Podcast Episode · The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour · 17/12/2021 · 52m

They said it couldn’t be done, but here we are at last - the twelfth day of Pegmas and the final seasonal serving of treasured, televisual treats.  As was staunch tradition once upon a telly time, Christmas Eve bestowed upon us a lavish light-entertainment repast in the form of BBC’s Christmas with Val Doonican from 1986. Messrs Velvet, Blackout and Bognops pull on festive knitwear, a well-pressed slack and get seated ‘pon rocking chairs ready for the musical festivities. Does every rented luxury property in Maidenhead come with a horse-drawn carriage as the de rigour form of commute? Where can I buy reproduction garments so that I may cos-play Val Doonican? Do we wish you, our devoted listener, the very merriest Christmas? Yes, we most certainly do. Enjoy this final episode of the series and in particular have a chuckle at the end; it’s crackers. The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com  

"And hark", proclaimed Producer Ken, "before the clock strikes Christmas Day, you will be visited by THREE podcasts!". 'Oh here we go' thought Scrooge, just wanting to get on. "You must learn from the pod of telly past, the pod of telly past and then the pod of telly past." Well, he'd expected repeats at this time of year, but Scrooge didn't argue because he'd looked through the Radio Times and hadn't even taken the top off his red marker... Yes it's the first of the festive specials from The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour, and to set the scene the boys need to go RIGHT back to ITV's Christmas With The Larkins. Blazing a trail through the fledgling sitcom-market, Dame Peggy herself berates and bellows her way to a yuletide family gathering with all the farcical trimmings and mishaps we've come to expect over the intervening decades. What can go wrong? Oh, everything. How many trombone wah-s are acceptable as the comedown to a punchline? How many household appliances can be used to defrost a turkey? And how many instances of imminent or actual violence need to be in a script before Peggs will greenlight it? Look, you're not pressing Play right - let Peggy take over and find out...   (Bonus points and/or an extra Quality Street will be awarded to listeners who pick up on the Stewart Lee reference secreted in this episode) The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com    

As dear Laird McMullington of Kintyre once slaved 'pon his bureau to note: "The moon is right; the dander's up; we're watching channel three tonight; there's absolute hell on". And as cumbersome as those lyrics may appear in their written form, it's worth noting that his same ditty goes on to employ the carefully chosen libretto "ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding ooh ooooh". So y'know, you take your cultural insight where you can find it...Back on terra iracundia however, messrs Velvet, Bognops and Blackout inflict upon themselves a duology of televisual flagellation from the light channel in the form of T.Bag's Christmas Turkey and Cilla Black's Christmas - two vintage yuletide offerings which evidently did their very utmost to fly the flag for Scrooge-like militant atheism in the living rooms of children and adults alike. So at least everyone's catered for. Which is the meaning of Christmas, we suppose.Did our Lady Of Perpetual Outrage Dame Pegatha Mountbatten have an inadvertent hand in Thames Television's resounding lack of franchise-renewal? Is a heart-melting sense of festive poignancy overdone by depicting Baroness Cillosis Blackjack as some old lady who sits around the house waiting for guests who never turn up and talking at the television? And is it just true that no good terrestrial Christmas programming has ever been broadcast on a channel which has adverts?You'd certainly be forgiven for thinking so... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

It’s Day Five of the constant Christmas content from Velvet and Blackout and the atmosphere is that of an all-night holiday once they step inside Russ Abbott’s Christmas Madhouse courtesy of London Weekend Television in 1984. The titular star is joined by an Avengers assemblage of contemporary vaudevillians to assist in the delivery of quick-fire, slapstick hilarity but is this enough to keep you ‘living it up’, or will it have you reaching for the Basildon Bond to complain? Can the pre-Mavis Riley, comedy impersonation days be looked-upon as golden and precious yet long since forgotten? Does neon and pastel really pass as period set-dressing? Should we forgive all of the above on account of the wearing of silver slacks? Listen on, and decide for yourself… The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com  

Substituting the traditional motifs of moss green and Santa-red for garish neon and pastels, Velvet And Blackout alight from a horse and carriage ride with a ‘ho ho ho’ as they experience the ghost of Christmas Yet-To-Come-To-Our-Screens in the form of 1980s avant-garde and adroit avatar, Max Headroom in his Christmas Special from 1986.  Are the limiting physical parameters of a television screen a metaphor for actual events that present themselves to the audience, or can the eclecticism of the guest-list save the day? Just how prophetic can forty minutes of rushed-television really be? If this was a peep into a video conference-led future, are the script writers due some renumeration? Just how much of a good time is T Turner actually having? None of these answers and more, are here… The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

from The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour.

Christmas comes but once a year, yet thrice it 'casts into your ear(s)! Yes, with the dinner eaten and the games over, the party is in full swing as The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour's festive delving culminates its way to the yuletide jamboree! Approaching an advanced state of refreshment, Doctor Velvet, Blackout and Ozzy Bognops are in the mood for some salt-of-the-earth tinkling of The Old Joann-oh™, and so it's naturally to The Light Channel they turn. And boogey-woogeying its way down to a studio-approximation of the East End is 1982's incomparable Chas & Dave's Christmas Knees-Up, where the cockney duo rattle out a handful of their own hits while playing host to Jimmy Cricket, Lennie Peters, Cosmotheka, Albert Lee and Eric Clapton. Variety shows are bread and butter pudding to this podcast of course, and live musical acts come under particular scrutiny - so it's anyone's guess as to how far the goodwill of this particular season will stretch... Are Chas and Dave starting to regret phoning up their most famous mates for a jam? Has Lennie Peters come down to sort out some right muppet who's bin bad-maafing his mannah? And is Alyn Ainsworth hiding in the Rancor pit? Put your beer in the sideboard here, let mother press Play and find out... (Bonus points and/or an extra jellied eel will be awarded to listeners who can sing along AND do the harmonies) The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com        

Podcast Episode · The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour · 19/12/2020 · 18m

Well the halls are decked, the porches have been lamped and the back passage is well and truly stuffed, which can mean only one thing: it's time once again for The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour Christmas Special! Yuletide is a time for extravagance of course, when year-end budgets are well and truly blown in the name of celebration and merriment. So naturally, our hosts have found two exceptions. First up on the roster is a look at what we're all going to be eating on the big day, as Dorothy Sleightholme and Stella Boldy show us round Yorkshire Television's innuendo-laden Farmhouse Kitchen, then it's round to Jim Bowen's for a game of the old arrers with some big names in 1987's Bullseye Christmas Celebrity Special. And if a tea-urn full of warm lager isn't quite your thing, some salted almonds are sure to help the drinks go round... How contained is Bowen's umbrage at having to actually learn lines for a fully scripted show? How restrained is Sleightholme's fury at having to share her studio with a co-presenter? And how ingrained is the urge of three podcast hosts to scour online marketplaces for every single piece of vintage tie-in merchandise that was ever flogged on-screen? Press the Play button before someone at Central Television realises nobody is keeping a score, and find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com      

Podcast Episode · The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour · 17/12/2022 · 33m

The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour · Episode

Podcast Episode · The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour · 21/12/2020 · 23m

It’s Day Five of the constant Christmas content from Velvet and Blackout and the atmosphere is that of an all-night holiday once they step inside Russ Abbott’s Christmas Madhouse courtesy of London Weekend Television in 1984. The titular star is joined by an Avengers assemblage of contemporary vaudevillians to assist in the delivery of quick-fire, slapstick hilarity but is this enough to keep you ‘living it up’, or will it have you reaching for the Basildon Bond to complain? Can the pre-Mavis Riley, comedy impersonation days be looked-upon as golden and precious yet long since forgotten? Does neon and pastel really pass as period set-dressing? Should we forgive all of the above on account of the wearing of silver slacks? Listen on, and decide for yourself… The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com  

from The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour.

They said it couldn’t be done, but here we are at last - the twelfth day of Pegmas and the final seasonal serving of treasured, televisual treats.  As was staunch tradition once upon a telly time, Christmas Eve bestowed upon us a lavish light-entertainment repast in the form of BBC’s Christmas with Val Doonican from 1986. Messrs Velvet, Blackout and Bognops pull on festive knitwear, a well-pressed slack and get seated ‘pon rocking chairs ready for the musical festivities. Does every rented luxury property in Maidenhead come with a horse-drawn carriage as the de rigour form of commute? Where can I buy reproduction garments so that I may cos-play Val Doonican? Do we wish you, our devoted listener, the very merriest Christmas? Yes, we most certainly do. Enjoy this final episode of the series and in particular have a chuckle at the end; it’s crackers. The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com  

Check out this great listen on Audible.com. 'Twas the night before Christmas and through MountPeg Towers, bottles of port, red wine and brown ale had been strategically placed into a series of time-lock-release safes to ensure an even spread of gradual inebriation throughout the twenty-fifth there...

Splash the halls with pints of sherry, fa-la-la-la-laaa etc, it's the joyous culmination of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour's Yuletide Extravaganza! The final baubles are placed on branches which have already begun shedding into the carpet, the last odd-tasting chocolate is snaffled from behind a card

The hosts of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour are well known for chasing the boundaries of terror and for crossing the streams, and tonight's lecture illustrates that just because something appears brightly coloured, that doesn't mean it can't also be steeped in darkness. Yes, the new series' exploratory jaunt into televisual devilry begins in earnest, and what better way to brush aside abandoned cobwebs and read ancient inscriptions aloud than in the company of Count Duckula? With vampires, zombies, tomb-looting and light jazz, there's something for fans of all horror... What was the deal with 1980s variety club acts blagging the contracts for kids' TV theme tunes? What was the deal with Brian Trueman hoovering up any jobs that were left over? And how many gags can you pack into a script before the plot is left sitting in the studio next door? Press Play, blow on the enchanted horn, and find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional accompaniments from Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour · Episode

from The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour.

Ever keen to multi-task, The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour's After Dark season is at this point so blasé with unseasonally ticking off items from the Hallowe'en schedule that they've started on the Christmas telly as well. Naturally, ghosts have no real concept of earthly time and so tend to turn up impromptu and behave appallingly. Much like dinner guests... Yes, this week the hoover gets pushed round and the best cutlery comes out for 1972's Dead Of Night: The Exorcism. And this cautionary tale of social entertaining is a nailed-on lesson as to a) why dinner parties are (and always have been) a thing to be avoided, and more notably b) why no one should invite Blackout and Doctor Velvet to them anyway. How long can a guest be expected to tolerate a power cut before just retiring to the airing-cupboard with a bottle of wine? How long can a ghost be expected to play the clavichord in the next room before you take a mell hammer to the windows? And how long can a fresh crime-scene be left before Kenneth Kendall starts talking about it on national television? Light a trail of candles to the Play button, and find out... The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional accompaniments from Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

It's the question asked by anybody of an inquiring mind (and the hosts of The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour are no exception) when faced with baffling circumstance and an unexplained outcome: Did that actually just happen? In fact, so determined are they to get to the bottom of it all that they've asked The ExtonMoss Experiment to come round and help solve the mysteries of the universe. Or of Bristol, at the very least.Yes, passing under the rickety analytical equipment knocked together in a remote barn is BBC2's landmark cultural exploration of the outré from 1973, Leap In The Dark. Covering an array of psychic phenomena such as astrology, clairvoyance, divining and walking around a field for hours on end with sticks, this thoughtful yet playfully sceptical magazine-show is sure to raise more questions than it answers...Is Gordon Snell sponsored by Lee Bender? Is Linda Blandford sponsored by BUPA? And has Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water still not sponsored that cottage yet?Wave your dowsing rod over the Play button and you might just find out...The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional accompaniments from Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to peggymountpod@gmail.com

Creepy cartoons and high-ectoplasm action series are all well and good to satisfy a 21st century lust for arcane entertainment, but sooner or later what's required is actual, verified, hard evidenc...