Box Set: Loungecore

A collection of some of my recent features on mid to late nineties loungey indie dance music...

It looks as though some of you aren't aware that I now have a new website (which you can find here), and are still hanging around here wondering where all the new 'content' is. Well it's over there, obviously. To give you all some idea of where to start, though, I'm adding some new posts here with themed collections of links, and this time it's some of my recent features and podcasts about the long-forgotten Britpop spin-off Loungecore...

Come On And Love Me Now - the enduring appeal of Life by The Cardigans

Amongst Them Trevor The Sheep - what really happened when Chris Morris' Blue Jam got taken off-air halfway through a show?

I Love The Gentle People - how did a kitschy lounge/dance act come to be all over daytime television and 'lad' mags?

Food Processors Are Great! - why I still find Modern Life Is Rubbish by Blur inspiring and exciting, and why the nonsense about it 'inventing' Brexit should be slung into the nearest burning bin.

Looks Unfamiliar: Emma Burnell - Emma shares her memories of nineties Easy Listening radio station Melody Radio.

Looks Unfamiliar: Jenny Morrill - Jenny talks us through her attempts at looking like Justine from Elastica.

I'm Leaner, I'm Meaner, I Ain't No Inbetweener - late nineties Post-Diana moody trip-hop and the bewildeirng rise of unlikely chart star Jimmy Ray.

Je Suis Perdue Dans La Nuit, Dans Cette Ville Où Je Vis- how I discovered 1968 by France Gall.

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Not On Your Telly is available in paperback here or from the Kindle Store here. And there's several other books to choose from here...

Box Set: Looks Unfamiliar Series One

The first six editions of my podcast Looks Unfamiliar...

It looks as though some of you aren't aware that I now have a new website (which you can find here), and are still hanging around here wondering where all the new 'content' is. Well it's over there, obviously. To give you all some idea of where to start, though, I'm adding some new posts here with themed collections of links, and this time it's the initial run of my podcast Looks Unfamiliar, the show that looks at all of the things that you remember that nobody else ever seems to. Have you missed any of them? Get them listened to now...

Phil Catterall
Podcaster and gamer Phil Catterall on on Madballs Comic, Channel 4 consumer advice show Wise Up!, animation Phantom 2040, the Platoon computer game, Birdseye Steakhouse Grills adverts, and Star Wars: Droids.

Garreth F. Hirons
Musician and writer Garreth F. Hirons on indie band The Bigger The God, action figure range Food Fighters, ZX Spectrum game Saboteur, wrestling tag team The Triangle Of Terror, Sizzlin’ Bacon Monster Munch, and BBC3 sitcom Fun At The Funeral Parlour.

Mark Thompson
Radio host and political pundit Mark Thompson on computer-driven action serial Whiz Kids, Crash ZX Spectrum, ITV filler Night Shift, Public Information Film family The Blunders, sci-fi drama The Last Train, and Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Drak Pack.

Stephen O'Brien
Writer Stephen O’Brien on Steven Moffatt's The Office, LM magazine, You Can Do The Cube by Patrick Bossert, Brilliant (the band), The Beachcombers and other last-minute ITV emergency schedule replacement standbys, and The Morecambe And Wise Board Game.

Ben Baker
Writer, broadcaster and quizmaster Ben Baker on early Chris Evans vehicle TV Mayhem, football comic The Onion Bag, novelty yoghurt range Fiendish Feet, the early internet craze for misidentifying every comedy song as ‘by’ Weird Al Yankovic, Betsy Byars' Bingo Brown novels, and the International Youth Service penpal scheme.

Emma Burnell
Journalist Emma Burnell on The Miners' Strike Tape Whose Side Are You On?, Sweet Valley High, playground craze Scoubidou, childrens' horror book The Patchwork Monkey, Rutger Hauer movie Split Second, and the Ever Ready ‘Power To The People’ advert.

Series One Compilation
Highlights from all the above plus Tim talking to Georgey Spanswick on BBC Radio York about seventies TV Tie-in board games.

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Higher Than The Sun is the story of Screamadelica, Foxbase Alpha, Bandwagonesque and Loveless, and how, long before Britpop, Creation Records took on the world and nearly won. You can get it as a paperback here or from the Kindle Store here.

Box Set: TV Drama

A collection of some of my recent features on television drama...

It looks as though some of you aren't aware that I now have a new website (which you can find here), and are still hanging around here wondering where all the new 'content' is. Well it's over there, obviously. To give you all some idea of where to start, though, I'm adding some new posts here with themed collections of links, and this time it's some of my recent features and podcast chats about television drama, some of which had the temerity to exist before The Sopranos and Buffy The Vampire Slayer had even been thought of...

That Was This Life That Was - some thoughts on rewatching mid-nineties drama sensation This Life; this is a reworked version of the feature that originally appeared on this blog, with a new section looking at the experience of watching This Life on original transmission.

Doctor Who And The Rosa - a review of the standout episode of Jodie Whittaker's first series, which started out simply as a celebration of Sunday Television but eventually had to tackle the too politacaly correct NOT MY DOCTOR!!!!!! idiots as well...

Accidental Death Of An Anarchist - Channel 4's mid-eighties presentation of Dario Fo's satirical play is one of journalist Emma Burnell's choices on Looks Unfamiliar.

Dr. Pod - I join Emma Burnell and Steve Fielding on The Zeitgeist Tapes, the podcast looking at where politics and pop culture collide, to talk about politics in Doctor Who old and new and whether it really has got 'too politically correct' (clue: it hasn't).

Body Contact - BBC1's 1987 rock musical misfire is one of animator Phil Norman's choices in Looks Unfamiliar.

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Top Of The Box - The Complete Guide To BBC Records And Tapes Singles is available as a paperback here or from the Kindle Store here.

Looks Unfamiliar #25: Tim Worthington – People Don’t Really Go On About Psychedelic Blue Peter

Looks Unfamiliar 25 - Tim Worthington

Looks Unfamiliar is a podcast in which writer and occasional broadcaster Tim Worthington talks to a guest about some of the things that they remember that nobody else ever seems to. This time the guest is Tim himself, who talks to Stephen O’Brien about the fact that almost literally nobody he has ever met has heard of The Only Way by Lisa Stansfield, sixties crime caper movie The Brain, Jackanory‘s adaptation of Starstormers by Nicholas Fisk, the ‘There Were Three Of Them, In A Boat…’ Public Information Film, the original version of I Was Made To Love Magic by Nick Drake, trashy teen novel Secrets From The School Underground, early Mark Radcliffe vehicle Skyman, and forgotten ‘fourth’ Trumptonshire series Rubovia. Not to mention a certain less than reputable film that used to show up on German cable channels late on Saturday Night. Along the way we’ll be finding out whether Kim Wilde Doing Abba is preferable to Abba Doing Kim Wilde, watching the Welsh Brass Eye, hearing about when Billy Elliot exploded (and even then wasn’t as good as Musical Youth), and getting annoyed at a fictional schoolboy’s opinions on Monty Python’s Flying Circus. And if you’re listening, Ian Radio 4 Extra, sort those repeats out!

You can get my new book, Can’t Help Thinking About Me, from here.

DOWNLOAD IT HERE - SUBSCRIBE IN ITUNES - RSS

You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar here.

Looks Unfamiliar is hosted by Podnose.

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Support Looks Unfamiliar by buying one of Tim's books! Can't Help Thinking About Me is brand new and features loads of brand new material, including plenty about Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley, and you can get it in paperback here or from the Kindle store here.

The Best Of Looks Unfamiliar #1: Captain Peacock Is Pompous, Move Back Three Spaces

Looks Unfamiliar is a podcast in which writer and occasional broadcaster Tim Worthington talks to a guest about some of the things that they remember that nobody else ever seems to. This is a collection of highlights from the first six shows, featuring Stephen O’Brien on The Morecambe & Wise Board Game, Garreth F. Hirons on Food Fighters, Emma Burnell on The Patchwork Monkey, Phil Catterall on the ZX Spectrum tie-in game of Platoon, Mark Thompson on Night Shift, and Ben Baker on Fiendish Feet. Along the way we’ll be finding out when it’s appropriate to address Colin Bennett as ‘Vince Purity’, how many issues of ‘Razzle And Wise’ were published, and just which elements of The Untouchables were considered appropriate for a scrolling platform game aimed at children, not to mention recalling the classic horror film ‘Dracula Vs. The Skeleton’. Plus there’s also something you may not have heard before – Tim on the radio talking about ridiculous seventies board games!

DOWNLOAD IT HERE - SUBSCRIBE IN ITUNES - RSS

You can also find the full version of each show here...

Stephen - Garreth - Phil - Emma - Mark - Ben

Looks Unfamiliar is hosted by Podnose.

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If you enjoyed hearing about The Morecambe And Wise Board Game, you can hear me on the radio talking about even weirder TV tie-in board games here.

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Support Looks Unfamiliar by buying one of Tim's books! Not On Your Telly is available in paperback here or from the Kindle Store here. And there's several other books to choose from here...

Looks Unfamiliar #6: Emma Burnell - Jessica Wakefield Is Jessica Fletcher Writ Large

Looks Unfamiliar 6 - Emma Burnell

Looks Unfamiliar is a podcast in which writer and occasional broadcaster Tim Worthington talks to a guest about some of the things that they remember that nobody else ever does. Joining Tim in this episode is broadcaster, columnist and standup comic Emma Burnell, who is banking on somebody else remembering Miners' Strike fundraising album Whose Side Are You On?, the Sweet Valley High novels, short-lived playground craze Scoubidou, children's horror novella The Patchwork Monkey, undistinguished Rutger Hauer vehicle Split Second, and the Ever Ready 'Power To The People' advert. Along the way we'll be discussing the sociocultural ramifications of an earnest man talking to some earnest men, assessing the risks of hiring videos from 'a van', and speculating on the possible psychotropic effects of smoking a Fanta Yo-yo.

DOWNLOAD IT HERE - SUBSCRIBE IN ITUNES - RSS

Looks Unfamiliar is hosted by Podnose.

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Support Looks Unfamiliar by buying one of Tim's books! The Camberwick Green Procrastination Society is available in paperback here, from the Kindle Store here, or as a full-colour eBook here. And there's several other books to choose from here...