The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour

The Mike Yarwood Christmas Show

In a return to the traditional enactment of yesteryear-viewing endemic to pre-1990, Velvet and Blackout play host to a Christmas guest who accompanies their scrutiny of an abundance of archetypes courtesy of Michael Yarwood and his Christmas Show of 1978. Not a politician nay a celebrity of the day is safe from the posturing, posing and parodying of the mimicking Mike and his arguably fundamental partnership with Janet Brown. Did said entertainment make an impression, or did it hang limply from a top lip like a Basil Fawlty prop that’s well passed its prime?

Just how much residual static lurks in that dinner suit? When and where did Anni-Frid Lyngstad meet Mark (Bez) Berry, and is their encounter documented in Tatler? Can we buy a jumper from Tom O’Connor? ‘Haway the lads’ and listen in…

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

M.R. James' A Warning To The Curious

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a ghost story, some say, and oft finding an appetite for the seasonally supernatural our heroes Velvet and Blackout set off to Norfolk to excavate the crowning glory of Christmas Eve, 1972 on the BBC. Yes, the televised adaptation of M.R. James’ A Warning To The Curious lures us into a malevolent and malignant mood, courtesy of an avaricious ex-convict and the whipping-boy of an over-zealous social-climber.

Is there an unequivocal connection between the beaches of the United Kingdom, waterproof outer-garments and demoniacal sociopaths? Does the clock shop also sell boxes of fudge with Grouty’s face on the lid? Does anyone still own a pair of plus-fours? The answers to these and less, are inside…

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

Kenny Everett's Christmas Carol

It is said that Christmas is a time for tradition, and there’s no better setting for Velvet and Blackout, than Dickensian London, as they visit  Auntie Beeb’s seasonal offering from 1985 in the form of Kenny Everett’s Christmas Carol. With such a fine supporting cast (God bless them, every one), and two highly-revered script writers behind him, Cuddly Ken can’t possibly fail to guarantee giggles aplenty in this Yuletide televisual feast right? Right?!?

Have you ever seen B.A. Robertson and Rob Brydon in the same room? Was Cleo Rocos in that very room? Does that same room contain cassettes with pre-recorded sessions of convincing audience laughter? Listen on…

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 Max Headroom Christmas Special

Substituting the traditional motifs of moss green and Santa-red for garish neon and pastels, Velvet And Blackout alight from a horse and carriage ride with a ‘ho ho ho’ as they experience the ghost of Christmas Yet-To-Come-To-Our-Screens in the form of 1980s avant-garde and adroit avatar, Max Headroom in his Christmas Special from 1986.  Are the limiting physical parameters of a television screen a metaphor for actual events that present themselves to the audience, or can the eclecticism of the guest-list save the day?

Just how prophetic can forty minutes of rushed-television really be? If this was a peep into a video conference-led future, are the script writers due some renumeration? Just how much of a good time is T Turner actually having? None of these answers and more, are here…

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

Russ Abbott's Christmas Madhouse

It’s Day Five of the constant Christmas content from Velvet and Blackout and the atmosphere is that of an all-night holiday once they step inside Russ Abbott’s Christmas Madhouse courtesy of London Weekend Television in 1984. The titular star is joined by an Avengers assemblage of contemporary vaudevillians to assist in the delivery of quick-fire, slapstick hilarity but is this enough to keep you ‘living it up’, or will it have you reaching for the Basildon Bond to complain?

Can the pre-Mavis Riley, comedy impersonation days be looked-upon as golden and precious yet long since forgotten? Does neon and pastel really pass as period set-dressing? Should we forgive all of the above on account of the wearing of silver slacks? Listen on, and decide for yourself…

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

 

Christmas Only When I Laugh

In this fourth, festival feature we take a pharmaceutical turn and find Velvet and Blackout in a hospital ward of all places with three unlikely, supposedly-ailing acquaintances courtesy of Yorkshire Television’s 1981 Christmas edition of the sitcom Only When I Laugh. On initial examination, it would seem that costume in the form of elegant gentleman’s pyjama-wear is in good health however a melancholic malaise has manifested in the form of cassette-derived, concocted, comedy cackling.

Can one be lucky enough to find the beautiful jade green and gold satin sartorial symphony that is Glover’s pyjamas still lying in a skip in Kirkstall Road? Is it possible to pronounce the surname of an amiable sitcom character with terror-inducing and demonic undertones? When did the heinous act of arson become a justified and seasonal plot point for a Christmas comedy? Listen on for a full diagnosis…

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

He-Man And She-Ra Christmas Special

The cosy confines of Christmas armchairs by the fire are abandoned for the cold, far reaches of the galaxy today, as  Velvet and Blackout harness the Power of Grayskull and romp among birthday celebrations on the planet of Eternia with Prince Adam and Princess Adora in The He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special from 1985.  Just like the Earth-bound Orko, they discover much, including the true meaning of utilising the established, creative content of other franchises.

Is there something romantic forming betwixt two un-earthly antagonists in the shadows of Snake Mountain? Just how blasé can the animated youth possibly be when in the presence of talking, floating garments?  Who IS the person with the trunk standing by the tree? All this and more inside…

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

Punchlines Christmas

In the twinkling of a star above a stable, our couple of Christmas critics return to a festive finger-buffet of contemporary celebrities from 1982 courtesy of London Weekend Television’s Punchlines, (with Lennie Bennett). Like any culinary collection, there’s bound to be the odd tasteless offering and this Christmas Eve broadcast is no exception.  A seasonal stockpiling of contemporary comedic talent on the twenty-fourth should leave us laughing well into the twenty-fifth shouldn’t it? Shouldn’t it?!

Can the cut of metaphorical beef that manifests between two celebrities be weighed on the average-sized set of butcher’s scales? Was the pullover-clad host on commission from Ferguson? And just who….WHO…is Albert Pontefract? Listen on for some answers to these important questions…

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 Little And Large Christmas Show

’Tis the season to be jolly once more, and hark! This heralds some frivolous and festive outpouring from Messrs Velvet and Blackout who, in the first of twelve (yes…twelve) daily broadcasts, endeavour to trudge through a blizzard of ghosts from the Yuletide televisual past. No quest is too Little or indeed too Large as their first frost-covered outing attests, examining Syd and Eddie’s respective BBC offering from 1980.

Will the performances of Mr Meade and Mr McGuinness cut the mustard, or will the over-serving of ‘sauce’ leave you with a bad taste in your mouth? Can a Harry Webb impersonation truly be pioneering? Can a prime-time light entertainment show be produced from cradle to grave in less than forty-eight hours? (No, it really can’t). The answers to these questions and more await…

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

Chorlton And The Wheelies/Are You Being Served?

Join us for a between-the-series bonus episode of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour, where teleportational trauma and practical menswear meet in a head-on collision. The social awareness of naive dragons and over-promoted store clerks is analysed under test conditions, as Doctor Velvet and Blackout pore over the first episode of Chorlton And The Wheelies, as well as a Series 4 outing from Are You Being Served?

How many times can a piece of music homage itself before creating a vortex? Which of our hosts would happily play a twelve hour game of hide-and-seek in an arena where a terrifying witch could pop out of thin air at any given moment? And what kind of school fails to give teenagers a fundamental grasp of double entendres?

Click on, listen in, 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