Give Us A Clue at Christmas

No, you're not seeing double - this is the second of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour Christmas Specials! Although given that trouble co-ordinating and an inability to communicate clearly are the order of the day with this festive viewing, blurred vision just feels par for the course frankly.

To get them in the mood for games, our hosts revisit ITV's 1979 Christmas-edition of Give Us A Clue, a show whose very title suggests that things are supposed to get clearer as they progress. In actuality the exact reverse seems to have been true that day in Thames Television, but with an assemblage of light entertainment royalty such as this, who's keeping score? Certainly not Michael Aspel, that's for sure...

Who proposed stripping the catering budget down to Netto egg sandwiches for the preceding eleven months to allow the off-licence run for this show to take place? Who was responsible for retooling the on-screen countdown clock, but then decided to blow that money on another bottle of port instead? And who's going to break it to the orphans that Dickie Davies has opened all their presents?

Rely on a production-runner to press Play thirty seconds sooner than they usually would, and find out...

[Bonus points and/or an extra Cadbury's Rose (just the one) will be awarded to listeners who know what a Spelk™ is]

WE HAVE BEEN WATCHING:

Programme: Give Us A Clue
Broadcast: Mon 24 December 1979, 19:00
Production/Channel: Thames Television, ITV
Writer: Vince Powell, Juliet Grimm
Music: Alan Hawkshaw
Producer/Director: Juliet Grimm, Ian Bolt
Starring: Michael Aspel, Una Stubbs, Lionel Blair, Paula Wilcox, Nyree Dawn Porter, Clodagh Rogers, Beryl Reid, Kenneth Williams, Spike Milligan, Russ Abbot, Dickie Davies

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

All Star Comedy Carnival, Christmas 1972

Twas the night before Christmas and through MountPeg Towers, bottles of port, red wine and brown ale had been strategically placed into a series of time-lock-release safes to ensure an even spread of gradual inebriation throughout the twenty-fifth thereby ensuring it's not all gone after two hours.

Yes, the day is almost upon us and The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour's festive celebrations peak once more with the god-tier array of light entertainment name-dropping that is ITV's 1972 showcase, All Star Comedy Carnival (that's right, the one from every fifth-or-so Steps Up The Mountain). With Blair, Grayson, Tarby, Wogan, Rod Hull, Moira Anderson AND PEGGY MOUNT, everything you have ever wanted waits in here...

How slowly can time pass while you're waiting for a four-minute On The Buses Christmas Sketch to end? How quickly does a programme have to oscillate between low-brow autopilot sitcom and high-precision performance art to give viewers the televisual bends? And how on earth is your favourite* vintage TV podcast going to top this?

Unwrap. Press Play. Be as disappointed as every year.

*go on, admit it.

WE HAVE BEEN WATCHING:

Programme: All Star Comedy Carnival

Broadcast: Monday 25 Decemver 1972, 17:45

Production/Channel: ATV, Granada, Thames, LWT, Yorkshire Television / ITV

Writers: Brad Ashton, Bryan Blackburn, Roy Bottomley, Tom Brennand, Brian Cooke, Mike Craig, Eric Davidson, Harry Driver, Peter Dulay, John Esmonde, Bob Grant, Tony Hawes, Lawrie Kinsley, Bob Larbey, Stephen Lewis, Ron McDonnell, Johnnie Mortimer, Vince Powell, Maurice Sellar, Roy Tuvey

Music: Ronnie Aldrich, Russell Burgess, Syd Lawrence, Johnny Patrick

Producers: Stuart Allen, Philip Casson, Les Chatfield, Peter Dulay, Terry Henebery, Bill Hitchcock, Bryan Izzard, Philip Jones, Mike Lloyd, Bill Podmore, William G. Stewart, Mark Stuart

Directors: Terry Henebery, Stuart Allen, Les Chatfield, Bryan Izzard, Mike Lloyd, David Mallet, Bill Podmore, William G. Stewart

Starring: Jimmy Tarbuck, Peggy Mount, Moira Anderson, Anne Aston, Hylda Baker, Lynda Bellingham, Lionel Blair, Judy Buxton, Patrick Cargill, Leslie Crowther, Les Dawson, Ann George, Noele Gordon, Bob Grant, Larry Grayson, Doris Hare, Rod Hull, Tony Jacklin, Jimmy Jewell, Anna Karen, Penny Lane, Stephen Lewis, Hugh Lloyd, Larry Martyn, David Nixon, Sylvia Syms, Bob Todd, Rudolph Walker, Mona Washbourne, Carl Wayne, Terry Wogan, Harry Worth

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 Trap Door / Name That Tune

It's the end of term! Yes, as The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour parks up on the driveway to deliver the series' tenth episode, spirits are high as firmly-held convictions are batted around the studio like a game of opinionated tennis...

The show opens with our heroes lifting The Trapdoor and finding something delightful they can all agree upon, before a challenge to Name That Tune becomes rather more animated as *someone* asserts that half a dozen Rights can be enough to somehow make half an hour of Wrong™.

How many times can Trap Door be adapted to an 8-bit gaming format before it's any good? How many members do cruiseship-crooners Kaluki have to add to their roster before the law of averages says they'll land on a harmony? And how many times does Blackout get it Wrong™ in this?

Click on, listen in and find out...

WE HAVE BEEN WATCHING:

Programme: The Trap Door
Broadcast: Monday 06 October 1986, 16:10
Production/Channel: CMTB/Queensgate, Childrens' ITV
Writer: Terry Brain, Charlie Mills
Music: Bob Heatlie
Producer/Director: John Howson / Terry Brain, Charlie Mills
Starring: Willie Rushton, Nick Shipley

Programme: Name That Tune
Broadcast: Circa 1984
Production/Channel: Thames Television, ITV
Writer: David Self
Music: Peter Fenn
Producer/Director: Prod, Dir
Starring: Lionel Blair, Maggie Moone, Kaluki, Tallulha Beckett, Alan Braden

...but to business!
THE COMPETITION!

As regular listeners will know, we've been running a competition throughout this new series. In each of the episodes (starting with Droids / Starsky & Hutch), Doctor Velvet poses a question after our discussion of a programme. The answers to these can be handily recorded on our very special Peggy Mount Calamity Hour Quiz Official Answer Sheet, here.:

So. Here's what to do.

• Download the sheet and print it out.

• Complete the answers in the relevant boxes

• Don't post it on our social media, but stick the sheet on your fridge (or any fridge, it doesn't have to be yours), take a photo of that and e-mail it to PeggyMountPod@gmail.com with the subject line 'Fridge Competition'

• NB: Some of the answers are referenced in the preceding review-segments, some are observational references from the programmes themselves (linked to in the show-notes for each episode), and some are a little more... creatively inspired. With this in mind, we're not necesarily looking for a sheet full of correct answers (although do get them right where you can) - amusing and entertaining will (should (could (might))) be enough.

• The competition closes on the last day of September 2022. We'll select a winner on Saturday the first of October 2022, and contact them via the e-mail address they used for entry. There are no runner-up prizes. Our decision is final.

• Oh, I suppose you want to know what the prize is? Fair enough. It's this magnificent fridge-magnet!

(yeah, you're thinking 'a fridge magnet? singular? wow, that's big of you'. But rest assured, when you see what these babies retail for on our RedBubble store, you'll see it's definitely worth getting one for free if you can. We'll even throw in some stickers as well. They're not on the RedBubble, they're exclusive for things like this.

• I mean, do buy a magnet if you can. We'd appreciate the absolute fuck out of that, obviously. We've got t-shirts as well. The whack. Look, the store's new that's why we haven't mentioned it on the episodes yet. If anything, this competition's like a promotion for it. We suppose. We don't run a P*treon, so merch is the thing, y'know? Who doesn't like cool things?

• Buy the things...*

• *Seriously, only if you can. We're very aware it's 2022 y'know? Hardly the time to be launching a frivolous online store for fans of drunken rambling. But like we said, it's merch here not P*treon.

• Wow, what a cringe-inducing promotion this is. Anyway, GOOD LUCK!

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