I HEART 80s

1986 TV

1986 was a great year for British TV as some truly seminal programmes were aired for the first time.  We also had some weaker stuff too, like BBC1's offering Lovejoy.  The Beeb more than made up for this though, with an all time children's classic, Jossy's Giants.  Yes, the Syd Waddell penned story of the Glipton Giants football team managed by Jossy Blair.  There were only ever ten episodes and it was required viewing for any fan of football.

We also saw the start of Comic Relief, Bread, Brush Strokes and Casualty.  Best TV moment of the year was Michael Gambon as Philip E. Marlow, Joanne Whalley as Nurse Mills and a jar of skin emollient.  Call me an old perve, sorry, call Dennis Potter an old perve, but it was.

ITV's debuts came in the shape of the likes of Catchphrase, Strike It Lucky, Boon and Beadle's About.  Channel 4 had another quiet year, this time they offered us just The Chart Show as a new programme.  Back on the BBC we saw the first of the Aussie invaders as Neighbours, that cheesy, badly acted, over blown pile of cack gripped the nation, me included.

As far as TV endings went, after 1986 we saw no more of Pebble Mill at One, In Loving Memory, Duty Free (mercifully), Just Good Friends and The Trap Door.  Also in 1986 Pat Pheonix (Elsie Tanner from Coronation Street) and Ian Marter (Dr Who - writer and actor) passed away.