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Last RT of @richard_littler – I often think about the media I consumed as a kid in the 1980s and 90s. It was a weird point when there were lots of channels to fill (not only TV but also VHS shelves) and not enough media to fill it.
So we got a crash course in popular film of the 1930s-50s, watching George Formby, Norman Wisdom and Ealing comedies without any particular sense of them being old. Because most of the films on TV were old; most were black and white, too, I think.
I devoured Hancock's Half Hour not as 'retro' but as one of the best sitcoms around, even if the Never Had it so Good gags sailed over my head. I loved it so much I wrote a new episode for my GCSE drama coursework.
I played The Man from U.N.C.L.E. in the school playground – a show that finished a decade before I was born. Again, there was no irony or snark there: I just thought it was cool, and they were cool, and enjoyed the stories.
The first thing I remember enjoying ironically – the first moment I realised they were fobbing us off with old crap – was when the BBC started showing Children's Film Foundation movies on (I think) Friday afternoons. Why is everyone wearing flares? I wondered.
These were end-of-term treats at school, too, first on the projector, then on the special telly on wheels. This is so bad and cheesy, I would chortle, then have nightmares about One Hour to Zero or Glitterball.
This was also a weird way to absorb American culture: shopworn sitcoms with yellow text over grainy footage of the cast taking it in turns to be surprised by the camera; Harold Lloyd followed by The Honeymooners followed by Batman.
I dunno, I guess I miss the confusing melange that results from schedule planners scrambling for content, jamming stuff together, rightly recognising that kids will watch anything. I miss old stuff being recirculated into the main supply.
But then maybe this is also why so many people not much older than me think they lived through WWII. In Which We Serve on Wednesday afternoon and ancient Pathe newsreels as part of summer holiday programming will do that to you.
