TV and Thatcher

[magoo]

I was just thinking that if it had not been for Thatcher and her effect on this country TV would have been very different. If it had not been for the backdrop of unemployment, yuppies, strikes, social unrest and the death of heavy industry we would not have had the climate that could enable programs like Fools and Horses, Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Boys from The Black Stuff etc etc. Alternative comedy would have never happened and there would be no gritty film storylines from the likes of Alan Bleasdale, Ken Loach and Willy Russell.

Thats my sensible thoughtfull post for the week. Now I am off to have a drink and talk bollocks again.

[steve56]

its funny you mentioned cos earlier i was channel hopping from bbc/itv/ch4/ch5,felt bored thought at least in the late 70s early 80s we had some decent programmes on even the early days of ch4 ,the comic strip,5 go mad in dorset,strike,E.T.C.,the avengers reruns,lucy,munsters,addams family,get smart,peoples court ,4s not the same now.

[Ace]

Still has Countdown though, Steve

[steve56]

ace,do you recall cathy in the early days before carol v?

[Holden MacGroyn]

I do.
Carol was just their to do the numbers.
Mags me old china, I agree totally.
But what could the alternative have been?
Kinnock....sounds like the title for a gritty Northern cop show.


KINNOCK
...I'LL 'AV YOU BOYO

[steve56]

or micheal foot knacker of the yard?

[Caractacus]

Wasn't there a turn about thing in the early days, with some other Carol type (Yvonne something?) with the personality of a radish. When Dickie and Carol look back now it's as if it's always been just the pair of them.

[Ace]

Hers a name from C4 early days, Wincey Willis the weathergirl. Groundbreaking stuff at the time

[steve56]

do you recall the orig treasure hunts with anneka rice,wincey was in it im sure?

[Giles]

We've still got unemployment, yuppies and social unrest. Don't believe what the State/ Murdoch run media tell you. To give you an idea of the censorship that is practised in 1997-98 there was a dock strike in Liverpool that went on for months and the media, including the BBC never once reported it. The current row between the Government and the State-run media, the BBC, is another tawdry example of spin to take everybody's mind off the real issues. If there was a real row going on they would never hang it out in public the way they have done.