Off The Telly - What Shall We Watch? Childhood Telly

Episode Date: June 7, 2024

What are we watching? Natalie Cassidy and Joanna Page chat about all things telly.In this bonus episode they hear from listeners about their favourite childhood telly and the lovely memories associated with those shows. They hear about programmes including Button Moon, Pigeon Street, Fun House and Saved by the Bell, plus many more absolute classics.In Off the Telly, Natalie and Joanna talk about what they can’t stop watching, what they definitely aren’t going to bother with, and what you’re all watching at home. From new shows to comfort telly to guilty pleasures, there’s no judgement here. What’s kept us all glued to our screens this week?Self-confessed TV addicts and stars of two of the biggest shows on our screens, EastEnders and Gavin and Stacey, Natalie and Joanna are the perfect companions to your weekly viewing habits.Get in touch by sending us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to 03306 784704.Hosts: Natalie Cassidy and Joanna Page Producer: Georgia Keating Executive Producer: Richard Morris Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts Unit Manager: Lucy Bannister Sounds Editor: Arlie Adlington Music by MCassoOff The Telly is a BBC Studios Audio Production for BBC Sounds.

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hello and welcome to Off The Telly, what shall we watch from BBC Sounds. Now this is our third bonus episode. I love these episodes. Me too Jo. It's lovely because we get a chance to hear a bit more about the telly that you guys like to watch at home. And let's be honest, it is what we're talking about continuously. Wherever you are, whether you're at work, whether you're in the nail shop, whether you're getting your hair done, we all talk about the telly. And I think that's why people love these little bonus ones.

Yeah, and we've all got our different opinions and everything, haven't we? Yeah, we sure have. And we just love hearing yours and what you think about stuff. Yeah, so please continue to send them in. It really means a lot to us. Yeah. And without them, we can't do these little bonus sets. Well, we can't.

So there we go. Now, a couple of weeks ago, we heard about your guilty pleasure watches, which we loved. And this week, we're focusing on Childhood Telly. We asked you to send in voice notes about what kid shows take you right back to being a kid or telly that reminds you of growing up.

Oh, that's brilliant yes i saw a little instagram post this week of button moon and i put it on i reposted it and i had so many little dms going oh you've just unlocked a memory you've just unlocked a memory so childhood telly is very special but before we start joe we have had a message off the back of our last bonus set where you were talking about being in Doctor Who with David Tennant. Oh, OK, here we go. Jo, you playing Queen Elizabeth in Doctor Who's 50th anniversary is one of my all-time favourite episodes.

You are so wrong that you were rubbish. You were brilliant. Love you and that. Stacey from the US of A. Oh, thank you, Stacey. That's lovely. That's lovely to hear, isn't it? Oh, thank you so much for saying that.

Because I did think I was quite shit and I just had gigantic boobs. People are so kind. They are. They're really lovely and that's really made me feel a lot better. That's lovely. Right, let's hear some of these voice notes

about your favourite childhood telly, shall we? Absolutely. My childhood TV, all I remember, well, not all I remember, but what I remember from being little is Button Moon. Oh, we do? If you watch Button Moon, it was actually a button moon and the little characters were made out of, like, a spoon,

a wooden spoon and a can of beans and they didn't even peel the label off. Oh, it was great. I'm with you all the way. It was absolutely brilliant. Isn't that funny how I said, saw that this week? Didn't Childhood Tell used to be so much quieter and calmer with not a lot happening?

What about Bagpuss? Never watched Bagpuss. It was Bagpuss and I liked sort of like, oh, and you know what I liked. When you say quiet, it was fucking mental. It was psychedelic. But when we were like small, small, like Bagpuss. And then, but do you know what I loved?

Willow the Wisp. Did you ever see Willow the Wisp? I hate to be rude. Yeah. But I think I skipped a few of these because I'm a couple of years younger than you. Yes, yeah. Well, Willow the Wisp, right, I didn't realise. It's funny, isn't it?

You know when you're small and you watch something and you're drawn to it because you're like, oh, my God, that is like magic. That is just, there's just something. Was that a tree? I've seen it. Was it a tree? There was a tree and then there were other characters,

but Willow the Wisp, I think, was like this little white thing and it was like, well, it was a Willow the Wisp. But the voice for it was Kenneth. What's his name from Carry On? Oh, Williams. Kenneth Williams. So I obviously had no idea that Kenneth Williams was the narrator. But it was just this person narrating who had this magical,

really strange, weird voice to me, which just drew me in. And I was like, oh my God, this is like, this is brilliant. This is like, and it's funny, because then you grow up and go, oh my God, it was Kenneth Williams doing the voiceover. Well, no wonder it sounded like amazing. And, you know, but you don't realise when you're small,

but you're just drawn into like, obviously this amazing talent. Oh, it's brilliant. Willow the Wisp. There was just something magical about that. I don't know what I remember. I remember Play Days. Yeah.

And. Did you watch, oh my God, Rainbow? Good. It was really, really good. That was really good. And Rod, Jane and Freddie. Didn't Jane marry both of them? I think she married one.

She divorced one, I think, and then married the other. She was shoving all of them, weren't she? I think she was. Good luck to her. I think she was. I think they were all quite, I don't know if they were all quite happy together. I don't know. It's like Fleetwood Mac for children's television. I think we should

get our facts straight before we start calling them a load of bohemians. Next up, we've got a message from Lisa. You're talking about your favourite childhood programmes. Mine was always Pigeon Street. I always wanted to be long distance Clara, the lorry driver. Unfortunately, I'm five foot nothing and my feet wouldn't reach the pedals loving what you're doing girls keep it up

bye oh bye oh yeah loved Pigeon Street was that set in Liverpool oh I don't know it was Liverpudlian wasn't it

I'm sure it was Liverpudlian I'm sure Clara was Liverpudlian oh my gosh or maybe I've just been watching too much of The Responder yeah I'm sure Pigeon Street was set in Liverpool correct me if I'm sure Clara was Liverpudlian. Oh, my gosh. Or maybe I've just been watching too much of The Responder. Yeah.

I'm sure Pigeon Street was set in Liverpool. Correct me if I'm wrong. And there was Mr. Ben, wasn't there? Yeah, never watched Mr. Ben. And then the Mr. and Mrs. I worked with Mr. Ben. Did you? How?

Who is he? Ray Brooks, obviously Mr. Ben, the Mr. Ben. He was in EastEnders and he played Pauline Fowler's boyfriend for a little while. Oh, my gosh. It was sort of years after, but he wore a Mr. Ben wristwatch. Did he? Oh, my God.

Is that sweet or a bit weird? I sort of got to say on the subject. I'm sorry, actually, though. What about when you wore your Crocs the other day And you had a little thing which said EastEnders on them That's absolutely true Well look at that Pot calling the kettle black

You're absolutely right I have got a pair of Crocs In which I have a trumpet And an EastEnders sign on Yes so it's the same It is the same Yeah What a knobhead

Oh my god I wear them though If I'm at work It is the same. Yeah. What a knobhead. Oh, my God. I don't... I wear them, though, if I'm at work and then I'm sort of dashing here, I wouldn't go shopping in them. But... They're sort of work shoes. Yeah, but when you did leave the studio... Mind you, it could have been his work watch that he wore for work.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I've turned into Mr. Ben. You've turned into Mr. Ben. You have become Mr. Ben. Oh, shit. Oh, my God. I'll have to take those things out now.

You've got them. They're really cute. They're really good. Should we have another voice note? Yes. Hi, guys. So my favourite children's programme was a program called okie doke i don't know if any of you remember it i don't know if it's just me and i'm odd but the

theme tune just youtube it it'll bring back memories for you it's a man that's dressed like an acorn i don't know he was an acorn anyway i i watched it recently with my kids. They thought I'd gone mad. I absolutely loved it. Brings back the best memories. Live in the bar to take care. Bye. I'm guessing that okey-doke is spelt as in oak the tree if someone was dressed as an acorn.

Okey-doke. Oh, my goodness. There we go. Don't remember it, I'm afraid. Oh, my gosh, no, but he looks terrifying. Look at his yellow face. I Don't remember it, I'm afraid. Oh, my gosh, no, but he looks terrifying. Look at his yellow face. I don't remember it. I'm so sorry, but it looks good and it's a lovely play on words.

Yeah. It's clever. Do you remember Wisbet? No. Oh, my God. Do you remember Bertha? Yes, but I didn't watch it. The Shoe People?

No. Who are the Shoe People? Who are the Shoe People? I don't remember the Shoe People? Who are the Shoe People? I don't remember the Shoe People It was a great programme Just a village of shoes A village of shoes? Yeah, they're all people, different shoes

Oh my god, wow Care Bears? Oh, I loved the Care Bears I loved the Care Bears Land of the Giants? No, no Oh, that was on after the Care Bears How did you miss that?

No, didn't watch Land of the Giants It was great, Land of the Giants. It was great, Land of the Giants on a Sunday. Do you know who I loved and who I wanted to be? Go on. She-Ra, Princess of Power. Did you watch She-Ra? Yes.

Yeah. Oh, my God. I had a She-Ra doll. She-Ra and He-Man. Yes. That was good. And Skeletor. God, I absolutely loved them.

Loved them. She was like our Wonder Woman, wasn't she? She was, wasn't she? Oh, was Wonder Woman out at the time? Yeah, I used to watch Wonder Woman when I was little. Oh my God, I loved Wonder Woman. I had a Wonder Woman costume. Oh, brilliant.

Let's have another voice start. I love this. This one is from Rachel. The number one that takes me back to my childhood is Funhouse with Pat Sharp. I bet you're singing the tune now. Love the show. Love both of you. And looking forward to the next episode. Thank you so much.

This is really weird. The other day we were talking about Funhouse. Were you? And I was saying, you know you have experiences of things. Yes. You can go and do the Crystal Mage. You can go and do Monopoly. Funhouse. Oh my god. Get it up the West End because I want to be in Fun House. That would be brilliant.

I was so jealous of those girls. Were you? Oh, my God, yes. The twins. Yes, yes. And Pat Sharp's hair. It was brilliant. The mullet.

God, yes. It was really spiky, wasn't it? Really spiky, quite a lot. And then really long. And then you'd always have some zany sort of shirt, wouldn't you? He'd have an amazing shell suit on. Oh, no, a shirt. He would.

He'd wear a shirt. It was so good, wouldn't he? He'd have an amazing shell suit on. Oh, no, a shirt. He would. He'd wear a shirt. It was so good, wasn't it? Funhouse was really, really good. I might find that actually for Joanie. Yeah. Yeah. Because I reckon that will still be. Yes.

Now that's reminded me the colours of the zany shirts and the shell suit. It's just reminded me of Saved by the Bell. And I know that's a little bit older. Oh, I love Saved by the Bell. But it just reminded me of Zack and Screech in Saved by the the bell which was one of my all-time favorites growing up yes let's listen to this message from sean i am nat and joe is sean here again oh these bonus episodes you're spoiling us i'm absolutely loving them okay children's tv it takes me back to the 70s. Oh, when I was a little child,

I absolutely loved children's TV back then. Willow the Wisp and Play School. But my absolute favourite, and it actually gets me quite emotional thinking about it because I loved it so much was Bagpuss. Oh, that cat.

A cuddly little pink and white striped cat. When Emily would bring home a toy that needed fixing and then the mice would come out with the sewing kits and sing, we will fix it, we will fix it. And the woodpecker on the shelf. Oh, it used to break my heart when that programme ended.

I absolutely loved it. Thank you, girls. Lovely, Sian, but I'll tell you something. I've never seen a mouse with a needle set well you don't know what you've been missing just seems a bit unrealistic to me their paws are so small that I would say a mouse is probably

the best person to thread a needle I'm going to have to have a look because I'm not sure if I like it there was just something just so quiet and also I don't know, there was something, you can't say there was something dark about Bagpuss, but the way that it was so rickety and kind of like, you know, it was just,

I don't know, there was just a quality to it that was just not like the telly these days. I know what you mean, just a special something going on. I will look at it because I do, I love all the nostalgic stuff. Oh, thanks again for sending us another message, Sian. It's really lovely to hear from you again. So lovely. Nice to have a few regulars. Yes.

Next up, let's hear what Emily's got to say. I've just listened to your most recent episode of the podcast and just wanted to respond to your request for childhood TV. What really stands out in my mind when I think back to when I was a kid was the BBC Borrowers with Penelope Wilton and Ian Holm. Oh, yeah. It was just so much fun to watch. It used to really get my imagination going as a kid.

Absolutely loved it. I don't know whether you guys remember it but yeah that's that's that was my my favorite thing and my my go-to i remember i used to have it on vhs the whole series um i've got two daughters myself now who are seven and ten and I've been unable to find it. Would really love to be able to find it and show it to them because I think they'd really love it as well. But keep going with the podcast. Absolutely loving it. It's really refreshing and upbeat,

especially on a very rainy Wednesday morning like it is today. Lots of love. Oh, thank you so much. I loved The Borrowers. Oh, my God, me too. It was absolutely brilliant, The Borrowers, wasn't it? We were lucky when we were young, weren't we? Very.

Because, I mean, to have got a drama like that and such a good cast and, I mean, you know, for a kid's thing, brilliant. It was absolutely brilliant. God, it was so good, wasn't it? Well, I just think also the magic of having to wait for things to come on. Yes. Because our children now, the generations today. I mean, you just scream, scream.

You just do what you want. You watch the whole series in a day, don't you? You can have it on whenever you like. Do you know, right, a few years ago, I started watching Mallory Towers? Oh, yes. Brilliant. Yeah. Oh, my God, we'd read all the books.

And then it was just, oh, my gosh, it was brilliant. I loved watching it, I think, even more than her. It was really good, Mallory Towers. It was, wasn't it? Because I was kind of like, oh, my gosh, this is my childhood. Have you watched Dodger yet? No. That's something you must do.

Oh, my God. Remember. Yes. Because it was brilliant. Really good. I'll have to watch that. Please do. Right.

Shall we hear our final voice note of the day? Last but not least. Hello, this is Jill from Yorkshire. Just ringing about my favourite memory of a children's programme, which was in the mid-60s and was Magic Roundabout. I loved that programme. It was always on just before the evening news. But the main reason I think I've got such happy memories is remembering watching it with my grandma.

It's one of my happiest memories from childhood. We were watching it and I remember the roundabout going around and the music and there was an empty horse on the roundabout. And my grandma looked at me and said, an empty horse on the roundabout and my grandma looked at me and said see that horse that's yours that's for you and I really did believe that I could get into the tv and go on this magic roundabout and sit on this horse and that went on for ages every time I watched it I'd look and just check that the horse was still empty and still ready for me it was just such a lovely thing to say to your grandchild. I still remember it now.

I mean, she's been gone, what, 40 years? I'm in my 60s. And it's one of the happiest memories that I have of her. So I know Emma Thompson's dad was the person who created the Magic Roundabout. And if I did meet Emma Thompson, I think I'd just say to her, nothing about her films, I'd just say to her nothing about her films I'd just tell her about this lovely memory thanks anyway love the podcast bye what a lovely story thank you so much for a sending us a voice note and your beautiful story that's so lovely because

that's why we've really done this bonus episode, because it is about the magic of children's TV and the memories you hold with it, isn't it? Yeah, it is. It is. It takes you just back to just that time when you felt so safe and you were with your loved ones and just really, really lovely. That sounds like a really lovely story of a grandmother. It does, doesn't it? My memory of going up to my nanny doll's flat was sitting watching the snooker. Was it? Sitting watching the snooker. She used to have a whiskey and a ginger ale. That was it really. What I remember with my nan and my gramps, they would come to our house and my memory was that as soon as Nan walked in,

I would flop over her lap and just go tickle my back, tickle my back. And I'd make her like tickle my back for about two hours. And then Gramps would ask me to get Grange Hill off the TV because he'd want to watch Blockbusters. Loved Blockbusters. I loved Blockbusters. Give us a B, please, Bob. Yeah. Bob Monkhouse.

Yeah. What a legend. Give us a... Back to times like that when something like that would really make you laugh. Can I have a P, please, Bob. Yeah. Bob Monkhouse. Yeah. What a legend. Give us a... Back to times like that, when something like that would really make you laugh. Can I have a P, please, Bob? I mean... It's all you needed.

It was, wasn't it? Yeah. That would really, really make you laugh and you'd feel a bit naughty. And now, look, what's happened to us all? I don't know, but we're getting old. I'm very bloody miserable. Thank you so much for listening to this episode.

I love these episodes. I think they're my favourite because we get to hear from everyone. I think they're my favourite. I think they're mine. Now, for our next bonus episode, we want to hear from you about your favourite tearjerkers. Oh, no, I don't think I can cope with this. What telly has made you cry the

most or has just been an absolute sob fest joe will be in won't you straight away with one day are there any episodes in particular that have got you in the gut let us know send us a voice note or whatsapp please we might play in our next bonus. The number is 030306784704. I can't wait for that episode. It's quite cathartic, isn't it? I love a good cry. Yeah, that'll be a stretch for me. Really?

I'm a hard bastard. Well, thank you again for listening and we're going to be back next Wednesday with more Off The Telly on BBC Sounds. Bye! Thank you so for listening. And we're going to be back next Wednesday with more Off the Telly on BBC Sounds. Bye. Thank you so much. Bye. Off the Telly is hosted by Natalie Cassidy and Joanna Page. The producer is Georgia Keating.

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