Phil Norman
@mrphilnorman.bsky.social
The Year of Listing Dangerously: https://historyoftv.substack.com
Jack Shepherd. Utterly magnificent in some of the best TV plays ever made. And, for that matter, pretty damn good in some of the very worst.
November 26, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Jack Shepherd. Utterly magnificent in some of the best TV plays ever made. And, for that matter, pretty damn good in some of the very worst.
Sudden memory of a Benny Hill Show where a lone audience member pissed themselves when Yaketty Sax got to the bit where it quotes Entrance of the Gladiators. Is that the lowbrow equivalent of slapping your thigh at a gag in As You Like It?
November 26, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Sudden memory of a Benny Hill Show where a lone audience member pissed themselves when Yaketty Sax got to the bit where it quotes Entrance of the Gladiators. Is that the lowbrow equivalent of slapping your thigh at a gag in As You Like It?
If we're to have more of these dramatisations of Great Moments in Rock, there should be one of the weekend when Captain Sensible was radicalised in the Crass commune.
November 24, 2025 at 9:51 PM
If we're to have more of these dramatisations of Great Moments in Rock, there should be one of the weekend when Captain Sensible was radicalised in the Crass commune.
The Galloping Gourmet - Graham Kerr triangulates a path between cosmopolitan sophisticate, down to earth bloke and "muggins here" culinary bluffer as he whips up full-fat continental treats and leaps over random bits of G-Plan.
open.substack.com/pub/historyo...
open.substack.com/pub/historyo...
November 24, 2025 at 7:36 PM
The Galloping Gourmet - Graham Kerr triangulates a path between cosmopolitan sophisticate, down to earth bloke and "muggins here" culinary bluffer as he whips up full-fat continental treats and leaps over random bits of G-Plan.
open.substack.com/pub/historyo...
open.substack.com/pub/historyo...
Separated at birth: Peter Sellers' I Haven't Told Her, She Hasn't Told Me (But We Know it Just the Same) and Bankrobber by The Clash.
November 23, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Separated at birth: Peter Sellers' I Haven't Told Her, She Hasn't Told Me (But We Know it Just the Same) and Bankrobber by The Clash.
I'm mildly obsessed with Venus Observed by Christopher Fry. Fry was the biggest name in British drama just after WWII, until John Osborne & the Royal Court tore theatre a new arsehole. So this is the Tales from Topographic Oceans to Osborne's Anarchy in the UK, to make a totally spurious comparison.
November 23, 2025 at 10:52 AM
I'm mildly obsessed with Venus Observed by Christopher Fry. Fry was the biggest name in British drama just after WWII, until John Osborne & the Royal Court tore theatre a new arsehole. So this is the Tales from Topographic Oceans to Osborne's Anarchy in the UK, to make a totally spurious comparison.
It's farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish Blakeys for Week 55 of Listing Dangerously. Also, Bill Maynard's on a bus, Pete Postlethwaite's in a caravan, Anthony Valentine's in Sydney, Orson Welles is in Norwich, and Simon Callow's in the pub, beating up squaddies.
open.substack.com/pub/historyo...
open.substack.com/pub/historyo...
Week 55: 22nd – 28th November, 1975
“Another fast-moving, action-packed programme, including yoga and prize leeks.”
open.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 11:15 AM
It's farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish Blakeys for Week 55 of Listing Dangerously. Also, Bill Maynard's on a bus, Pete Postlethwaite's in a caravan, Anthony Valentine's in Sydney, Orson Welles is in Norwich, and Simon Callow's in the pub, beating up squaddies.
open.substack.com/pub/historyo...
open.substack.com/pub/historyo...
I was reminded today of Varoomshka, the Guardian's 1970s satirical newspaper comic strip in monumentally dubious taste.
November 20, 2025 at 7:25 PM
I was reminded today of Varoomshka, the Guardian's 1970s satirical newspaper comic strip in monumentally dubious taste.
The most sublime and awe-inspiring dish on the Chinese takeaway menu is Caspar David Friedrice.
November 19, 2025 at 10:11 PM
The most sublime and awe-inspiring dish on the Chinese takeaway menu is Caspar David Friedrice.
Jon Pertwee could have seen Man O Man.
November 19, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Jon Pertwee could have seen Man O Man.
Seems like the appropriate time for this - a compendium of arcane Glaswegian slang from Roddy McMillan's 1974 Play for Today, The Bevellers.
November 18, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Seems like the appropriate time for this - a compendium of arcane Glaswegian slang from Roddy McMillan's 1974 Play for Today, The Bevellers.
I remember when one Sugarcube was enough to kill, cook and eat a puffin.
November 17, 2025 at 9:51 PM
I remember when one Sugarcube was enough to kill, cook and eat a puffin.
Pompidou Centre, Hackney branch.
November 17, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Pompidou Centre, Hackney branch.
I grow old... I grow old...
I shall tape Colin's Sandwich off UK Gold.
I shall tape Colin's Sandwich off UK Gold.
November 16, 2025 at 6:57 PM
I grow old... I grow old...
I shall tape Colin's Sandwich off UK Gold.
I shall tape Colin's Sandwich off UK Gold.
Steven Moffat's Jekyll (2007)
November 15, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Steven Moffat's Jekyll (2007)
The Play for Today discourse is here again, so here's my selection of a few off-trail nuggets - good, bad and bizarre - from the original series.
I see the press have begun turning out their lists of Play for Today episodes, which inevitably skew towards the predictable. So here are some alternative choices. NB: inclusion doesn't necessarily imply wholehearted endorsement, though they're guaranteed to be at the very least interesting.
November 14, 2025 at 5:06 PM
The Play for Today discourse is here again, so here's my selection of a few off-trail nuggets - good, bad and bizarre - from the original series.
Yoffy lifts a finger,
And a Rowse is there.
Puts his hands together,
And a Leavis takes the air.
Yoffy lifts a finger,
And a Kermode darts about.
Yoffy bends another,
And an Eagleton peeps out.
And a Rowse is there.
Puts his hands together,
And a Leavis takes the air.
Yoffy lifts a finger,
And a Kermode darts about.
Yoffy bends another,
And an Eagleton peeps out.
November 14, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Yoffy lifts a finger,
And a Rowse is there.
Puts his hands together,
And a Leavis takes the air.
Yoffy lifts a finger,
And a Kermode darts about.
Yoffy bends another,
And an Eagleton peeps out.
And a Rowse is there.
Puts his hands together,
And a Leavis takes the air.
Yoffy lifts a finger,
And a Kermode darts about.
Yoffy bends another,
And an Eagleton peeps out.
Last night's Play for Today was better than The Rainbirds.
November 14, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Last night's Play for Today was better than The Rainbirds.
I hear a Christian millenarian cult are trying to kickstart a release of an old Tom Baker spoken word LP. They want to immanentise the Pescaton.
November 13, 2025 at 5:16 PM
I hear a Christian millenarian cult are trying to kickstart a release of an old Tom Baker spoken word LP. They want to immanentise the Pescaton.
"Hey Vic, I understand brie was heavily implicated in that Waco cult business."
"Yes, and also Keith Barron's new sitcom."
"Yes, and also Keith Barron's new sitcom."
November 13, 2025 at 12:14 PM
"Hey Vic, I understand brie was heavily implicated in that Waco cult business."
"Yes, and also Keith Barron's new sitcom."
"Yes, and also Keith Barron's new sitcom."
Not sure about the new use of "unironically" to mean "ironically, but I don't want you to think I'm a wanker". As in, "I unironically think the Waitrose ad is a work of genius".
November 13, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Not sure about the new use of "unironically" to mean "ironically, but I don't want you to think I'm a wanker". As in, "I unironically think the Waitrose ad is a work of genius".
Serge Gainsbourg's Initials BB is just a melodramatic orchestration of Ronnie Hazlehurst's Requiem.
November 12, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Serge Gainsbourg's Initials BB is just a melodramatic orchestration of Ronnie Hazlehurst's Requiem.
Sales of Look-In could vary dramatically from week to week, depending on a number of factors.
November 11, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Sales of Look-In could vary dramatically from week to week, depending on a number of factors.
"I got blown up several years ago/And I woke up with a brand new show."
Job done.
Job done.
November 11, 2025 at 5:20 PM
"I got blown up several years ago/And I woke up with a brand new show."
Job done.
Job done.