Some of our listeners will only know the late Robbie Coltrane from his performances as Hagrid in the Harry Potter film series, despite a long and varied career in film and television. But what happens when one of our cultural references dies? Is it our responsibility to find new ones, and if so, where do we start looking?

In this week’s podcast, we discuss cultural references. We explore the measure of a good cultural reference and debate whether they can be mobilised for culture war debates. In addition to Robbie Coltrane, we make reference to the Humphreys milk adverts, the Milk Tray man, aluminium Christmas trees, The Shining, and cringey memes. We also share some of our most embarrassing and revealing cultural reference moments.

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Image: Edinburgh International Film Festival via Flickr