My 70's TV Childhood

Welcome back to My 70s TV Childhood, the classic British TV podcast about growing up in 1970s Britain and the part television played in our lives. 

This week we're looking back at Beasts, Nigel Kneale's six-part ITV anthology from 1976. There were no castles or alien planets, just a supermarket, a suburban home, an empty dolphinarium, a country cottage, a pet shop and a film studio. It was scratching behind a wall, rather than anything you actually saw, that followed us up the stairs to bed.

Our theme tune game for family and friends is close to going into production. Before manufacturing begins, it would really help to know whether you might be interested in buying it. There's no commitment at all, but your answer will help us estimate numbers. Register your interest at www.my70stvchildhood.com. Any purchases will help support the podcast, and launch details, along with a special opportunity for listeners to take part, will follow soon.

What to Expect

• Why the most disturbing 70s TV, from Armchair Thriller's faceless nun onwards, was rarely the most graphic
• Nigel Kneale, the Quatermass writer who knew an imagined threat is far worse than a visible one
• Special Offer: a young Pauline Quirke and the sinister supermarket mascot Brightway Billy
• During Barty's Party: a suburban couple, a siege of rats, and horror built almost entirely from sound
• Buddyboy: Martin Shaw, a derelict dolphinarium and an awkward evening on the sofa with my parents
• Baby, What Big Eyes and The Dummy: a mummified creature in a cottage wall, Michael Kitchen hunting for wolves, and an actor swallowed by his own monster
• Why watching once, at a fixed time, with no pause button and no internet, let our imaginations finish the job

Which episode of Beasts disturbed you the most? Leave a comment on the blog, on any of our social media pages, or email [email protected].

Take care,

Oliver

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🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/70sTVchildhood

▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@my70stvchildhood

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Hello, you lovely lot, and welcome to the My 70s TV Childhood Quiz, the fun trivia quiz from the classic British TV podcast that looks back at growing up in 1970s Britain. This time we start with the scarier side of the schedules. Looking back, I'm surprised we all turned out so normal, or relatively so, given some of the things we were shown at teatime. Grab a pen and paper and your favourite brew (I'm back on tea today) and let's see how you get on.

What to Expect

• Round 1: Suitable for Children? The spooky, eerie and downright disturbing shows we watched as kids.
• Round 2: Marathon (Fil Rouge) Questions drawn from the subjects we've covered across more than 200 episodes of the podcast.
• Round 3: Spin the Wheel and Name That Tune The wheel picks a year and our AI powered theme tune generator plays five theme tunes from shows that started that year.
• Round 4: TV Times Anything goes in our general 1970s TV trivia round.
• Bonus Question The answer to last time's bonus question, and a brand new one.

Know the answer to the bonus question? Drop me a line at [email protected], and do let me know how you scored.

The My 70s TV Childhood Theme Tune Game

We are close to releasing a playable version of our famous theme tune round, a fun family game based on classic British TV theme tunes that you'll be able to play at home. If you'd like to be one of the first to hear more, register your interest at www.my70stvchildhood.com. It could make the perfect gift for the dad who has everything.

Take care,

Oliver

Connect and Follow

👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/my70stvchildhood

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/70stvchildhood

📲 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@my.70s.tv.childhoo

🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/70sTVchildhood

▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@my70stvchildhood

Get in touch!

Support the show

Welcome back to My 70s TV Childhood, the classic British TV podcast about growing up in 1970s Britain and the part television played in our lives. So many of you asked about it after our Wonder Woman episode that this week we're looking back at The Incredible Hulk, the programme that gave British children in the late 1970s a rather alarming lesson in anger management. From Bill Bixby's gentle, haunted David Banner to Lou Ferrigno's unforgettable Hulk, it's a show that shaped a generation, one ripped shirt at a time.

The My 70s TV Childhood Theme Tune Game

We're working on a playable version of our famous theme tune round, the My 70s TV Childhood Theme Tune Game, and we're now close to beginning manufacturing. Before we take that step, it would really help to know whether it's something you might buy. There's absolutely no commitment, but it will help us judge production numbers. If a nostalgic family game for people who grew up with 1970s British television sounds like your sort of thing, or like the perfect gift for the dad who has everything, register your interest at www.my70stvchildhood.com. Any profits will go straight back into the costs of making the podcast. More details, including the launch schedule, will follow soon.

We're also planning a special opportunity for listeners to be involved in an event marking the launch, so watch, or perhaps listen, to this space.

What to Expect

• Your messages: a request for help from listener Chris, whose mother appeared on Opportunity Knocks! on Monday 30 August 1971. That show is officially listed as lost, and with her special birthday approaching, we'd love to track down a recording. Plus your memories of Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman, and the 1974 TV film with Cathy Lee Crosby that passed me by.
• From comic to television: how producer Kenneth Johnson took Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's 1962 character and turned him into a serious drama, and why Bruce Banner became David Banner.
• Banner, McGee and the Hulk: Bill Bixby's warmth and dignity, Jack Colvin's relentless reporter, and Lou Ferrigno's frightening but never truly evil Hulk.
• The green, the shirts and the trousers: practical effects, playground debates and the miraculous trousers that survived every transformation.
• The Lonely Man Theme: Joe Harnell's music and why the final walk down the road still matters.
• Their America, our A1: why a drifter hitchhiking across America felt like pure adventure to British children.

Did you try your own transformation in the playground, or read the Marvel comics? Share your memories by leaving a comment on the blog, on any of our social media pages, or by emailing [email protected].

Take care,

Oliver

Connect and Follow

👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/my70stvchildhood

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/70stvchildhood

📲 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@my.70s.tv.childhoo

🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/70sTVchildhood

▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@my70stvchildhood

Get in touch!

Support the show

Welcome back to the My 70s TV Childhood Quiz. This week Round One takes us into the world of the one-hit wonders of television: shows that had everything going for them, except a second series. Some were cancelled. Some ran out of road. One was pulled after just three episodes. We will give you a description of the show and you have to tell us the name. After that, we have our regular Marathon/Fil Rouge round, the Wheel of Fate landing on 1978 for Name That Tune, and the TV Times general trivia round to finish.

What to Expect:

Round 1: One Season Wonders   Five shows that never made it beyond their first series. Can you name them from a description?

Round 2: Marathon/Fil Rouge   Questions drawn from over 200 episodes of the podcast. Regular listeners may have a slight advantage.

Round 3: Name That Tune (1978)   Five theme tunes from shows first broadcast in 1978. You will need to listen to the podcast to play this one.

Round 4: TV Times   General 70s TV trivia. Anything goes.

Bonus Question   One final challenge to separate the casual viewers from the true obsessives.

Grab a pen and paper, settle in with your favourite brew, and let's see how many you can get right. Send your score to [email protected] or drop me a comment on social media.

Take care,

Oliver

🎲 The My 70s TV Childhood Board Game – launching very soon!

We are getting very close to the point where manufacturing begins on our playable version of the theme tune quiz, and we are also planning some very special events that you may be able to take part in to mark the launch. If you might be interested in buying one, please do register your interest and we will be in touch. Any purchases will go straight back into helping with the costs of producing the podcast.

Register your interest at: https://my70stvchildhood.com/

📲 Connect & Follow

👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/my70stvchildhood

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/70stvchildhood

📲 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@my.70s.tv.childhoo

🐦 X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/home

▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@my70stvchildhood

This has been a Worth A Listen Production for Lucky Table Media.

Get in touch!

Support the show

Welcome back to My 70s TV Childhood! This week we are marking the sad passing of Richard O'Sullivan, who died peacefully at Brinsworth House in Twickenham on 4 September 2026, aged 82. In his time, Richard was one of the most popular and best-known actors on British television, and for millions of viewers he was, quite simply, Robin Tripp.

This week Oliver looks back at a career that spanned more than four decades, from a cheeky child actor appearing in Cleopatra alongside Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, through the role that made him a household name in Man About the House, the spinoffs Robin's Nest and George and Mildred, his turn as Britain's most lovable highwayman in Dick Turpin, and his later success in Me and My Girl.

What to Expect:

The early years: From the Corona Stage Academy to the RSC at Stratford aged twelve, Richard O'Sullivan was working professionally before most of us had done our O-levels.

Cleopatra and Hollywood: How a nineteen-year-old from Chiswick ended up playing Ptolemy XIII opposite Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in one of the most expensive films ever made.

Doctor at Large and Doctor in Charge: The television roles that established him as an adult comic actor with exceptional timing.

Man About the House: The show that made him a star, the chemistry with Paula Wilcox and Sally Thomsett, and why Robin Tripp remains one of the most fondly remembered characters in British sitcom history.

Robin's Nest and George and Mildred: Two spinoffs, both hits, and why the transition from flat-share to restaurant was a riskier move than it looked.

Dick Turpin: Robin Tripp in a tricorn hat? Perhaps. But Richard made the period adventure series entirely his own.

Me and My Girl: A very different role, a widowed father, and proof that he could evolve beyond the character that made him famous.

Brinsworth House and the Meghan Markle story: Whether it is true or not, Oliver rather hopes it is.

Do you have fond memories of Man About the House, Robin's Nest or Dick Turpin? Oliver would love to hear from you. Get in touch and let him know!

Take care,

Oliver

🎲 The My 70s TV Childhood Board Game – coming very soon!

We are now getting close to the manufacturing stage on our playable version of the theme tune quiz, and we are also planning a very special opportunity for listeners to be involved in an event to mark the launch. There is no commitment at this stage, but if you might be interested in buying a copy it would be enormously helpful to know. Any eventual purchases will help support the cost of producing the podcast.

Register your interest at: https://my70stvchildhood.com/

📲 Connect & Follow

👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/my70stvchildhood

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/70stvchildhood

📲 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@my.70s.tv.childhoo

🐦 X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/home

▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@my70stvchildhood

This has been a Worth A Listen Production for Lucky Table Media.

Get in touch!

Support the show

Welcome back to the My 70s TV Childhood Quiz. This week Round One marks a rather special occasion: the fiftieth anniversary of The Muppet Show, which first aired in September 1976. Five questions about Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Dr Bunsen Honeydew and the rest of the gang. And here is something that often surprises people: the show was actually made here in the UK. After that, we have our regular Marathon/Fil Rouge round, the Wheel of Fate landing on 1979 for Name That Tune, and the TV Times general trivia round to finish.

What to Expect:

• Round 1: 50 Years of the Muppet Show Five questions about one of the most beloved variety shows in television history.
• Round 2: Marathon/Fil Rouge Questions drawn from over 200 episodes of the podcast. Regular listeners may have a slight advantage.
• Round 3: Name That Tune (1979) Five theme tunes from shows first broadcast in 1979. You'll need to listen to the podcast to play this one.
• Round 4: TV Times General 70s TV trivia. Anything goes.
• Bonus Question One final challenge to separate the casual viewers from the true obsessives.

Grab a pen and paper, settle in with your favourite brew, and let's see how many you can get right. Send your score to [email protected] or drop me a comment on social media.

Take care,

Oliver

🎲 The My 70s TV Childhood Board Game – launching very soon!

We will soon be launching our own playable version of the theme tune round for you to enjoy at home with friends and family. More details will follow as the launch date gets closer. If you are interested, you can register on our blog to learn more.

Register your interest at: https://my70stvchildhood.com/

📲 Connect & Follow

👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/my70stvchildhood

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/70stvchildhood

📲 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@my.70s.tv.childhoo

🐦 X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/home

▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@my70stvchildhood

This has been a Worth A Listen Production for Lucky Table Media.

Get in touch!

Support the show

Welcome back to My 70s TV Childhood! This week I am heading back to a Saturday afternoon in 1978, when a spectacular American import arrived on BBC One and stopped children in their tracks across the country. The theme music would begin, you would recognise it immediately and then, suddenly, there she was spinning around. One moment a smart businesswoman in a pair of spectacles and the next, Wonder Woman wearing considerably less. This week we are talking about one of the great television icons of the decade.

What to Expect:

From Comic Book to BBC One: I look at the origins of the character and why British viewers came in at the second series, missing the wartime first season entirely.

Lynda Carter: Why the casting was so important, why she gave Wonder Woman dignity, and why she remains, for those of a certain age, the only Wonder Woman that matters.

The Spin: Perhaps the most elegant transformation in television history. No laboratory accident. No terrifying mutation. Just a spin. And somehow that was enough.

The Costume, the Bracelets and the Lasso: Ping, ping, ping. The bullets go somewhere else. And a lasso that forces people to tell the truth, which Oliver argues is a superpower we could all use today.

Steve Trevor and the Glasses Problem: He worked alongside Diana Prince every day. Wonder Woman appeared at precisely the same moments Diana disappeared. And yet, nothing. Surely at some point…

Why We Still Remember Her: A female superhero at the centre of her own major network series, who never stopped to make a speech about it. She simply was Wonder Woman.

Did you watch Wonder Woman on Saturday afternoons? Did you attempt the spin? Get in touch and let me know!

Take care,

Oliver

🎲 The My 70s TV Childhood Board Game – launching very soon!

Our playable version of the theme tune round is launching very soon and we are planning some very special events that you may be able to take part in to mark the occasion. If you are interested in finding out more, do register your interest and we will be in touch.

Register your interest at: https://my70stvchildhood.com/

📲 Connect & Follow

👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/my70stvchildhood

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/70stvchildhood

📲 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@my.70s.tv.childhoo

🐦 X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/home

▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@my70stvchildhood

This has been a Worth A Listen Production for Lucky Table Media.

Get in touch!

Support the show

Welcome back to the My 70s TV Childhood Quiz. This week Round One is dedicated to one of the longest-running and most beloved programmes in the history of British children's television: Blue Peter. Five questions covering Shep, John Noakes, Valerie Singleton, Lesley Judd and one very famous appeal. After that, we have our regular Marathon/Fil Rouge round, the Wheel of Fate landing on 1971 for Name That Tune, and the TV Times general trivia round to finish.

What to Expect:

• Round 1: Blue Peter Five questions about the show that shaped a generation of British children.
• Round 2: Marathon/Fil Rouge Questions drawn from over 200 episodes of the podcast. Regular listeners may have a slight advantage.
• Round 3: Name That Tune (1971) Five theme tunes from shows first broadcast in 1971. You'll need to listen to the podcast to play this one.
• Round 4: TV Times General 70s TV trivia. Anything goes.
• Bonus Question One final challenge to separate the casual viewers from the true obsessives.

Grab a pen and paper, settle in with your favourite brew, and let's see how many you can get right. Send your score to [email protected] or drop me a comment on social media.

Take care,

Oliver

🎲 The My 70s TV Childhood Board Game – launching very soon!

The finest minds in podcast land have been hard at work on a playable version of our famous theme tune quiz. We are almost at the point where manufacturing begins, and we are planning some very special events that you may be able to take part in to mark the launch. If you might be interested in buying one, please do register your interest and we will be in touch. Any purchases will go straight back into helping with the costs of producing the podcast.

Register your interest at: https://my70stvchildhood.com/

📲 Connect & Follow

👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/my70stvchildhood

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/70stvchildhood

📲 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@my.70s.tv.childhoo

🐦 X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/home

▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@my70stvchildhood

This has been a Worth A Listen Production for Lucky Table Media.

Get in touch!

Support the show

Welcome back to My 70s TV Childhood! This week, I'm looking back at what many people reckon is one of the greatest British sitcoms ever made. A sitcom that lasted just 12 episodes, and yet more than 50 years later remains part of the British cultural furniture. We're going to Fawlty Towers.

What to Expect:

The Real Basil Fawlty: I trace the origins of the show back to 1970, when the Monty Python team stayed at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay and John Cleese encountered one of the rudest men he had ever met.

Cleese and Booth: Why Fawlty Towers wasn't simply a John Cleese creation, and why the writing partnership with Connie Booth was so crucial to making the show work.

The Characters: I revisit Basil, Sybil, Manuel, Polly, and the Major, plus the unforgettable Mrs Richards and her sea view.

The Germans: I spend time with one of the most famous episodes in British comedy, looking at what the joke is really about and why John Cleese saw it as a comment on British attitudes rather than simply making fun of Germans.

12 Episodes and Then It Was Over: Why Fawlty Towers never came back, and why that might be part of the reason it remains so beloved.

A Little Bit of Basil in Us All: Why we still recognise Basil Fawlty more than 50 years later, and why the show continues to make generation after generation laugh.

What's your favourite Fawlty Towers episode or moment? Do you remember watching it for the first time? Get in touch and let me know!

Take care,

Oliver

🎲 The My 70s TV Childhood Board Game – launching very soon!

Our playable version of the theme tune round is launching very soon and we are planning some very special events that you may be able to take part in to mark the occasion. If you are interested in finding out more, do register your interest and we will be in touch.

Register your interest at: https://my70stvchildhood.com/

Connect & Follow

👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/my70stvchildhood

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/my70stvchildhood/

📲 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@my.70s.tv.childhood

🐦 X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/home

▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@my70stvchildhood

This has been a Worth A Listen Production for Lucky Table Media.

Get in touch!

Support the show

Welcome back to the My 70s TV Childhood Quiz. This week marks a rather satisfying milestone: our 75th quiz, three quarters of a century of questions about growing up with British television in the 1970s. To celebrate, Round One takes us back to one of the most cherished slots in the history of British children's television: Watch With Mother. After that, we have our regular Marathon/Fil Rouge round, the Wheel of Fate landing on 1976 for Name That Tune, and the TV Times general trivia round to finish.

What to Expect:

• Round 1: Watch With Mother Five questions about the shows that filled the BBC's legendary lunchtime slot for young children.
• Round 2: Marathon/Fil Rouge Questions drawn from over 200 episodes of the podcast. Regular listeners may have a slight advantage.
• Round 3: Name That Tune (1976) Five theme tunes from shows first broadcast in 1976. You'll need to listen to the podcast to play this one.
• Round 4: TV Times General 70s TV trivia. Anything goes.
• Bonus Question One final challenge to separate the casual viewers from the true obsessives.

Grab a pen and paper, settle in with your favourite brew, and let's see how many you can get right. Send your score to [email protected] or drop me a comment on social media.

Take care,

Oliver

🎲 The My 70s TV Childhood Board Game – launching very soon!

Our playable version of the theme tune round is launching very soon and we are planning some very special events that you may be able to take part in to mark the occasion. If you are interested in finding out more, do register your interest and we will be in touch.

Register your interest at: https://my70stvchildhood.com/

📲 Connect & Follow
 👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/my70stvchildhood
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/70stvchildhood
📲 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@my.70s.tv.childhoo
🐦 X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/home
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@my70stvchildhood

This has been a Worth A Listen Production for Lucky Table Media.

Get in touch!

Support the show