Looks Unfamiliar: Emma Burnell – They’re Only Eating Macaroni

The Royal Potwasher by John F. Waters and Jill McDonald (Methuen, 1972) - listen to Emma Burnell and Tim Worthington talking about it in Looks Unfamiliar.

Looks Unfamiliar is a podcast in which writer and occasional broadcaster Tim Worthington talks to a guest about some of the things that they remember that nobody else ever seems to.

Joining Tim this time is journalist Emma Burnell, who’s going to the polls with her hazy memories of psychedelic children’s storybook The Royal Potwasher, short-lived easy listening station Melody Radio, Channel 4’s presentation of Accidental Death Of An Anarchist, A Woman In Her Own Right by Anne Dixon, ZX Spectrum epic The Lords Of Midnight and offbeat sitcom Herman’s Head. Along the way we’ll be finding out what happens when you continually ask a radio station that doesn’t have Ghostbusters to play Ghostbusters, what BBC Test Card F has to tell us about Second Wave Feminism, what Channel 4’s ‘Red Triangle’ meant to adolescent boys and adolescent girls respectively, and why we’re all sick of the sight of The Utarg Of Utarg. Plus there’s a bit of extra Saturday Morning TV chat below…

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Looks Unfamiliar Saturday Morning Extra: Big Daddy Is Number One

You can find some additional chat with Emma, which might just finally explain the longstanding mystery of why Big Daddy was originally the host of early eighties ITV Saturday Morning programme The Saturday Show and then suddenly wasn’t, here.

The Saturday Show (Central, 1982-84) - listen to Emma Burnell and Tim Worthington talking about it in Looks Unfamiliar.

About Emma

Emma Burnell is a journalist and theatre critic who regularly contributes to The Guardian, The Stage, Grazia and BBC and Channel 4 News. You can find Emma’s website here and follow her on Twitter at @EmmaBurnell_. Soaked In Dreams, Emma’s theatre blog, is here.

Emma and Steve Fielding co-present The Zeitgeist Tapes, a podcast looking at the point where politics and popular culture collide. You can find The Zeitgeist Tapes here and follow the show on Twitter at @ZTPodcast. You can find Tim making guest appearances on The Zeitgeist Tapes talking about politics in Doctor Who here, the Clangers Election Special Vote For Froglet here and the election-themed episode of The Prisoner here.

Buy A Book!

If you’ve enjoyed this, then you’ll enjoy Tim’s book Can’t Help Thinking About Me, a collection of columns and features with a personal twist. Can’t Help Thinking About Me is available in paperback here or from the Kindle Store here.

Alternately, if you’re just feeling generous, you can buy me a coffee here. We’ll get Alexander to wash the mug afterwards.

Further Listening

You can also find Emma on Looks Unfamiliar talking about Whose Side Are You On?, Sweet Valley High, Scoubidou, The Patchwork Monkey, Split Second, and the Ever Ready ‘Power To The People’ advert here, Christmas-themed episodes of The West Wing here and a long-forgotten stage version of When Harry Met Sally here.

Emma has also appeared on Tim’s Marvel Cinematic Universe podcast It’s Good, Except It Sucks talking about Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 here and Deadpool here.

Emma also appears in The Best Of Looks Unfamiliar alongside Justin Lewis on Neither Fish Not Flesh by Terence Trent D’Arby, Mark Thompson on Libby’s Moonshine, Stephen Brotherstone and Dave Lawrence on The Lone Ranger by Quantum Jump, Stephen O’Brien on Old Fashioned Christmas by Anne Charleston and Ian Smith, Garreth Hirons on The Ghosts Of Oxford Street, Vikki Gregorich and Jeff Lewis on The Secret Cabaret, Emma Burnell on Melody Radio and Paul Cornell on Terry Wogan’s insistence on playing records that resolutely refused to become hits, plus Tim talking to Neil Perryman about the BBC edits of The Monkees, which you can find here.