The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour

The Real Ghostbusters/In Loving Memory

It may be warm outside, but the ever-present, preternatural chill in the heart of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour means that even the sunniest months are spent in gleeful contemplation of spooky televisual scheduling. And while Doctor Velvet and Blackout don't engage Full Pumpkin Mode™ just yet, they're still on the blower to a pair of organisations that can help potential patrons deftly dispose of the dead...

 

Grudgingly lifting the receiver through spent bubblegum and sarcasm is the very first episode of 1986 animated series The Real Ghostbusters, where the title's adjective is every bit as spurious as its proper noun. Next up it's morbid introspection of a far gentler pace, as Thora Hird and Christopher Beeny undertake to bring us all some antiquated laughs In Loving Memory.

 

Has there ever been a clearer case of buyer's remorse than DIC Enterprises winning the contract to adapt one of the most successful movies of all time to animation? Has there ever been a more bitter works-do than a pan-county gathering of rival organisations who all know how to quietly get rid of a body? And has there ever been a greater disparity of Pegs On The Line between the first and second halves of this podcast?

 

Figure out who you're gonna call and hit that button...

 

The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Wizbit/Odd One Out

Ever keen to test the contemporary legitimacy of old idioms, The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour has noted that while good things may come in small packages, it does not stand to reason that all small packages are good. And there are few things smaller and with more questionable good-ness than the subject of this week's podcast...

In a Daniels-centric outing, Doctor Velvet and Blackout are joined by Ozzy Bognops to cast a critical eye over the seminal children's fantasy series Wizbit, before ramping up the tension with a nail-biting edition of the prime time quiz show Odd One Out.

How many excuses can three people give for watching programmes which really are not aimed at them? How many questions does Michael want to get right before he gives someone else a chance to play the ruddy game? And how many other podcasts do you know that would cover a Paul Daniels double-bill where neither of those is his magic show?

It's fingers on Play Buttons and first to find out wins...

The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

First Class/Dempsey & Makepeace

In the hallowed halls of MountPeg Towers, young Doctor Velvet and Blackout like nothing more than taxing their brains to a good quiz and/or mystery. And having gained a reputation for all the nothing, Pod Producer Ken has finally sat them down in front of some fast-paced 1980s excitement...

It's off to the BBC first, as The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour takes a predictably arch look at Debbie Greenwood's esteemed TV kids' quiz First Class, following which it's a trip to the big smoke courtesy of ITV; to fight crime, greed and questionable wardrobe choices with Dempsey & Makepeace.

Has the old adage of always running new clothes through the machine before wearing them not extended as far as the Metropolitan Police? Has the new adage of always having a goth and a gamer on your pub quiz team ever payed off quite so well as here? And which of our hosts was responsible for the Bank of England Inflation Calculator website crashing earlier this week?

First one on the buzzers to press Play wins one of them t-shirts off the market...

The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Super Gran/George & The Dragon

It's the show that asks: the sun might always shine on TV, but what happens when that TV is showing North Tyneside? The gang at MountPeg Towers are all about respecting their elders, so the prospect of spending a double-shift in company where this will be expected leads now to some industrial level tongue-biting...

Only joking! It's business as snarky usual when The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour runs into a pair of older ladies who, quite frankly, are more than cut out to look after themselves. Our first port of call is a date with Super Gran and her desaturated origin story, before later alighting in the Southern counties to see Dame Pegatha Mountbatten herself in George & The Dragon, where at least the whole thing is supposed to be in black and white.

Who signed that off? (the first one) Who thought that would be an appropriate opening? (the second one) Who's watching this in the twenty first century when The Stranger Things is on? (both)

You can have a good laugh at the answer to the third of those at least, by pressing Play...

The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Star Wars: Droids/Starsky & Hutch

And so they're back! In outer space! You just walked in to find Doctor Velvet and Blackout here with that patient, if faintly underwhelmed look upon their face(s)! Yes, The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour returns for another spectacular series, as some beloved favourites come under the retrospective microscope, as well as a few forgotten gems...

The first stop on tonight's excursion is a Galaxy Far, Far Away, to catch up with the goggle-eyed antics of some familiar Droids. Following which, it's a short ride back down to earth and the gritty streets of Bay City, where Messrs Starsky and Hutch have got their work cut out trying to fight crime efficiently in California bedecked in heavy knitwear.

How forgiving does one have to be of a half-hearted televisual spin-off of an iconic film series, given that the alternative is 'well, nothing at all then'? How excited can one get to be plunged into a familiar city for the very first time, with new characters that feel like old friends? And how robust is one man's coccyx that he smacks derriere-first onto the roof of his own car every single week, gradually destroying the vehicle like a painfully slow version of the bonus round in Street Fighter II?

Press the play button and You Will* Survive to find out...

 

(*Should. Survival not guaranteed.)

The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

New series trailer: The Moomins/My Husband And I/Science Workshop

Yes, the sun is blazing and fun is being had, which means it must be time once again for our intrepid heroes to close the curtains, open some bottles and spend what is arguably the best part of the year huddled indoors furiously scribbling notes at the idiot's lantern about programmes that normal people watched three or four decades ago then promptly forgot.

In this trailer for the exciting NEW SERIES of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour, normal televisual service is resumed as Doctor Velvet and Blackout nurse a crushing hangover with The Moomins, pop over for drinks with My Husband & I, and invite Ozzy Bognops round to test the very nature of reality in the Science Workshop.

What is the Scandinavian for "a double alka seltzer, two hot dogs and back to bed for an hour while you STOP playing that flute"? Who has the right - or the might - to pick up Alan White's gauntlet of going round shops to perform impromptu audits on their scales? And how do we still not have day-jobs that involve necking Sherry with Mollie Sudgen in her office at 3pm?

The answers lie shortly after pressing that Play button...

The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

The Return Of Captain Invincible

Okay, it's all very well handing in the paperwork for a superhero flick at the pitch meeting and then blowing the budget on a spy caper (yes Disney, we're looking at you) but at MountPeg Towers, capes are taken incredibly seriously. To redress the balance, our heroes have invited round the gentlemen from The ExtonMoss Experiment to form a committee for auditing silver spandex on celluloid...

And tasked with bringing the very best of cutting-edge contemporary superhuman cinema to the luxury screening room, Producer Ken has returned from Ritz with a jar of picked eggs and 1983's The Return Of Captain Invincible. It is unclear whether the tape has been rewound or just never before rented out.

How does one go about making a superhero film in the wake of Richard Donner's Superman - and starring Sir Christopher Ruddy Lee, no less - which will remain largely unseen, even in an age obsessed with superheroes? How does one maintain that it's definitely a superhero film when it features an entire song comprising lyrically of one swear-word and a scene with thirty possessed Hoovers? And what's the refund policy at the video shop?

Turn on your magnet-powers and feel the draw toward that Play button...

The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

The Boys In Blue

Summer has well and truly arrived outside MountPeg Towers, and since the Happy Shopper set up their own de-liver service it can largely stay there. Faced with the unpleasant prospect of going outside and getting fresh air, the intrepid hosts of The Peggy Mount Sunday Matinee Hour decide the only people they want to interact with is regular guest Ozzy Bognops, so invite him round to drink port and watch a video. Again.

What's needed before the great outdoors (and/or unwashed) can be braved is some good old fashioned moral fortitude, and where better to scrape inspiration than the 1982 crime caper The Boys In Blue? Starring Messrs Cannon and Ball, it's sure to be high on laughs if not on octane. You'd think.

How is it that TV-promo spots and display merchandising turn out to be more memorable than the films they're tasked to advertise? How did a top-notch supporting cast manage to not have their careers mothballed after starring in a Confessions film without the smut? And how is it that three podcasters finished recording this episode and then talked for another 45 minutes about a film they'd spent an hour dismissing?

Fire up the siren, call in a 10-51 and find out...

The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Condorman

The televisual schedule continues to be utter rubbish and short of vintage gems to digest and dissect, Doctor Velvet and Blackout have once again sent Producer Ken round to the video shop to procure some small-screen cinematic entertainment for The Peggy Mount Sunday Matinee Hour...

This week he's returned with a 3L bottle of Rola Cola, a kilo of flying saucers and a well-worn tape of Charles Jarrott's blistering 1981 superhero / spy action adventure comedy, Condorman. Ken has several faults, but his ability to party is not one of them.

How does a comic-book illustrator with zero grasp of physics manage to find someone at the CIA to bankroll development of their ridiculous inventions? How easy is it to get an all-expenses-paid holiday all over Europe by telling Disney you're making a film with yellow costumes and no continuity advisor? And where do we sign up?

Thump your activator button, take a leap of faith and find out...

The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Popeye

The Peggy Mount Sunday Matinee Hour video shop is open and the tapes are simply flying off the shelves. But far from numbing their brains to the latest popcorn-fodder, Doctor Velvet and Blackout prefer to crack open the reserve rum and engage with a maritime marvel from the vintage selection...

Under the critical microscope this week is Robert Altman's seminal 1980 tale of nautical neuroses, Popeye. With its comedy/adventure/musical format and a cast of certified comedy genii, horror movie icons and character actor stalwarts, there's bound to be something in here for everyone. That's what it said on the back of the box, anyway.

Which of our podcast hosts chose what could possibly be the most haunting cinematic voyage of its era? Who will pay for the years of therapy which will now be required by the other one? And who the flipping, ruddy heck was in charge of Disney's live-action quality control processes in the late 1970s?

Lash your hulls to our ports and find out...

The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com