Gavin Scott wrote:The opening titles of Armchair Thrillers (which featured a shadow of a man sitting down in a chair).
The creepy baby episode of Sapphire & Steele.
Sometimes the dancing lady on Tales of the Unexpected.
Definitely the first two (plus the night version of the class Thames ident).
Balok's fake face that appeared at the end of many Star Trek episodes freaked me for many, many years.
Re: Things that scared you as a child
Posted: Wed 30 Mar, 2011 18.31
by Gavin Scott
OMG.
This clip features both your scare and mine.
Re: Things that scared you as a child
Posted: Wed 30 Mar, 2011 18.49
by Alexia
I used to have a bizarre, almost irrational fear of the fire bell going off at primary school. Whether it was the being scared by the suddenness of the bell sounding or the fact it symbolised a potentially fatal threat to my health (despite them all being purely drills) I'll never know. In fact, when I moved up to secondary school and experienced the same type of ringing bell on an hourly, daily basis, I faked illness more than once to avoid being exposed to it (Thursdays week 1, Geography, French and History all within earshot of a sudden, loud time bell.)
Ironically a few years after I left, my primary school burnt down, and one of the last memories I have of that particular building is watching the prefabricated 1960s wooden walls crumbling away, while the steady drone of the fire alarms rang away in the background.
TV wise, the PG Tips monkeys terrified me.
Re: Things that scared you as a child
Posted: Wed 30 Mar, 2011 19.48
by Col
Another TV terror for me when I was younger: Morph (I know... it was the shapeshifting and the squeaky voices)
Re: Things that scared you as a child
Posted: Wed 30 Mar, 2011 19.54
by rdobbie
The BBC educational series Dark Towers and The Boy From Space, both part of the Look And Read franchise.
Both terrifying but compelling when I watched them at school as a 9 year old. Watching snippets from them on Youtube still sends a shiver down my spine. As with old Doctor Who, it's a paradox that things seemed more real and hence more frightening before the advent of CGI.
It's amazing how much I remember from them, even though they were shown in the classroom on a small telly with the sun reflecting off the screen, and I had chronic short sightedness which wasn't diagnosed until I was older.
The educational inserts with Wordy were a pain in the arse though.
Did anyone else find it annoying how the teacher would always jump up and press Stop on the VCR at the very moment the end credits started rolling? Even at that age, I wanted to see the full credits and the endboard.
Re: Things that scared you as a child
Posted: Wed 30 Mar, 2011 22.29
by WillPS
Captain Black terrorised me throughout my childhood. I'm still not comfortable with the thought of him now.
