The Problematic Gaze

Welcome Gazers to The Problematic Gazette, a welcome bonus addition to our main show. Our Dave and Dr Lee chew the fat, read out Gazer comments  and  discuss things we've seen, read and heard this week.

Click here to follow us on all our socials

Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze.
 
And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you!

Click here to visit our YouTube site, The Gaze Channel, where you can watch video versions of our podcast.

Our YouTube site also contains playlists for each episode with provides wider context to each episode.

Click here to follow us on all our socials

And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Secret Diary of a Call Girl wants you to think it's in control — sexy, smart, subversive. But is it really? In this episode of The Problematic Gaze, we peel back the glossy layers of the pilot episode to expose the contradictions hiding beneath the lingerie. Who’s really being seduced here?

We break down how Secret Diary plays with fantasy, flirts with feminism, and whether its bold aesthetic is actually reinforcing the very gaze it claims to subvert. With its playful fourth-wall breaks and picture-perfect escort life, is this just empowerment wrapped in a high-gloss package... or something more complicated?

Click here to follow us on all our socials

Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze.
 
And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you!

Gazer Homework: Next week we discuss UK comedy classic The Office. Click here to watch our chosen episode on IPlayer

Click here to visit our YouTube site, The Gaze Channel, where you can watch video versions of our podcast.

Our YouTube site also contains playlists for each episode with provides wider context to each episode.

Click here to follow us on all our socials

And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome Gazers to The Problematic Gazette, a welcome bonus addition to our main show. Our Dave and Dr Lee chew the fat, read out Gazer comments  and  discuss things we've seen, read and heard this week.

Click here to follow us on all our socials

Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze.
 
And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you!

Click here to visit our YouTube site, The Gaze Channel, where you can watch video versions of our podcast.

Our YouTube site also contains playlists for each episode with provides wider context to each episode.

Click here to follow us on all our socials

And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Buckle up Gazers this ain't gonna be pretty! In 1965, the BBC made a film so terrifying, so brutally honest about nuclear war, they banned it before it ever aired. The War Game wasn’t a horror movie—it was a government-funded drama-documentary about a nuclear attack on the UK that hit too close to home.

Why did the BBC pull the plug? What did Peter Watkins show the public that authorities didn’t want seen? And how did this “lost” film become one of the most chilling—and prophetic—anti-war statements of the 20th century?

This week on The Problematic Gaze, we uncover the shocking story behind The War Game, the politics of censorship, and why this forgotten film might be more relevant today than ever.

Click here to follow us on all our socials

Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze.
 
And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you!

Click here to visit our YouTube site, The Gaze Channel, where you can watch video versions of our podcast.

Our YouTube site also contains playlists for each episode with provides wider context to each episode.

Click here to follow us on all our socials

And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome Gazers to The Problematic Gazette, a welcome bonus addition to our main show. Our Dave and Dr Lee chew the fat, read out Gazer comments  and  discuss things we've seen, read and heard this week.

Click here to follow us on all our socials

Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze.
 
And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you!

Gazer Homework: Watch excerpts from The War Game, from 1965 on YouTube By Clicking here. 

Click here to visit our YouTube site, The Gaze Channel, where you can watch video versions of our podcast.

Our YouTube site also contains playlists for each episode with provides wider context to each episode.

Click here to follow us on all our socials

And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Problematic Gaze, we revisit Only Fools and Horses' classic 1989 outing The Unlucky Winner Is—the one where Del enters Rodney’s teenage artwork into a kids’ competition and wins a family holiday to Spain… with a few strings attached.

We explore how this sun-soaked farce touches on the cultural landscape of late-80s Britain—from the rise of the yuppie dream to the era’s growing emphasis on safe sex messaging, and how these ideas filter through the show’s humour and character dynamics.

As Rodney is forced to play the role of a 14-year-old while grappling with his adult identity, we look at how Only Fools balances its sharp wit with emotional moments, and what the episode tells us about masculinity, aspiration, and brotherly loyalty in Thatcher’s Britain.

It’s a nostalgic package holiday of laughs, awkward moments, and cultural insight—bucket and spade not required.

Click here to follow us on all our socials

Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze.
 
And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you!

Gazer Homework: Watch excerpts from The War Game, from 1965 on YouTube By Clicking here. 

Click here to visit our YouTube site, The Gaze Channel, where you can watch video versions of our podcast.

Our YouTube site also contains playlists for each episode with provides wider context to each episode.

Click here to follow us on all our socials

And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Problematic Gaze, Dr. Lee and Our Dave dive deep into the glossy paranoia of The Stepford Wives (1975) — a chilling suburban satire that’s part sci-fi horror, part feminist nightmare.

What does this cult classic really say about gender roles, domesticity, and the backlash to second-wave feminism? 

We explore the film’s historical context, its uncanny aesthetic, and its lasting influence on how society frames women, perfection, control, and conformity. 

Whether you’re into feminist film analysis, horror tropes, or just love unpacking problematic classics — this one’s for you.

Click here to follow us on all our socials

Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze.
 
And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you!

Gazer Homework: Series 6, Episode 4 of Only Fools and Horses, titled “The Unlucky Winner Is…”

Click here to visit our YouTube site, The Gaze Channel, where you can watch video versions of our podcast.

Our YouTube site also contains playlists for each episode with provides wider context to each episode.

Click here to follow us on all our socials

And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on The Problematic Gaze, we hop in our Telly Tardis and jump between the year 2000 and 1985 — courtesy of Will & Grace’s infamous two-parter, Lows in the Mid-Eighties. It’s the big bang of the Will & Grace universe, where we witness the origin stories of our favorite neurotic New Yorkers: Will's awkward coming out, Grace's wedding-that-wasn’t, Jack’s dramatic entrance (obviously), and Karen… just being Karen, with fewer highlights, even less shame and Martina Navratilova!

In this episode we focus on the US sitcom Will and Grace with the two-part "Lows in the Mid-Eighties" episodes (episodes 8 and 9 of season 3)

We break down the fashion crimes, the emotional chaos, and the surprisingly heartfelt moments buried under layers of hairspray and shoulder pads. Was this a nostalgic masterpiece, or a chaotic retcon with a laugh track? 

So slip into your acid-wash denim, crank up the Eurythmics, and join us for a walk down memory lane — one that’s paved with drama, denial, and deeply questionable hair choices.

Click here to follow us on all our socials

Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze.
 
And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you!

Gazer Homework: Click here to watch 'The Stepford Wives' from 1975 on YouTube

Click here to visit our YouTube site, The Gaze Channel, where you can watch video versions of our podcast.

Our YouTube site also contains playlists for each episode with provides wider context to each episode.

Click here to follow us on all our socials

And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Greetings from PG Towers! Join social historian Dr Lee Arnott and TV Producer Dave Moor for a lighthearted look at the world of TV,  Film and Popular Culture from yesteryear.  This week, we deep dive into the one off TV event 'It's A Royal Knockout' from 1987. It's a time when Princess Diana had the world in her thrall and the rest of the Royal family fumed in her shadow. Prince Edward decided it would be a great idea to plunge Princess Anne, Fergie and (ahem) Prince Andrew into the world of celebrity, with a special version of It's A Knockout. Cue a series of silly games, pomp and pageantry. Celebrities of all ilk appeared. Where else would you get Su Pollard and John Travolta on the same billing? The result is a mix of fever dream and LSD trip. Not for the faint hearted, pour yourself a stiff drink and buckle up! What could possibly go wrong? Quite a lot it seems!!

Click here to watch on YouTube  'It's A Royal Knockout'

Click here to follow us on all our socials

Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze.
 
 And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you!

Gazer Homework: In our next episode we focus on the US reality show 'Americas Next Top Model'  Click here to watch the 'Top 20 Outrageous Moments.' clip we will focus on.

Click here to visit our YouTube site, The Gaze Channel, where you can watch video versions of our podcast.

Our YouTube site also contains playlists for each episode with provides wider context to each episode.

Click here to follow us on all our socials

And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Greetings from PG Towers! Join social historian Dr Lee Arnott and TV Producer Dave Moor for a lighthearted look at the world of TV,  Film and Popular Culture from yesteryear.  This week, we step back to into the world of high glam, high fashion and crime busting women with an episode of hit US crime drama 'Charlie's Angels' from 1976. What can these plucky females tell us about the representation of women on the television in the mid seventies? Feminist statement or yet more female exploitation? All is discussed. And just what is Dave's beef with Dr Lee concerning Double Deckers?

 Click here to watch on YouTube our chosen episode of 'Charlie's Angels'

Click here to follow us on all our socials

Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze.
 
 And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you!

Gazer Homework: In our next episode we focus on the British gameshow featuring the royal family, It's A Royal Knockout from 1987. Click here to watch on YouTube 

Click here to visit our YouTube site, The Gaze Channel, where you can watch video versions of our podcast.

Our YouTube site also contains playlists for each episode with provides wider context to each episode.

Click here to follow us on all our socials

And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.