Play the game...

The other night I got into a discussion with some of my twitter chums about video games, doing the nostalgia bit and all that. But that got me thinking, as a thirty-two year old, what games am I supposed to like? Now if it was down to them marketing people I would be cruising around Vice City doing the work of others. Though maybe as rebel I have never gone for that and discovered a rebirth.

As during the 90's Sega and Nintendo fought it out to be number one in the marketplace, I came down on the side of the Italian plumber. Buying all their products and old uncle Tom Cobbly and all as much as I could. Though through this period I got Total magazine, the Nintendo bible for me with reviews, features and cheats as well. Its was the style of the magazine that caught my eyes, anarchic and knowing as well. By using cartoons of their reviewers, this tied in with the sense of we're not journalists but we are one of you.

Totally magic...

Steve Jarrett, Wayne Allen and Andy Dyer thrust the magazine into newsagents at the end of 1991 when the Nintendo boom was coming to the boil, they raised the bar into new heights but by 1993 the unique feature of the sprite-style pictures were gone. They allowed the fans to see what the people writing the magazine looked like, using this device as means of poking fun but also showing what they were about.

Playtime in the Total! office...

Overtime, the reviews came and went, awarding Super Mario 64 the illusive 100% but in 1994 Jarrett went to launch Edge magazine for the more hardcore gamer. That's when gaming started go from bright colours to realism, I went along for the ride with the Nintendo 64 and later Playstations 1 and 2. Yes, they were realistic and a quantum leap away from the world of Yoshi, but they didn't have that feeling of being able to pick up and play straight away like the SNES had.

But then my brother found a Wii, I heard all about the console from the reports about it and that it was doing great business. So with a couple of games I set about trying to rekindle this love affair. Really, I thought that I would see for a while and got back to the Playstation but over time, I started to enjoy myself again. Feeling again what I did as 13 year old all those years ago, the plumber had hooked me. But it wasn't him which found my love supreme, yes there was games like Tiger Woods PGA Tour which were available and also Formula One 2009 as well, but it felt playable and I was in control. The one game which got me fully back into the spirit was a surprising one really, that is Wii Music....

"I'm playing all the right notes... But not neccesarly in the right order!"

I will admit I can't play a note in real life and maybe some people might think that playing music on a console might not be the real thing. But being able just to pick up and play is something special, hearing something which you've created. Never would I thought I would get a real feeling from again but after all this time the feeling's back and I feel good for it...

Love, what's it good for or you can't hurry love...

Being 32 now I can look back on my teenage years and wonder what they were all about like most people, but at that time with hormones flying around its difficult, very difficult... At school is almost a hotbed bed for feelings being so close to people every day for five years, its easy to develop crushes and friendships. Even more so to gain enemies as well, though I will admit I had my crushes too...

Through that time I found that nerds were cool and blondes were something that made me smile, but it was something of the time really. Television was an influence and you can't say that you've ever looked at television and thought she or he looks nice... My first crush was on Mel Gideroyc, maybe I watched too many Light Lunches, but she was funny and I thought she was nice looking.

"I deny any knowledge of this!"

There you go, I've got it out in the open now but ask yourself, when look at Charlie's Angels or such I'm sure you'll think 'Yeah, she or he looks ok..' But isn't television like a picture to look at, I'm sure people would have looked at the Mona Lisa and though isn't she pretty? Some people might see it as window dressing, beyond that though it does serve a purpose in which a good sexual chemistry bring to a show like a brother/sister relationship or even niece and uncle.

Land of leather...

Overtime there have been so many combinations of this, such as Frank Bough and Selina Scott on Breakfast Time or Anne Diamond and Nick Owen on TV-AM. In the wheat from the chaff, its about believing that something might be going. For example when Adrian Chiles split from his wife, the nation was a-buzz with rumour that he was doing more then presenting with Christine Bleakey. Though we know that to be untrue now as Christine is marrying Frank Lampard, but the idea was still there. Showing closeness on sofa seems to be a good thing for the television executives, but there have been examples where it has lead to love and marriage.

Of course Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan turned it into an art by co-hosting 'This Morning' but also 'Nationwide' stalwart Michael Barratt married his co-presenter Dilys Morgan in 1977. But showing the power of this I believed at young age seeing Fred Dinenage and Fern Britton were married because of the chemistry, but this shows get the right people can make your show seem even better.

"Now, say that about my Lamps now!"

Now Adrian and Christine, got back onto the screens, switched to ITV and went to breakfast. But get a show wrong and it can seem that the format is king no matter how chummy the presenters are. Yes, the programme recover but it takes time. People aren't satisfied if they can't feel almost the love coming thorough the screen, but maybe it might need a date to get back on track...

How local is local?

With Jeremy Hunt saying about local television this week, that spaces on the Freeview multiplex will be give to microcosmic local television channels, similar to the old RSL licences. There is a case in point to look back at another experience I had...

In my time I had auditioned for the now defunct TV12 on the Isle of Wight, to not much success to be said. Now I had been working for the local hospital radio for a couple of years when an opportunity came about to appear in a local training video as one of many disabled people who had found opportunities through volunteering. To me this seemed a bit almost wet, but it was appearing in front of the camera so I took it.

This lead me into Portsmouth Television, the seemingly hotbed of local television... To tell you the truth, it was a news room and another room with a chromakey screen. But I had to look around ], so at the end of my recording I said is it OK to take peep at where the action is? They said yes, apart from the average presenters who have gone to other media organisations or just out of the industry...

But there was one person who looked set for the top even then, in the corner there was a women with long eyelashes concentrating hard who didn't even acknowledge when I said hello to all the people in the newsroom.

"Moody so and so..." I thought... But after getting some autographs of the presenters including Sarah Dinenage, Fred's daughter. It was time to go home, I kept watching the service to see if it would improve but this young lady kept appearing nightly reading the news...

I never thought much would come of her...

Then one day I switched ITV on and there she was...

Eyelashes not included...

Oh, I thought as I put my head in my hands... It was ITV News' Andrea Benfield...

Star spotting, not a great talent of mine... But it has come about that 65 licences are to be given out and it seems like the local news on this 'Channel Six' will be sponsored... But eventually as has been proven by other RSL's, that they will need to break even pretty soon after launch otherwise advertising revenue will not be big enough to maintain the service even with huge financial backing. In Manchester even with the full backing of Guardian Group, that Channel 'M' closed down eventually, but now is putting a bid in for the same region...

Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks, but getting them to remember it can be a pain...

Ever feel like you've been ad?

Over time, I've been noticing that adverts and the actual programmes have been merging into one. I don't mind product placement as that's been going on in America for years now, plus also teleshopping because that was a key part of ITV making money at the start.

But slowly there has been a fog of confusion creeping in, such as the Philadelphia commercial with chef Ed Baines and a member of the public. Handily they put 'Advertisement' in small writing so you can just about see it. But switch over quickly from a channel and that's on, you don't know if its a programme or not! With so many channels including Food Network on Freeview now, you'd have a job trying to remember your place on there.

"Are you sure you're not from the Blue Man Group?"

Adverts were a chance to get up and make a cup of tea once, but now they serve as another thing to keep us in our seats and have a moan at the telly. So they've caught us lock, stock and barrel. But they do push their luck a bit now, for example the Gillette Pro Duraglide Challenge Man...

.

Too horrific to even show...

This man stalks changing rooms through out the land looking for innocent young men to thrust his shiny new thing on them with his call "Whoo buddy!" Never in my life have I ever said 'Whoo'

I've said Nrrrggghh and Grrrrr, mostly at this ad... Plus all the men in the advert are happy to see him! The first words usually used in that situation are "Where the f**k did you come from? If you don't move away I'm calling the police!" Are we meant to feel kinship with this man?

Advertisers try to make us feel like these people are our mates, but it wasn't that long ago when some like Robert Dougal would be selling us Reader's Digest or Rodney Bewes would greet us with the cheery refrain "Hello Faggot lovers.." It seems like we have come to situation that we cannot even believe the celebrities we see nowadays because they might be telling us half truths. In gameshows we need Celebrities to entertain us and members of the public during the ad breaks to sell us stuff that we don't need...

Doctor News and the Daleks?

But as Rice Krispies says nowdays in its little song... "Snap, Crackle, Pop... Its a crazy, crazy world we live in..."

Maybe that's what we can only believe in, cartoons and also a monkey flogging tea... Oh how times have changed...

A trip to the Dream Factory...

As you can guess by now if you've been reading the blog from day one, I do like my television. Nothing wrong with that at all, I'm sure you like sitting down in front of it after a hard day. But the workings have always fascinated me, so much so I wrote to the BBC asking if I could be in the testcard even going as far as sending a photo of myself. But when reciving a bog standard letter basically saying 'No, you can't' and sending me some stickers for various shows such as Saturday Superstore etc. Which I duly put at the end of my bed so I could see the double striped BBC1 logo when I went to be bed and woke up every morning.

"Well, its hardly C3-PO isn't it?"

Though this didn't put me off at all, as when bored during the 1989 Summer Holidays thinking what could I do with myself, I thought I would write off to TVS, the local ITV company just cheekly asking if I could have a look around their studios. This was July and I didn't think much about it at all, almost giving up on it as a busted flush. But one day in early August this was going to change, I got a enveloped stamped with the TVS logo on it. Thinking it was going to be another knock back, I braced myself for disappointment. Then I opened it, it was from their press officer Mr Simon Theobolds, later I learned that he had co-written the Southern drama Spearhead as well. I had a look and it said yes...

What, I couldn't believe my eyes at all! They said yes, this never happens to me at all. OK I might have used the disability angle with as well, but I didn't expect even that was going to sway them. So after some more communication with Mr Theobalds it was arranged that me, my father and my brother would be allowed to go Northam and take a look around.

The Dream Factory...

So on the 1st September 1989, it came to the day of the visit and we all arrived after lunch at the studios wondering what we were about to see, we met Mr Theobalds in the reception and after the niceties of saying who were and all that, he led us Willy Wonka like around the studios. Viewing the props department and make-up, through the galleries we came to a studio. Now we were told they were going to record a piece for a programme and we were allowed to look in on it. Wondering what is it was going to be, then a young man who I found out later to be Graham Rogers, then a young lady came into the studio... I recognised her! It was Michaela Strachan! I knew her off TV-AM and also knew she did The Hitman and Her with Pete Waterman. But what was she doing here?

Really wild...

It turned out she was recording an interview for 'Late Night Late' TVS' own late night programming strand, at that time she was branching out into a musical career and had just released a single. Well, working with Mr Waterman, it seemed obivious... But this wasn't the highlight, but during the interview we were meant to keep quick... I dropped something which made a clang, the looks were like daggers at me! I know now it was wrong, but the one person who didn't seem to care I had done that was Michaela herself... She giggled actually and if it wasn't for that I think we would have got turfed out there and then...

Documentary evidence m'lord...

So the tour went on, we went around the other studios which weren't recording but in the main studio where they made the entertainment programmes, we met a man with white-ish grey hair and glasses. He said his name was Alan, I thought he must make some of the programmes, he asked us what we liked on TVS. I just said eveything and he said 'Good boy' in a Scottish accent. I thought what a strange man...

The tour ended and they gave me some stuff like pens, a Motormouth T-shirt and something special...

Here is the news...

A news script from that afternoon's news bulletin, fresh from the newsreader's hands...

I treasure that now as a memory of that day and that white haired Scottish man?

It was only Alan Boyd, Generation Game and Game For A Laugh producer and then Head of Programmes at TVS...

Strange who you meet whilst going out for a daytrip....

I survived a riot (and lived to tell the tale...)

At the moment Britain is at point with rioting and looting, but this is not going to be a political style expression, just more of a tale...

In 2000 I had just moved out of my family home for a life of independence and into a new flat, what pride I was feeling at having branched out into the world at at last. This was about to all change...

1st of August was the moving in date and as I contemplated my new life ahead, it was lollipops and sunshine. Events were to take a new twist though, because of the lack of accommodation for my needs I had to move into a council estate, not the wisest move but it was mine at last. Though this was all to be shattered, at that time in the air was the anger about Sarah Payne's killing and also the News of the World's naming and shaming campaign. I had moved into Paulsgrove, Hampshire...

During that period people had been protesting about paedophiles living in their community, but this was to take a new twist during the night... An uneasy feeling much like what is going on at the moment had been permeating the air as more people got angry about this apparent lack of respect for citizens in the area. As more people gather at the main shopping area, it got too much and then it happened... The tinderbox had been set alight...

"Boy! See me after class for extra spelling lessons!"

Grievances were held against anyone who didn't agree with the mob or thought they were off-kilter with this mood.

I was not part of it myself, I was asleep at that time... I know you're wondering how can you sleep through a riot? But I did, it was the next morning turning onto BBC Breakfast and bleary-eyed just thinking 'I know that place... That's just down the road!' But when I had seen the damage I knew the scale of the situation and wondered if I had made the right choice after all in moving there...

For eleven years, when I have mentioned Paulsgrove to people in passing, they have thought I must be a thug or someone what... Myself, all I love is good television theme tune and pop culture... If that makes me less of a person to do that then so be it, I will be relaxed in my chair enjoy that... If two wrongs make a right, then a lot of people are going to look at themselves before jumping on any passing bandwagon which is going past because no matter how leafy your area is... You'll be defending yourself for years to come from the paranoia which goes with this type of event...

A funny thing happened on the way to the schedulers meeting...

Mid-summer means holiday times and also is a time for television to almost do the same, usually the case was repeat, repeat and repeat again was such the case. It was this fact the first two series of Only Fools and Horses was repeated in June 1983 to lead respectable viewing figures and for the BBC's Head of Comedy at the time John Howard Davies on the back of this to give Del, Rodney and Grandad a new series and a crack at being millionaires this time next year.

But with The X-Factor and Strictly Come Dancing filling the slot between Mid-August and Christmas, it seems like summer is a trial for new shows. With John Bishop going around Britain by anecdotal stories, Ronnie Corbett going around Britain by anecdotal stories etc... To talk is cheap nowadays, big names guarantee people watching but is it everything...

And in a packed programme tonight...

There would be time when BBC1 could set up their Big Top at a seaside resort for fun, games and variety. With a Radio DJ on duty to bring the public and the viewers at home The Brotherhood of Man along with the cast of Are You Being Served? As live entertainment this went along the nature of the end of pier show, jolly and cheerful for the whole family. As times change so do people's taste, what may be seen as jolly to one generation as if naff to another. The challenge to find something to get bums on seats whilst the sun shines is a tough one, the big film is seemingly one way to do that and ITV has gone down that route with the showing of the Harry Potter series of movies each time to tie in with the release of a new film in the cinema. But also the BBC has used this tactic, such with the showing of Cars on the weekend of release of Cars 2. Family films seemingly sell to viewers, making it easy to show them...

'What do you mean its not PC now!'

But it seems that some of the most influential shows of their generation started at the time of the long days...

For one is Senfield, it received a pilot in May 1989 and went to a series almost a year later. But viewers were loyal enough to stick with it though the first series and to return the next series. Even after a run of four episodes, which seems for American shows just tiny indeed. The writing of Larry David had captured people's attention making them come back to the show time after time, so writing can be one thing but what about being forced to the summer?

With The Prisoner, the example was that Patrick McGoohan's own reluctance to film more then one series saw CBS shunt the series to June 1968 as a filler for The Jackie Gleason Show whist that was hiatus. It wasn't the biggest of hits for CBS, but is still loved by fans over forty years later...

When a show might be on trial, its easy to mock... But just think you might be just watching something special without realising...

Needle and Fred...

One person who has been ever present on the television is Fred Dinenage...

For Fred, he has been broadcasting to the south since 1964 now and is the main lead anchor for Meridian on their nightly news programme. But most people think of him of stand-in World of Sport anchor when Dickie had a dicky tummy or either that the light relief on 'How?' I don't think of him like that, he has been a part of the south's life since 1984 when he took over the anchor's seat and joining him Fern Britton from the Breakfast Time sofa.

ITV like their familiar faces as do the BBC, which such giants as Bob 'Sky Price is Right' Warman and Nick 'Midweek Sports Special' Owen as opposite anchors in the Midlands. But these faces are almost like a comfy dressing gown to wear after a hard day, we go to them to tell us what's going on and what's happening in the regions.

Suited and booted...

For instance in the Yorks and Lincs area is Peter Levy, an ex-radio DJ who moved into local television rising to become the main anchor broadcasting from Hull each night. But its his banter with Look North Yorkshire's weatherman Paul Hudson which makes it riveting viewing as the social medium of Twitter is being used to see what each other is doing and such they make almost salacious comments towards each other each night. Their twitter feeds are @peter_levy and @Hudsonweather

A warm front each evening....

They have been working together for such a long time, so it makes it OK but its almost edge of the seat stuff to see how far they can push it each night. So thanks to the world of satellite we are able to see these faces at work and thanks to the regions we are able to see a window on the world...

Great Summer Holiday Experiences No1 - Digby, The Biggest Dog in the World

All too often the summer comes around and the schools break up for the marathon six weeks ahead. To parents trying to keep children amused is half the battle, now its even more difficult to do so....

Boredom, boredom...

Without sounding all 'When I were a lad, all the grass were green...' etc. Only in hindsight can we look back at those six weeks when the sun shone, well almost all the time...

First starting off with a movie which seems to be have forgotten by television, but after the event a glimpse of how good British comedy used to be...

In December 1973, a film came out which was to be a precursor to tales to come... At that time Britain need an escape from what was a very dull, depressing time. Like Ian Botham, there was a new hero needed and that hero was of the four legged variety. When the movie was first released, it didn't really pull its weight at the box office but having been on the shelf like most movies of the time. It was forgotten by people until New Years Day 1982, when Digby was sent for to help launch the new ITV franchises and was put on as a remedy to sore heads.

With appearances all through the eighties, especially on Bank Holidays but mostly as a way to fill the time where schools programmes would be without spending money on making new programmes, so it was an ideal solution for ITV really...

Digby, Digby...

Even then we haven't scratched the surface of why this film is enjoyable, it might not be the best film in the world. But as a romp, it ticks all the boxes...

Taking for a start the cast itself, starting with a post Carry On... and pre Disney and Harry Potter in America audiobook reader Jim Dale. Jim himself was a part of the Carry On from the mid-sixties right up to Carry On Again, Doctor with a gap until 1992's Carry On Columbus. He was family friendly and the kids loved his knockabout style, so he was the perfect choice to be the main human lead as Jeff Eldon, the scientist who accidently super-sizes Digby to extraordinary size leading to Digby, to be stolen by John Bluthal and Norman Rossington ready to be paraded a la King Kong in a circus...

Jack Black not included...

Along with Angela Douglas, who Jim had played opposite to her as Marshall P. Knutt in Carry On... Cowboy with her playing Annie Oakley. It seemed like the right chemistry had been found with young actor Richard Beaumont playing Billy White, Digby's child owner and friend of Jeff. Added to the mix were Milo O'Shea, Dinsdale Landen and also Victor Spinetti plus Bob Todd putting in turns to the film.

The interesting thing is the director of the film. Mr Joseph McGrath, who is better known as one of the Executive Producers on Pete and Dud's 'Not Only, But Also'. Having cut his teeth on Peter Sellers vehicles Casino Royale and The Magic Christian, he seemed like a natural choice to helm a film which need laughs and slapstick for the kids but also enough to keep the adults entertained at the same time.

But there's something missing, maybe a bit of pepper or spice if you will... The added ingredient to make the film, that comes in the of a post-Goons Spike Milligan. Milligan is exceptional in the film as Dr. Harz, his little asides come close to stealing the film to add that surreal edge which is needed to keep the story going along at a good pace. If you ignore the attempt at German accent, Spike shows that he can hold it against the new generation and some of his peers as well. On reflection, he is always good at the smaller parts just popping up in films as a relief from the main action. But it wasn't to be him who got the better deal, Jim went onto do Disney films leading the way for Michael Crawford in Condorman it seems. Finally getting the recognition for his turn as the narrator on Pushing Daisies, he have moved to America... He made part of the school holidays pleasurable....

Here is the title music to the film, everyone sing along now!

http://soundcloud.com/boggenstrovia/digby-the-biggest-dog-in-the

Thanks Jim...