Highlights from Looks Unfamiliar with @redskyatnight.bsky.social on Fax, @mitchbenn.bsky.social on The Deceivers, @markreckons.bsky.social on Your Party Needs You, @donnarees.bsky.social on The Monty Python Matching Tie And Handkerchief and more! timworthington.org/2025/07/24/t...

That's some nice market calming there Mr President

It brings all the great-grandmothers to the yard

From way back in the Looks Unfamiliar archives, here's the very first one that went unexpectedly viral - me and @markreckons.bsky.social talking about Hanna Barbera's classic horror-themed The Drak Pack, microchip-skewed action series Whiz Kids and more... timworthington.org/2017/09/08/l...

Trump and Hegseth are making statements that legal experts say constitute war crimes. On live television. Without apology.

Excellent piece here from @jamesrball.com where he systematically takes apart the latest literary attempt by MattGPT. The comment from Goodwin at the end in the "right to reply" section couldn't be more perfect in summarising what a thin-skinned individual he is app.thenewworld.co.uk/story/153589...

Rumours that three canine skeletons were found nearby are unconfirmed

Reading Alexei Sayle's autobiography. We're at 1976 when he's 24 and no mention at all of comedy yet. So far he's a working class Liverpudlian who moved to London to go to art college and had a series of normal jobs. Fascinated to see how in 3 years time he becomes the compere at The Comedy Store.

At least Trump was gracious when he found out that Robert Mueller had died. Oh.

If Haart require their young employees to have cars that are less than 10 years old as it's a key requirement of the job then they need to provide them with a car that is less than 10 years old. Otherwise they're effectively saying "Job only open to kids with rich parents". Which is discriminatory.

Er...

Delighted for Jessie Buckley. I remember her when she was an auditionee on "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?" nearly 20 years ago. To see her now winning the top acting accolade in the world is quite something.

Listening to some of the clips that @outonbluesix.bsky.social provided in a recent @looksunfamiliar.bsky.social (pca.st/podcast/3fa3...) I am struck by how reminiscent in several places Out Of This World by Tony Hatch is to the theme music from Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)

I thought he didn't need our ships? Starmer should tell him to fuck off.

Denis Healey's autobiography is a constant source of joy

Wonderful episode here of @looksunfamiliar.bsky.social with Richard Marson who worked in the BBC and in children's TV for much of his career. Probably the first guest to properly rival Tim for his encyclopedic knowledge of TV! pca.st/episode/bceb...

Just tried to charge mitsubishi phev outlander at a charging point and there was no cable. So I need to buy another cable? For the privilege of paying 3x what it costs to charge it at home? Plus the faff of downloading the app & having to put payment details in. They really need to get better. Fast.

I'd been trying to find it in the regional ITV archives but it turns out it was sitting there in the Genome listings all along on the BBC. ITV acquired the rights shortly after this which is how it ended up on the ITV consortium owned Super Channel broadcast in Europe in 1988. Query solved :)

Thanks to @waltydunlop.bsky.social I've been able to find something that I mentioned on @looksunfamiliar.bsky.social years back. I watched an episode of Ghost Story (NBC 1972) in Holland in 1988 called Alter Ego and I wanted to know if it had ever been broadcast in the UK. Well turns out it was.

Thanks to @waltydunlop.bsky.social for finding a scan of this. It proves the thing I'm looking for (Ghost Story/Circle of Fear NBC 1972) was not broadcast on ITV in the Southern region then. But it may have been on 19th Dec 1975 or 2nd Jan 1976. Anyone got any scans of those dates for Southern TV?

Bit of a long shot but does anyone have a scan of TV Times for the Southern region (or any neighbouring region) for 11th - 17th September 1975?

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...

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

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...

Just finished All Out War by @shippersunbound.bsky.social - a comprehensive account of the Brexit campaign before, during and its immediate aftermath. It's perhaps the most detailed political book I've ever read and quite an achievement given he finished within 3 months of the referendum. Thoughts..

Mark Thompson (@markreckons.bsky.social) joins me for a chat about Pizzicato Five, Your Party Needs You, Lost In Austen, Society, Shadow Chasers, Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo, Jasper Carrott's I've Got This Mole and more... timworthington.org/2025/03/18/l...

Its also demeaning to the dead and acquaintances or families who might see it without warning.

BBC News. Please do not put pictures of children who have died on your main page. Some of us who have lost children so not want to see it. It's triggering to see.

This perfectly illustrates my point that the British tabloids are aiming at a US audience. There like 5 people in the UK who think about this. But it is huge among US evangelicals. British politicians need to ignore UK tabloids, as UK tabloids are talking to an audience in the US for clicks.

Er...

coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool.

IPSO have published their verdict on The Daily Telegraph’s fake £345,000-a year banker couple who claimed they couldn’t afford five holidays. The paper declined to explain to the watchdog how the article came to be published - but our reporting at the time sets it out…

Oh god, I've had a bad and sad Celebrity Immient Death Vision™️ And this one will really upset me

"We called London a war zone and moved to Dubai by mistake"

Our taxes are paying for this instead of healthcare.

My Grandfather had Tourette’s. I know that he experienced prejudice and attempts to bully him. I’ve been pretty stunned that in the reaction to the Davidson episode, we’ve seen a lot of the ignorance that he, a man living his life in the mid 20th century, would have recognised only too well.

Er.....

I've just read the article here and it's "Oh noes teh taxman is potentially going to take £80,000 from our £1.2 million estate" i.e. about 7% of their estate and they're desperately thrashing around trying to find ways to dodge this claiming it's "penalising" them for living in Hertfordshire. FFS

It's 6 minutes in on this YouTube clip. Lenny looks like he's about 12. youtu.be/fgqLE3t-ru8

Thanks to one of @neilsmiles.com VHS uploads I have finally worked out something that has been bugging me for 45 years. Something with the catchphrase "It's Weird, dur dur du du". It's an advert for Square Crisps with Lenny Henry from 1982! I thought it was probably Roy Jay but could never find it.

From way back in the Looks Unfamiliar archives, here's the very first one that went unexpectedly viral - me and @markreckons.bsky.social talking about Hanna Barbera's classic horror-themed The Drak Pack, microchip-skewed action series Whiz Kids and more... timworthington.org/2017/09/08/l...

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Qué?

It happened again

Writer for hire! I’m available to help polish up scripts (Edinburgh on the horizon); Make your wedding speech amazing or consult on a writing project you’re working on. 30 years experience working in the telly, radio, journalism, advertising - my website www.mathew-owen.co.uk Please share! 👍👍

You'd think Reform would be delighted that a white, working class plumber got elected and they beat the metropolitan elite university lecturer.

The right are furious that a white, English tradesperson got elected.

It actually seems redolent of those "poll-watchers" who have turned up at recent US election polling stations. In their case they are clearly there to intimidate voters. I really hope this is not the UK equivalent.

Also who the fuck are these "Democracy Volunteers" being reported about? Because any group with a name like that that complains *after polls close* about something called "family voting" in order to seemingly muddy the waters about the vote screams "right-wing front organisation". Tell me I'm wrong.