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 book reviewer Joanne Sheppard, who’s trying her hardest not to be roped into appearing in the background of The Bump by M.C. Mallett, some mysterious unidentified horror-themed sweets with free stickers, The Strange Affair Of Adelaide Harris, Matchbox Fighting Furies, wildly contrasting game shows Mouthtrap and Connoisseur, National Geographic’s World Magazine, children’s compilation album All Aboard! and The Guinness Book Of Pet Records. Along the way we’ll be assessing Chessington World Of Adventure’s suitability for Goth day trips, questioning when pirates jumped the shark, revisiting Flanders And Swann’s controversial Public Information Film and recounting the revolutionary snack food innovations of Crisp Gascoine.

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About Joanne

Joanne Sheppard is a book reviewer. You can find Joanne’s website Breakfast At Libraries here or follow her on Bluesky at @redskyatnight.bsky.social.

Buy A Book!

There’s lots more about The Strange Affair Of Adelaide Harris and tons of other inadvertently nightmarishly brutal historical children’s drama serials in The Golden Age Of Children’s TV, available in all good bookshops and from Waterstones here, Amazon here and directly from Black And White Publishing here.

You can find much more about the suprisingly numerous spooky and unsettling BBC’s children’s drama serials of the seventies and eighties in Well At Least It’s Free, available in paperback here or from the Kindle Store here.

Alternately, if you’re just feeling generous, you can buy me a coffee here. Hopefully one with, erm, coffee-themed stickers.

Further Listening

Joanne has also been on Looks Unfamiliar talking about The December Rose, Colorado Beetle panic, Brontosaurus, Will You Wait For Me? by David Bellamy, Timbuctoo, KP Wickers, The Enchanted Castle, Major Morgan The Electronic Organ and Wilderness Road here, Dramarama: The Exorcism Of Amy, Spine Chillers, Blue Peter’s Witch Puppet Make, Monsters Of The Movies by Denis Gifford, Nothing To Be Afraid Of by Jan Mark, Paperhouse, Dekker Toys’ Movie/TV Horror Make-Up Kit and Remus Playkits Identispook here, Go For It!, What-A-Mess, My Pretty Pony, The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow, The Water Babies, The Magnificent Race, Amazon Adventure by Willard Price and Snapper Crocodiles here and Fax, First Born, Chimera, Next Of Kin, Mother Love, I’m Your Number One Fan, The History Trail, The Yolk Folk, Victoria Plum and televised Cluedo here. You can also find Joanne on The Golden Age Of Children’s TV talking about The Baker Street Boys here.

You can also find Joanne on Tim’s Marvel Cinematic Universe podcast It’s Good, Except It Sucks talking about Blade II here, Blade: Trinity here, Deadpool here, Avengers Assemble here, Avengers: Infinity War here and Avengers: Endgame here.

Joanne also appears in The Best Of Looks Unfamiliar alongside Grace Dent on a mysterious clown that leaned into the television screen and waved, Deborah Tracey on Five To Eleven, Lucy Pope on Barcode Battler, Mitch Benn on O.T.T. and Ben Baker on the 1990 Bullseye Christmas Special, which you can find here.

Further Reading

Ghosts, Monsters And Legends (And Tennis Prodigies) takes a look at some of the BBC’s unnervingly supernatural seventies and eighties children’s drama serials, including The Enchanted Castle and Break Point; you can find it here.

Looks Unfamiliar is hosted by Podnose. You can help Podnose to continue providing quality podcasts for free by donating to their GoFundMe here.

© Tim Worthington.
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