NEW! Al Kennedy (@alkennedy.bsky.social) joins me for a chat about the third and final series of What If...?. Well in this Multiverse anyway. What did we like, what didn't we like, how does it measure up to X-Men '97 and why are we so fixated on Sugar Puffs?? timworthington.org/2025/05/07/i...

Who knew that roly-poly astrologer Russell Grant made an album? Well @outonbluesix.bsky.social did because he wrote about it in his book. Listen to (and watch) the new PantoSplaining at youtu.be/plWUBpdcQes?... and you'll learn all about Russell John Dammerall Grant and his pop career.

Through the Square Window episode 7 is out now - wherever you get your podcasts. @samiraahmeduk.bsky.social and @gkw.bsky.social looking at programmes from March 1979: #Blakes7, Man Alive, Star Signs (with Michael Aspel, Joanna Lumley and Peter Cook) and The Kenny Everett Video Show.

Look, I would love a movie with all of Marvel's horror characters teaming up as much as anyone, but while news sites are still calling the Midnight Sons the 'Midnight Suns' I'm going to take any such report with a pinch of salt so hefty that it's capable of repelling Ana Helstrom.

Which of Russell Grant's 1979 predictions actually came true? We did the research, and you can find out in the all-new PantoSplaining at www.youtube.com/watch?v=plWU...

🎭 OUT NOW! 🎭 Episode 6 of PantoSplaining sees us off to Cardiff in 1989 and Robinson Crusoe. Find out how much a Fudge cost, what Ruth Madoc disliked and the whole truth about Russell Grant's pop career. Plus so much more, as we deep dive into another panto poster! www.youtube.com/watch?v=plWU...

You honestly don't have to show me what Twitter's saying. That's why I'm here and not there.

Keep Left, Swipe Right - collected thoughts from uncollected times and how I kept myself sane - and didn't - while the world swung off its hinges. Paperback (15% off code PRINTED15) or Kindle from here. timworthington.org/books/keep-l...

MB Games' Hangman. Even aside from the fact that you could just play it yourself with a pencil and paper, Vincent Price may have been an impressive 'get' for the box art, but... *seriously*?? timworthington.org/2024/10/31/t...

Horror Bags - Hammer House Of Corn Starch Classic Horror in extruded maize snack form gambit, proffering rib, fang, bone, claw and bat-shaped Universal-adjacent self-scaring crisps with Video Nasty-strength flavouring. Not quite Mary Whitehouse's 'bag'. timworthington.org/2024/10/31/t...

Steve Berry (@unloveablesteve.bsky.social) joins me for a spooky chat about Words And Pictures' Witches Of Halloween, Smiths Horror Bags and other scary snacks, Vincent Price endorsing MB Games' Hangman and much much more! timworthington.org/2024/10/31/t...

Despite what the critics may have had to say, a LOT of fans of Eddie Brock and Venom packed out cinemas for Venom: The Last Dance. David Smith (@davidstrathdee.bsky.social) had never seen any of the other Venom movies, though... so how did he find it?? timworthington.org/2024/11/26/i...

When you've made one movie with well-loved characters and not really got them right, what's the obvious move for the sequel? Turn their biggest enemy into a cloud, apparently. Here's me and @garryabbott.bsky.social on Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer. timworthington.org/2024/12/12/i...

Time for a bit of a crossover fun as @benbaker.bsky.social and @ricardoautobahn.co.uk from @alfsplaining.bsky.social join me for a chat about the ice cream-seeking off-screen exploits of everyone's favourite monolexical tree creature in I Am Groot... timworthington.org/2024/12/21/i...

Why do we still find Bagpuss every bit as haunting - in a positive sense - as we did at the time it was made? Steve O'Brien shares his thoughts on some of the possible answers here... timworthington.org/2025/05/08/t...

With huge thanks to @pablovich.bsky.social for standing in as host, here's me on what The Magic Roundabout is and why I love it so much. timworthington.org/2025/05/08/t...

If you love Press Gang, then you have a lot of reason to be grateful to Stephen O'Brien - a viewer who actually became involved with the show. You can hear all about his fascinating story - including how Steven Moffat discovered Blur - here... timworthington.org/2025/05/08/t...

One of the main reasons why Grange Hill was so popular was that there was always a character or two that you secretly wished you could actually go to school with. So who did @johnrain.co.uk want to team up with for a slice of the moneymaking mischief action? timworthington.org/2025/05/08/t...

Orm And Cheep - a nervous flightless bird and a more worldly-wise worm who aspired to, erm, sing - were kindly puppet pals who cared for all of their forest friends. So why did @sliderulesyou.bsky.social want their natural predators to intervene?? timworthington.org/2025/05/08/t...

NEW! @sliderulesyou.bsky.social on Orm And Cheep, @johnrain.co.uk on Grange Hill, Steve O'Brien on Bagpuss, Stephen O'Brien on Press Gang and @outonbluesix.bsky.social - with a little help from @pablovich.bsky.social - on The Magic Roundabout. timworthington.org/2025/05/08/t...

Better than that, make it the badger from Bodger and Badger and make Mashed Potato Day a thing. Churchill would is memoralised enough I don't think he gives a shit tbh

Ian Undercover blocked me for saying "Undercover's cover of Baker Street. Looks and sounds like a Bobby Davro sketch nobody had thought through". Touchy little so and so. Should have made a better record then, shouldn't you.

"I'm a Firestarter/and my stories must be told...".

Churchill should be replaced not just on banknotes but essentially on pretty much everything by George Cole presenting Heggarty Heggarty.

@benbaker.bsky.social Name a crisps. Wrong answers only!!!!12

Top Of The Box Vol. 2 - the story behind every album released by BBC Records And Tapes. No, genuinely. I listened to them all. Even the one that's just bells. Paperback (15% off code PRINTED15) or Kindle from here. timworthington.org/books/top-of...

Most people in the UK won't remember Shelley Duvall's high concept actorly visually ambitious folklore anthology Faerie Tale Theatre, but it was so prestigious that over here, Channel 4 showed it as a 'proper' drama. Here's @gfrancie.bsky.social's thoughts on it. timworthington.org/2025/01/30/t...

Rod Hull and Emu might get reduced down to that clip of them deservedly knocking Parky off his chair, but honestly, it's hard to get across just *how* anarchic Emu's Broadcasting Company really was. Here's me and @whenisbirths.bsky.social having a go... timworthington.org/2025/01/30/t...

Never mind in the heart of Transylvania - there's plenty of us out here in the real world, myself and @alkennedy.bsky.social included, who actually preferred Count Duckula to Danger Mouse... *ducks* timworthington.org/2025/01/30/t...

Definitely worth listening to for my attempt at doing an impression of DI Burnside alone!

1986 Children's BBC gangland thriller Running Scared was so unrelentingly grim that it used actual authentic 'villain' slang without explaining it. Here's @markreckons.bsky.social on being confused by the menacing references to 'bins'. timworthington.org/2025/01/30/t...

Why did @emmaburnell.bsky.social wish that Mrs. McCluskey was her actual real life non-fictional headmistress, even if it would have meant her uncharacteristically moderating her language to 'flippin' eck!'? Find out in this... timworthington.org/2025/01/30/t...

Watch with @emmaburnell.bsky.social on Grange Hill, @markreckons.bsky.social on Running Scared, @alkennedy.bsky.social on Count Duckula, @whenisbirths.bsky.social on Emu's Broadcasting Company and @gfrancie.bsky.social on Faerie Tale Theatre. timworthington.org/2025/01/30/t...

Gary Bainbridge (@garybainbridge.bsky.social) joins me for a chat about Captain America: Brave New World. It's got unsubtle satire, a plot callback to a box office bomb and one very inconsistent character, and we enjoyed it but aren't sure *why*... timworthington.org/2025/05/12/i...

My own Prisoner title sequence would involve a street cleaning buggy, a very surprised Cotswolds Town Clerk and me falling backwards into a river while pretending to fight an inflatable hippo.

During the seventies, Denys Fisher Toys secured the rights to pretty much every television programme and celebrity going and slapped them onto games that were essentially just flashy Ludo. This is what happened when I played all of them. Well, apart from one... timworthington.org/2019/07/11/a...

Giant Hogweed, 'Adult' Teletext, Trebor giveaways and graffiti insulting Enoch Powell... timworthington.org/2019/07/16/t...

The Larks Ascending - a history of comedy on BBC Radio 3. It's like a lost world of humour hidden away in the small print in Radio Times. Paperback (15% off code PRINTED15) or Kindle from here. timworthington.org/books/the-la...

It's understandable that the Bond contributions and the later Oscar-winning scores tend to overshadow John Barry's earlier beat-boom era soundtrack work, but a good deal of it really is tremendous and here are some quick thoughts on where to start... timworthington.org/2025/04/24/m...

With huge thanks to @pablovich.bsky.social for standing in as host, here's me on what The Magic Roundabout is and why I love it so much. timworthington.org/2025/05/08/t...

If you love Press Gang, then you have a lot of reason to be grateful to Stephen O'Brien - a viewer who actually became involved with the show. You can hear all about his fascinating story - including how Steven Moffat discovered Blur - here... timworthington.org/2025/05/08/t...

Why do we still find Bagpuss every bit as haunting - in a positive sense - as we did at the time it was first broadcast? Steve O'Brien shares his thoughts on some of the possible reasons here... timworthington.org/2025/05/08/t...

One of the main reasons Grange Hill was so popular was that there was always a character or two that you secretly wished you could actually go to school with. So who did John Rain.want to team up with for a slice of the moneymaking mischief action? timworthington.org/2025/05/08/t...

Orm And Cheep - a nervous flightless bird and a more worldly-wise worm who aspired to, erm, sing - were kindly puppet pals who cared for all of their forest friends. So why did Juliet Brando want their natural predators to intervene?? timworthington.org/2025/05/08/t...

With @sliderulesyou.bsky.social on Orm And Cheep, @johnrain.co.uk on Grange Hill, Steve O'Brien on Bagpuss, Stephen O'Brien on Press Gang and @outonbluesix.bsky.social - with a little help from @pablovich.bsky.social - on The Magic Roundabout. timworthington.org/2025/05/08/t...

Absolutely thrilled to have been invited on to RHLSTP Book Club for a chat with @herring1967.bsky.social about The Golden Age Of Children's TV - and here's definitive proof that Johnny Ball really *did* balance a gold bar on his back in Think Of A Number... timworthington.org/2025/05/17/r...

What makes a really good ending? I think I know, and here are ten of my favourites... timworthington.org/2019/07/20/h...

Now - The Summer Album - the long-forgotten follow-up to Now - The Christmas Album - is one of the most baffling compilations ever released, grouping songs by words rather than by sound. Accidental genius, and here's a Smash Hits-assisted look at it... timworthington.org/2019/07/23/y...

Said this before, but Arthur Askey's first TV appearance was on Baird's experimental transmissions and his last was on Channel Four

Summer Chart Party is possibly the most baffling compilation that has ever existed. It's just a collection of recent hits of varying degrees that has little to do with 'Summer', 'Party' or arguably even 'Chart'. But over the summer of 1990, it was inescapable... timworthington.org/2019/07/28/p...