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Channel 5 is bringing Ghostwatch back into the spotlight this Halloween with a brand-new documentary, Ghostwatch: The Night That Terrified Britain, airing on Saturday 31 October at 9.15pm — exactly 34 years after the original BBC broadcast. To mark the occasion, we're reopening the archives at The Problematic Gaze and revisiting our own deep dive into one of the most extraordinary and controversial moments in British television history. On Halloween night in 1992, millions of viewers settled down to watch what appeared to be a live BBC investigation into a haunted suburban home. With Michael Parkinson in the studio, Sarah Greene inside the house, Craig Charles reporting from outside and Mike Smith taking viewers' calls, everything looked reassuringly familiar. But something wasn't quite right. There were strange noises, unexplained disturbances and a mysterious presence known only as Pipes. And as the evening progressed, things became increasingly unsettling. The problem? Many viewers believed it was all real. In fact, Ghostwatch was an elaborately staged television drama, written by Stephen Volk and directed by Lesley Manning, which blurred the boundaries between fiction and reality with extraordinary results. The broadcast prompted thousands of complaints, made national headlines and became so controversial that the BBC never repeated it on British television. But was Ghostwatch a brilliantly innovative piece of television horror, or had the BBC taken its Halloween trick a little too far? In this special Halloween reissue, Dr Lee Arnott and Dave Moor revisit the programme that frightened a generation. We explore the familiar television faces that made the deception so convincing, the ingenious techniques used to create an atmosphere of mounting dread, the mystery of Pipes and the extraordinary public reaction. We also consider the programme's lasting influence on horror, its transformation into a cult classic and why, more than three decades later, people are still talking about that Halloween night. And naturally, we're asking the question at the heart of The Problematic Gaze: Could you get away with it today? In an age of reality television, social media, fake news and increasingly sophisticated screen trickery, could a programme like Ghostwatch still convince — and terrify — a modern audience? With Channel 5's new documentary revisiting the original broadcast and its extraordinary legacy, there's never been a better time to return to the house, turn down the lights and look out for Pipes. Whether you watched it live in 1992, discovered it years later or have never seen it at all, join us for a very special Halloween trip into British television history. Just remember: it's only television. Isn't it? This episode is a special Halloween reissue from The Problematic Gaze archive. Subscribe to The Problematic Gaze for more classic film and television, nostalgia, cultural history and the occasional programme that probably shouldn't be watched alone. 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.

Periods, pig's blood, religious repression and quite possibly the worst school prom in cinema history. Welcome to Carrie! Hello Gazers! This week we're going back to 1976 for Brian De Palma's horror classic Carrie, starring Sissy Spacek as the painfully shy teenager whose schooldays are about to take a rather spectacular turn for the worse. But is Carrie simply a terrifying tale of supernatural revenge, or is it really about the horrors of being a teenage girl? And, more importantly, could you get away with it today? We begin with one of cinema's most uncomfortable opening sequences, as Carrie's first period becomes a source of humiliation in the school changing rooms. It's a scene that raises some interesting questions about the male gaze, the representation of teenage girls and why De Palma chooses to introduce his heroine in quite such an intimate way. From there, we explore the relentless bullying Carrie endures, her emerging telekinetic powers and her deeply troubled relationship with her fanatically religious mother, Margaret White, played with extraordinary intensity by Piper Laurie. Then, of course, there's the prom. The dress. The date. The bucket. And one of the most memorable sequences in horror-film history. We discuss how Carrie turns teenage cruelty into something genuinely disturbing, whether its portrayal of female anger can be read as empowering, and why the film seems determined to punish its heroine just as she begins to find a little happiness. Is Carrie a monster, a victim, or simply an outsider pushed beyond her limits? Along the way, we revisit the making of the film, Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie's Oscar-nominated performances, its box-office success and its extraordinary influence on popular culture. We also look at the various attempts to revisit Stephen King's story, including the remakes and the forthcoming television adaptation. And then it's time for Culture Corner! Although Carrie was released in America in 1976, British audiences had to wait until January 1977, so we're taking a trip back to Britain at the beginning of a particularly memorable year. The Ford Fiesta was arriving on British roads, the Sex Pistols were making headlines after being dropped by EMI, and the Sinclair pocket television offered a glimpse of a technological future that wasn't quite as convenient as advertised. Meanwhile, Britain was dealing with political tensions, IRA bombings and the death of former Prime Minister Anthony Eden. And naturally, we couldn't visit January 1977 without switching on Top of the Pops to see what Britain was buying, listening to and dancing around its living rooms to. It's a fascinating contrast: while Carrie White was discovering the terrifying possibilities of her own power, Britain was entering the year of punk, pop and enormous social change. We finish with our verdicts on Carrie, its legacy and whether its treatment of women, sexuality, religion and teenage cruelty still stands up today. Is Carrie a feminist horror masterpiece, or does its portrayal of female rage reveal something rather more problematic? Join us for another affectionate, irreverent and occasionally horrified look at a classic film through modern eyes. Subscribe to The Problematic Gaze for more film and television nostalgia, forgotten cultural history and questionable attitudes. 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.

Daniel Craig in tiny swimming trunks, a very dangerous poker game, and the important question: which James Bond is actually the sexiest? Hello Gazers! This week we're dusting off our tuxedos, ordering something shaken rather than stirred, and heading back to 2006 for Casino Royale, the film that reinvented James Bond for a new generation. But was Daniel Craig's tougher, moodier and considerably more muscular 007 really a step forward? Or was he simply the same old Bond with a gym membership and a slightly more troubled expression? First, we're revisiting the film itself, from Le Chiffre's high-stakes poker tournament and Bond's increasingly complicated relationship with Vesper Lynd, to some particularly uncomfortable encounters, spectacular action sequences and a memorable finale in Venice. We explore how Casino Royale revitalised the franchise, the controversy surrounding Craig's casting, the film's critical and commercial success, and whether its grittier approach borrowed a little too enthusiastically from the Bourne films. Then it's time for Culture Corner, where we're heading back to Britain in 2006. It was the era of metrosexual men, lads' magazines, Top Gear and an increasingly confused national conversation about masculinity. As traditional ideas about manhood collided with changing attitudes towards gender, class and sexuality, we ask whether Daniel Craig's more physically imposing but emotionally vulnerable Bond reflected a wider cultural shift. And what better way to explore changing masculinity than by examining every James Bond? From Sean Connery's unapologetic swagger and Roger Moore's raised eyebrow to Timothy Dalton's intensity, Pierce Brosnan's polished charm and Daniel Craig's brooding physicality, we're examining how each incarnation of 007 treated women, expressed masculinity and reflected the attitudes of his era. Naturally, this leads to the most academically rigorous segment in the history of The Problematic Gays: Our ranking of the James Bonds by hotness. Yes, we're objectifying the world's most famous womaniser for a change. We also discuss Bond girls, exotic locations, racial stereotypes, the franchise's enthusiastic product placement, and that famous moment when Daniel Craig emerges from the sea and suddenly becomes the object of everyone's gaze. Has Bond genuinely evolved, or does Casino Royale simply package some very old-fashioned attitudes in a rather attractive new body? We finish with our ratings for the film, our thoughts on the wider Bond franchise and the usual question: Could you get away with it today? And next time, we're heading somewhere rather less glamorous as we revisit Carrie (1976). Subscribe to The Problematic Gaze for more classic film and television, cultural nostalgia, questionable attitudes and the occasional entirely unnecessary discussion about attractive men. The name's Gaze. Problematic Gaze. 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.

Click here to visit our YouTube Channel! We're back! After a week off, we're reunited in the cellar at PG Towers, accompanied by Fontaine the dog, a little background building noise and the usual complete inability to stay on one subject for more than five minutes. And what a lot we've got to catch up on. First, we're opening the mailbag for your reactions to The League of Gentlemen, including a surprising connection to Roy Chubby Brown and some excellent suggestions for future episodes. Could The Mighty Boosh be heading for The Problematic Gaze? And have we been overlooking the deeply questionable world of Mr Men and Little Miss? Then it's time for a little reality television. We're discussing The Celebrity Traitors, which doesn't seem quite itself this year, and Big Brother, which might finally have rediscovered its mojo. There's also the small matter of housemate Rob, who apparently cannot stop singing. But the week's most extraordinary controversy comes courtesy of Doctor Who. Yes, apparently even a preschool cartoon can provoke an internet meltdown. We examine the outrage surrounding the BBC's The TARDIS Crew, where some online commentators have managed to discover a supposed “bisexual agenda” lurking in the programme's colour palette. Because obviously that's what children are thinking about when they see a brightly coloured cartoon spaceship. Back in the mailbag, we're talking about the wonderfully unsettling In Fabric, revisiting Tales of the Unexpected and its particularly disturbing episode The Flypaper, and returning to two subjects that simply refuse to go away: Britain's rudest place names and the controversial merits of rum and raisin ice cream. We also clear up a little Dynasty trivia involving Catherine Oxenberg and Princess Diana, before checking in with The Great British Bake Off and looking ahead to Mike Flanagan's forthcoming adaptation of Carrie. There's also a brief detour into an ITV investigation involving Reform UK, because apparently the real world is determined to remain every bit as peculiar as the television programmes we cover. And there's plenty coming up at The Problematic Gaze. Our next main episode is Casino Royale (2006), as we revisit Daniel Craig's first James Bond film and examine Bond girls, masculinity, sexuality and what happens when 007 himself becomes the object of the gaze. Plus, there's more Dynasty on our YouTube channel, where we're celebrating the show's glorious camp appeal, outrageous glamour and magnificent shoulder pads. So make yourself comfortable, ignore the building work and join us for another thoroughly rambling visit to PG Towers. And don't forget to subscribe to The Problematic Gays for more Gazette catch-ups, listener correspondence, television recommendations and our weekly investigations into the films and programmes we once loved. Now, has anybody seen Fontaine? 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.

Watch our 'Dynasty and the 80's' YouTube playlist! Click here Shoulder pads, champagne, catfights and a royal wedding that ends in a bloodbath. Hello Gazers! This week we're heading back to the gloriously excessive 1980s for Dynasty, the American primetime soap that gave us Joan Collins, spectacular wealth, magnificent bitchiness and one of the most outrageous cliffhangers in television history. And naturally, we're asking: Could you get away with it today? Created by Richard and Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, Dynasty ran from 1981 to 1989, turning the fabulously wealthy Carrington family into an international television phenomenon. We revisit John Forsythe as Blake Carrington, Linda Evans as Krystle and the incomparable Joan Collins as Alexis, whose arrival helped transform the show's fortunes and made shoulder pads practically compulsory. We also share our own memories of watching Dynasty, its extraordinary appeal to gay audiences and why all that glamour, melodrama and barely disguised hostility became such irresistible camp entertainment. Over in Culture Corner, it's time to get rich. We're exploring the world of Ronald Reagan's America, the rise of the yuppie, conspicuous consumption and the fascination with money, status and designer everything. Was Dynasty celebrating the excesses of 1980s capitalism, or quietly revealing the greed, misery and dysfunction beneath all that fabulous wealth? We also revisit the show's extraordinary commercial success, from merchandise and spin-offs to The Colbys. Then it's time for our main event. The Moldavian Massacre. We're concentrating on the infamous 1985 royal wedding cliffhanger, when a celebration in the fictional kingdom of Moldavia takes a rather unexpected turn. It's one of the most memorable endings in soap history — but does the episode itself live up to its reputation? Along the way, we're discussing: Alexis versus Krystle: the catfights, rivalries and changing expectations of women on television.Steven Carrington: homosexuality in mainstream American television during the 1980s.Dominique Deveraux: Diahann Carroll's arrival and the significance of a powerful Black character in the Carrington universe.Mental illness and melodrama: the show's more questionable portrayals of psychological distress.Rock Hudson and AIDS: the controversy surrounding his appearance on Dynasty and the tabloid hysteria of the era.The Moldavian Massacre: a royal wedding, armed attackers and a cliffhanger that left audiences wondering who had survived.We also ask whether the show's endless displays of wealth, gender stereotypes and wildly implausible storylines make it hopelessly dated — or whether that's precisely why it's still so entertaining. Because underneath the diamonds, designer dresses and enormous hair, Dynasty tells us rather a lot about the decade that created it. And despite its many problematic moments, we both have enormous affection for this wonderfully ridiculous television institution. So pour yourself something expensive, adjust your shoulder pads and join us for a trip back to Denver. It's time to get Dynasty-fied. Subscribe to The Problematic Gays for more classic film and television, forgotten cultural history, nostalgic nonsense and our continuing investigation into whether the entertainment we once loved could get away with it today. 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.

Watch our YouTube playlist to find out more aboutThe League of Gentlemen and life in 2000 Click here to watch our chosen episode of The League Of Gentlemen on I-Player Hello, Dave? You're our wife now. This week we're taking a local trip for local people as The Problematic Gays head to Royston Vasey for The League of Gentlemen. We're focusing on Series 2, Episode 2 — “Lust for Royston Vasey,” first broadcast on 21 January 2000 — and asking how one of Britain's darkest, strangest and most grotesque comedies looks more than 25 years later. We go back to the beginnings of Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith and Jeremy Dyson's creation, from Bretton Hall and the Perrier Award to BBC Radio 4 and television, and explore the influences behind Royston Vasey's peculiar mixture of Hammer Horror, The Wicker Man, British sitcom and pitch-black comedy. Then it's time to meet the locals. There's Herr Lipp and his deeply uncomfortable interest in Justin; Tubbs and Edward facing the horrors of the outside world; Alvin attempting to escape Sunny's increasingly elaborate sexual appetites; Pauline and Mickey at the Burger Me takeaway; the deeply unpleasant Pop and his sons; Mr Chinnery doing terrible things to another unfortunate animal; and Val and Harvey's spectacularly dysfunctional household. And then there are two characters who have become particularly complicated. We revisit Papa Lazarou, the grotesque circus master whose appearance became central to the controversy that saw episodes removed from Netflix in 2020, and ask what the character was intended to represent versus how that imagery reads today. We also discuss Babs, Royston Vasey's transgender taxi driver, and how a character that could once be defended as being in on the joke becomes considerably harder to defend when the programme returned in 2017. Over in Culture Corner, we're heading back to Britain in 2000: the Millennium Dome, New Labour optimism, devolution, changing ideas of Englishness and the arrival of a little reality show called Big Brother. And naturally, we check the charts — because nothing captures the dawn of a new millennium quite like discovering Bob the Builder at number one. So, was The League of Gentlemen simply pushing the boundaries of turn-of-the-millennium comedy? Which jokes and characters still work brilliantly? And which parts of Royston Vasey are now problematic for very different reasons? Despite everything, we're both giving the series a whopping 9/10. Because this may be a local show for local people... …but there's still nothing else quite like it. Next time: Dynasty! 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.

Hello Gazers! Welcome to our weekly Gazette! We're still circling Jaws (1975) this week — although apparently the most contentious part of our entire discussion isn't the shark. It's coffee ice cream. After our latest Jaws episode, we're debating whether Spielberg's classic really counts as a horror film and tackling the important culinary questions nobody else was brave enough to ask: is coffee a legitimate ice cream flavour? Does anyone still eat rum and raisin? And whatever happened to tutti frutti? Our Jaws adventures also lead us into the glamorous world of copyright takedowns. We reminisce about previous encounters with the social-media copyright police and discover that apparently even 50-year-old mechanical sharks have lawyers. Then it's time for a tour of Britain's rudest place names and the surprisingly innocent history behind some extremely unfortunate-sounding villages, roads and landmarks. There's also a glorious Les Dennis story involving someone mistaking him for Amanda Holden's father before we get thoroughly overexcited about Celebrity Traitors. Richard E. Grant accidentally announces that he's a traitor, Ross Kemp reaches previously unexplored levels of suspicion, and we pick through the latest treachery, paranoia and questionable detective work. We also check in on Big Brother and its latest eviction drama before taking time to remember Esther Rantzen and an extraordinary broadcasting career that stretched far beyond That's Life!. We reflect on her campaigning work and the lasting importance of Childline and The Silver Line. Plus, listener mail takes us all the way to Australia for a brilliant Jaws memory. And next week, we're going somewhere that makes Amity Island look positively welcoming... Welcome to Royston Vasey. Yes, The League of Gentlemen is coming to The Problematic Gaze. 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.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water… This week we're heading to Amity Island for Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975) — the film that terrified a generation, transformed the Hollywood blockbuster and did absolutely nothing for the shark's public image. We revisit Spielberg's troubled ocean shoot, the notoriously temperamental mechanical shark and John Williams' iconic Oscar-winning score, before diving into the moments that made Jaws one of the most effective thrillers ever made: Chrissie's terrifying opening swim, severed body parts, Ben Gardner's surprise appearance, a doomed dog, a horrifying attack on a child and, eventually, three men heading out to sea to hunt a very big fish. But underneath the shark movie is something rather interesting. We look at Mayor Vaughn's determination to keep Amity's beaches open, asking what Jaws has to say about money, tourism, political denial and managing a crisis when acknowledging the problem might be bad for business. Then there's the men. Brody, Hooper and Quint offer three very different versions of 1970s masculinity, culminating in Robert Shaw's extraordinary USS Indianapolis monologue and the increasingly claustrophobic battle aboard the Orca. Over in Culture Corner, we cross the Atlantic to Britain in 1975, where inflation was running at extraordinary levels and everyday prices were soaring. What did the world outside the cinema look like when audiences first heard those two ominous notes? We also examine the uncomfortable legacy of Jaws. Did Hollywood's most famous shark help turn a vulnerable animal into a monster in the public imagination? We discuss shark hunting, changing attitudes towards the species and the later reflections of author Peter Benchley and Spielberg himself. And next week, we're off to Royston Vasey as we tackle The League of Gentlemen. You're our wife now. 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.

Hello Gazers! The postbag is open and A Taste of Honey has got you talking. Listener John Bishop—not that one—gives the film a whopping 9/10, remembers a Welsh stage production that relocated the story to Cardiff after the Manchester accent proved something of a stumbling block, and somehow takes us on a detour to seeing Jaws at the IMAX. Then Johannes joins us from Norway with his thoughts on why A Taste of Honey still feels so remarkable: a British New Wave film centred on a young woman while giving unusual prominence for the period to a Black character and a gay man. From kitchen-sink realism, we make the entirely natural transition to sequins as we discuss Strictly Come Dancing's new three-presenter line-up—and a newspaper's rather enthusiastic attempt to turn the show's ratings into a "flop" narrative. We're also mourning the loss of Ride or Die, the Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham series cancelled by Prime, before diving into our latest television recommendations. Dr Lee's been watching Furious, the new crime thriller starring Emmy Rossum as an FBI agent hunting a female serial killer, while we also get stuck into Last Seen. Elsewhere, apparently iPods are becoming desirable again, which is excellent news for anybody with a drawer full of obsolete Apple products and the patience to find the correct cable. We also have a moan about the increasingly peculiar experience of paying for streaming services and then being shown adverts anyway, discuss a new version of The War Game involving politicians, and disappear down a nostalgic Blue Peter rabbit hole involving Peter Duncan, terrifying stunts and that unforgettable green-and-white checked suit. Listener mail, television recommendations, streaming grumbles, nostalgia and several subjects that really shouldn't fit together in the same podcast. In other words, a fairly standard week at PG Manor. 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.

Visit our YouTube playlist to find out more about "A Taste Of Honey" and the cultural landscape of Britain in 1961 Interracial romance. Teenage pregnancy. Homosexuality. An unmarried mother. In 1961, A Taste of Honey put subjects British cinema usually kept firmly out of sight right at the centre of the screen. This week we're revisiting A Taste of Honey (1961), Tony Richardson's landmark British New Wave drama starring Rita Tushingham, Dora Bryan, Murray Melvin and Paul Danquah. Adapted from Shelagh Delaney's groundbreaking play, the film follows Jo, a Salford teenager living with her neglectful mother Helen. When Jo becomes pregnant by Jimmy, a Black sailor, she forms an unconventional household with Geoffrey, her gay friend—until Helen's return threatens the little family they've created. But to understand why A Taste of Honey caused such a stir, we're going back to the Britain that produced it. We look at the respectable world of post-war “consensual cinema”, the arrival of the Angry Young Men, Free Cinema and kitchen-sink realism, and the changing representation of working-class life that was also appearing on television in Coronation Street. Then there are the subjects the film dared to tackle. We're discussing interracial relationships and racism in 1960s Britain, the stigma surrounding unmarried pregnancy and “illegitimacy”, and Geoffrey's remarkably sympathetic portrayal at a time when sex between men was still criminalised in England and Wales. We also look at the Wolfenden Report and the political debate that would eventually lead to partial decriminalisation in 1967. We explore the film's depiction of Salford and working-class Northern England, its music and performances, its international controversy and censorship, and the major recognition it received at the BAFTA Awards. And, more than six decades later, we ask the question at the heart of The Problematic Gaze: how does A Taste of Honey hold up today? Is it an uncomfortable relic of 1961—or does Jo and Geoffrey's makeshift little family still feel surprisingly modern? Grab yourself a taste of honey and join us as we head back to the beginning of the Swinging Sixties… before Britain had actually started swinging. Click here to watch A Taste Of Honey 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.

Click here to check out our new YouTube playlists, this week it accompanies our last main episode on UK sitcom 'Bread' from 1986 Click here to watch the documentary on Shelagh Delaney (writer of A Taste Of Honey from next weeks main show) Click here to watch 'A Taste Of Honey', the topic of next weeks main episode This week at PG Manor, we're recovering from a rather busy weekend. We've been entertaining Hungarian actress Sonya, seeing Ricky Gervais and Jack Whitehall, preparing for a mammoth upcoming recording session—and issuing an important correction after apparently relocating Aqua to Sweden. They're Danish-Norwegian. We apologise to Scandinavia. Following our trip back to the world of Bread, the Boswell family and 1980s Liverpool, Dr Lee has also been investigating the mysterious “cotton mill whisper” and whether workers really developed a special way of communicating above the deafening machinery. Then it's over to the Gazers. Listener mail takes us from biodegradable bowel-screening test paper in Australia to a sanitised version of Saturday Night Fever and a spider of frankly unacceptable proportions. There's also some actual news to discuss. We look at the BBC's tender process for the future of Doctor Who and what its emphasis on character-driven, distinctly British storytelling might tell us about the programme's next incarnation. Then we discover why the United Nations has backed a move away from distorted world maps that make Africa appear far smaller than it really is. The UN General Assembly has encouraged the use of equal-area projections when relative size matters, following an African-led campaign against the distortions associated with the Mercator projection. We also learn about purple poppies commemorating animals lost in war before encountering possibly the week's most horrifying story: a woman who says that while she was in a coma, she could hear the same song her family was playing to her over and over again for a month. She later described the experience as torture. Plus, we've started creating new YouTube companion playlists to take you even further into the films, television, music and culture we're discussing each week. And next week we're heading back to 1961 for A Taste of Honey, Tony Richardson's landmark British New Wave film starring Rita Tushingham and Dora Bryan. Expect pregnancy, class, race, sexuality, Salford—and presumably considerably less Bread. 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.

Click here to watch the episode of Bread discussed in this show on YouTube This week we're heading to Liverpool to revisit Bread, Carla Lane's hugely popular BBC sitcom about the Boswell family. First broadcast in 1986, Bread became one of the defining British sitcoms of the decade, following formidable matriarch Nellie Boswell and her Catholic, working-class Liverpool family as they navigated love, money, unemployment and an impressively creative relationship with the DHSS. We're focusing on Series 1, Episode 6, first broadcast on 15 June 1986, and there's an extraordinary amount going on. Joey is dealing with his father's gambling debts—and some men with a suspicious interest in fur coats—while Adrian loses his job, Jack handles stolen goods and Billy discovers that his girlfriend Julie is pregnant. Their discussions about abortion, marriage and finding somewhere to live give us a glimpse of some very real pressures facing young couples in 1980s Britain. Meanwhile, Aveline gets her topless photographs published, Grandad struggles with depression and the Boswells continue their elaborate attempts to stay one step ahead of the benefits system. We look at the sitcom's portrayal of working-class Liverpool, Catholicism, unemployment, benefit fraud and petty crime, and ask whether the Boswells are affectionate comic creations or part of a much less comfortable tradition of stereotypes about people living on benefits. Has Bread aged surprisingly well—or does its politics look very different nearly 40 years later? Then it's off to Culture Corner, and this time we're going properly 1986. We're flicking through an original Smash Hits to discover the pop gossip, celebrity nonsense and surprisingly serious nuclear-war debate occupying British teenagers that year. We revisit the UK Top 10 singles from the week this episode aired and then take a dangerous trip into the 1986 Argos catalogue to see what Britain apparently considered the height of domestic sophistication. Come for the Boswells, stay for the 1980s home furnishings. On with the show, la! GAZER HOMEWORK: Next week we focus on the film 'A Taste Of Honey' from 1961. 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.

Welcome Gazers to this weeks Gazette! This week we're dealing with some of the social-media reaction to our Dam Busters episodes. We're also returning to The Dam Busters' extraordinary influence on Star Wars, including just how closely George Lucas's climactic Death Star attack echoes moments from the 1955 film. Once you start spotting the similarities, they're rather difficult to unsee. Click here to watch Star Wars Vs The Dam Busters on Youtube Listener Ruth then introduces us to the world of white poppies, the Peace Pledge Union and the UK Peace Museum, which leads us into the perennial British tradition of the "poppy wars" and the arguments over what different coloured poppies actually represent. Elsewhere, Dave encounters a director whose treatment of runners and PAs leaves rather a lot to be desired, and we somehow end up discussing the military drinking game known as the Dance of the Flaming Arseholes. We promise these two subjects seemed connected at the time. Then comes a genuinely important public-service announcement: if that bowel cancer screening kit drops through your letterbox, do it. We discuss why the NHS test matters, what it involves and why embarrassment is a considerably worse reason for avoiding potentially life-saving screening than you might think. We're also recommending the extraordinary Naudet brothers' 9/11 documentary, filmed alongside New York firefighters as the attacks unfolded. Click here to watch the 9/11 documentary on YouTube Plus: a wonderfully strange story involving the Ghostbusters theme, schoolgirls who apparently didn't receive quite the credit they deserved, British weather performing its traditional overnight transition from drought to deluge, questionable vocal warm-ups and all the usual nonsense from PG Manor. GAZER HOMEWORK: In our nest main episode we look at Bread, a UK sitcom from 1986. Click here to watch our chosen episode 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.

This week we're heading back to 1955 for bouncing bombs, stiff upper lips and one of the most famous pieces of music in British cinema as we revisit The Dam Busters. Based on the true story of Operation Chastise, the film follows engineer Barnes Wallis as he develops his extraordinary bouncing bomb and Wing Commander Guy Gibson as he leads 617 Squadron on the daring 1943 raid against Germany's Ruhr dams. But more than 70 years after the film was released, how much of The Dam Busters is history—and how much is British myth-making? We explore why the film became such a national institution, from its famous Dam Busters March and innovative special effects to its portrait of heroism, masculinity, class and that quintessentially British determination to face potentially catastrophic situations while displaying approximately three-and-a-half emotions. We also look beyond the legend to the reality of Operation Chastise: the aircrew who never returned, the civilians killed by the resulting floods, and the continuing historical debate over how strategically successful the raid actually was. And then there's the dog. We discuss the racial slur used as the name of Guy Gibson's black Labrador, how later television broadcasts and releases have attempted to deal with it, and the difficulties it presents when showing a much-loved 1950s film to modern audiences. We also look at the long-discussed Peter Jackson remake and the extraordinary influence The Dam Busters had on later filmmakers—including some very familiar moments in Star Wars. In Culture Corner, we're exploring Britain in 1955, a year in which Winston Churchill resigned, Anthony Eden became Prime Minister, ITV arrived to challenge the BBC, television advertising began, Dixon of Dock Green hit our screens, the first Guinness Book of Records appeared and Birdseye introduced Britain to the fish finger. We also revisit Ruth Ellis becoming the last woman executed in Britain, the Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend controversy, the suspiciously well-timed demise of Grace Archer, Cardiff becoming the capital of Wales, and some of the biggest films of the year. And next week we're making quite a leap: from bouncing bombs and Barnes Wallis to Bread (1986). Now that's what we call range. Next week we deep dive into Bread, a UK TV sitcom from 1986. Click here to watch our chosen episode 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.

Click this link to watch the Dolly Parton documentary on YouTube discussed in this episode Click here to visit our YouTube Channel This week at PG Manor we're feeling slightly ill, not sleeping properly and discussing pensions, so naturally we've decided we're entering the third quarter of life. Apparently this is what passes for optimism now. Fortunately, there's plenty to cheer us up, starting with your fantastic response to our Grange Hill episodes and some very exciting movement over on YouTube—including one of our Molly House videos creeping towards 20,000 views. We also hear from Paulina in Slovakia, who's returning to teaching and has some thoughts on what Grange Hill tells us about life in the classroom. Then we turn our attention to an important scientific question: can dogs emotionally manipulate their owners? After a suspicious bout of canine illness coincides with a change in routine, we investigate whether dogs can sense when you're going away—and whether they might be quite capable of laying on the guilt when you do. There's plenty to watch this week too. Lee recommends the brilliant Be Kind Rewind and its documentary exploring Dolly Parton's film career, while Dave has been watching How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, the comic murder mystery from Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee. We also celebrate the extraordinary Gloria Steinem, looking back at her journalism, activism and famous undercover investigation working as a Playboy Bunny before she became one of the defining figures of the modern feminist movement. Meanwhile, there's potentially exciting news for Wentworth fans, with a new spin-off on the horizon and Rachel Griffiths joining the cast. We also discover the increasingly depressing signs that you've finally become a proper adult, recount a yin yoga session that didn't go entirely according to plan, and discuss a new documentary connected to the controversial 1980 film Cruising. And next week we're travelling all the way back to 1955 for one of Britain's most famous war films: The Dam Busters. From Dolly Parton and Gloria Steinem to bouncing bombs. Just another perfectly logical week at The Problematic Gazette. 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.