VISION ON SOUND

WARREN CUMMINGS on television characters and likeability.First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on June 15th 2025.Likeability is an elusive thing. I certainly have spent a lot of my life not feeling that I have any of it, but on television, the likeability, or otherwise, of the characters, the situation, or even the programme itself can have a lot of bearing upon whether a show is ultimately successful, or memorable, and the likability of the stars, or the characters they are playing, can shape or break careers in the area of comedy, drama, and light entertainment alike.Many TV personalities have benefitted from the perception of likeability that the general public has about them, and many have risen to great heights in the public consciousness, and some have fallen just as quickly if that likeability gets scratched away or is revealed to be nothing more than a light veneer.Similarly, some great and popular TV shows have become forgotten once their likeability has faded and the whims of a fickle public have moved onto other things.But what exactly is “likeability” anyway. Some dreadful people have become the Nation's Favourites, and some truly depressing television programmes have somehow seized the public's affections and become runaway hits despite looking appallingly unlikeable when they first appear.I've recently been watching a couple of seventies sitcoms that still bear the distinction of being “much loved” featuring performances by “much loved” actors playing “much loved” characters, despite those characters, with the benefit of hindsight, being some of television's most selfish and monstrous creations.To discuss this quandary, I've invited back the always likeable WARREN CUMMINGS, for what I hope is an entertaining conversation which takes this notion as our starting point, and which takes us on a journey which considers the pros and cons of such likeable characters as TOM & BARBARA GOOD, TERRY MEDFORD, DEN & ANGIE WATTS, BERT LYNCH, THE MASTER, BLAKE'S SEVEN, ALF GARNETT, and even ANGELA RIPPON.PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI's Top Ten TV Sidekicks!First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on June 8th 2025.This week's show sees another swift return for the perennial friend of VISION ON SOUND, PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI himself, and this week we decided, in the fine tradition of archive TV retrospectives throughout the decades, to have a go at letting PAUL do a TELEVISION TOP TEN.Naturally, he didn't want to do ANY OLD Top Ten. Oh no! PAUL wanted to try something a little more avant garde, a little more off the wall, and away from the mainstream, and so the Top Ten that we discuss during the next hour is all about his favourite TV sidekicks, or at least his favourites for the morning we recorded the show. And, being PAUL, whilst his list might include some very familiar and not unexpected TV pairings, and one or two might seem entirely predictable if you've been following our conversations over the years, I still hope that a few of them might surprise you – especially with regard to the dynamics of just which of them he considers the sidekick to be – and some of them might even shock you, although probably not enough to make any of you require counselling.As ever, our conversation based upon those choices goes off in some wildly unexpected directions, but I hope they give you an entertaining and perhaps even thought-provoking hour, which, if they do inspire you to think of a few of your own Top Tens, do please get in touch, especially if you feel like you might want to share them with us in a future edition of VISION ON SOUND.PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

WARREN CUMMINGS has been watching THE VIEW FROM DANIEL PIKE..First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on June 1st 2025.This week, WARREN CUMMINGS is back again and, when I finally allowed him to, he really wanted to talk about a Scottish drama from the early 1970s that he's discovered called THE VIEW FROM DANIEL PIKE and which starred RODDY McMILLAN.Naturally, that's not all we talk about, and this hour encompasses a lengthy discussion about the joys of regional drama in general, 1970s drama in particular, and, perhaps most importantly, kipper ties, drop leaf tables, and terrible underpants.PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

WARREN CUMMINGS has been rewatching THE X FILES.First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on May 25th 2025.This week, my regular co-host on the show, WARREN CUMMINGS has started on his re-watch of the 1990s sci-fi drama phenomenon from the mind of CHRIS CARTER which was, of course, THE X FILES, a ridiculously successful show that ran for nine seasons, spawned two feature films, and has since been resurrected for mini-series several times.The show featured the weekly adventures of two FBI agents as they investigated the kinds of strange and unusual phenomena that had been deemed worthy of inclusion in the infamously secret “X” files of the FBI, and involved investigations into such fascinating areas as the paranormal, the supernatural, the unexplained (including the possibilities of visits by aliens in unidentified flying objects), and attempting to untangle – or further entangle – all manner of the conspiracy theories that persisted towards the end of the increasingly paranoid 20th century.The series made stars of its two lead actors GILLIAN ANDERSON, who played the ever-sceptical DANA SCULLY, and DAVID DUCHOVNY, who played investigator and want-to-believer-in-chief FOX MULDER.Very much in the television tradition of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, KOLCHAK THE NIGHT STALKER and the recent hit at that time TWIN PEAKS, and borrowing much of its imagery from popular films of the time like THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, THE X FILES also spawned a spin-off in the form of THE LONE GUNMEN, and in no small way led to the creation of the remarkable series MILLENNIUM, which is in itself a significant stepping stone in the history of the police procedural, and the coming of shows like CSI in the following decade.PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI considers some TV remakes.First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on May 18th 2025.This week, we're returning to a topic that we cover from time-to-time here on VISION ON SOUND, that of the television shows that were so popular, or made such an impact, that, in the absence of any better ideas, the television production companies decide to remake them in a new era, often (although not always) with a new cast, and sometimes with an almost completely different set up which means that the new version barely resembles the original other than by sharing its name.You can see why it seems like a good idea. Often the original is so fondly remembered that you've almost certainly got a built in audience before you even start, and even if a large proportion of that audience is unimpressed by your efforts, there might still be enough interest to keep you on air long enough to build your own audience who are just as loyal to your show as the old audience was to theirs.A popular recognised brand does seem to do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to getting a show off the ground and whilst some may think that the new version might taint the original in some way, the classics still remain, and the new version can become just as fondly remembered by an entirely different section of the viewing audience.The eighties classic crime caper BERGERAC has recently made a comeback, so it only seemed right to invite one of that show's biggest fans, PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI himself along to share his opinion on that, as well as discussing a few of his own favourite television remakes in a far reaching conversation that brings in such delights as THE NEW AVENGERS, STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION and MISS MARPLE.PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

WARREN CUMMINGS gets all eclectic.First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on May 11th 2025.This week, WARREN CUMMINGS is back for another of our eclectic little meanders around the fringes of this strange little obsession we have with the thing we call Archive TV. As ever, we start off not really knowing where our conversations are going to take us, so, whilst we begin with a few reflections on the Christmas TV viewing delight that was WALLACE AND GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL, we deviate through such murky waters as the reimagined version of THE PRISONER from 2008, the antipodean sequel to THE ADVENTURES OF BLACK BEAUTY, and give some consideration to the whole philosophy of classic TV remakes such as VAN DER VALK and BERGERAC.As we are in a philosophical mood we also pay a brief visit to what was perhaps HILDA OGDEN's most astonishing television moment, and mull over the various dramas that investigated what happens when the investigators are investigating the very institutions that they work for in BETWEEN THE LINES and REDCAP.Not only that but, as is our wont, in this packed hour, we also give a little thought to the future of television, and mull over the influence or otherwise of the celebrity lead actor upon our lives.PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

LISA PARKER with someof her recent TV viewing.This week, after far too long an absence, LISA PARKER from the ROUND THE ARCHIVES PODCAST is back and, as is often the case, we spend a very pleasant hour just chatting about what kind of archive television shows she and her partner ANDREW have been watching during the intervening months.So we talk a little bit about their recent viewing choices which include season thirteen of DOCTOR WHO (The one that includes such classics as TERROR OF THE ZYGONS and THE SEEDS OF DOOM which is yet to be released on Blu-Ray) and her recent rediscovery of the nineteen-nineties sci-fi classic BABYLON 5, and if both of those series don't convince you of our sci-fi credentials this week, we also give a nod towards PICARD, season seven in the DOCTOR WHO BLU-RAY COLLECTION, and even BLAKE's SEVEN.Although, to be fair, the bulk of our conversation is given over to an appreciation of Z-CARS (as can currently be enjoyed on TPTV) and her recent rediscovery of THE COLLECTORS, an almost forgotten one-series wonder of a drama series which was filmed in the town of POOLE where they now live, which prompts a few thoughts on the joy of seeing familiar locations in the TV series we enjoy.And if that's not enough, we also get a swift update on their epic CROSSROADS marathon viewing, and touch on one or two other series along the way.First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on May 4th 2025.PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

STEVE HATCHER with some more "forgotten" TV sitcoms.First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on April 27th 2025.STEVE HATCHER is back this week, and this time he's been watching a selection of the more obscure and mostly forgotten British sitcoms from the 1960s, so, over the next hour, we'll be discussing his thoughts on THE LARKINS, HUGH AND I, NEVER MIND THE QUALITY FEEL THE WIDTH, NO THAT'S ME OVER HERE, TWO IN CLOVER, and the DUSTBINMEN, as well as one or two other rarities related to those series.PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

STEVE HATCHER and ANDREW-MARK THOMPSON (plus guests!) on ACE OF WANDS and AN AUDIENCE WITH TAROT at DERBY QUAD.First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on April 20th 2025.On SATURDAY the 29TH of MARCH, our friend ANDREW-MARK THOMPSON along with his colleague STEVE HARDY organised an event at THE QUAD in DERBY to celebrate all things ACE OF WANDS, the popular (but largely now lost) children's fantasy drama series created by TREVOR PRESTON which was made and broadcast by THAMES TELEVISION for three years across 46 episodes, and 14 stories from 1970 to 1972.Two of the series' stars, TAROT himself MICHAEL MACKENZIE alongside PETRA MARKHAM who played MIKKI DIAMOND in the surviving third season, were on stage to answer questions and available to pose for photographs with fans, and two complete stories - THE MEDDLERS and PEACOCK PIE - were shown on the big screen, and, by all accounts it all went down rather well and was something of a success which hopefully might lead to other similar Archive TV themed events.I was unable to attend in person, but happily our old friend STEVE HATCHER was on hand and was able and willing to grab a few quick interviews with MICHAEL, PETRA, and co-organiser STEVE HARDY which will pop up during today's show, in which I am joined by STEVE HATCHER and ANDREW-MARK THOMPSON to talk all about the enduring appeal of ACE OF WANDS, as well as their experiences of the event itself.PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI and IRWIN ALLENFirst broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on April 13th 2025.Recently, I've been re-watching a whole load of late-era VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA episodes, as well as a smattering of examples from THE TIME TUNNEL, and this set me to thinking that I'd quite like to talk to one of my regulars about the quartet of high-concept television adventure series that were created by IRWIN ALLEN in the mid 1960s, which also included LOST IN SPACE and LAND OF THE GIANTS.Across a highly productive five years from 1964, around three hundred episodes of these shows were produced for the American networks, which, in an era of three main channels, where having just one show on the air is quite some achievement, is nothing short of impressive.Granted, the IRWIN ALLEN productions can sometimes be rightly accused of being a little bit eccentric or simplistic in their storytelling, and perhaps sometimes concentrate far more on the action and not so much on the drama, but these four shows definitely influenced a generation, both at home, and internationally, as they were sold across the world, and excited young minds wherever and whenever they were broadcast.Furthermore, such were the strong ideas at the core of these shows, that elements from all of them have often been taken and used in other series that built upon the imaginative ideas that were always at the core of IRWIN ALLEN's shows.Anyway, after our shows last year in which PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI joined me to talk about various quartets of classic USTV shows, he seemed the obvious choice to join me this week to mull over his experiences of discovering these four shows during their repeat runs in the 1980s, and I hope you enjoy the hour as much as I did.PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

ADAM HENLEY on BLAKE'S 7 series oneFirst broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on April 6th 2025.A couple of months ago, a new voice joined us on VISION ON SOUND in the form of ADAM HENLEY, and he introduced himself by talking about both his personal television history and a little bit about THE WEST WING.This went so well, that ADAM felt like making another appearance and, as he'd just finished watching the exciting new Blu-Ray release of the first series of BLAKE'S SEVEN, we thought we'd spend an hour having a bit of a chat about this iconic late 1970s BBC science-fiction series as it gets re-introduced to its long-standing fans and, perhaps a brand new generation eager to explore this fascinating dystopian drama.BLAKE'S SEVEN was a science-fiction series created by TERRY NATION who had been one of the early writers on DOCTOR WHO, for which he created the iconic Daleks, and he had also created the post apocalyptic drama series SURVIVORS for the BBC a few years earlier, so this exploration of a rebellion against the forces of the evil Federation was definitely just the sort of bleak vision of the future that you might expect from him.The series itself lasted for four series and fifty-two fifty minute episodes and ended on a shattering cliffhanger that definitely left its scars on a generation of television viewers just before Christmas 1981.Its first season introduced BLAKE played by GARETH THOMAS and his loyal–ish gang of rebels and freedom-fighters as played by SALLY KNYVETTE as space pilot JENNA, MICHAEL KEATING as lock-picking wizard VILA, DAVID JACKSON as the man-mountain GAN, JAN CHAPPELL as the telepathic alien CALLY, and PAUL DARROW as the enigmatic AVON who would eventually take the leading role as the series progressed. They were helped enormously by the fact that they luckily managed to acquire the super starship LIBERATOR and its wise master computer ZEN, as voiced by PETER TUDDENHAM, and this was how the original SEVEN was made up.Towards the end of the first series, and another devastating cliffhanger that helped give the show an astonishingly high profile at the time, another super computer ORAC was introduced, which changed the dynamic of the show in its second year.The forces of the Federation were mostly represented by JACQUELINE PEARCE as SERVALAN, a powerful and ruthless woman prone to wearing astonishing gowns, and STEPHEN GREIF as TRAVIS, a hate-fuelled leather-clad cyborg with an eyepatch and a gun for a hand, and they crossed swords with BLAKE and his crew on several occasions during the second half of this series.Fans of BLAKE'S SEVEN had been waiting a long time for it to get the Blu-Ray release that they felt it deserved, with many of its special effects updated from their somewhat low-budget and dated roots, and ADAM was one of the enthusiastic early adopters, and was very eager to share his enthusiasm with us today.PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

STEVE HATCHER on twenty years of "New Who" (part two)First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on March 30th 2025.Last week, as you hopefully already will know, STEVE HATCHER joined me to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the revived version of DOCTOR WHO from CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON right through to the current incumbent NCUTI GATWA, and, whilst we had a long chat about the show, we did fail to address the copious notes that STEVE had made in preparation for that show, for which he had selected his one favourite episode - or story – from each of the DOCTORS from across those twenty years.So it really only seemed fair to invite him back to discuss those stories, why he chose them, and make our little VISION ON SOUND celebration, or acknowledgement, into a two-part episode that hopefully brackets the anniversary week in a most satisfying way.Also, please try not to worry. We're not trying to make this show into yet another DOCTOR WHO themed production. There's plenty of other archive telly just waiting to be talked about. It's just that, well, the DOCTOR WHO community do have a lot to say, and sometimes that show does pass one of those significant milestones that we really can't ignore, given that its longevity does mean that its name runs through popular TV archive history like letters through a stick of rock.PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

STEVE HATCHER on twenty years of "New Who"First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on March 23rd 2025.This week, perhaps rather astonishingly, March the 26th will bring with it the twentieth anniversary of DOCTOR WHO returning to our television screens in its shiny new incarnation after a rather lengthy break which found it pretty much adrift in the time continuum for over a decade and a half, despite the odd big night in to entertain us with.During those “wilderness years” there had been several glimpses of the old Time Lord who simply refused to fade away, and the show had been managing to flourish in other formats, but it was only when RUSSELL T DAVIES presented his own uniquely updated take on the show, now featuring CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON in the lead role alongside BILLIE PIPER as ROSE TYLER, that the true potential of this once hugely neglected science fiction masterpiece was rediscovered, and became something of an unexpected television smash hit in the year 2005.Since then the show has become something of a cornerstone of the television schedules, not least around Christmastime and continues to go in and out of fashion and divide its fans and enemies almost in equal measure, with several fine actors DAVID TENNANT, MATT SMITH, PETER CAPALDI, JODIE WHITTAKER, and NCUTI GATWA taking on the role across the last two decades.This week we welcome back our old friend STEVE HATCHER who specifically asked if he could come back to talk about DOCTOR WHO for this anniversary, which prompted what I hope you will find an enjoyable meander around the many lives of the Time Lord and their fans.PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

ANDREW-MARK THOMPSON on the voices behind the puppets.First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on March 16th 2025.This week we welcome back our old friend ANDREW-MARK THOMPSON who's making a much-postponed return to VISION ON SOUND. ANDY is the one of our regular contributors to the show who I feel is our expert on all things to do with the GERRY ANDERSON productions of which he is an enormous fan, so, when DAVID GRAHAM, the much loved actor responsible for giving us the voices of PARKER and BRAINS in THUNDERBIRDS - as well as a whole host of other brilliant performances - died in September last year at the grand old age of ninety-nine, we had planned to get together and record a show in his honour, but various gremlins got into the works, so it never happened.Instead we attempted to regroup in January and broaden our scope into a discussion about the many actors who performed in series such as FOUR FEATHER FALLS, FIREBALL XL5, THUNDERBIRDS, CAPTAIN SCARLET and, most particularly STINGRAY, so that's what we attempted to do during the next hour, as we discuss, amongst others, the work of names such as RAY BARRETT, SHANE RIMMER, LOIS MAXWELL, and, of course the wonderful DAVID GRAHAM. You may not have known some of their faces, but their voices shaped a generation.Now, obviously, those gremlins really don't appreciate a tryer, and, despite our persistence, there were still some sound issues during this recording, for which I can only apologise, and which all seems somewhat ironic, given that we were simply trying to talk about voice performers, and the great joy they brought to people over the years.Anyway, because we had such an enjoyable hour, I've done my best to salvage what I could, and I hope that you'll find this fun conversation worth sticking with despite any of the slight sound issues that there may still be.PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI returns to give me a little bit of encouragement.First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on March 9th 2025.At the start of this year I will admit to feeling very fed up, and I spent a lot of time wondering about the future of VISION ON SOUND, and about whether it even had a future, to be honest, or whether the time had come to jack all of this nonsense in. I know that a lot of people get the January Blues and, this year, I was very much one of those people.Happily, because a lot of the reason we turn up on the air each week is because very kind people offer to talk to me about television, and a lot of them had given me their time in December, most of the shows that you've been hearing so far this year were taken from that stockpile of interviews, opinions and conversations, that somehow kept us staggering on through those bleak, cold Sunday evenings at the darkest time of the year.I only recorded one show in January and it was this week's edition, in which I used PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI himself, as a sounding board, and therapist, to discuss some of the issues that I'd been having, and somehow, over the course of this hour, he managed to cheer me up and persuade me that talking about archive television really isn't the terrible waste of time that I'd been beginning to suspect that it was.I hope you enjoy the next hour, as I think it gave me just a little bit of hope that the things that I continue to persist in doing aren't quite as useless as I sometimes think they are when the midwinter blues have me firmly in their grip.PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

THE WAR GAMES in BLACK AND WHITEFirst broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on March 2nd 2025.Shortly before Christmas, prior to it being shown in a very different version, Michael Herbert roped in his pal BRENDAN NOBLE from THE SENSE SPHERE PODCAST to talk all about the epic ten-part 1969 DOCTOR WHO story THE WAR GAMES which was written by TERRANCE DICKS and the subject of the biography he's written, MALCOLM HULKE.PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

DR TOM MAY on PLAY FOR TODAYFirst broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on February 23rd 2025.This week I'm joined by another new voice for the show, DOCTOR TOM MAY from NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY who I was put in touch with because he's written his PhD thesis all about the BBC's long running drama series PLAY FOR TODAY which ran throughout the 1970s and well into the early eighties and presented an eclectic mix of so many iconic dramas many of which are still talked about in hushed and awed tones even today.I was very kindly allowed access to read his thesis, and it really is a fascinating and highly detailed piece of work. DOCTOR TOM MAY has done the kind of astonishingly thorough in-depth research that TV archivists adore, and, luckily for us, he is planning on publishing a book based upon this fascinating topic, which should already have you eagerly anticipating being able to get hold of a copy.PLAY FOR TODAY was such an iconic and eclectic series, written by perhaps the most well-known writers of that generation, directed by some of the giants of the art, and starring many of the most iconic actors of its time, that we can probably only touch upon it in the most general terms today, but I hope you'll enjoy our efforts if you stick around for the next hour.PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI on the part location plays in his TV enjoyment.First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on February 16th 2025.This week PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI himself returns to talk about a subject that he himself suggested, which is all about the locations used on television series, and how much of an effect filming in real places has upon his own enjoyment of a programme.So, whilst inevitably we touch upon several of his favourites such as DOCTOR WHO, BERGERAC, TREASURE HUNT, NEIGHBOURS and DARK SHADOWS, we also manage to venture into the more philosophical territory of the sense of reality, the proliferation of green screen technology, and the sheer delight of being able to say “been there!” when somewhere you've visited pops up on your TV screen, or the leaps of imagination that occur when a potted palm plant on a balcony comes to represent the entire exotic possibilities of venturing to foreign parts.We also give some consideration to filming locations both artificially constructed, or completely genuine and wonder about the value they might add to the series we are watching, or the support they give to the performances of the actors, and, as ever, I'm very grateful to PAUL for taking ourtopic du jour and taking it off in some quite unexpected directions, which is, I suppose, what I hope we try to do in some of the better conversations we have here on VISION ON SOUND.PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

WARREN CUMMINGS on our shared cultural TV heritage. First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on February 9th 2025. This week we welcome back WARREN CUMMINGS for another of those television themed conversations that we like to have that can take us practically anywhere from the prompt I set us up with. This week I'd been fretting somewhat about my cultural life in terms of what people laughingly call Britishness, and often try to test people on. Does the fact that I pay little attention to many of the shows that many other people enjoy and share their experiences of matter very much in the great scheme of things. Does my ignorance of all things STRICTLY, or ROYAL, or SOAP OPERA-Y, or TRAITORS, or OLYMPICCY, or FOOTBALLY mean that I might not pass the tests when the thought police come crashing through my door and demand that I prove my knowledge of our alleged shared cultural heritage? Such things, perhaps unnecessarily, tend to bother me during the wee small hours, although thankfully I have come to realise that other shared phrases and responses “'AVE A BANANA!” tend to bind us together more than we think, and the advertising jingles of our youth might prove more uniting than we might often be aware of. Listener beware – this edition of VISION ON SOUND might include something not entirely unlike singing. You have been warned! PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

ADAM HENLEY talks about his TV history and THE WEST WING First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on February 2nd 2025. This week we welcome a new voice to VISION ON SOUND, that of ADAM HENLEY, an archive television fan who I first met when he offered to help out with some of my technical support when I was recording our live show on stage at WHOOVERVILLE in Derby last September. He expressed an interest in taking part, and suggested we might talk about THE WEST WING for the show. However, because he hadn't been on the show before, I also wanted to talk a little bit about his own life as a fan of television, so, whilst we do get to THE WEST WING in the end, it's on a journey that takes via LOGOPOLIS, the PYE TUBE CUBE. THE YOUNG ONES, EASTENDERS, BLACKADDER GOES FORTH, THE TIME MACHINE, and the films of POWELL AND PRESSBURGER to finally reach the Oval Office, which is certainly a very different route to the one taken by the current incumbent, and I hope that you'll stick with us for the full term of this edition of the show, which is, luckily enough, only going to take up an hour of your time. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

BEN BAKER urges everyone to "KISS YOUR TELEVISION" First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on January 26th 2025. This week we welcome back BEN BAKER to VISION ON SOUND and not just, he assures me, because he's got a new book out. He has got a new book out, of course, but that's not the only thing we talk about, although, given that it's all about precisely the sort of archive TV we like to feature on this show, and that it has the rather intriguing title of KISS YOUR TELEVISION, it most definitely was a very good place for us to start, and I do hope that you'll stick around for the next hour as, well, yes, we do mention his new book, but we also talk about a whole lot of matters arising from the topics that he's chosen to talk about in his new book. I did mention that he's got a new book out, didn't I? PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

SANDY McGREGOR talks about VACUUMING COMPLETELY NUDE IN PARADISE. First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on January 19th 2025. It's perhaps a bit of a strange one this week, or maybe it's just a bit of an obscure one. Anyway, our old pal SANDY McGREGOR got in touch and told me that he really fancied talking about VACUUMING COMPLETELY NUDE IN PARADISE, which seemed an odd request at the time, but, well, you know what they say, live and let live. Anyway, after my initial bafflement, it turns out that VACUUMING COMPLETELY NUDE IN PARADISE is a film for television first broadcast in September 2001 written by JIM CARTWRIGHT and directed by DANNY BOYLE, just under three months after the broadcast of another hard-hitting collaboration on STRUMPET which starred CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON. VACUUMING starred TIMOTHY SPALL in a barnstorming BAFTA winning performance as the aggressive high-performance salesman TOMMY RAG, alongside MICHAEL BEGBY as the reluctant trainee PETE, alongside a whole cavalcade of the kind of appalling characters conjured up to represent the hard-selling cutthroat business of selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door at the turn of the century. What was it that drew SANDY towards this obscure televisual delight, you may well be asking yourselves? Well, theatrical representations of Salesmen had been very much on his mind after he'd recently been watching GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS by DAVID MAMET in the theatre, and, after making comparisons with the rather more subdued American Classic DEATH OF A SALESMEN by ARTHUR MILLER, he decided to complete a trilogy of sorts with this TV movie that, in many ways, ploughs very similar storytelling furrows as the weekly television dramas of PLAY FOR TODAY did in the last century and might very much be considered part of the continuation of that proud legacy, which often made for television that could occasionally be just as shocking and challenging in its own way in perhaps less liberated times. Running at seventy-five minutes, this stylistic, high-octane, and sometimes terrifying tour-de-force pulls few punches, and portrays a seedy, sleazy world that doesn't hold back on the language and attitudes that were commonplace in that sort of business at that time, and, as a very dark tragicomedy, can leave you feeling both tainted and exhilarated by the experience of watching it. Anyway, having hopefully kept his clothes very much on, SANDY joined me to talk about his experience of watching this television curiosity, and I hope you'll stick with us across this next hour despite the hard-hitting nature of the subject matter, and I do hope you enjoy it. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

MICHAEL HERBERT talks about THE CHANGES First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on January 12th 2025. Way back in 1974, children's television legend ANNA HOME, as part of her commitment to producing challenging and interesting drama serials intended for older children, wrote an adaptation of a trilogy of books written by PETER DICKINSON (The Weathermonger, Hartsease, and The Devil's Children) which turned out to be one of those TV serials that somehow, with its powerful images of a country descending into chaos, managed to sear itself into the minds of a generation. Produced for the BBC, and broadcast in 1975 across ten episodes that were each just shy of half an hour in length, and mostly filmed on locations across the south west of England, THE CHANGES took the basic stories told in those three books, turned them on their heads, made one character the centre of each, and made a compelling drama that found many schoolchildren dashing home to watch the next episode, and involving themselves in fascinated conversations about it in the playground the next day. Or maybe that was just me and my mates. Who knows? Nevertheless, opening with scenes of wanton destruction of all sorts of vehicles, domestic equipment, and entertainment devices, as humanity both young and old was influenced into destroying all the mechanical objects that were taking over our lives, and destroying our planet, the series in many ways resembles other post-apocalyptic dramas as Britain swiftly reverts to a feudal society full of mistrust, fear of outsiders, and superstition. NICKI GORE, played by then nineteen-year old VICTORIA WILLIAMS, and later on, her friend JONATHON, played by KEITH ASHTON, embark on a quest to find the source of these apocalyptic CHANGES and try to restore humanity back towards its way to civilisation. On their way NIKKI is helped by members of the SIKH COMMUNITY in a very progressive take on the outsider for seventies TV, and hindered by the kind of sinister personalities that always seem to rise to the top when civilisation collapses. And whilst some of the stories may resemble a kind of SURVIVORS-LITE for the children's hour, and some of the storylines do, perhaps, stretch your credulity when watching them as an adult, much of what they have to say tells us of the types of prejudices and problems that lie just beneath the surface of 1970s Britain, many of which still feel rather familiar today. This series with its many very forward thinking images seared itself into our imaginations, and TV historian MICHAEL HERBERT - who is very much a fan of television science-fiction - returns to VISION ON SOUND today to discuss the series with me. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

Just before Christmas, LISA PARKER joined me to talk about her recent TV viewing. First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on January 5th 2025. As we reach the moment when the decorations are supposed to be coming down and are being packed away as yet another festive season reaches its inevitable conclusion, we've just got time to welcome back LISA PARKER for a chat we recorded way back in November, in which we talked about her recent archive TV viewing, some of which was in the latest edition of the ROUND THE ARCHIVES podcast that she produces with her partner ANDREW, her delight at the return of WOLF HALL in THE MIRROR AND THE LIGHT, as well as discussing some of what she planned to watch as a whole host of classic TV Blu-Ray releases were on the very brink of being delivered to their home just in time for Christmas. So, whilst our conversation wasn't really meant to be a festive one, the season was very much on our minds, so it only seemed right to share this show with you now whilst we are all still feeling at least vaguely in the mood for one last festive treat. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

WARREN CUMMINGS joins me for a pre-New Year's Eve seasonal chat. First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on December 29th 2024. As it's usually a bit of a quiet time of year in Radio-land, I thought I might try and sneak out one last show for 2024 whilst nobody was paying all that much attention, and so I invited WARREN CUMMINGS to join me for one more chat before we pack up the show and start thinking about what to bring you next year, which is, as ever, swiftly heading our way without a care in the world. At least not so far, anyway. So, as we settle down for a slightly seasonal chat, we naturally cover one or two of the films that are likely to show up on the telly around this time of the year, and reflect upon some Christmas classic TV, and consider some of the telly that really doesn't – and shouldn't – turn up on our festive TV screens any more. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

THE SHY YETI at Christmas. First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on December 22nd 2024. This week's special guest our old friend PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI himself who, because it is very nearly Christmas, has decided to pop round for a bit of a festive chat next to our FAB TOWERS crackling seasonal fireplace. So, we'll be talking about all sorts of nonsense including his favourite traditional festive viewing which includes several horror films, the bauble that was once JIM ROBINSON from NEIGHBOURS, those BERGERAC and DOCTOR WHO Christmas Specials, MORECAMBE AND WISE, THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN, INSIDE NUMBER NINE, THE AVENGERS, and a whole load of other archive television related nonsense as we meander through the next hour. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

OLIVER CROCKER on the original ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on December 15th 2024. This week's special guest is the film-maker, researcher, prolific podcaster, and author, OLIVER CROCKER who joins me to talk not about the long-running police drama THE BILL, about which he is something of an authority, but about another long-running drama from the 1970s and 1980s, the popular Yorkshire-set veterinary series ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL based upon the books by the author ALF WRIGHT who was better known by the pen name JAMES HERRIOT. Starring CHRISTOPHER TIMOTHY, ROBERT HARDY, CAROL DRINKWATER, and PETER DAVISON, with the likes of JOHN McGLYNN and LINDA BELLINGHAM joining the cast for its revival, ALL CREATURES was a huge success across seven series, ninety episodes, and appeared in the BBC schedules for over a decade, making household names of all of its stars, with a popular combination of light comedy, heart-wrenching drama, and lots and lots of the kind of photogenic cute furry animals that had viewers tuning in in their millions. OLIVER quite literally wrote the book on ALL CREATURES with his popular ALL MEMORIES GREAT AND SMALL, a collection of memories and production details about the making of a series which was so well loved that it has been successfully revived by CHANNEL FIVE for five series and counting, so I am very pleased to welcome him to VISION ON SOUND this week, to talk about this, and his TV career in general. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

WARREN CUMMINGS joins me to talk about the TV adaptations of the work of JOHN LE CARRÉ First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on December 8th 2024. For various reasons, recently I've been watching rather a lot of adaptations of the work of the novelist John le Carré, or David Cornwell as his family knew him, mostly, perhaps, because I've started reading his books, partially, of course, because SANDY made reference to him our show about ROCK FOLLIES earlier in the year, and also maybe because several of the adaptations have been made more widely available on the BBC's iPlayer service. Anyway, whatever the mysterious dark truth of those reasons might turn out to be, I've recently watched THE LITTLE DRUMMER GIRL; THE NIGHT MANAGER; TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY; SMILEY'S PEOPLE and also the film of his 1960s classic THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD, and, at time of recording, I'm also about to give A PERFECT SPY a rewatch after several decades. Le Carré's world of spies, counter-spies, mistrust, intrigue, and intense Cold War hostilities entertained us for several decades, and mostly centred around the enigmatic character of GEORGE SMILEY, as perfectly personified in two of the television adaptations of the late 1970s and early 1980s by SIR ALEC GUINNESS, and it is mostly upon those two series, TINKER, TAILOR and SMILEY'S PEOPLE that my conversation with WARREN CUMMINGS over the course of the next slow-burning but hopefully intensely engaging hour will concentrate, but, as long as neither of us turns out to be the Mole, then maybe we'll return to talk about a few of the others on another occasion. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

PAUL CHANDLER on some more contemporary psychological thrillers. First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on December 1st 2024. PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI is back, and this week he wanted to use as our starting point some of the telly that he'd been watching recently, and, because that's always a good prompt for an interesting television-related discussion, we did precisely that. So, whilst this does mean that, once again, the television we're talking about is a lot more modern than I'm usually familiar with, it does also mean that we're returning to a type of television that I've discussed with PAUL on at least one previous edition of the show, as we delve into the murky waters of the contemporary psychological thriller serial, the kind of show that Channel Five in particular seems to be producing in large numbers, and which it is promoting widely to a large audience who, much like PAUL, completely lap this kind of thing up. Our starting point today takes in three of serials first broadcast in 2024 that PAUL has enjoyed, THE CUCKOO starring JILL HALFPENNY and LEE INGLEBY which is a four-part series; THE WIVES, a six-part thriller with JAMIE BAMBER, JO JOYNER and TAMSIN OUTHWAITE; and THE TEACHER, another four-parter featuring KARA TOINTON and WILL MELLOR which serves as a follow-up to a previous series from 2022 featuring SHERIDAN SMITH. As ever, whilst this may be our starting point, our conversation meanders into all sorts of other mostly-related areas, and I do hope that you enjoy our observations over the course of the hour. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

In a packed programme tonight, WARREN CUMMINGS really wanted to talk about a new dawn for DOCTOR WHO, but possibly not the one I might have been expecting… First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on November 24th 2024. In this edition of the show we (mostly) talk about season seven of classic DOCTOR WHO, first broadcast in 1970, featuring JON PERTWEE in the title role, and which consists of the following four stories: SPEARHEAD FROM SPACE (4 episodes) DOCTOR WHO AND THE SILURIANS (7 episodes) THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH (7 episodes) INFERNO (7 episodes) PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

STEVE HATCHER returns to tell us all about NIGEL KNEALE's work in the 1960s. First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on November 17th 2024. Following our recent conversation about NIGEL KNEALE'S BEASTS anthology from the 1970s, STEVE HATCHER and I thought we might continue discussing the career of NIGEL KNEALE, as STEVE has been systematically working his way through such television programmes as still exist from this great writer's works, although he has been particularly focussing on the ones that mostly involve themes of science fiction, fantasy, magic, and folk horror – basically the kind of subjects that are most of interest to him, which seems a perfectly reasonable way of choosing what you want to watch to this old viewer. Anyway, this week we're going to focus mostly on NIGEL'S work from the 1960s, the period following the fifties successes of the first three QUATERMASS serials, the significant contribution to TV history that was his adaptation of George Orwell's NINETEEN-EIGHTY-FOUR, and fascinating lost gems like THE CREATURE, but before the seventies which would bring the classic that is THE STONE TAPE, BEASTS, of course, and, later the fourth of the QUATERMASS stories, which starred SIR JOHN MILLS in the title role. The nineteen-sixties would bring a whole lot of fascinating works including lost classics like the nuclear nightmares of THE ROAD, the Cold War terrors of THE CRUNCH, a different version of NINETEEN-EIGHTY-FOUR, and the prescient broadcasting allegories of THE YEAR OF THE SEX OLYMPICS. We also take some time to discuss NIGEL'S film writing which involves several famous films that it might come as some surprise to you that he was involved in, as well as perhaps some less unexpected dabbles with science-fiction and fantasy with THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON and THE WITCHES, as well as the inevitable QUATERMASS AND THE PIT remake. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

STEVE HATCHER returns to tell us all about NIGEL KNEALE's BEASTS. First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on November 10th 2024. This week STEVE HATCHER wanted to talk all about NIGEL KNEALE and his six part anthology series from 1976, BEASTS, and, of course, MURRAIN the play from 1975 that led to that series being commissioned. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI discusses THE SIMPSONS and other cartoon sitcoms. First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on November 3rd 2024. This week PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI is back, and, because he was unwise enough to mention on a previous appearance on VISION ON SOUND that he'd started watching THE SIMPSONS again, I thought that he'd be just the person to join me in a chat about all of those grown-up animated sitcoms that have graced our television screens over the past three decades or more. So, as well as THE SIMPSONS, our wide-ranging conversation over the course of the next hour touches upon shows like FAMILY GUY, FUTURAMA, AMERICAN DAD, SOUTH PARK, and BOB'S BURGERS, as well as a few others that we happen to mention along the way, and I hope that you find it as interesting as I did. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

LISA PARKER joins me to talk about THE SISTER BONIFACE MYSTERIES First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on October 27th 2024. This week we welcome back LISA PARKER from the ROUND THE ARCHIVES podcast as she specifically wanted to talk about THE SISTER BONIFACE MYSTERIES, starring LORNA WATSON, the nineteen-sixties set recent spin-off from that daytime drama perennial FATHER BROWN. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

WARREN CUMMINGS joins me to talk about PORTMEIRION and THE PRISONER. First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on October 20th 2024. A couple of months ago, I was lucky enough to be treated to a couple of days staying at the hotel Portmeirion which, I'm sure I need not tell you nearly sixty years ago was once used as the primary location for The Village in that short-lived but somehow hugely significant and iconic sixties television series THE PRISONER featuring Patrick McGoohan. Now, because I'm totally predictable in being an archive TV fan, since we returned home after escaping, we, rather naturally, got to watching the entire series once more, perhaps this time with that slightly smug “been there!” response that some of us can choose to watch television with. Anyway, having run through the series, the episodes – especially that final pairing of ONCE UPON A TIME and FALL OUT - were much on my mind, and so when WARREN CUMMINGS joined me for another of these television-related chats that we like to have on VISION ON SOUND, it was perhaps inevitable that we would talk about THE PRISONER and several matters arising in what I hope you will find an enjoyable next hour. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI returns to talk about some seventies TV superheroes... First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on October 13th 2024. This week PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI is back, and, because we briefly mentioned watching WONDER WOMAN the last time he was on, I got to thinking about all of those superhero-based television shows that were on TV when I was an impressionable teenager, back in the late 1970s and I thought that PAUL might be just the person to talk to about them the next time he came onto the show. So, for today's hour of VISION ON SOUND we have a nice meander around the backwaters of shows like THE AMAZING SPIDER MAN, BATMAN, and THE INCREDIBLE HULK, as well as inevitably returning to WONDER WOMAN, and we consider several of the other shows that would have been on television at the time, and the extent to which they also riffed on the idea of the superhero, or maybe just the gifted stranger rolling into town and solving a particular problem. As well as this, we'll be trying, in our usual manner, to scratch, however lightly, beneath the surface of what it is about these kinds of shows that made them so appealing to us, both then and, perhaps, even today. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

STEVE HATCHER returns to some of those lesser-known sitcoms. First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on October 6th 2024. Earlier in the year, STEVE HATCHER started taking us on a guided tour of some of the more forgotten TV sitcoms from the 1960s, and we thought it was about time that we went back and picked up where we left off in taking a look at the not insubstantial list of ancient television rib-ticklers that he's been studiously working his way through. So, over the course of the next hour, we'll touch briefly upon the ATV HANCOCK series that's apparently finally been given an airing on REWIND TV, before investigating STEVE'S list and talking about CITIZEN JAMES, the BBC series written for SID JAMES after the acrimonious split with HANCOCK; BEGGAR MY NEIGHBOUR, a mid-sixties class and workplace comedy initially starring PETER JONES, with JUNE WHITFIELD, REG VARNEY, and PAT COOMBS; SAM AND JANET a “married with children” set up which featured JOHN JUNKIN and VIVIENNE MARTIN; NOT IN FRONT OF THE CHILDREN, a terribly middle-class hit that launched WENDY CRAIG into playing similar roles for the next couple of decades; and MISTER DIGBY DARLING which again featured PETER JONES in a workplace sitcom alongside SHIELA HANCOCK (No relation). We also have a bit of a natter about a few other things that the topic of the sitcom happens to prompt, whilst I wonder about the fact that several of these scenarios seemed to turn up time and again with slight twists on the recognised formula. Incidentally, if afterwards you want to seek out our earlier discussion on almost forgotten sixties sitcoms, you can find that in the 188th episode of VISION ON SOUND if you are looking for it, which, like all of our previous episodes, can be found on spotify by typing VISION ON SOUND into the podcast search box. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

MICHAEL HERBERT discusses COUNTERSTRIKE. First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on September 29th 2024. This week the historian MICHAEL HERBERT returns to talk about another obscure piece of television science-fiction. This time, it's a nine-part series, which seems to have been largely forgotten about, made by the BBC in 1969 after being first proposed in 1966 then shelved because of its similarity to a little American show called THE INVADERS. It's called COUNTERSTRIKE and, like a handful of other series from that era, involves an alien invasion of the earth by stealth, and the series tells exciting stories about what our heroes are doing to combat this deadly threat to the world. SIMON KING is a benevolent member of a different alien species who are keen - for some reason - to protect humanity, and his sidekick, a nurse who he meets up with in the opening episode, because she becomes fascinated by his strange biology, is named MARY. Film Actor JON FINCH played KING, and SARAH BRACKETT played MARY, in a series that, with an exciting opening title sequence typical of the action/adventure series of the time, promised much, but somehow failed to deliver, at least as far as we can tell from what survives of it. Ten 50-minute black and white episodes were made, in the “videotape with film inserts studio-based” style of the times, and nine of these were broadcast, with the other episode scheduled but never shown. These days, of the ten, only the first four episodes remain in the archives (which is more than some series of similar vintage of course), and they are yet to get any kind of official commercial media release. Luckily, if you know how, it is possible to view the episodes, and MICHAEL and I were able to do so (mainly because I was able to borrow the copies he had access to), but at this did mean that we could at least talk about the programmes with a certain amount of informed insight. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

WARREN CUMMINGS takes a look at some Childten's Television Dramas. First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on September 22nd 2024. This week WARREN CUMMINGS is back again, and this time he wanted to talk about three of the children's television dramas that made a lasting - or is that disturbing? - impression on him when he was growing up. So, over the course of the next hour we will talk about the sinister stone circles of CHILDREN OF THE STONES, the steamy tales of THE FLOCKTON FLYER, and the terrifying nuclear brinksmanship of THE DOOMBOLT CHASE, as well as a few other things that cross our minds along the way. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI talks about the women in his TV life. First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on September 15th 2024. This week PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI is back, and, I don't know about you lot, but I've been noticing something about the kind of shows that PAUL has been telling us that he enjoys as he's come onto the show to talk about them over the years. I mean, regular listeners will already know that, yes, he obviously enjoys his Australian soaps, and they'll recognise his liking for horror stories, (and he'll sometimes mention that mixture of soap opera and horror stories that begat DARK SHADOWS), and, of course, the regard in which he holds BERGERAC is beyond repute, but there does seem to be a common factor in the shows that particular draw the attention of those YETI eyeballs, and that seems to be that the majority of them do feature very strong female characters in significant roles, and so that's what I decided to get him to talk about today. So, for the next hour, alongside his usual meanderings, we'll mull over this topic and mention in passing series like THE AVENGERS, DOCTOR WHO, BLAKE'S SEVEN, SAPPHIRE AND STEEL, THE BIONIC WOMAN, and DEMPSEY AND MAKEPEACE, as well as venturing briefly into the more familiar territory of RAMSAY STREET and CELL BLOCK H. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

VISION ON SOUND live on stage at WHOOVERVILLE 15 with TOMMY KNIGHT, CHRIS CHAPMAN, & JASON QUINN. First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on September 8th 2024. Whilst VISION ON SOUND is a show where we do like to try to explore the wider world of archive television, and is not just about one specific television series that gets a lot of far better coverage in other places, it's hard not to admit that DOCTOR WHO was definitely the gateway into that wider world for a lot of people who grew up watching it. It is just one of those shows, I guess, that happens to have a lot of documentation written about it, and a lot of people who love it enough to want to find out more about it. Running on television for more than sixty years probably helps a little bit with that, too. This week, thanks to show regulars STEVE HATCHER and ANDREW-MARK THOMPSON, for the third year in a row, I was invited to record an edition of VISION ON SOUND live on stage at WHOOVERVILLE 15 the one-day DOCTOR WHO convention that they organise and run in conjunction with both their own fan group THE WHOOVERS, and with THE QUAD in Derby, which this year took place on the 31st of August 2024. I'm delighted to say that, for our afternoon VISION ON SOUND recording session this year, I was able to be joined on stage in Cinema 2 by TOMMY KNIGHT, the actor who, alongside other roles, played LUKE SMITH in THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES. Alongside him, I was able to welcome CHRIS CHAPMAN, the television producer/director, and writer for Big Finish Productions, who is currently one of the team producing new content for the popular DOCTOR WHO COLLECTION Blu-Ray sets. We were also very lucky to be joined by JASON QUINN who is the latest editor for DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE, and between us I think that we managed to have an interesting session discussing DOCTOR WHO in a slightly wider context, and I hope that the audience on the day enjoyed it, and, hopefully, those of you who are now tuning in will enjoy it too. You'll also hear STEVE introducing me at the beginning, but, because he is always having a very busy day when the event is running, he does have to slip quietly away to leave us to just get on with it. As ever, I'm always very moved and humbled that they are prepared to take that leap of faith in what we do here on VISION ON SOUND, and appreciate the trust that they have in me to do whatever it is that I do, and I can't thank them enough, once again, for allowing me to take part. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

STEVE HATCHER on some "Edwardian" Adventurers First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on September 1st 2024. This week we welcome back STEVE HATCHER, and this week STEVE wanted to talk about two particular shows that he's been enjoying recently that are based upon literary works, and which are both from a genre that we might like to call THE EDWARDIAN ADVENTURER, despite the fact that neither are truly set in the EDWARDIAN era, although they have a look about them that we have come to associate with those times The shows are RAFFLES, from the mid 1970s, featuring ANTHONY VALENTINE and CHRISTOPHER STRAULI as a pair of gentleman crooks, and HANNAY, from the late 1980s, and featuring ROBERT POWELL not exactly fresh from playing the role in the 1978 movie THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

RICK LAWLOR on discovering classic cinema via TV. First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on August 25th 2024. This week we welcome back, after far too long an absence, an old friend of the show, RICK LAWLOR, who moved to Canada from the UK over a decade ago, and occasionally likes to keep me posted as to what's going on in the world of telly on the other side of the Atlantic. Not that we always just talk about television, of course, but that is always the initial prompt for conversations that can take us pretty much anywhere. This time RICK specifically wanted to talk about how his lifelong love of the sort of old movies that keep a viewer amused on a damp and dismal weekend afternoon was born by watching films on television when he was a youngster, and how exposure to such wonderful films as OH, MISTER PORTER, starring WILL HAY, or ALFRED HITCHCOCK Directed classics like THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS, or the Ealing Comedies, led to an appreciation of the art of movie lighting. Over the course of the next hour, a few technical issues aside, we indulge ourselves a little, whilst wondering whether seeking out the delights of watching Black and White cinema is something that people are starting to worry might be getting lost as our increasingly parochial and targeted viewing habits start to prevent many viewers from trying out something older or unfamiliar, and so not discovering what might be a classic from another age that they come to love, and whether this is perhaps meaning that new generations may never come to enjoy such cinema in the way we once did. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

WARREN CUMMINGS on some 1970s USTV Cop Shows. First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on August 18th 2024. This week WARREN CUMMINGS is back, and we're going to talk about all of those 1970s US TV Cop Shows that we used to love like KOJAK and IRONSIDE and THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO, all of which were on our British television screens during a decade in which it seemed not a week could pass without a brand new cop show turning up on TV, each one with a brand new quirk or unique selling point to persuade us that it really was not the same as all of those OTHER cop shows that you might be enjoying, often with attributes so distinct that they made inroads into the pop culture of this country to the point that the likes of BENNY HILL or MIKE YARWOOD could don the old raincoat, or brandish a lollipop, and everyone watching at home would know exactly what they meant. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

THE REWATCHABLES, with PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI. First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on August 11th 2024. Here we all find ourselves in realms that I never thought possible, as I really had considered not carrying on with the show beyond that 200th edition, but those lovely people who support me in producing VISION ON SOUND keep on suggesting things to talk about, and so, well, we keep on talking about them. This week's lovely person is PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI who joins me to talk about what I'm going to refer to as THE REWATCHABLES, or rather, what is the kind of telly that draws you back again and again and again, and why it might do so. So, during the next hour we talk about several of PAUL's familiar favourites, but really we're giving some thought to what it is about certain shows that makes PAUL want to rewatch them, and whether – or not – he actually does. Along the way we mention shows as diverse as SONS AND DAUGHTERS, PRISONER (CELL BLOCK H), TWIN PEAKS, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES and QUANTUM LEAP, in a conversation that I hope might inspire you to consider your own list of REWATCHABLES. I have snuck in a few British classics along the way, but let's just take ourselves back to the eighties for an hour of pure televisual audio nostalgia… PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

Eighties TV music special... First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on August 4th 2024. This week, there isn't a guest with me on the show, because I thought I'd do another of our theme music specials, and, because I've finally crossed into sniper's alley, I thought I might share a selection of some of my favourite theme tunes from a decade when I was full of hope, vim, and vigour, during which a whole host of classic TV title tunes assailed our eardrums as they introduced some of the more memorable shows from the nineteen eighties, and also, perhaps, some of those you might prefer to forget. Strangely, it seems that quite a few of the most recognisable tunes come from the television of the United States, and so many come from series that might be deemed “Action/Adventure” series, which probably explains a lot about the sort of television that I was watching in my late teens and early twenties. I have snuck in a few British classics along the way, but let's just take ourselves back to the eighties for an hour of pure televisual audio nostalgia… PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show. PLAYLIST: HOWARD'S WAY MIAMI VICE AIRWOLF BLUE THUNDER KNIGHT RIDER BAYWATCH THE FALL GUY ROCKING ALL OVER THE WORLD (Status Quo) DANCING IN THE STREET (Jagger/Bowie) DRIVE (Cars) THE BLACK ADDER ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES LOVEJOY THE HITCH-HIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES HILL STREET BLUES MOONLIGHTING THE A-TEAM DYNASTY MURDER SHE WROTE CHEERS QUANTUM LEAP THE EQUALIZER INSPECTOR MORSE

WARREN CUMMINGS on city living, TV style... First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on July 28th 2024. You might have noticed that one of my regular co-hosts on VISION ON SOUND, WARREN CUMMINGS, has been conspicuous by his absence for a few weeks recently, and it's not because he's been up to no good, but because he's been reorganising his working life and making a move back to the big city. So this week we give him a warm welcome back, and what better topic to take as our prompt for this week's show than to talk about television representations of big city living, and how they compare with the reality of actually living there… PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

LISA PARKER on SHARDLAKE First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on July 21st 2024. This week, our returning guest is the ever-popular LISA PARKER from the ROUND THE ARCHIVES team, and for this edition of VISION ON SOUND she's returning to one of those subjects that she's most fond of, namely the historical drama, only this time her observations come with a bit of a twist, as the drama might be historical, but she's been watching one which is right up to date and almost as new as anything we're ever likely to discuss on this show. LISA got in touch because she's been really enjoying the brand new four-part drama series SHARDLAKE, and wanted to talk about it on the show. SHARDLAKE is based upon the novels by the late C J SANSOM, and stars ARTHUR HUGHES as the investigator who, in this instance at least, is employed by SEAN BEAN'S THOMAS CROMWELL in the Tudor era, to investigate a murder that occurred within the cloisters of an isolated monastery during the 16th century. Because SHARDLAKE does manage to combine two of LISA'S greatest televisual joys in one programme, as it combines the historical drama with a form of traditional detective fiction, it's one of those rare modern series that feels just right for her, and has almost become an instant classic that has left its fans desperate to see more of it. And so, for once, we don't have to dive deep into the archives for the programme we're discussing, but, instead, we can journey into history for the subject matter of that programme instead, which is a little bit back-to-front in terms of what we normally do on VISION ON SOUND, but I hope that you won't find this breaking of the format too traumatic. This week, PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI himself returns and, in that way he has of watching new stuff to recommend so that I don't have to, he's been watching some shiny new TV shows that he's going to talk about. So, in today's show, he'll be introducing me to Andrew Scott as RIPLEY, some DEAD BOY DETECTIVES, those very French ESCORT BOYS, the highly topical and controversial BABY REINDEER, and finally taking part in several versions of A RACE ACROSS THE WORLD. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI talks about his recent viewing. First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on July 14th 2024. This week, PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI himself returns and, in that way he has of watching new stuff to recommend so that I don't have to, he's been watching some shiny new TV shows that he's going to talk about. So, in today's show, he'll be introducing me to Andrew Scott as RIPLEY, some DEAD BOY DETECTIVES, those very French ESCORT BOYS, the highly topical and controversial BABY REINDEER, and finally taking part in several versions of A RACE ACROSS THE WORLD. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

WARREN CUMMINGS on NEW NEW DOCTOR WHO and the acting life of WILLIAM RUSSELL ENOCH With the sad passing of WILLIAM RUSSELL at the grand old age of ninety-nine years in early June, WARREN CUMMINGS wanted to join me on VISION ON SOUND to talk, amongst other things, the incredible life of this much-loved actor from his particularly personal point of view, as well as, inevitably, because that is the nature of this show, discussing a few other topics that happened to cross our minds along the way. As well as featuring in several well-known post-war British films, WILLIAM RUSSELL (who was also known professionally as RUSSELL ENOCH), played SIR LANCELOT in the ITC series of the 1950s, and, of course, schoolteacher IAN CHESTERTON, one of DOCTOR WHO's fellow adventurers right back at the very start of the show in 1963, and he had a long and distinguished acting career, featuring in many of exactly the kinds of TV shows that we love to talk about on this show, ending his career with an unexpected cameo in THE POWER OF THE DOCTOR in 2022, and could be said to have had the kind of career that covered almost the entire era of television itself, which makes talking about his life a perfect subject for us to be tackling. First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on July 7th 2024. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

SUKY KHAKH on the differences between the book and the TV series when it comes to detective fiction. First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on June 30th 2024. This week's returning guest is SUKY KHAKH who has recently been ill in bed and spent much of that time reading a lot of the sort of books that have been adapted for television which inspired us to want to talk about how satisfying - or otherwise - such adaptations can sometimes be. So during the next hour we'll chat about shows like HAMISH MACBETH, JACK REACHER, AGATHA RAISIN, THE MARLOW MURDER CLUB, FATHER BROWN and BOSCH, amongst others, because he's been doing A LOT of reading. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.