Looks Unfamiliar: Joanne Sheppard – A Billy Butler For Every Region

Fax (BBC1, 1986-88) - listen to Joanne Sheppard 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 book reviewer Joanne Sheppard, who’s writing in to an early evening BBC magazine show for confirmation that she’s not just making up Fax, rival human-ape hybrid thrillers First Born and Chimera, Next Of Kin, Mother Love, I’m Your Number One Fan, BBC Schools show The History Trail, The Yolk Folk, Angela Rippon’s Victoria Plum and ITV’s attempt at televised Cluedo. Along the way we’ll be stocking up on Mark Phillips And His Horses merchandise, declining to eat some fifty year old corned beef, debating which lasted longer out of Whither Tarrant? and Whither Oddie?, finding out what would happen if you described Mark And Lard to your grandparents and finally explaining the ending of Life On Mars via a series of clues relating to Gene Hunt’s thumb.

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First Born (BBC1, 1988) - listen to Joanne Sheppard and Tim Worthington talking about it in Looks Unfamiliar.

Angela Rippon's Victoria Plum - listen to Joanne Sheppard and Tim Worthington talking about her in Looks Unfamiliar.

Mother Love (BBC1, 1989) - listen to Joanne Sheppard and Tim Worthington talking about it in Looks Unfamiliar.

The History Trail (BBC2, 1982-86) - listen to Joanne Sheppard and Tim Worthington talking about it in Looks Unfamiliar.

Cluedo (ITV/Granada, 1990-93) - listen to Joanne Sheppard and Tim Worthington talking about it in Looks Unfamiliar.

About Joanne

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

Buy A Book!

There’s lots more about Fax and tons of other shows from that weird slot between children’s television and the news that they could never quite figure out what to do with in The Golden Age Of Children’s TV, available in all good bookshops and from Waterstones here, Amazon here, from the Kindle Store here and directly from Black And White Publishing here.

If you enjoyed this, then you’ll enjoy Tim’s book Keep Left, Swipe Right, available in paperback here or from the Kindle Store here.

Alternately, if you’re just feeling generous, you can buy me a coffee here. Just make sure Bill Oddie doesn’t pay for his own coffee using your PIN number live on air.

Further Listening

You can also find Joanne on Looks Unfamiliar talking about The December Rose, Colorado Beetle paranoia, Brontosaurus, Will You Wait For Me? by David Bellamy, Timbuctoo, KP Wickers, The Enchanted Castle, Major Morgan The Electronic Organ and Wilderness Road here, The Bump by MC Mallett, Horror Chews, The Strange Affair Of Adelaide Harris, Matchbox Fighting Furies, Mouthtrap, Connoisseur, World Magazine, All Aboard! and The Guinness Book Of Pet Records 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 and Go For It!, What-A-Mess, My Pretty Pony, John Carradine’s The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow, The Water Babies, The Magnificent Race, Amazon Adventure by Willard Price and Snapper Crocodiles here. Joanne also joined me on The Golden Age Of Children’s TV for a chat 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, Avengers Assemble here, Avengers: Infinity War here, Avengers: Endgame here, Deadpool here, Deadpool 2 here and Deadpool And Wolverine here.