TV Shows I enjoyed in the last century: 1-6

No particular order, just as they come to mind.

TV Shows I enjoyed in the last century: 1. Telly Addicts.

My guilty secret! I do enjoy the odd game show.

This was a BBC1 game show that aired from 3 September 1985 to 29 July 1998, and hosted by Noel Edmonds. All questions were based on television programmes past and present, and generally took the form of a short clip being shown followed by a series of questions either specifically about the clip or more generally about the programme from which it had been taken. Two teams sat opposite each other on sofas. It was rather fun!

TV Shows I enjoyed in the last century: 2. Dixon of Dock Green.

Evening all! I grew up on this one from an early age. It ran from 1955 to 1976, so it actually predated me! I always remember its theme tune, and the way in which episodes finished with a few words to camera from Dixon in the form of philosophy on the evils of crime. Despite being deemed "cosy", it actually changed in the 1970s and became a much more gritty series. I watched some of those later episodes and it still stands out fairly well.

But probably the most infamous line is one which comes up in outtake shows. Victor Maddern has to say "It's down at Dock Green nick!" After "It's down at Dock Green dick!" and "It's down at Dick Green dock!", Maddern asks the director 'Couldn't I just say "It's down at the nick?".
Things you didn't know: "he British music hall song "Maybe It's Because I'm a Londoner" is used as the theme song. Dixon gets shot and killed in the movie "The Blue Lamp" (1950) playing the same character who appears in the TV show. You can't keep a good man down!

TV Shows I enjoyed in the last century: 3. Bird of Prey (1982).

Described as British techno-thriller television serial for the computer age, it starred Richard Griffiths and Carole Nimmons as Henry and Anne Jay: Henry is a humble civil servant who finds that he and his wife are drawn into a conspiracy involving the mysterious Le Pouvoir organisation. Using his skill with computers, he tries to stay one step ahead of those sent to kill him!

Episode titles are computer related - Input Classified, Process Priority, Mode Murder, Printout Urgent, And the titles have a PacMan type images chasing Griffiths (as a pixel pig) across the screen. Griffiths is excellent and it still stands up as a thriller, albeit one which is now nostaligia rather that up to date! 

After all, the high-tech his character buys are a modem, and the latest model Apple PC which the salesgirl informs him has “64K memory, disk drive main, storage for 120,000 characters”.
Also memorable for one of two appearances (of about 60 seconds) of my school friend Nigel Miles who had decided to be an actor. Sadly he died young (of AIDs) in the late 1990s.

TV Shows I enjoyed in the last century: 4. Through the Keyhole.

 
Remember the odd posh English/Bronx of Loyd Grossman ("David, it's oerver to you!"), and David Frost ("Hello, Good Evening, and Welcome"), with his pal Willie Rushton always as one of the guest celebrity panel. And "Who lives in a hoise like this?" (house, but I'm trying to get that accent in print)! It was great fun, especially for nosey people to play detective and then watch the panel do it, often with humour from Rushton.

Loyd treks through famous people's houses looking for clues as to who's house it is. Then the three celebrity panellists by making assumptions and asking questions have to guess who it is. And the real fun is that at this point you are told whose house it is but they don't know! Then the person comes through the Keyhole shaped entrance and has a short chat with David Frost (who is of course perfect at that).

A celebrity panel show - set as a game, but we all know it isn't really, because the banter is the joy, not getting a winner. I do like those very much when done well, and this one was.
Sadly they tried to revive it without Frost (dead), Rushton (dead) or Grossman (moved on) and it was rubbish!

"This should tell us something, maybe quite a bit, about the persons that live there..."
"Watch closely because, remember, the clues are there, as we go through... the keyhole."
"Who'd live in a house like this? David, it's over to you."
"And now for our studio audience, but not for our panel, here's whose house it is."

TV Shows I enjoyed in the last century: 5 Howard's Way (1 September 1985 to 25 November 1990)

Romantic trysts, boat building, sailing races, high fashion and the odd millionaire. The series deals with the personal and professional lives of the wealthy yachting and business communities in the fictional town of Tarrant on the south coast of England, and was filmed on the River Hamble and the Solent.
Perfect light viewing, and who can forget the series one cliffhanger when the daughter trips and plunges off a jetty into the water? Terry Wogan joked that she was underwater for a year until the next season!

 
It had a wonderful cast of characters brilliantly played by a great cast (Maurice Colbourne excellent in the lead, Stephen Yardley as a rather crooked businessman, Glyn Owen, Tony Anholt), lots of scenes of sailing and scenery (which I really enjoyed watching), and a fashionable outfits boutiques (which was the most boring part of the show for me). The memorable theme music was by Simon May (and recorded as a song "Always there" by Marti Webb) https://youtu.be/dwoeSQMz7VU.

TV Shows I enjoyed in the last century: 6. Sale of the Century.

Another admission about a game show! Made by Anglia Television, was presented by veteran broadcaster Nicholas Parsons from 1971 until 1983 and was made famous by its catchphrase: "And now from Norwich, it's the quiz of week...."

When Sale of the Century was imported to the UK Nicholas Parsons threw out all the crappy US questions and wrote his own for the whole first series.

Peter Hallam, the father of my best friend at school, actually got on the show, and I think managed to get £100 and a few prizes before losing - not the riches available, which was usually a car or holiday, but not bad.

Did you know? Nicholas Parsons overcame a life-long stammer from being left handed and forced to use his right hand! And as well as being an actor, and the longest ever serving radio quiz show host ("Just a Minute"), he had also trained in clock repairing, and presented the fascinating programme "Marie Antoinette's Watch".

 
He studied engineering at the University of Glasgow and then serve an apprenticeship at a pump and turbine firm in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire where his humour came to fore in get his tough workmates to like him - he did an brilliant impersonation of their boss! From there, showbusiness beckoned...!