Yes, your mince pies do not deceive you – Shift Run Stop is back! At least for Christmas – but if you're very good little children and wish *very* hard, we might be able to squeeze a few more out for you over the course of 2026. Our social media might be stuck in the Google Wave days but please do get in touch on the podcast@ address and let us know if you'd like more of this (also do please submit any fresh, creative jingles, we love them!)

We're beside ourselves with excitement to be joined by gloriously geeky comedian Heidi Regan, deviser of the most clever, creative and hilarious live shows, podcasts, radio shows and online joy. What's the best worst shark film? Did Friends predict The Matrix? How often is too often to think about Robin Hood? 

Find out answers to all these and more stuff you never knew you needed to know, in this year's Christmas special.

It’s part two of our bumper double Christmas Special! True ‘heads’ will remember us chatting to TV producer Adam Tandy on episode 1 of Shift Run Stop, an astonishing 12 years ago. Well, he’s back with tales of his adventures in the intervening years, including making The Detectorists, Inside Number 9 and the recent League of Gentlemen episodes.

On the 40th anniversary of the BBC Micro we reminisce about our (and your!) favourite games and Micro memories. Thanks to everyone who sent in their memories.

Massive thanks to Adam Tandy, LJ Rich, Tim Vickerstaff and Stephen Goodwin and to YOU for listening. Neither of this year’s episodes are sponsored by a regional soft drink, but we are open to offers. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you!

We have a special treat for you this year. A two-parter! Think of it as two halves of a glorious cracker, two stockings on a fireplace, two brussels sprouts rolling slowly under the fridge. In this episode we get to know comedian, writer, presenter and geek songstress Helen Arney of The Festival of the Spoken Nerd. Geek holidays, live music, BBC Micro memories – there’s so much in these episodes that we’ve made a LIST and checked it twice (the first time we turned up a Syntax Error At Line 320, all good now though).

Don’t miss part two in which we revisit the Ghost of SRS Christmas Past, our first ever guest Adam Tandy and experiment with some regional snackfood. Merry Christmas one and all!

Massive thanks to Helen Arney, LJ Rich and Bill Thompson.

You climbed into your hosts' laps and, in a small voice, politely asked for an episode that will make this dreary Christmas temporarily more fun. Well, ask and you shall receive! Ho ho ho! No need for social distancing in the SRS grotto. The gifts have been sanitised, the Amazons have been Primed, even the weird lap thing is well-established. But open this quickly anyway; the police are on their way.

Join Roo, Leila and Lee alongside many familiar voices and a couple of unfamiliar ones in this very special, remotely-recorded, as-festive-as-can-be-expected edition of your favourite podcast.

What do Christmas tree growers do during the summer? What's the best festive treat for radiation poisoning? What's this month's most unexpected format for an Escape Room? Discover all this and more in this extra-long stocking of an episode. Look out for satsumas and unexpected nuts!

Isolation continues, but we continue to defy the microbe by finding fresh ways to connect with you across the airwaves. This time we take to live-streaming service Twitch for a special interactive episode of Shift Run Stop. Obviously it's not live now, but don't worry if you missed it: next time you're washing your hands just shout any questions or thoughts for us down the plughole. Alternatively, bang them out in morse code on the radiator pipes. We won't hear you, but it'll feel more interactive, and apparently that's the main thing these days.

If you don't know Twitch, we're basically on a video call in this episode, responding to things people are typing into the chat box. And if you missed the live session but are intrigued by the format and would like more like this, let us know and we'll see what we can do. Mind-blowing livestream format aside, the content is really just the classic ingredients of an SRS episode cake: lego, 8-bit games, sci-fi, quizzes, snacks and silliness. Enjoy!

Leila's Twitch channel | Roo's newsletter | @shiftrunstop

It's been a long time, but like your geek guardian angels or an unwanted announcement from a Government official, Leila and Roo can always be relied upon to emerge at times of crisis to interrupt your day. Whether you're staying in at home or staying in at home, this special isolation edition of Shift Run Stop is for you. No pandemic can stop us (though a couple of years of completely normal life apparently could). Sit back, relax, and allow us to fill your empty toilet roll holders with reams of pillowy, comforting nostalgia. Soft, strong and long, tear off as required: Red Dwarf, the X Files, movie chat, a quiz, and a visit from gaming royalty...

Leila's Twitch channel | Roo's newsletter | @shiftrunstop

The ice is retreating, finally. To celebrate Aslan's return, your hosts gather in a pub at a noisy train station on one of the snackiest times of the year, with chocolate animal parts, questionable caramel, and a surprisingly tricky Easter-themed movie quiz, specially created for Roo, by Leila and Lee. With only a gossamer thread linking most of the questions to the theme, you're challenged to play along at home. How much do you know about Howard the Duck, Donnie Darko and Chicken Run? Egg-cellent.

Benji movie | Gentle Ben | Howard the Duck

What’s that I hear? Is it sleigh bells in the distance? Well, clear the snow off the roof and put a sherry out for Leila and Roo, and a carrot out for Lee, because another Shift Run Stop Christmas Special is about to land, and we’re ready to force some goodies down your ear chimney.

For the first time since, let’s face it, last year’s Christmas special, your ageless hosts meet in a top London location to catch up. Join us as we eat a Santa’s sack full of snacks, take some listener questions, and take part in a geeky Christmas quiz. Keep sending in your snacks, questions and ideas, and we’ll try to get more than one episode out in 2018.

Yes, OK, it's been a little while. Alright a big while. Other podcasts have come and gone. World leaders have come and gone. But wait patiently enough, resist the urge to unsubscribe on iTunes, and when you least expect it there we suddenly are, streaking across your downloads like "dirty snowball" Halley's Comet, grit, chocolate wrappers and the stench of ammonia following in our wake. Thanks for sticking around.

It's Christmas, so top of the agenda, naturally, is the new Independence Day movie, and what could be more festive than some standard American confectionary you can buy all year round at WH Smith?

Roo finds the snacks, Lee find the films, Leila finds a submarine listening station, we all answer listener's questions, plus much more in this special, festive, hour-long reunion.

Yes, alright, it's been a while, but we're back with an earnest pledge to try to produce at least two shows this year.

There are snacks, sickness and surprises, and Lee joins us again, of course.

There's talk of fatherhood, films and the Marvel universe, a Minority Report from physicist Alby Reid, a real life field trip to Tim Hunkin's wonderful new Novelty Automation gallery in London, an incredible gift from a listener, and some very special music by our pal LJ Rich...

More photos from this episode over on Leila's Flickr.