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If you need proof that today’s TV schedules are getting more and more dumbed down then look no further than a complete absence of a replacement for Tomorrow’s World. I can’t think of any other shows which can present and explain scientific breakthroughs clearly yet still remain entertaining.
I don’t have anything against shows like Brainiac and The Gadget Show, which are probably the closest you’ll get to popular science shows today, but blowing up caravans or raving about the latest MP3 player aren’t exactly the stuff of the future.
Tomorrow’s World was aptly named, as it quite often demonstrated technology that seemed futuristic then, but is now available today. Things like mobile phones, satellite navigation and even the fax machine were all demonstrated on Tomorrow’s World years before they became common place.
The show began airing on BBC1 in 1965, and ran for an impressive 38 years before falling foul to the dreaded ratings curse in 2003, which saw it come to an end. The first presenter was Raymond Baxter, an ex Spitfire pilot who used a pen to point at interesting parts of whatever gizmo he was talking about.
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Brush Strokes was a BBC sitcom which first aired in 1986, and I personally remember enjoying watching it whilst doing my homework. Perhaps having the TV was the reason it always took me so long to write about Ox Bow Lakes or the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand?
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Treasure Hunt was one of my favourite shows from the early days of Channel Four. It first aired in the final week of 1982 and ran until 1989, and it was a rather more cerebral television game show. Each week a pair of contestants had to guide Skyrunner Anneka Rice and her helicopter crew around an area of the UK by solving cryptic clues.
Cheesey. Tacky. Inane. Stupid. Cheap. Brilliant. All words that could be used to describe TV game show Blankety Blank. First airing in 1979 and continuing throughout the whole of the 1980’s, this was a game show that not so much broke the mould, but was made with the mould after it had already been broken.
If you were the sort of person who used to hide behind the sofa when watching Doctor Who then you’d better build a barricade out of the cushions as well if you watch Sapphire and Steel! Whilst it may not have been a kids show it was shown in the early evening so I definitely remember watching the show. I may not have understood much of it at the time, but it certainly left a big impression on me.
With the news that Wendy Richard has died from Cancer this week I thought I’d remember what I consider her finest role from the 1980’s. No, not Pauline Fowler from EastEnders, although that did start in the eighties. I am of course talking about Miss Brahms, the “pretty one” from Are You Being Served?
