Behind the scenes on Blue Peter

Fraser Range & Sea Devils

I recently had the very good fortune to bump into and chat with BBC Radio Tees Bob Fisher (Fortean Times, Haunted Generation) at the Delaware Road Ritual Resistance Festival in Wiltshire. We started to chat about the Solant Sea Forts and how they were used in Dr Who and the Sea Devils. I then informed Bob that Fraser Gunnery Range was the Navel Base in the series and was quite close to were I live.
Fraser Range (Eastney/Southsea seafront) also known as HMS St George is/was a former shore establishment for the Royal Navy, which closed during the 1980s. The site is currently derelict and there are plans to develop the site into some sort of luxury flats development. When I was very young going down to Fraser Range was quite exciting. On a Sunday morning you could sit on the beach and watch RAF Canberra and Hunter aircraft fly quite low over Fraser towing a large wind sock behind them, which the gunners would then shoot at. The Range was originally used to train gunnery personal in range and sight firing. The site had 4.5inch Guns (these could be heard all over the city when fired) and 40mm Bofers guns. At a later date Sea Cat and Sea Wolf Missles were installed there. The Guns were based there pointing out to sea and Red Flags would be flown on the beach and markers out at sea to keep shipping away. For a young chap like myself this was all very exciting, but even more exciting than this was the fact that Fraser became HMS Seasprite in the Jon Pertwee Katy Manning Dr Who series The Sea Devils;  No Mans Land Sea Fort in the Solent was used as well. Actor Jon Pertwee served in the Navy for 6 years and a lot of the extras were serving Naval personnel. The site is now derelict and very run down, the Range was closed in the 1980s and was taken over by the Admiralty Research Establishment. The site was finally shut in 2006. The iconic Radar Towers were taken down in 2013. No Sea Devils only Naturists now.

Christmas Radio Times 1977 Stigma

Its BBC Ghost Story for Christmas Stigma.

Need I say any more? 

 

Radio Times Christmas 1977

Zokko

For quite a while now my brain has been telling me that when I was very very young there was a program on Saturday lunch times call Zokko.
I have the occasional memory flashes of watching this program but could never be 100% sure or if I had just imagined the whole thing. After much searching (typed Zokko into Google) I have found a few bits and images relating to it. Zokko did exist and was a kids tv series that ran from 1968 to 1970. Strangely the first series used to be repeated on Wednesday afternoons, but the 2nd series never was. It was devised by children's TV producer Molly Cox and Paul Ciani. It featured animations, music hall jokes, narrated comic strips fast zany humour, variety acts and a sic-fi serial called Skayn. This was all linked up by a Pinball machine who served as the programs presenter.
By the 2nd series The pinball machine was gone and replaced by bubbling tubes of liquid, but the voice remained the same. The Zokko Pinball machine was designed by Mike Ellis (Father of Blue Peter Present Janet Ellis) the voice of the Pinball was created by the Radiophonic Workshop’s Brian Hodgson. It would seem that only two episodes from  the 2nd series are all that remains of Zokko (BFI Archive) For a lot more in depth info on Zokko go to The Curious British Telly site.

New series All for fun! Fun for all! Tar-rah! Zokko! is back - your own, your very own electronic comic! The old favourites return with some new ones as well... There's Skayn, the space-hero, in an exciting serial; plenty of jokes; a weekly Walt Disney choice; and a brand-new music machine, the like of which has never been seen before. Featured this week on the flying trapeze The Sisters Inaros; Skayn and the Moon People: with the voices of Sheelagh McGrath, Gordon Clude, Anthony Jackson, and pictures by Leslie Caswell. Zokko! music by Brian Fahey. Animation by Ted Lewis. Devised and produced by Paul Ciani and Molly Cox. (BBC recording)

West Country Tales

West Country Tales was an early 1980s anthology supernatural drama series based on real-life experiences sent in by viewers in response to a BBC appeal. Of the hundreds of letters received, 14 stories were selected and turned into TV scripts. Some of the actors who appeared in the series included Nanette Newman, Jenny Hanley, Anita Harris, Milton Reid, John Abineri, Wendy Richard, Tom Adams, Jack Watson, Keith Barron. Unfortunately of the 14 stories only nine seem to be available. The missing episodes are Tell It to the Marines, Sarah, The Little Bounder, The Healer, The Sabbatical. In some ways this series was perhaps a forerunner of programs like Channel 4's recent series True Horror. The episode called The Visitor tells the tale of A mother and her daughter who live in a remote cottage. One day they receive an unwelcome visitor whose intentions may or may not be malevolent.This is an interesting tale which could have almost been written (but was not) by Robert Aickman. In places this story does have the pace and feel of some of Aickman's short stories, some of which always seem to leave you feeling slightly undecided and unsure but always wanting to know more. If you can track a copy of the series down it is def worth a purchase. But I should add that the quality of some of the episodes on the DVD are quite poor. (I should mention I did not buy my copies, they were a gift from a friend, so do not know where they were purchased from) There are a few episodes of West Country Tales on YouTube

EVOLUON

SUMMER EXPO

A NEW SPANKING HOT MIXTAPE FROM WANNAMARCHI.CLUB

Free download and limited cassette at  http://wannamarchi.club/

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[Calling Wanna]
Partial Objects - Guy Andre
Nokuit - Shapeless Self
JEO - Prince of Space
Nokuit - Suspended
Tottenham Ayatollah - Never Be Safe
Nokuit - Structures
JEO - The Emanation of The Giant Albion, Side A
Nokuit - Restless Legs
The Soulless Party - Tales from the Black Meadow (Main Theme)
Partial Objects - Physical Education
Nokuit - Deep Breathing
Tottenham Ayatollah - Jihaddi John's Drug Binge
Imperial Leather - Death to Traitors Freedom for Britain
Nokuit - Screwed Angels - Moments of Ecstasy
Imperial Leather - So Long [Project Fear is Over]
[Try Again]
--

Nuke Weapons Effects Computer

Could come in handy. Just find the relevant Bomb size/blast radius and of you go. House Damage, Casualties in hours, Untrapped, Seriously Injured, Air Burst Ground Burst.

I was given one of this quite a few years back and have spent a lot of time trying to work out where I would leg it to if we were about to get hit. I can confirm the answer is nowhere.

See Threads.

Beneath the City Streets by Peter Laurie (Revised edition / Panther, 1979)

When I first acquired this book a few years ago (I literally found it on the street as I recall), I considered it an amusing reminder of the grim extremes of cold war paranoia. Fast forward to 2017 however, and I am somewhat less amused. In fact, I find myself worrying about the likelihood that the government have let all those emergency food dumps go to pot since the Berlin Wall fell, and fearing the day when I might find myself vainly trekking towards one of them with my few remaining possessions stuffed in a bin liner. Oh well, you’ve gotta laugh etc…