It’s August 1972 and you’re trapped in a London suburb. You’re short of the readies for trips beyond the front doorstep and reliant on the TV and radio for injections of the fantastical into your mundane existence. These are your choices, such as they are, for this week.
Please be aware that the reviews of the period may just say things that are daft, dumb or even offensive, and are posted for the historical context rather than a desire to corrupt and deprave.
Saturday 5th August 1972
Radio1 – 6.30pm – In Concert, Pink Floyd
Introduced by John Peel, this was a repeat of the Sept 9th 1971 show at London’s Paris Theatre which had originally been broadcast on Oct 11th of the same year. The band still carried the air of the future with them, and would continue to do so in ever-dismissing amounts until The Wall. The set list here was Fat Old Sun, One Of These Days, Embryo and Echoes.
BBC1 – 7.00pm – The Lost World (1960)
“A reasonably imaginative excursion into Conan Doyle country, though the Victorian wit of the original is completely absent … The effects are good and the budget is high, though the characterisation remains one dimensional.” (Time Out)
“With Jill St John in tow, you can guess how far Prof. Challenger’s expedition into prehistory has wandered from Conan Doyle’s literary tracks. The lizards photographed large may look less like contemporary reptiles on your home screen, but the zoo will give you more genuine thrills.” (A.W., Evening Standard.)
LWT – 10.40pm – Aquarius: Alfred The Great
“(Presenter) Humphrey Burton … is serious enough about his enthusiasms to communicate them lightly … I would have thought that the pear-shaped Mr. Hitchcock had been as much interviewed as any docker; that there was little new to learn about his intentions. But Burton’s interview … brings forth new insights.” (Tom Hutchinson, E.S.)
Sunday 6th August 1972
LWT – 12.45 – Catweazle: The Ghost Hunters (repeat)
LWT – 13.15 – Stingray: Marineville Traitor (repeat)
Monday 7th August 1972
BBC1 – 10.50am – Adventures Of Tin Tin: The Crab With The Golden Claw part 16 (repeat – shown every day until Wednesday at this time.)
BBC1 – 10.55am – Magic Roundabout (repeat – on every day until Wednesday at this time.)
BBC Radio 4 – 4.30pm – Story Time: Rockets In Ursa Major by Fred & Geoffrey Hoyle (on every afternoon this week at this time.)
“A space-ship sent from Earth 30 years before, in the 1980s, and long given up for lost, is suddenly discovered to be on its way home. But what happened to its crew?”
BBC1 – 9.20pm – Doomwatch: Cause Of Death
“Maybe we’re creating just the kind of world we deserve. And if it finally destroys us or drives us mad, that’ll be what we deserve too.” (RT)
“That trendy bore, Dr. Ridge, is back again, this time because his aged father is in a controversial geriatrics clinic. How we treat our old people is an issue of such concern, I hope it is not devitalised by too many Doomwatch hysterics.” (Tom Hutchinson, ES.)
Tuesday 8th 1972
BBC1 – 7.45 – Laugh With Hope: Bob Hope Stars In ‘The Cat And The Canary’ (1939)
“When Joyce Norman (Paulette Goddard) inherits a house and fortune in the wild Bayuns country of Louisiana, her only problem is staying alive long enough to collect them.” (RT)
“Creepy thriller that has had its creeps and thrills removed so that Bob Hope can wisecrack his way through the things that go bump in the old dark house. Some of them are dud gags falling flat.” (AW, ES.)
BBC2 – 9.25pm – Out Of The Unknown: The Sons And Daughters Of Tomorrow (repeat)
“The East Anglian village of Plampton has one distinction: a famous unsolved murder. To conclude his famous series on unsolved case, a cynical journalist decides to go down to Plampton and see what he can stir up.” (RT)
“I’m a sucker for a good horror story, and this repeated Eddie Boyd shocker about a sinister East Anglian village, dominated by a group of weirdies, began well. But the suspension of disbelief fell off the hook at the end. Pity.” (Tom Hutchinson, ES)
“Spooky; but predictable.” (Time Out)
Wednesday 9th 1972
BBC1 – 10.50 – Noggin and the Ice Dragon: The Little Man. ((repeat – on every day including Friday at this time.)
BBC1 – 7.25pm – Mission Impossible: Time Bomb
“Damp squib of a series, this is about Peter Graves posing as an eccentric artist to gain entry to a nuclear plant.”
Thursday 10th 1972
ITV – 11.00pm – The Avengers: Super Secret Cypher Snatch (repeat)
Friday 11th 1972
Pick Of The Week: BBC Radio 3 – 6.40pm – The Horror Story Part 3: Psychohorror
“J.G. Ballard talks with Dr Christopher Evans about the development of psychohorror and about his own explorations of terror within the mind. His short story The Gioconda Of The Twilight Noon is read by Hugh Dickson.” (RT)
The Almanac Of The Fantastical will return tomorrow …
The Almanac Of The Fantastical 