Oliver Wake

Two black and white photos stuck in an album, blurry pictures showing an old lash-up of wires, tubes, electronic boxes and equipment. The caption reads "30 Line TV set constructed by Sydney and Desmond Pullin 1933/4"

Family history day. Here's the 30-line TV set my great-grandfather and great uncle built for fun in the 1930s.

I wonder how many of those raising flags and shouting at hotels will bother spending an hour watching this to educate themselves on the basics of how their country came to be multicultural. Not many I fear. Those delicate flowers would be too triggered by the sight of a mixed heritage presenter.

Just caught up on the final episode of 'Empire with David Olusoga'. The first two were good but felt a little old hat. This one was a great conclusion, bringing the (his)story up to date with the (mainly) 20th century origins of the current insane political football of immigration.

And a documentary. Same one as on the Dr Who and the Savages bluray I think, for those who haven't seen it.

BBC Four - Schedules, Tuesday 23 December 2025 This is the daily broadcast schedule for BBC Four

If only.

www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p0...

Bit of a night anyway.

Astonished (pleasantly) to learn we've got an Innes Lloyd night coming up on BBC4 on the 23rd.

I was literally just about to say that!

I appreciate the Borthwick Institute's second choice of place access point for the Terrance Dicks archive - probably the first such catalogue entry of its kind.

That's interesting. I was only going by what was in the book I mentioned, which coincidentally I'd read yesterday. The specifics of frock or not frock (coat) go over my head.

You'll know this but apparently the Doctor's description here was the first time he was said to be wearing a frock coat. The terminology stuck, although he didn't wear an actual frock coat on TV until The Bells of Saint John. (This from James Cooray Smith's Black Archive on The Night of the Doctor.)

Splendid stuff. I wonder if some of those errant 'Doctor' capitalisations could be down to an editor or proofreader who hadn't fully appreciated the context.

So *that's* where it was. I went as a small child but could only recall that it was somewhere in Cornwall. The display shown below traumatised me. I was fine with the skeletons themselves. Inexplicably, it was that they were eating bowls of gravel that so freaked me out. No idea why.

Is that it?? Those aren't even profanities!

Go on then, @profanity.accountant I enjoy a good swear over a beer and my inner monologue makes me blush, but I try to keep it PG in front of people I don't know. How am I doing?

John Barron I think.

Well, the Z Cars is a funny one at least.

Tonight's schedule on TPTV: Z Cars followed by Doomwatch followed by The Stone Tape. Now that's a good Friday night.

Is the outdated term "invalid" the problem perhaps?

If I recall correctly, Newman (or someone) objected to Tegana putting a knife to Susan's throat as originally recorded.

Sack Sir Robbie Gibb from the BBC board Robbie Gibb said if he doesn't get his way, he'll blow the BBC up. It's ridiculous that a man like that has a spot on the BBC's board. Our public broadcaster MUST be independent. Agree? Sign to get Gi...

Robbie Gibb said if he doesn't get his way, he'll blow the BBC up. It's ridiculous that a man like that has a spot on the BBC's board. Our public broadcaster MUST be independent. Agree? Sign to get Gibb sacked: 38d.gs/stne

Excellent news!

Me too!

Yes. But any worthwhile programmes it (or any other odd numbered channel) has can be accommodated in the schedules of the remaining channels.

Genius idea to save the BBC’s budget and prestige: abolish all radio and TV channels not denoted by an even number.

Oh no, this is tremendously sad. Jack Shepherd was great in everything. He was fantastic in his big roles but he'd also pop up in smaller ones when you weren't expecting him and it was always a welcome surprise.

Orpheus

A blog update about Orpheus who released a game based on The Young Ones back in 1986.
whereweretheynow.blogspot.com/2025/11/orph...
#Commodore #ZXSpectrum #Amstrad #MSX #RetroGaming #RetroComputing

A front elevation design drawing for the Dalek shuttle from Remembrance of the Daleks with a slightly incomplete Dalek drawn alongside.

I love this detail from the Remembrance of the Daleks design drawings on the season 25 bluray. The little Dalek added for scale or context is a nice touch.

Now catching up on last night's Play for Today. When the continuity announcer warned of 'mild' bad language it sounded like they were apologising it wasn't stronger.

I've not seen that in any so far but I'm about 4 books in arrears. I assume it's a recent addition. And very welcome it is too.