Welcome back to My 70s TV Childhood, the classic British TV podcast about growing up in 1970s Britain and the part television played in our lives.

This week we're looking back at Beasts, Nigel Kneale's six-part ITV anthology from 1976. There were no castles or alien planets, just a supermarket, a suburban home, an empty dolphinarium, a country cottage, a pet shop and a film studio. It was scratching behind a wall, rather than anything you actually saw, that followed us up the stairs to bed.

Our theme tune game for family and friends is close to going into production. Before manufacturing begins, it would really help to know whether you might be interested in buying it. There's no commitment at all, but your answer will help us estimate numbers. Register your interest at www.my70stvchildhood.com. Any purchases will help support the podcast, and launch details, along with a special opportunity for listeners to take part, will follow soon.

What to Expect

• Why the most disturbing 70s TV, from Armchair Thriller's faceless nun onwards, was rarely the most graphic
• Nigel Kneale, the Quatermass writer who knew an imagined threat is far worse than a visible one
• Special Offer: a young Pauline Quirke and the sinister supermarket mascot Brightway Billy
• During Barty's Party: a suburban couple, a siege of rats, and horror built almost entirely from sound
• Buddyboy: Martin Shaw, a derelict dolphinarium and an awkward evening on the sofa with my parents
• Baby, What Big Eyes and The Dummy: a mummified creature in a cottage wall, Michael Kitchen hunting for wolves, and an actor swallowed by his own monster
• Why watching once, at a fixed time, with no pause button and no internet, let our imaginations finish the job

Which episode of Beasts disturbed you the most? Leave a comment on the blog, on any of our social media pages, or email oliver@my70stvchildhood.com.

Take care,

Oliver

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Hello, you lovely lot, and welcome to the My 70s TV Childhood Quiz, the fun trivia quiz from the classic British TV podcast that looks back at growing up in 1970s Britain. This time we start with the scarier side of the schedules. Looking back, I'm surprised we all turned out so normal, or relatively so, given some of the things we were shown at teatime. Grab a pen and paper and your favourite brew (I'm back on tea today) and let's see how you get on.

What to Expect

• Round 1: Suitable for Children? The spooky, eerie and downright disturbing shows we watched as kids.
• Round 2: Marathon (Fil Rouge) Questions drawn from the subjects we've covered across more than 200 episodes of the podcast.
• Round 3: Spin the Wheel and Name That Tune The wheel picks a year and our AI powered theme tune generator plays five theme tunes from shows that started that year.
• Round 4: TV Times Anything goes in our general 1970s TV trivia round.
• Bonus Question The answer to last time's bonus question, and a brand new one.

Know the answer to the bonus question? Drop me a line at quiz@my70stvchildhood.com, and do let me know how you scored.

The My 70s TV Childhood Theme Tune Game

We are close to releasing a playable version of our famous theme tune round, a fun family game based on classic British TV theme tunes that you'll be able to play at home. If you'd like to be one of the first to hear more, register your interest at www.my70stvchildhood.com. It could make the perfect gift for the dad who has everything.

Take care,

Oliver

Connect and Follow

👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/my70stvchildhood

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/70stvchildhood

📲 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@my.70s.tv.childhoo

🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/70sTVchildhood

▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@my70stvchildhood

Get in touch!

Support the show

Welcome back to My 70s TV Childhood, the classic British TV podcast about growing up in 1970s Britain and the part television played in our lives. So many of you asked about it after our Wonder Woman episode that this week we're looking back at The Incredible Hulk, the programme that gave British children in the late 1970s a rather alarming lesson in anger management. From Bill Bixby's gentle, haunted David Banner to Lou Ferrigno's unforgettable Hulk, it's a show that shaped a generation, one ripped shirt at a time.

The My 70s TV Childhood Theme Tune Game

We're working on a playable version of our famous theme tune round, the My 70s TV Childhood Theme Tune Game, and we're now close to beginning manufacturing. Before we take that step, it would really help to know whether it's something you might buy. There's absolutely no commitment, but it will help us judge production numbers. If a nostalgic family game for people who grew up with 1970s British television sounds like your sort of thing, or like the perfect gift for the dad who has everything, register your interest at www.my70stvchildhood.com. Any profits will go straight back into the costs of making the podcast. More details, including the launch schedule, will follow soon.

We're also planning a special opportunity for listeners to be involved in an event marking the launch, so watch, or perhaps listen, to this space.

What to Expect

• Your messages: a request for help from listener Chris, whose mother appeared on Opportunity Knocks! on Monday 30 August 1971. That show is officially listed as lost, and with her special birthday approaching, we'd love to track down a recording. Plus your memories of Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman, and the 1974 TV film with Cathy Lee Crosby that passed me by.
• From comic to television: how producer Kenneth Johnson took Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's 1962 character and turned him into a serious drama, and why Bruce Banner became David Banner.
• Banner, McGee and the Hulk: Bill Bixby's warmth and dignity, Jack Colvin's relentless reporter, and Lou Ferrigno's frightening but never truly evil Hulk.
• The green, the shirts and the trousers: practical effects, playground debates and the miraculous trousers that survived every transformation.
• The Lonely Man Theme: Joe Harnell's music and why the final walk down the road still matters.
• Their America, our A1: why a drifter hitchhiking across America felt like pure adventure to British children.

Did you try your own transformation in the playground, or read the Marvel comics? Share your memories by leaving a comment on the blog, on any of our social media pages, or by emailing oliver@my70stvchildhood.com.

Take care,

Oliver

Connect and Follow

👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/my70stvchildhood

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/70stvchildhood

📲 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@my.70s.tv.childhoo

🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/70sTVchildhood

▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@my70stvchildhood

Get in touch!

Support the show