Why Don't YouTube?
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A representation of old British TV. Far more links and details in the weekly Newsletter: https://whydontyoutube.substack.com
40 YEARS AGO THIS FESTIVE SEASON
December 6, 2025 at 12:01 PM
40 YEARS AGO THIS FESTIVE SEASON
20 YEARS AGO TODAY: hands across the Saturday morning years from Dick and Dom.
December 3, 2025 at 9:01 AM
20 YEARS AGO TODAY: hands across the Saturday morning years from Dick and Dom.
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: this month on Sky.
December 1, 2025 at 1:03 PM
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: this month on Sky.
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: Newsround watches a Robot Wars tournament, actually put on in Shepherd's Bush with the express aim of getting a BBC commission. Two and a half years later...
November 30, 2025 at 4:55 PM
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: Newsround watches a Robot Wars tournament, actually put on in Shepherd's Bush with the express aim of getting a BBC commission. Two and a half years later...
50 YEARS AGO TODAY: in his first, and tremendously out of character, screen credit Teddy boy Simon Callow starts some trouble with the formerly likeminded Robert Lindsay in Get Some In!
November 27, 2025 at 7:32 PM
50 YEARS AGO TODAY: in his first, and tremendously out of character, screen credit Teddy boy Simon Callow starts some trouble with the formerly likeminded Robert Lindsay in Get Some In!
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: The Beatles Anthology, the documentary supposed last word on the Fab Four, begins. During the first break, Carlsberg spot their opportunity.
November 26, 2025 at 8:02 PM
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: The Beatles Anthology, the documentary supposed last word on the Fab Four, begins. During the first break, Carlsberg spot their opportunity.
30 YEARS AGO TODAY
November 20, 2025 at 12:02 PM
30 YEARS AGO TODAY
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: tonight on BBC2, as delivered by two people surely overqualified for the job.
November 19, 2025 at 12:01 PM
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: tonight on BBC2, as delivered by two people surely overqualified for the job.
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: Trevor & Simon have that effect on people.
November 18, 2025 at 10:01 AM
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: Trevor & Simon have that effect on people.
50 YEARS AGO TODAY: Brucie has some trouble with a stagehand at the Royal Variety Performance.
November 16, 2025 at 1:01 PM
50 YEARS AGO TODAY: Brucie has some trouble with a stagehand at the Royal Variety Performance.
40 YEARS AGO (minus eight days) TODAY #ChildrenInNeed
November 14, 2025 at 4:02 PM
40 YEARS AGO (minus eight days) TODAY #ChildrenInNeed
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: the focus of Porkpie was meant to be, well, Porkpie, the Desmond's character spun off into his own sitcom, but if you *will* cast Derek Griffiths...
November 13, 2025 at 7:02 PM
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: the focus of Porkpie was meant to be, well, Porkpie, the Desmond's character spun off into his own sitcom, but if you *will* cast Derek Griffiths...
40 YEARS AGO TODAY: Barbara Windsor on Wogan, on Eastenders years ahead of her time.
November 11, 2025 at 7:09 PM
40 YEARS AGO TODAY: Barbara Windsor on Wogan, on Eastenders years ahead of her time.
40 YEARS AGO TODAY: tonight on Thames. Yes, that's Marina Sirtis.
October 31, 2025 at 1:05 PM
40 YEARS AGO TODAY: tonight on Thames. Yes, that's Marina Sirtis.
Capital Radio launched today in 1973.
October 16, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Capital Radio launched today in 1973.
The death in August has been announced of Philip Elsmore, the first and last continuity announcer on Thames (1968 to 1992) and the last person to appear on screen in a Morecambe & Wise Christmas special.
October 13, 2025 at 9:00 PM
The death in August has been announced of Philip Elsmore, the first and last continuity announcer on Thames (1968 to 1992) and the last person to appear on screen in a Morecambe & Wise Christmas special.
20 YEARS AGO TODAY: do you get the feeling Sean Lock wasn't entirely appreciative of Rory McGrath showing off on QI?
October 7, 2025 at 7:45 PM
20 YEARS AGO TODAY: do you get the feeling Sean Lock wasn't entirely appreciative of Rory McGrath showing off on QI?
20 YEARS AGO TODAY: post-WWII diarist docu-drama Our Hidden Lives features as one of its main subjects Ian McDiarmid as a closeted man whose objects of affection include soldier Mathew Horne and POW Michael Fassbender.
October 3, 2025 at 8:31 PM
20 YEARS AGO TODAY: post-WWII diarist docu-drama Our Hidden Lives features as one of its main subjects Ian McDiarmid as a closeted man whose objects of affection include soldier Mathew Horne and POW Michael Fassbender.
40 YEARS AGO TODAY: easy to forget Meera Syal's TV career goes back this far, her first credit being as the mother (at 24) of Adrian Mole's new neighbours.
September 30, 2025 at 7:03 PM
40 YEARS AGO TODAY: easy to forget Meera Syal's TV career goes back this far, her first credit being as the mother (at 24) of Adrian Mole's new neighbours.
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: with a bit of time on his hands, Robbie Williams pops into the Queen Vic to make a long phone call.
September 26, 2025 at 6:30 PM
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: with a bit of time on his hands, Robbie Williams pops into the Queen Vic to make a long phone call.
50 YEARS AGO TODAY: Declan Donnelly is born. Has he ever done anything solo? Well, yes, that whole period when Ant was in rehab. But there is one other, this clearly pivotal role in a 1994 ITV adaptation of Catherine Cookson's The Cinder Path.
September 25, 2025 at 9:01 AM
50 YEARS AGO TODAY: Declan Donnelly is born. Has he ever done anything solo? Well, yes, that whole period when Ant was in rehab. But there is one other, this clearly pivotal role in a 1994 ITV adaptation of Catherine Cookson's The Cinder Path.
20 YEARS AGO TODAY
September 24, 2025 at 8:02 AM
20 YEARS AGO TODAY
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: Lena Headey, Jason Isaacs and Danny Dyer, a trio a TV drama couldn't afford now and probably wouldn't think of putting together anyway, in BBC2 rave/drug culture drama Loved Up.
September 23, 2025 at 7:02 PM
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: Lena Headey, Jason Isaacs and Danny Dyer, a trio a TV drama couldn't afford now and probably wouldn't think of putting together anyway, in BBC2 rave/drug culture drama Loved Up.