennett
Producer/Director: Peter Frazer-Jones
Starring: Richard O'Sullivan, Tessa Wyatt, Tony Britton, John Barrett, Hilda Braid






You can Subscribe, Like, Follow, Rate and Review on:



The Margaret Rutherford Misadventure Hour is a subsidiary of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. Audio segments from television programmes and associated title music are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to PeggyMountPod@gmail.com

Friday 15 July 2022

First Class / Dempsey & Makepeace


In the hallowed halls of MountPeg Towers, young Doctor Velvet and Blackout like nothing more than taxing their brains to a good quiz and/or mystery. And having gained a reputation for all the nothing, Pod Producer Ken has finally sat them down in front of some fast-paced 1980s excitement...

It's off to the BBC first, as The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour takes a predictably arch look at Debbie Greenwood's esteemed TV kids' quiz First Class, following which it's a trip to the big smoke courtesy of ITV; to fight crime, greed and questionable wardrobe choices with Dempsey & Makepeace.

Has the old adage of always running new clothes through the machine before wearing them not extended as far as the Metropolitan Police? Has the new adage of always having a goth and a gamer on your pub quiz team ever payed off quite so well as here? And which of our hosts was responsible for the Bank of England Inflation Calculator website crashing earlier this week?

First one on the buzzers to press Play wins one of them t-shirts off the market...



You can download a special sheet to print out then safely collate your Peggy Mount Calamity Hour Quiz answers each week, here.:



WE HAVE BEEN WATCHING:


Programme:
First Class
Broadcast: Saturday 18 June 1988, 17:35
Production/Channel: BBC Scotland, BBC One
Writer: Donald W Stewart, David Williams
Music: Mike Oldfield
Producer/Director: Anne Somers, Justin C Adams
Starring: Debbie Greenwood

Programme:
Dempsey & Makepeace
Broadcast: Friday 22 February 1985, 20:00
Production/Channel: London Weekend Television, ITV
Writer: Jesse Carr Martindale
Music: Alan Parker
Producer/Director: Tony Wharmby
Starring: Glynis Barber, Michael Brandon, Ray Smith, William Boyde, Christopher Tajah, Val Joseph, Stephen Persaud




You can Subscribe, Like, Follow, Rate and Review on:



The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional live accompaniments by Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to PeggyMountPod@gmail.com

Friday 8 July 2022

Supergran / George & The Dragon


It's the show that asks: the sun might always shine on TV, but what happens when that TV is showing North Tyneside? The gang at MountPeg Towers are all about respecting their elders, so the prospect of spending a double-shift in company where this will be expected leads now to some industrial level tongue-biting....

Only joking! It's business as snarky usual when The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour runs into a pair of older ladies who, quite frankly, are more than cut out to look after themselves. Our first port of call is a date with Supergran and her desaturated origin story, before later alighting in the Southern counties to see Dame Pegatha Mountbatten herself in George & The Dragon where at least the whole thing is supposed to be in black and white.

Who signed that off? (the first one) Who thought that would be an appropriate opening? (the second one) Who's watching this in the twenty first century when The Stranger Things is on? (both)

You can have a good laugh at the answer to the third of those at least, by pressing Play...



You can download a special sheet to print out then safely collate your Peggy Mount Calamity Hour Quiz answers each week, here.:



WE HAVE BEEN WATCHING:


Programme:
Supergran
Broadcast: Sunday 20 January 1985, 16:30
Production/Channel: Tyne Tees, ITV
Writer: Jenny McDade
Music: Billy Connolly, Phil Coulter, Anthony Isaac
Producer/Director: Keith Richardson, Anthony Simmons
Starring: Gudrun Ure, Iain Cuthbertson, Lee Marshall, Bill Shine, Holly English, Iam Towell

Programme:
George & The Dragon
Broadcast: Saturday 19 November 1966, 20:40
Production/Channel: ATV, ITV
Writer: Vince Powell, Harry Driver
Music: Tom Springfield
Producer/Director: Alan Tarrant, Shaun O'Riordan
Starring: Peggy Mount, Sid James, John Le Mesurier, Keith Marsh, Noel Davis, John Carlin




You can Subscribe, Like, Follow, Rate and Review on:



The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional live accompaniments by Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to PeggyMountPod@gmail.com

Friday 1 July 2022

Star Wars: Droids / Starsky & Hutch


And so they're back! In outer space! You just walked in to find Doctor Velvet and Blackout here with that patient, if faintly underwhelmed look upon their face(s)! Yes, The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour returns for another spectacular series, as some beloved favourites come under the retrospective microscope, as well as a few forgotten gems...

The first stop on tonight's excursion is a Galaxy Far, Far Away, to catch up with the goggle-eyed antics of some familiar Droids. Following which, it's a short ride back down to earth and the gritty streets of Bay City, where Messrs Starsky and Hutch have got their work cut out trying to fight crime efficiently in California bedecked in heavy knitwear.

How forgiving does one have to be of a half-hearted televisual spin-off of an iconic film series, given that the alternative is 'well, nothing at all then'? How excited can one get to be plunged into a familiar city for the very first time, with new characters that feel like old friends? And how robust is one man's coccyx that he smacks derriere-first onto the roof of his own car every single week, gradually destroying the vehicle like a painfully slow version of the bonus round in Street Fighter II?

Press the Play button and You Will* Survive to find out...

*Should. Survival not guaranteed.



You can download a special sheet to print out then safely collate your Peggy Mount Calamity Hour Quiz answers each week, here.:



WE HAVE BEEN WATCHING:



Programme:
Droids: The Great Heep
Broadcast: Sat 08 October 1988, 08:45
Production/Channel: Nelvana Animation, Children's BBC
Writer: Ben Burtt
Music: Stewart Copeland / Derek Holt, Patricia Cullen
Director: Clive Smith
Starring: Anthony Daniels, Long John Baldry, Winston Rekert, Graeme Campbell

Programme:
Starsky & Hutch
Broadcast: Fri 23 April 1976, 21:25
Production/Channel: Spelling-Goldberg, BBC One
Writer: William Blinn
Music: Lalo Schifrin
Director: Barry Shear
Starring: Paul Michael Glaser, David Soul, Antonio Fargas, RIchard Ward



You can Subscribe, Like, Follow, Rate and Review on:



The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional live accompaniments by Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to PeggyMountPod@gmail.com

The Undersea Aventures Of Captain Nemo

Not quite ready to surface from hibernation, The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour ekes out the last of the dark nights by curling up at the fi...