Retro TV you may/may not be ashamed to watch

Stuart* · Mon 10 Mar, 2008 02.36

The prevelance of nostalgia TV channels these days makes it easy for the creaky and aged amongst us (like Gav) to wheel our chairs back into the past, and enjoy again those tender moments of....awful CSOs, bad...bad wardrobe errors, or just plain shitty bits.

I'm sure there are some pearls amongst the oyster beds though:

As a start, I have to admit to watching "Space:1999" on ITV4 yesterday.
OK, apart from the really bad technological misconceptions, I was horrified at the fact that women were seen as weak and feeble bodies that would faint all the time. Did people in 1976 really think that all women had to be viewed through a lens smeared with Vaseline, or with a narrow band of light across their eyes?

PS: I've also seen "UFO" - that was set in "1980". The Boss's car is a DELOREAN, which is fab! Wonder what happened to them?

stu · Mon 10 Mar, 2008 03.45

They're not deloreans, they are custom made for the show. They came ten years later. UFO is tons better than Space 1999 anyway!

Stuart* · Mon 10 Mar, 2008 03.59

stu wrote:UFO is tons better than Space 1999 anyway!

Your nostagia shame is noted and stored for future reference.........

cdd · Mon 10 Mar, 2008 08.38

Dark Star. Can you get any more retro? And more fab?

Alexia · Mon 10 Mar, 2008 09.19

For a more postmodern retro take, it has to be the 90s and WLIIA on Dave.

I personally indulge in Fawlty Towers and Thunderbirds whenever it's on, Dad's Army and Allo Allo.

Gavin Scott · Mon 10 Mar, 2008 09.46

Why isn't Alice shown on TV anywhere? It used to be the biggest sitcom in the states during the 80s. The star, Linda Lavin, was the highest paid actress on TV for many years. C4 showed it when they launched, then repeated it a couple of years later.

Never seen it since.

martindtanderson · Mon 10 Mar, 2008 10.09

Telebugs, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Thomas The Tank Engine and Friends (Ringo Starr Era), Through the Dragon's Eye, only for the theme tune and memories of the BBC Micro game from school.

Stuart* · Mon 10 Mar, 2008 15.38

I have to confess that I am enjoying the current season on BBC4 on Sunday evenings. It takes a nostalgic look back at some of the BBC's best known dramas of the 70s and 80s. I have faint memories of being able to watch "Shoestring" which was the subject of last night's strand.

Connor Sephton · Mon 10 Mar, 2008 15.55

The Prisoner - has to be the best.

"I am not a number - I am a free man!"

marksi · Mon 10 Mar, 2008 15.58

Crown Court was great on the channel that was Legal TV. It seems to have turned into a channel called Red now, and Crown Court is on less. There are however lots of programmes about some blond bint called Aisleyne who was on Big Brother now, for reasons unknown.

I've no idea who's behind Red TV. When they started showing Crown Court I emailed to ask if they would be good enough to show it in the right aspect ratio. They replied and said they didn't know how, though after I explained what an ARC was it came good a few weeks later.

Gavin Scott · Mon 10 Mar, 2008 16.11

marksi wrote:When they started showing Crown Court I emailed to ask if they would be good enough to show it in the right aspect ratio. They replied and said they didn't know how, though after I explained what an ARC was it came good a few weeks later.

Really?

Aisleyne often turns up on Charlie Brooker's programme. I think she's pretty good (in light of the fact she has no discernible talent).