The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour

As noted several moons ago, The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour knows that the language of cinema is a little different to that of the small screen, but it's a lesson they love to revisit nonetheless. This week's study is of personal pronouns; as in ‘She'll probably regret wearing that', ‘He made an egg sandwich that should be on trial', and ‘I Bought A Vampire Motorcycle'… Yes, Doctor Velvet and Blackout round out the podcast's After Dark series by shining a flickering torch into the dimmest days of the British Film Industry, to find the Boon reunion-party in full swing and drenched in red-dyed corn syrup. Still, there's a vicar on-hand so it's all good* clean** fun***. Why did Anthony Daniels agree to a part in this? Why did Burt Kwouk agree to a part as long as he didn't have to speak? And why did Pod Producer Ken leave the room mid-way through and lock himself in the toilet, crying? Put 20p in the pub jukebox, press Play, swing off a cast iron chandelier and find out… * delete ** as *** appropriate The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional accompaniments from Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour continues to explore the weekly cultural abyss of what really goes on After Dark. But as so often with the analysis of horror, the story of what scares us isn't quite as intriguing as what in turn reassures. And for a formative mind in the harsh striplights of the 1980s, there are few things so reassuring as the jet slacks, tousled demi-wave and leatherette blouson of the world's most mysterious techno-vigilante... Yes, Doctor Velvet and Blackout are joined once again by the loveably irascible Ozzy Bognops, as their attention turns to that doyenne of Saturday teatime adventure, the Knight Rider. Because when things take a theatrically sinister turn on a Hollywood backlot and Michael Knight is sent to investigate, absolutely no nit will be left unpicked back at Mountpeg Towers... How much money can you save by writing a screenplay set literally in the studio where it's going to be made, so that you don't have to do any set-dressing? How convenient is it to get your star's stuntman to play the star in a thing where your star plays his stuntman? And how many hints does a man have to drop that he just wants a job where he can go to the beach? Tell your car to press Play, and find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional accompaniments from Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

It's the question asked by anybody of an inquiring mind (and the hosts of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour are no exception) when faced with baffling circumstance and an unexplained outcome: Did that actually just happen? In fact, so determined are they to get to the bottom of it all that they've asked The ExtonMoss Experiment to come round and help solve the mysteries of the universe. Or of Bristol, at the very least. Yes, passing under the rickety analytical equipment knocked together in a remote barn is BBC2's landmark cultural exploration of the outré from 1973, Leap In The Dark. Covering an array of psychic phenomena such as astrology, clairvoyance, divining and walking around a field for hours on end with sticks, this thoughtful yet playfully sceptical magazine-show is sure to raise more questions than it answers... Is Gordon Snell sponsored by Lee Bender? Is Linda Blandford sponsored by BUPA? And has Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water still not sponsored that cottage yet? Wave your dowsing rod over the Play button and you might just find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional accompaniments from Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is nothing if not a podcast of juxtapositions and contrasts, like mixing vintage TV shows with digital platforms, and necking Malibu and Quatro out of the antique sherry glasses. And it's this grating collision of 1980s futurism and sepia-toned yesteryear to which the hosts turn once again, because everyone knows it's not really a horror-season if you don't put A Dracula™ in it... Yes, messrs Velvet, Blackout and Bognops break out the garlic and make sure the pooper-scoopers are within arm's reach, as Flash Gordon, The Phantom and a host of King Features chums (as well as a minibus full of their kids) find themselves knee-deep in Transylvanian doings when the Defenders Of The Earth (defenders...) wonder what exactly has gone into Dracula's Potion. How many biological-photocopying superpowers does Dracula have that that even Bram Stoker didn't know about? How does the Grade-2-listed status of a 900yr old Eastern European castle affect a local authority application for an on-site massage parlour with neon-pink accent lighting? And how do the Defenders Of The Earth (defenders...) think that turning up unannounced in a remote woodland village dressed like the Aerobics-Wing of the Gladiators isn't going to lead to a little bit of adverse comment at the very least? Nip round to Phaze for a quick change of clothes, press Play and find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional accompaniments from Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Fear of the unknown has always been a source of crippling anxiety for puny humans, and it pays to scry the future at any available moment. Whether you've got one eye on the 3:30 at Chepstow, on that recent headline about an escaped leopard, or on that pair of plimsolls in the window of Freeman Hardy & Willis for Saturday afternoon, you simply can't out-run destiny (and those plimsolls look great #BuyTheThings). Yes, the mists are clearing at The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour as our hosts return once again to their beloved Paradise Lodge and find that You're Only Young Twice. A visiting clairvoyant brings dire forebodings to those who treat her less than reverently, and since that's Flora default-setting it's safe to predict trouble by tea-time... How culturally insensitive is it to write A Locationally Undisclosed Foreign Character™ into your sitcom if the associated performer doesn't even attempt a remotely recognisable accent? How fast can you make an elderly woman ride a motorcycle down a cobbled street before the insurance overseer has a fit of the vapours? And how is Blackout supposed to plan a road-trip if Geography as we know it is a mere construct of Yorkshire Television? Press Pause, consult Google Maps, press Play then find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional accompaniments from Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com    

The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour's concerted foray into televisual horror continues apace, with Doctor Velvet, Blackout and Ozzy Bognops continuing to wade drinks-aloft through the darkness. But into every cobwebbed crypt an ecclesiastical sunbeam must fall, and salvation arrives in the form of The Finest Hair On Television™... Yes, this week our trio of intrepid explorers brace their souls against all the netherworld has to offer by hitching a ride on the Highway To Heaven, where a Hallowe'en motel stop-over gives rise to interwoven suburban homilies on the spiritual dangers of practical jokes, emotional disengagement and sandwiches. How many appearance, repeat and residual fees does Michael Landon® bank by penning in archive-footage of his own cinematic back catalogue? How many times do the hosts say the words Michael Landon® in this episode, and is that even close to the number of times the words Michael Landon® appear in the programme's credits? And how many Michael Landons Michael Landon® Landon's Michael Michael's Michael Landon® Michael Landon® Michael Landon® Landon Landon? Press Michael Landon® and find out... #MichaelLandon The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional accompaniments from Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

With the first stirrings of spring on the breeze, an archive-television reviewer's thoughts naturally turn to fresh air, greenery and neolithic menhirs. A quest for savage nature leads to this episode of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour being 33% outside broadcast, as well as seeing the return of a beloved special guest back in the studio! Yes, ancient rituals, cutting-edge science and new age ephemera collide, as that rusty old chopper has been broken out of the shed and ridden into the depths of rural Wiltshire for sardonic scrutiny of the first episode of HTV's iconic Children Of The Stones! For once, our hosts aren't the weirdest people in the vicinity. Although that doesn't stop them trying... When is it permissible to run over an old lady standing in the middle of the road? When is it okay to knock off your academic research for the day and knock back whisky in the pub instead? And when is someone - anyone - going to send a Going Metric: Tins Of Paint leaflet to Blackout? The sooner you press Play, the sooner you'll find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional accompaniments from Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Ever keen to multi-task, The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour's After Dark season is at this point so blasé with unseasonally ticking off items from the Hallowe'en schedule that they've started on the Christmas telly as well. Naturally, ghosts have no real concept of earthly time and so tend to turn up impromptu and behave appallingly. Much like dinner guests... Yes, this week the hoover gets pushed round and the best cutlery comes out for 1972's Dead Of Night: The Exorcism. And this cautionary tale of social entertaining is a nailed-on lesson as to a) why dinner parties are (and always have been) a thing to be avoided, and more notably b) why no one should invite Blackout and Doctor Velvet to them anyway. How long can a guest be expected to tolerate a power cut before just retiring to the airing-cupboard with a bottle of wine? How long can a ghost be expected to play the clavichord in the next room before you take a mell hammer to the windows? And how long can a fresh crime-scene be left before Kenneth Kendall starts talking about it on national television? Light a trail of candles to the Play button, and find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional accompaniments from Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Creepy cartoons and high-ectoplasm action series are all well and good to satisfy a 21st century lust for arcane entertainment, but sooner or later what's required is actual, verified, hard evidence of the afterlife. And with that in mind, The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour turns - once more - to Auntie Beeb for some documentary fact.  This comes packaged in the form of 40 Minutes' Ghost Train: Haunted Britain, during which Messrs Velvet and Blackout rise to the seriousness of the occasion in practiced form: by discussing Doctor Who easter-eggs and mocking members of the public foolish enough to have appeared on television one time several decades ago. Because it's what the hosts are here for and let's face it, that's what you're here for too... Did NHS funding in the 1980s get reduced to the number of sponsored EMF-meter clicks recorded in a haunted house? Can you really complain about paranormal disturbances when you've got a shotgun blast in the ceiling and a mausoleum at the bottom of your garden? And did Blackout buy the book?  Get John Bruce to gently caress the Play button for you, and find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional accompaniments from Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

This entire series of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour focuses on the more macabre facets of the magic lantern partly in a bid to help clear the supernatural backlog, and because sometimes a Halloween-themed programme crops up that's just too good to leave until Spooky-Season! (or is just too awful to take that coveted slot in the review-schedule, but let's try to be optimistic) Worlds collide at Mountpeg Towers this week when Ozzy Bognops drops round, and explosions meet ectoplasm for The Fall Guy on 'October The 31st', the textbook snapshot of a celebrated 1980s TV show having a mid-life crisis. Yes, whether you're raising a cold beer to The Unknown Stuntman or a smouldering absinthe to The Mistress Of The Dark, the level of For-The-Dads™ televisual entertainment here is positively off the scale... How many litres of water does it take to extinguish Sally Field? How many litres of whiskey does it take to incapacitate Colt Seavers? And how many members of the incidental cast are changing their surname to Carradine to ensure they get a screen-credit? Grab the coroner, unearth the casket, press the Play button, and find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional accompaniments from Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

The hosts of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour are well known for chasing the boundaries of terror and for crossing the streams, and tonight's lecture illustrates that just because something appears brightly coloured, that doesn't mean it can't also be steeped in darkness. Yes, the new series' exploratory jaunt into televisual devilry begins in earnest, and what better way to brush aside abandoned cobwebs and read ancient inscriptions aloud than in the company of Count Duckula? With vampires, zombies, tomb-looting and light jazz, there's something for fans of all horror... What was the deal with 1980s variety club acts blagging the contracts for kids' TV theme tunes? What was the deal with Brian Trueman hoovering up any jobs that were left over? And how many gags can you pack into a script before the plot is left sitting in the studio next door? Press Play, blow on the enchanted horn, and find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional accompaniments from Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Spring may be round the corner, but it's always winter in our souls! Yes, as most normal people dare to celebrate the evenings getting ever so slowly lighter, The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour draws the heavy brocade curtains, lights a candle or two and reclines further into the misanthropic gloom. It certainly beats going outside, where the real horror lies. In this extended trailer for their NEW SUPERNATURAL SERIES, Messrs Velvet, Blackout and Bognops move the glass of nostalgic criticism over the animated lycanthropic-farce Fangface, and try to make contact with BBC1's 1992 sitcom So Haunt Me. If there really *is* somebody there, all will be revealed After Dark... How many stars of Capcom had a Before-They-Were-Famous career at Ruby-Spears? How many online auctions of original animation-cells would you have to win before you become the rights-holder of a cartoon? And how many sitcom-dads does it take sitting round the table until they can see the ghost? Watch agog as an unseen spectral hand presses the Play button, and find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional accompaniments from Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

As the annual festive battle wears on to decide whether the family will spend this evening watching new spangly Content™ from a surfeit of modern entertainment platforms or the much-loved VHS tape of yuletide specials from yesteryear instead, it is a time of high resolution - it is a time of low resolution - and it is of course time to try and forget about making New Year resolutions altogether... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is no exception to this televisual knife-edge, and has opted this Hogmanay to watch Bruce Forsyth and The Generation Game's New Year's Day episode from 1973. It's business as usual at Television Centre with a seasonal twist, which means the side-eyes, barbed comments, bickering and general failure to understand any of the rules means the programme should match the mood of your living room, perfectly. How arbitrary is the scoring system for vast swathes of this game? How axiomatic are Forsyth's helpful hints during its climactic round? And how apoplectic is Ernie going to be when he remembers in three days' time it was the headphones he wanted? Resolve to press Play every day (or until you forget, around January 4th) and find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Well the halls are decked, the porches have been lamped and the back passage is well and truly stuffed, which can mean only one thing: it's time once again for The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour Christmas Special! Yuletide is a time for extravagance of course, when year-end budgets are well and truly blown in the name of celebration and merriment. So naturally, our hosts have found two exceptions. First up on the roster is a look at what we're all going to be eating on the big day, as Dorothy Sleightholme and Stella Boldy show us round Yorkshire Television's innuendo-laden Farmhouse Kitchen, then it's round to Jim Bowen's for a game of the old arrers with some big names in 1987's Bullseye Christmas Celebrity Special. And if a tea-urn full of warm lager isn't quite your thing, some salted almonds are sure to help the drinks go round... How contained is Bowen's umbrage at having to actually learn lines for a fully scripted show? How restrained is Sleightholme's fury at having to share her studio with a co-presenter? And how ingrained is the urge of three podcast hosts to scour online marketplaces for every single piece of vintage tie-in merchandise that was ever flogged on-screen? Press the Play button before someone at Central Television realises nobody is keeping a score, and find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com      

Ah, the haunting season seems to arrive earlier every year, and what better way to avoid the hustle and bustle of shoppers laden with absinthe, last minute pumpkins and Tripe Trifle™ than to join the hosts of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour as they lean into the dark nights with some terrifying television? This year's Hallowe'en special is a callback to the podcast's formative roots, as Murder She Wrote's Night Of The Tarantula comes under supernatural scrutiny. Leaving the good folk of Cabot Cove to manage without her for a few days, Jessica Fletcher takes a jaunt down to Jamaica to visit an old friend. But while she's packed the sort of wardrobe that could be used as an Ishihara test, it soon becomes apparent that Jess has forgotten to bring the spider-repellent. And the snake-repellent. Oh, and zombie-repellent… How many glasses of wine can you get out of a bottle from the duty free at Sangster International airport? How many different accents can you crowbar into a single mansion lived in by one family? And how many lines in the sand has Danny La Rue crossed for Angela Lansbury to dish out this sort of theatrical vitriol? Press Play before Arnold races out of the door, and find out… The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Not quite ready to surface from hibernation, The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour ekes out the last of the dark nights by curling up at the fireside with a good book. Well, the hosts welcome a new guest, crack open a bottle or two and watch a version of that book on the telly. Obviously... Coming under subaquatic scrutiny this week is 1975's Canadian animated odyssey, The Undersea Adventures Of Captain Nemo, in which everyone's favourite Victorian squid-puncher gets a nuclear-powered, modern - if educational - twist. What are the temporal implications of casually inventing Zoom-meetings and Wikipedia decades before the technology required to run them? What are the legal consequences of failing to control an accent in a built-up screenplay? And what are the ethical considerations around having two unpaid child dogsbodies in an enclosed space where someone's smoking 80 Capstan Full-Strength a day? Get someone to push Play for you and find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

JINGS! They said it couldn't be done! Well, they said it *shouldn't* be done, and they turned out to be right. Yes, it's another edition of The Peggy Mount Hogmanay Hour, and drunken sassenachs Velvet, Blackout and Bognops have stormed the passport control booth at Hadrian's Wall on a haphazard hunt north of the border for some Caledonian culture... Unfortunately that all sold out a week before Christmas, and all that's left in the gift shop is BBC One's near legendary end-of year-debacle: Live Into '85. Laird Tom O'Connor joins with Marquess Maggie Moone and Marquee Moira Anderson to host a rousing night of comedy, dancing, music and fun! Or again, that's what Tom had signed off for until discovering it had sold out etc. More guests appear entirely at their own risk. As at least one of them found out. Were the BBC cutting broadcast costs by pulling the plug on this while Big Ben was still chiming? Were Big Tom's Pipe Band cutting parking costs by keeping the minibus engine running outside? And what were the management of the Gleneagles Hotel hoping to achieve by combining their all-you-can-drink bar with the crèche? Push Play to have the answers revealed and branded into your eardrums forever... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com    

Christmas comes but once a year, yet thrice it 'casts into your ear(s)! Yes, with the dinner eaten and the games over, the party is in full swing as The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour's festive delving culminates its way to the yuletide jamboree! Approaching an advanced state of refreshment, Doctor Velvet, Blackout and Ozzy Bognops are in the mood for some salt-of-the-earth tinkling of The Old Joann-oh™, and so it's naturally to The Light Channel they turn. And boogey-woogeying its way down to a studio-approximation of the East End is 1982's incomparable Chas & Dave's Christmas Knees-Up, where the cockney duo rattle out a handful of their own hits while playing host to Jimmy Cricket, Lennie Peters, Cosmotheka, Albert Lee and Eric Clapton. Variety shows are bread and butter pudding to this podcast of course, and live musical acts come under particular scrutiny - so it's anyone's guess as to how far the goodwill of this particular season will stretch... Are Chas and Dave starting to regret phoning up their most famous mates for a jam? Has Lennie Peters come down to sort out some right muppet who's bin bad-maafing his mannah? And is Alyn Ainsworth hiding in the Rancor pit? Put your beer in the sideboard here, let mother press Play and find out... (Bonus points and/or an extra jellied eel will be awarded to listeners who can sing along AND do the harmonies) The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com        

No, you're not seeing double - this is the second of the Peggy Mount Calamity Hour Christmas Specials! Although given that trouble co-ordinating and an inability to communicate clearly are the order of the day with this festive viewing, blurred vision just feels par for the course frankly. To get them in the mood for games, our hosts revisit ITV's 1979 Christmas-edition of Give Us A Clue, a show whose very title suggests that things are supposed to get clearer as they progress. In actuality the exact reverse seems to have been true that day in Thames Television, but with an assemblage of light entertainment royalty such as this, who's keeping score? Certainly not Michael Aspel, that's for sure... Who proposed stripping the catering budget down to Netto egg sandwiches for the preceding eleven months to allow the off-licence run for this show to take place? Who was responsible for retooling the on-screen countdown clock, but then decided to blow that money on another bottle of port instead? And who's going to break it to the orphans that Dickie Davies has opened all their presents? Rely on a production-runner to press Play thirty seconds sooner than they usually would, and find out... (Bonus points and/or an extra Cadbury's Rose (just the one) will be awarded to listeners who know what a Spelk™ is) The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com    

"And hark", proclaimed Producer Ken, "before the clock strikes Christmas Day, you will be visited by THREE podcasts!". 'Oh here we go' thought Scrooge, just wanting to get on. "You must learn from the pod of telly past, the pod of telly past and then the pod of telly past." Well, he'd expected repeats at this time of year, but Scrooge didn't argue because he'd looked through the Radio Times and hadn't even taken the top off his red marker... Yes it's the first of the festive specials from The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour, and to set the scene the boys need to go RIGHT back to ITV's Christmas With The Larkins. Blazing a trail through the fledgling sitcom-market, Dame Peggy herself berates and bellows her way to a yuletide family gathering with all the farcical trimmings and mishaps we've come to expect over the intervening decades. What can go wrong? Oh, everything. How many trombone wah-s are acceptable as the comedown to a punchline? How many household appliances can be used to defrost a turkey? And how many instances of imminent or actual violence need to be in a script before Peggs will greenlight it? Look, you're not pressing Play right - let Peggy take over and find out...   (Bonus points and/or an extra Quality Street will be awarded to listeners who pick up on the Stewart Lee reference secreted in this episode) The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com    

Darkness falls across the land, the drinking hour is close at hand; to tear apart your very soul, and delve into The Glory Hole! Yes as dusk strikes on the year, The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour turns its attention to a truly seminal piece of vintage television that's sure to put the willies up anybody... Under the spooktroscope this Samhain is BBC1's legendary Ghostwatch, the 1992 pseudo-documentary fronted by Sir Michael Parkinson which exceeded its remit in terms of terrifying viewers and ultimately bequeathed a televisual legacy far greater than anyone had really intended. But cynicism is the enemy of awe as aeons pass, and there's no greater battle for emotional sincerity than the one playing in the viewing suite of MountPeg Towers this stormy evening. How big is the cupboard under the stairs in a two-bedroom semi in suburban west-London? How come that person looks like them out of that thing that you can't quite place? And how come the Beeb got around Equity stipulations by employing people who clearly weren't actors? Move the glass over PLAY and find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional live accompaniments by Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to PeggyMountPod@gmail.com  

Well, the weather may be warming up but there's a chill in the air at MountPeg Towers. Producer Ken's back from the paper shop and he's brought something to put the willies right up Doctor Velvet and Blackout. Naturally, their combination of morbid curiosity, short memory span and chronic boredom means they're only too willing to oblige...   Setting up stall for dark things to come once the TV schedules re-ignite, the first issue of 1984 horror comic Scream comes in for a playfully gruesome dissection. All manner of horrors await our heroes as reality melts, death is only a heartbeat away, and dreams and nightmares collide in 32 pages of panic that'll have everyone cowering under the continental quilt...   Is a shovel the best implement for fighting off a horde of rabid cats? Is the front garden the best place for burying an unembalmed body?And is neat vodka suitable for sterilising plastic fangs?   If you think you're brave enough, click Play and find out...   The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

The boys of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour continue their turbulent odyssey of past periodicals as voices begin to break, clothes start to matter more, and you can be entirely judged on liking an incorrect song from the hit parade. Yes, it's a return to the awkward years of enforced superficiality as 1980s teen culture comes under the beeroscope. And it rarely gets more awkward than this issue of legendary music mag, Smash Hits. Seemingly penned by a range of journalists who despise music, the Autumn 1987 advertisement-directory also features content-free articles, fictionalised interviews and lyrics for songs which never existed. For a relic of the pre-internet era, it's all remarkably meta... How many pints is Rick Astley going to neck as he tries to shake his interviewer? How many write-ups is Doctor Velvet going to take extreme exception to? And how many pounds is Blackout likely to spend on a Personal Cassette Player™? You can press Play here, or dial 0898 [REDACTED] to find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

It's Saturday morning once again, and what would the weekend even be without a trip to the paper shop, a plain paper bag full of unbranded sweets that have all been individually handled by the friendly newsagent, and a comic - nay magazine, surely? - to get stuck into before World Of Sport comes on?   This week, beguiled by colourful illustrations of fearsome aliens and a cover-mounted Free Gift, the hosts of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour have been have parted with twenty pence to partake in the first issue of the relaunched Eagle comic from 1982. Aimed at boisterously opinionated boys who love sci-fi, horror and crime-fighting intrigue (and who have a penchant for collecting tat), this feels like it was created in a secret government lab to appeal to Doctor Velvet and Blackout...   Will the mysterious man who embodied Sgt Streetwise ever be found? Will the post-apocalyptic survivors of London Town ever find a leader who actually understands the tube network? And will somebody please help Mike Read?   Launch your free Space Spinner™ at the Play button, and find out...   The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Yes, there's still nothing on the telly so the boys from The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour turn to the wise counsel of their local newsagent for solace, distraction and entertainment. Well, they sent Producer Ken down there. That Front Street's seen better days, mind... His successful journey apparently via the Galaxy Far, Far Away, coming under the macrobinoculars this week is May 1983's Star Wars Summer Special; subjected here to more editorial appraisal than it ever was in May 1983. With industrial genocide, trans-dimensional cults and hypnotic death-monkeys, this UK-centric spin on everyone's favourite feelgood fantasy is sure to test the very limits of the words "Star Wars", "Summer" and indeed "Special". What's happened with the timeline when Han Solo is working with the Rebels he met after the Death Star to steal a ship he already owned before the Death Star? What's happened with Imperial procurement when staff are turning up to work in a tracksuit their mam bought off the market? And who's responsible for casting Chewbacca's understudy? Jump to hyperspace (or press Play) and find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

It's almost time for a new series of the Peggy Mount Calamity Hour, but Doctor Velvet and Blackout are very aware that if they keep sitting in front of that box they'll go square-eyed. With that in mind, our heroes take a break from watching the telly, and begin a handful of vintage periodical retrospectives by reading about it instead... First to plop onto the doormat is a September 1981 issue of Look-In magazine, the 'Junior TV Times' of the pre-deregulation era which created, trained and honed an entire generation of nitpicking television obsessives; the end result of which is podcasts like this one. How widely can the viewing demographic of 'pre-teen TV audience' be stretched, in an age where there are only three channels so 10yr olds watch pretty much anything they're allowed to stay up for? How narrowly does one of the hosts avoid a murderous rage, after poring over every page of a publication which apparently doesn't have time for proofreaders? And where do you have to live if you want to watch Chopper Squad? Fill out a little form, hand it to your podsagent, hit Play and find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Finally the weather starts to warm up, and as we all know in the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love. The hosts of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour are not young men, of course. They are resolutely (and perennially) middle-aged, and so their jaded thoughts are of mowing the lawn, if they must. Which, naturally, means going In The Shed.   That's right dear listener, this outing is another in the ongoing series of Shed Sessions recordings, and this time the proceedings are of a decidedly musical bent. The first stop is bathing in the quirky glory of nature with Sir Derek Griffiths' Heads And Tails, and when the sun has set but the heat's still up it's round for drinks at Dame Cleo Laine's luxury pad, noting of course that she's always In Company...   How many session fees is D.Griffith racking up after adhering to the M.Union rules about separate instruments requiring different lines in the budget? How many shots is J.Thaw necking every time he knows the camera isn't on him? And how many consecutive days had the presenters of this podcast been awake and drinking by this point?   B.like C.Laine, get immediately down to business and find out...   The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com      

As the evenings get lighter and that man in the park with the tracksuit bottoms becomes more animated in his dealings with passers-by, all signs point to Winter finally beginning to end. And emerging from their hidey-hole in Mountpeg Towers like the Blue Peter tortoise with a hangover, the hosts of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour uncork bottles once again to let their profane rambling drift across the streets below... Don't get too excited, this is another entry to The Shed Sessions™, very much the lo-fi punk rock non-album-EP of the indie podcast movement; three guys grabbing the world by the TV schedules and laying down some hard facts and harder opinions of underground broadcasting in a post-truth age! So obviously they've chosen to dissect 1986 episode of the Pat Coombs voodoo adventure series, Ragdolly Anna. Just how long is a coach journey which necessitates a full tin of cakes? Just how tall is Dummy? And just how high to you have to be to enjoy this programme? Smuggle a cat onto public transport then spend the entire journey having a conversation into a wicker shopping basket to find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet with additional live accompaniment from Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

As another year draws to an appropriately ignominious end, the three brave souls of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour weather the cold to trek north of The Border and warm their weary cockles by the fireside of Caledonian hospitality, and perhaps enjoy a dram or two into the bargain... Yes, it's time for The New Year Party, BBC Scotland's televised Hogmanay bash from the arse-end of 1983, where the two Bs (McCue and Torrance), are joined by the two Ms (Moone and Anderson) for an evening of songs, dancing, comedy, dancing, pipes and yes why not let's have a bit more dancing. There's something for EVERYONE here! Providing everyone doesn't mind the dancing. How many laws of the space-time continuum have been broken in Glasgow to fit so many people into a studio which is clearly three adjoining store cupboards with the walls knocked through? How many officers of the Health & Safety Directive have been ignored in allowing those people to drink and smoke to their hearts' content throughout? And how many of Scotland's audiologists managed to rack up the overtime in January due to the catastrophic hearing damage caused by that Olympic-sized pipe band? Mak your muckles, deep fry your kebabs, press Play and find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

'Twas the night before Christmas and through MountPeg Towers, bottles of port, red wine and brown ale had been strategically placed into a series of time-lock-release safes to ensure an even spread of gradual inebriation throughout the twenty-fifth thereby ensuring it's not all gone after two hours. Yes, the day is almost upon us and The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour's festive celebrations peak once more with the god-tier array of light entertainment name-dropping that is ITV's 1972 showcase, All Star Comedy Carnival (that's right, the one from every fifth-or-so Steps Up The Mountain). With Blair, Grayson, Tarby, Wogan, Rod Hull, Moira Anderson AND PEGGY MOUNT, everything you have ever wanted waits in here... How slowly can time pass while you're waiting for a four-minute On The Buses Christmas Sketch to end? How quickly does a programme have to oscillate between low-brow autopilot sitcom and high-precision performance art to give viewers the televisual bends? And how on earth is your favourite* vintage TV podcast going to top this? Unwrap. Press Play. Be as disappointed as every year. *go on, admit it. The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Few things yell CHRISTMAS like that feeling of being locked in a room with a braying mob of party-game-obsessed family members who all seem to be merrily intoxicated past the point of caring, whilst you yourself are wondering how long you can politely leave it before REALLY getting stuck into the booze like a seasoned professional. And so for the second instalment of this year's Peggy Mount Calamity Hour Christmas Specials, Thames Television have kindly brought that enforced bonhomie for us all to enjoy wherever, as the podcast hosts peruse the Fresh Fields Festive Effulgence from 1985. There's tidings, there's tinsel, and there are other words beginning with T which won't go into the show description because of adverse SEO reasons... How many mince pies is too many for Christmas day, and does the joke become funny at that point? How long should a straight, domestic-sitcom be left doing its thing before safely devolving into chaotic, drunken ad-libbing for optimum, refreshing effect? And how long can Blackout keep up this Scrooge-like, grumpy demeanour when faced with some of the cosiest Christmas television ever created? Drag everyone into a circle in the living room, press Play and find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

It's the most wonderful time of the year! By which we mean that time when normal, fusty TV scheduling goes out the window and all theme tunes are legally obliged to have a layer of sleigh-bells over the top. Yes, The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour gears up once again for another round of Christmas Specials, circling things in the Radio Times and going round all the supermarkets to look for the best offers on port. And so, breaking the seal on the selection box in a traditionally early manner, our hosts peruse a particularly festive episode of BBC One's Record Breakers from the heady days of 1972, with Messrs Castle, McWhirter and McWhirter poised and ready to note down any and all achievements worthy of acclaim. And also act like they haven't just been wasting your time if and when there are none. What grade of hallucinogen was Kubrick on when he came up with the idea for the McWhirter twins? What level of liability insurance is required for this intensity of hairstyling product under those studio lights? And what is the maximum sentence handed down for inadvertently killing a studio audience? Get the tree out of the garage, pour yourself a small sherry, press Play and find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Ever keen to provide wholesome cultural repasts for the dark winter nights, The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour reaches into its televisual trove of years past and pulls out a couple of absolute bangers to fill that entertainment hinterland betwixt Hallow'een and Christmas... First up is is warmest, sweetest hug one can get from a programme as Doctor Velvet and Blackout venture oop-North with some magnets to hang out with The Flumps. And to offset this excursion into unparalleled goodness, they jaunt back dah'n Sah'hf to mid 1980s London, as brash cynicism and sitcom-subversion are the order of the day with the Girls On Top. What, exactly, is causing the laws of physics to routinely misbehave around the metal objects of Flump Towers? What, precisely, is causing the four headline stars of a prime-time sitcom to routinely speak over each others' lines in Oak Park Gardens? And what, for the love of all that is holy, has Alan Rickman's hairdresser been inhaling? The answers are but one exquisitely animated - if thoroughly un-rehearsed - click away... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

They say bad things come in threes, and that's certainly true as Doctor Velvet and Blackout chalk the final circle to complete this year's trilogy of terror on the eve of Samhain. Because it's not really Hallowe'en without some Draculas, and it's not really The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour without Peggy Mount, dark gods conspired (in 1992) to combine the two in Virtual Murder: A Dream of Dracula, and it certainly takes potions of hitherto unparalleled strength to sit through this hour of supernatural mayhem... How do a pair of (admittedly amateur) horror-obsessed cultural historians manage to completely miss a televisual translation of one of cinematic and literary-culture's most enduring villainous touchstones? How does Mount always manage to get hallucinogenic head-decoration into her contract? And how does something this colon-clenchingly cheap get on the actual BBC telly when people will be watching, though? Load up on the garlic, candlesticks and holy water bottles filled with port, then press Play to find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Unearthing horrors from the past is of course the default setting at The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour, so Hallowe'en makes that especially enjoyable. And what could be nicer on a wet, grey autumnal evening than a dram of something potent and a book by the fireside? The second of this year's supernatural specials is but a turn of the page away, as Doctor Velvet and Blackout creak open the eldritch tome of 1979's Hamlyn Book Of Horror, suppressing the hard-wired fear of more than four decades to give it another pass... How does a book which is already largely a historical study age over the decades, when compared with an evolving cultural appreciation of its original source material? Is the the compulsion to scare oneself with un-nerving media as universal and timeless as the horror-genre would suggest, or does it only feel that way to people already predisposed toward it? And can a book really give you the diarrhoea? Light the thirteenth candle, press Play and see what answers float through the aether... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Why, it seems to come around earlier each year! Yes, as the decorations go up once again and the dark nights seep firmly in to our homes and our very souls, The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour returns for another unholy trinity of Hallowe'en themed podcast episodes to keep a chill in your spine as you shiver 'til dawn. It's back to the video shop first of all, with Rankin/Bass's 1967 animated cabal Mad Monster Party coming under the critical eye of Doctor Velvet and Blackout, casting new judgement on classic creatures... Is it really that important to spend time working on the music and the comedy when you're putting together a musical comedy? Is the climactic euthanasia of a range of x-rated villains really a fitting subject for animated entertainment which will be a draw to a young audience? And is Phyllis Diller the ultimate, unabashed, unsanitisable horror? The answers - like the drinks - are but a tap away and not for the faint of heart... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

A podcast with more confidence in sporting metaphors might use some reference to 'extra time' while talking about their bonus episode, so naturally The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour sees this series-extender as more of an improvised, last minute lock-in. Because there's nothing like having a great night, drinks flowing behind closed doors, after dark and in raucous company with plenty of laughter.   And speaking of nothing like a great night, our heroic triumvirate have drawn the curtains and uncorked the port to gatecrash Liz Dawn's House Party, the 1996 straight-to-VHS version of The Stanford Prison Experiment where you can play along at home if you enjoy feeling trapped, belittled and punished.   For maximum effect, is it best to insert a laugh-track to complement jokes or as a substitute for them? For a great duet, should you really book two club singers with the same range? For the love of god, when does it end?   We found out, and now so can you...   The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

It's the end of term! Yes, as The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour parks up on the driveway to deliver the series' tenth episode, spirits are high as firmly-held convictions are batted around the studio like a game of opinionated tennis... The show opens with our heroes lifting The Trapdoor and finding something delightful they can all agree upon, before a challenge to Name That Tune becomes rather more animated as *someone* asserts that half a dozen Rights can be enough to somehow make half an hour of Wrong™. How many times can Trap Door be adapted to an 8-bit gaming format before it's any good? How many members do cruiseship-crooners Kaluki have to add to their roster before the law of averages says they'll land on a harmony? And how many times does Blackout get it Wrong™ in this? Click on, listen in and find out... [Incidentally, NOW is the time to get your answers in for our competition! You can download the official answer-sheet at PeggyMountPod dot com, and check our feeds on Twitter, Facebook and PeggyMountPod.com for details of HOW to enter and what you could WIN!] The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

It's early mornings and late nights this week on The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour, as our hosts test the theory that the greatest things arrive at either end of a day's scheduling. The first stop on today's televisual trek comes hiding in plain sight, as TVAM's premiere episode of The Transformers comes in for some arch reminiscence and critical scrutiny. And later, what better way to round off a long week than with Peggy Mount boldly waving the flag for sitcoms still to come, as we meet The Larkins? Have we voyaged far enough across the galaxy for a being shaped remarkably like a re-arranged Freightliner FL86 to finally fit in? Have we travelled far enough back in time to find A Farce™ that Doctor Velvet can stomach? And how far do we have to go before the most literal lavatorial humour ceases to be the easiest way to derail a pair of childish podcast hosts? If you're absolutely sure your electronic device is really what it purports to be, then go ahead and press Play to find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com    

The heat is on as the weekend arrives for The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour at long last, and what better way to burst into the best two days than with some high-sugar cereal, high-profile casting and high-energy televisual nonsense?   Our hosts find themselves huddling around the gogglebox for the grand finalé of BBC's Swap Shop, following which there's just enough time to strap on eight wheels and fire up the funk to become an absolute health-and-safety liability for the grand finalé of the CHiPs's Roller Disco evening...   What does it say about children's British live TV programming that there's not a single guest in Television Centre under the age of 40, apart from the one boy that usually hangs around outside? What does it say about American policing that two people on high-powered motorcycles can't catch three people on roller skates but one person in a car can, and she wasn't even trying? And what does it say about impressionability that Doctor Velvet and Blackout are now actively considering buying Heelys?   Join the party, press Play and find out...   The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

As regular listeners will surely attest, the presenters of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour are not renowned for idling, time wasting or messing about, and it's this sleeves-up / down-to-business approach which has made them a leading light in the Vintage Television Podcasting Community. Those are the words Producer Ken wrote for this introduction after he went on that seminar last week, anyway. So that was money well spent.   But it is indeed time to hit the ground running and grab some huge scoops, as Doctor Velvet and Blackout find themselves part of the Press Gang, juggling journalism, school lessons and life-lessons to boot! And speaking of things to be learned, 'Do Not Cross Fred Dineage' should be top of the list if you dare take the Gambit in Anglia Studios...   Where can you find the coolest discotheque outside of Miami? Where can you find the most expensive cutlery outside of Buckingham Palace? And where's the best place to hide when Dineage has got that look of pure temper in his eye? (clue: outside)   Take a twist and find out...   The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com  

Ever keen to show willing and set a tentative foot outside of what their therapist tag-team refers to as a 'comfort zone', the hosts of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour bite the bullet and wade into the unmitigated squalor of vintage televisual entertainment, pegs on noses and smelling salts at hand. The first stop on this week's voyage of absolute judgement is Grange Hill comprehensive, where the curriculum appears to be taking second place to evening-jobs, underage drinking and non-sterile medical facilities (yes, it's THAT episode). Then it's a foray into grotty working life under the auspices of Wilberforce Maynard as The Gaffer, at which point it appears that alienating friends and developing a near-lethal narcotics habit actually had more laughs after all... How many other podcasts start laying into sitcom continuity before the programme has even started properly? How many other presenters eschew All The Issues to fixate on Greater London bus routes of 30+ years ago and moshing to Status Quo? How many times does one have to Just Say No? There's one way to find out, and it involves Just Pressing Play... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

It may be warm outside, but the ever-present, preternatural chill in the heart of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour means that even the sunniest months are spent in gleeful contemplation of spooky televisual scheduling. And while Doctor Velvet and Blackout don't engage Full Pumpkin Mode™ just yet, they're still on the blower to a pair of organisations that can help potential patrons deftly dispose of the dead...   Grudgingly lifting the receiver through spent bubblegum and sarcasm is the very first episode of 1986 animated series The Real Ghostbusters, where the title's adjective is every bit as spurious as its proper noun. Next up it's morbid introspection of a far gentler pace, as Thora Hird and Christopher Beeny undertake to bring us all some antiquated laughs In Loving Memory.   Has there ever been a clearer case of buyer's remorse than DIC Enterprises winning the contract to adapt one of the most successful movies of all time to animation? Has there ever been a more bitter works-do than a pan-county gathering of rival organisations who all know how to quietly get rid of a body? And has there ever been a greater disparity of Pegs On The Line between the first and second halves of this podcast?   Figure out who you're gonna call and hit that button...   The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Ever keen to test the contemporary legitimacy of old idioms, The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour has noted that while good things may come in small packages, it does not stand to reason that all small packages are good. And there are few things smaller and with more questionable good-ness than the subject of this week's podcast... In a Daniels-centric outing, Doctor Velvet and Blackout are joined by Ozzy Bognops to cast a critical eye over the seminal children's fantasy series Wizbit, before ramping up the tension with a nail-biting edition of the prime time quiz show Odd One Out. How many excuses can three people give for watching programmes which really are not aimed at them? How many questions does Michael want to get right before he gives someone else a chance to play the ruddy game? And how many other podcasts do you know that would cover a Paul Daniels double-bill where neither of those is his magic show? It's fingers on Play Buttons and first to find out wins... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

In the hallowed halls of MountPeg Towers, young Doctor Velvet and Blackout like nothing more than taxing their brains to a good quiz and/or mystery. And having gained a reputation for all the nothing, Pod Producer Ken has finally sat them down in front of some fast-paced 1980s excitement... It's off to the BBC first, as The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour takes a predictably arch look at Debbie Greenwood's esteemed TV kids' quiz First Class, following which it's a trip to the big smoke courtesy of ITV; to fight crime, greed and questionable wardrobe choices with Dempsey & Makepeace. Has the old adage of always running new clothes through the machine before wearing them not extended as far as the Metropolitan Police? Has the new adage of always having a goth and a gamer on your pub quiz team ever payed off quite so well as here? And which of our hosts was responsible for the Bank of England Inflation Calculator website crashing earlier this week? First one on the buzzers to press Play wins one of them t-shirts off the market... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

It's the show that asks: the sun might always shine on TV, but what happens when that TV is showing North Tyneside? The gang at MountPeg Towers are all about respecting their elders, so the prospect of spending a double-shift in company where this will be expected leads now to some industrial level tongue-biting... Only joking! It's business as snarky usual when The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour runs into a pair of older ladies who, quite frankly, are more than cut out to look after themselves. Our first port of call is a date with Super Gran and her desaturated origin story, before later alighting in the Southern counties to see Dame Pegatha Mountbatten herself in George & The Dragon, where at least the whole thing is supposed to be in black and white. Who signed that off? (the first one) Who thought that would be an appropriate opening? (the second one) Who's watching this in the twenty first century when The Stranger Things is on? (both) You can have a good laugh at the answer to the third of those at least, by pressing Play... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

And so they're back! In outer space! You just walked in to find Doctor Velvet and Blackout here with that patient, if faintly underwhelmed look upon their face(s)! Yes, The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour returns for another spectacular series, as some beloved favourites come under the retrospective microscope, as well as a few forgotten gems... The first stop on tonight's excursion is a Galaxy Far, Far Away, to catch up with the goggle-eyed antics of some familiar Droids. Following which, it's a short ride back down to earth and the gritty streets of Bay City, where Messrs Starsky and Hutch have got their work cut out trying to fight crime efficiently in California bedecked in heavy knitwear. How forgiving does one have to be of a half-hearted televisual spin-off of an iconic film series, given that the alternative is 'well, nothing at all then'? How excited can one get to be plunged into a familiar city for the very first time, with new characters that feel like old friends? And how robust is one man's coccyx that he smacks derriere-first onto the roof of his own car every single week, gradually destroying the vehicle like a painfully slow version of the bonus round in Street Fighter II? Press the play button and You Will* Survive to find out...   (*Should. Survival not guaranteed.) The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Yes, the sun is blazing and fun is being had, which means it must be time once again for our intrepid heroes to close the curtains, open some bottles and spend what is arguably the best part of the year huddled indoors furiously scribbling notes at the idiot's lantern about programmes that normal people watched three or four decades ago then promptly forgot. In this trailer for the exciting NEW SERIES of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour, normal televisual service is resumed as Doctor Velvet and Blackout nurse a crushing hangover with The Moomins, pop over for drinks with My Husband & I, and invite Ozzy Bognops round to test the very nature of reality in the Science Workshop. What is the Scandinavian for "a double alka seltzer, two hot dogs and back to bed for an hour while you STOP playing that flute"? Who has the right - or the might - to pick up Alan White's gauntlet of going round shops to perform impromptu audits on their scales? And how do we still not have day-jobs that involve necking Sherry with Mollie Sudgen in her office at 3pm? The answers lie shortly after pressing that Play button... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Okay, it's all very well handing in the paperwork for a superhero flick at the pitch meeting and then blowing the budget on a spy caper (yes Disney, we're looking at you) but at MountPeg Towers, capes are taken incredibly seriously. To redress the balance, our heroes have invited round the gentlemen from The ExtonMoss Experiment to form a committee for auditing silver spandex on celluloid... And tasked with bringing the very best of cutting-edge contemporary superhuman cinema to the luxury screening room, Producer Ken has returned from Ritz with a jar of picked eggs and 1983's The Return Of Captain Invincible. It is unclear whether the tape has been rewound or just never before rented out. How does one go about making a superhero film in the wake of Richard Donner's Superman - and starring Sir Christopher Ruddy Lee, no less - which will remain largely unseen, even in an age obsessed with superheroes? How does one maintain that it's definitely a superhero film when it features an entire song comprising lyrically of one swear-word and a scene with thirty possessed Hoovers? And what's the refund policy at the video shop? Turn on your magnet-powers and feel the draw toward that Play button... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Summer has well and truly arrived outside MountPeg Towers, and since the Happy Shopper set up their own de-liver service it can largely stay there. Faced with the unpleasant prospect of going outside and getting fresh air, the intrepid hosts of The Peggy Mount Sunday Matinee Hour decide the only people they want to interact with is regular guest Ozzy Bognops, so invite him round to drink port and watch a video. Again. What's needed before the great outdoors (and/or unwashed) can be braved is some good old fashioned moral fortitude, and where better to scrape inspiration than the 1982 crime caper The Boys In Blue? Starring Messrs Cannon and Ball, it's sure to be high on laughs if not on octane. You'd think. How is it that TV-promo spots and display merchandising turn out to be more memorable than the films they're tasked to advertise? How did a top-notch supporting cast manage to not have their careers mothballed after starring in a Confessions film without the smut? And how is it that three podcasters finished recording this episode and then talked for another 45 minutes about a film they'd spent an hour dismissing? Fire up the siren, call in a 10-51 and find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

The televisual schedule continues to be utter rubbish and short of vintage gems to digest and dissect, Doctor Velvet and Blackout have once again sent Producer Ken round to the video shop to procure some small-screen cinematic entertainment for The Peggy Mount Sunday Matinee Hour... This week he's returned with a 3L bottle of Rola Cola, a kilo of flying saucers and a well-worn tape of Charles Jarrott's blistering 1981 superhero / spy action adventure comedy, Condorman. Ken has several faults, but his ability to party is not one of them. How does a comic-book illustrator with zero grasp of physics manage to find someone at the CIA to bankroll development of their ridiculous inventions? How easy is it to get an all-expenses-paid holiday all over Europe by telling Disney you're making a film with yellow costumes and no continuity advisor? And where do we sign up? Thump your activator button, take a leap of faith and find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com