THE BEST OF LOOKS UNFAMILIAR - HE ALSO ATE A LOT OF TEXAN BARS

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.

This is a collection of highlights from Looks Unfamiliar featuring Lydia Mizon on Smashie And Nicey - The End Of An Era, Katy Brent on Global Hypercolor, Tim Worthington on Wonderwall by The Mike Flowers Pops and the BBC Pinocchio, Ricardo Autobahn on the Panther 6, Mitch Benn on BusyBodies, Joanne Sheppard on The Water Babies and Spine Chillers, Phil Norman on Spy Trap and Bob Fischer and Georgy Jamieson an dancing reindeer and school recorder ensembles. Along the way we'll be revealing how to avoid getting caught literally Global Hypercolor-handed, averting a Radio Times listing for Starved Robin Askwith, questioning why Richard Herring never has sports cars as guests on RHLSTP, debating the plural of ‘A Ghost Story For Christmas’ and querying the value of using Rentaghost as a sort of all-purpose philosophical yardstick.

You can find the full versions of all of these shows and lots more editions of Looks Unfamiliar besides at http://timworthington.org/.

If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. One of those chains probably even does a Texan Bar Latte. For National Patrick Mower week or something. If there isn't one, there ought to be,

THE LOOKS UNFAMILIAR LOCAL RADIO COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS: BOB FISCHER AND GEORGY JAMIESON – HOT GIRL-ON-PUDSEY ACTION

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.

This time, in a special festive edition, Tim, Bob Fischer and Georgy Jamieson are all crowding into a paper chain-strewn local radio studio ready to take your calls and chat about some of the signs that Christmas was coming that you just don't seem to get any more. So that's Sleigh Ride by Leroy Anderson being used to back every single local news feature, School Christmas Fairs, weird decorations that were still in use long past their cultural sell-by date, Advent Calendars with no chocolate but plenty of pictures of Shepherds sort of leaning sideways a bit, the toy pages in 'The Catalogue', the bitter rivalry between the Christmas double issues of Radio Times and TV Times, Channel 4 flinging out angular festive fare like Santa Claus Conquers The Martians, festive replacements for the BBC Globe, The Middlesborough Methodist Tableau and much more besides. In a crammed Christmas Cracker of chat we'll be debating the physics of those big televisions with shutters on them, stressing the need for a Loose Cannon reconstruction of Bob's drawing of a Lord 'a'Leaping', attempting to beat Carol Vorderman at Yuletide Maths, deploring the steady stream of one-shoed shoplifters hopping out of Bobby Cannon's, refuting any and every suggestion that clowns have any business being anywhere near anything to do with Christmas, exploring the financial potential of an Advent Calendar with Willie Rushton behind every single door and querying the value of using Rentaghost as a sort of all-purpose philosophical yardstick. Call in and donate some 'Canned Goods' now!

You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at http://timworthington.org/. You can also find Bob on Looks Unfamiliar chatting about The Tom O’Connor Roadshow, Giant Hogweed, Can’t Get A Ticket (For The World Cup) by Peter Dean, Glee Bars, J. Edward Oliver’s ‘Abolish Tuesdays’ and How To Be A Wally here, Eighties ‘Tabloid Celebrities’, Accidentally Kelly Street by Frente!, The Two Ronnies’ ‘Mileaway’, Rude Food, Suggs On Saturday and School Folk Songs here and  Tucker’s Luck, Pookiesnackenburger, We Wanna Be Famous by Buster Gobsmack And Eats Filth’, game show contestants’ occupations being booed by the studio audience and the lost ancient art of the paper plate and shaving foam Custard Pie here, and Georgy on Indoor League, Re-Joyce!, the The Animals In The Box sketch, the Paul Squire Fan Club, Pippa Dolls, Pig In The Middle and Good Winter Telly here.

If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. If the 'Chocolate Train' calls at your stop you get a Mocha. Sorry, it's the rules.

THE LOOKS UNFAMILIAR POPS PRESENT: TIM WORTHINGTON – WHEN THESE ANIMAL MEN DO THE THEME FROM CHARLIE CHALK I’LL BE IMPRESSED

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.

This time Tim’s joining guest host Garreth Hirons for a festively-tinged chat about unlikely Christmas Hit and possibly the most mid-nineties artefact there is, the CD Single of Wonderwall by The Mike Flowers Pops. Along the way we'll be revisiting Andrew Collins' superhero origin story. averting the musical equivalent of Shovelware, and revealing why Lou Reed has never seen a chicken in any degree of proximity to a road but still finds the thought of it getting to the other side hilarious.

You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at http://timworthington.org/.You can also find Tim and Garreth chatting about I Was Born On Christmas Day by Saint Etienne Featuring Tim Burgess, Ferrero Prestige, Bod’s Present, A Merry Jingle by The Greedies, Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion by Jenny T. Colgan, Mariah Carey’s rendition of God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman, Richard Herring’s Christmas Emergency Questions, Iron Man 3 (which is a Christmas Film), Joe 90 Christmas Special The Unorthodox Shepherd and Merry Christmas Santa Claus (You’re A Lovely Guy) by Max Headroom here.

If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. Even if backbeat the word on the street is that the fire in your heart is out, I'm sure the kettle's still working.

LOOKS UNFAMILIAR'S ULTIMATE CHRISTMAS EXPERIENCE - GRACE DENT - BE MORE CHORLTON

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 author, restaurant critic and broadcaster Grace Dent, and they’re comparing notes on what they would bring to an Ultimate Christmas Experience including the Have A Cracking Christmas At Woolworths and Christmas ’82 – Today’s Tesco adverts, Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer pilot The Weekenders, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie pilot The Crystal Cube, John Peel’s Festive Fifty, The NME Singles Of The Year 1991, Sky Star Search, the lost Doctor Who panto episode from 1965, The Butthole Surfers appearing on Snub TV, a disastrous interview from Channel 4’s Naked City, Chas’n’Dave’s Christmas Knees-Up, Chorlton In The Iceworld, Banned From The Pubs by Peter And The Test Tube Babies, Weed Bus by The Stairs, and some unwelcome intrusions from Max Headroom, a shower of ‘refreshed’ Granada announcers and the Test Card Clown – but no Test Card Girl. Along the way we’ll be testing the scientific veracity of Schrodinger’s Peel Session, querying whether David Quantick is the real Santa, suffering from Hugh Laurie Seasickness, discovering the exact wrong Pulp song to serenade someone with, and calling for the immediate abolition of Sexually Assertive Butter Men.

You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at http://timworthington.org/. You can also find Grace on Looks Unfamiliar talking about Magic Smile by Rosie Vela, a mystery clown who appeared on the television from nowhere, the BBC Domesday Project, Puddles In The Lane by Alan Parker, BMX Beat, The Untied Shoelaces Show, Going Out, The Fabulous Wealthy Tarts, Wacko and That’s Life!'s raw kidney bean awareness campaign - here.

If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. Please feel free use one of those exciting new futuristic Tesco checkouts with the LED displays.

084 - BEN BAKER - HISTORICAL SITCOM MAN

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 writer and broadcaster Ben Baker, who's putting a big circle round the listings in TV Times so he doesn't miss Mr. T's Christmas Dream, Kid Creole And The Coconuts musical There's Something Wrong In Paradise, Adam Buxton's Christian Rave documentary God In The House, Christian Metal tour movie To Hell With The Devil, Highway, The Flint Street Nativity, the 1990 Bullseye Christmas Special, Adam And Joe's Fourmative Years and - uh oh - TFI 1998. Along the way we'll be discussing whether Jesus could have improved This Life +10, setting the video for Michael Moore's TV Mayhem and Paul Shane Infinity War, questioning what would happen if an edition of Bullseye simply refused to stop, and studiously avoiding going to see One Love In The Sky - A Stone Roses Musical.

You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at http://timworthington.org/.

If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. Festive Lattes are very much accepted. Especially in a 'Red Triangle' mug.

THE LOOKS UNFAMILIAR BOX OF DELIGHTS - STEPHEN O'BRIEN - WHETHER THEY HAD A MILLION POUNDS OR ONE POUND, THEY'D ALWAYS GIVE IT A GO

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.

In this special Christmas edition, writer Stephen O'Brien joins Tim on a a trip back to 1984 for a look at how the BBC's acclaimed adaptation of The Box Of Delights was received at the time by its target audience - long before it started to find itself recognised as a 'Television Classic', and when in many ways it was just another children's programme. There are plenty of tales about the unexpected resonance that The Box Of Delights has taken on since then, taking in adventures in hunting down television tie-in paperbacks in somewhat less than upmarket bookshops, searching for the The Box Of Delights theme single and then in turn the album that the theme single was extracted from in even more bizarre surroundings, trying to impress dates with your intricate knowledge of John Masefield's more arcane historical references, and attempting to wrestle the soundtrack of an episode from a video cassette onto an audio cassette in the days when the chances of actually owning a copy of The Box Of Delights in any form seemed as remote as Arnold Of Todi's island hideaway. There's also room for discussion of many similar serials that the BBC broadcast in a similar timeslot around the same time including Aliens In The Family, The Moon Stallion, The Children Of Green Knowe and - uh-oh - Billy's Christmas Angels...

You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at http://timworthington.org/.

If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. Not a bloody 'posset', thank you very much.

LOOKS UNFAMILIAR SELECTION BOX: "THE IDEA OF AN ANNUAL ERIC IDLE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL"

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.

This time it’s an all-star festive lineup of entertainment as Tim is joined by a series of guests to talk about television Christmas Specials that seem to have slipped under the radar despite featuring very big names or coming from very popular shows, featuring Darrell Maclaine on Rutland Weekend Television, Phil Catterall on Community, Ben Baker on Bernard And The Genie, Garreth Hirons on Futurama, Tim Worthington on Doctor Who, Emma Burnell on The West Wing and Paul Abbott on The Peter Serafinowicz Show. As well as revisiting some of the lesser-seen small-screen yuletide offerings of years gone by, we’ll also be discussing how to tackle an Out Of Control Eric Idle, what happens if someone drops We Didn’t Start The Fire on the floor and smashes it, being legally forced to refer to Trevor McDonald as ‘Indeterminate Newscaster’, assessing how to qualify as one of Internet’s Leading Simpsonsmen, lamenting Russell T. Davies’ slapdash adherence to Thames Riverbed Continuity, considering whether President Bartlet should have hired The Goodies, and working out how many times it’s possible to say the word ‘impression’ in one sentence.

You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at http://timworthington.org/.

If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. One of those ones with the flimsy Styrofoam cups and chunky plastic lids that they carry at weird angles in The West Wing, please.

LOOKS UNFAMILIAR CHRISTMAS ON 4 EXTRA: "I DON'T WANT TO GET ALL SEPIA TINTED HERE"

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 for a special festive edition is writer and musician Garreth Hirons, who's ransacking his advent calendar for tangible recollections of Channel 4's 1991 Christmas Day oddity The Ghosts Of Oxford Street, a musical history-based documentary featuring Malcolm McLaren, Happy Mondays, The Pogues, Kirsty MacColl, Nick Cotton from EastEnders and many other equally unlikely names. There's also room for a look at some of Channel 4's other peculiar Christmas Day offerings over the years, as well as revealing who was Q Magazine's House Diva Of Choice, celebrating the career of 'DJ Ron', defining what constitutes a 'New Console Christmas', and outlining why Tom Jones would not have been a good choice for a Doctor Who assistant.

You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at http://timworthington.org/.

If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. If you're heading for Oxford Street, Notes Coffee will do just fine.

LOOKS UNFAMILIAR CHRISTMAS EXTRA: "THE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS IS NO BORIS GARDINER"

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 for a special Christmas edition is writer Stephen O’Brien, who’s brought along some little-heard eighties Christmas Singles including Hokey Cokey by The Snowmen, Jingle Bells Laughing All The Way by The Hysterics, What Are We Gonna Get ‘Er Indoors by Dennis Waterman and George Cole, Oh Blimey It’s Christmas by Frank Sidebottom, Christmas In Hollis by Run DMC, Old Fashioned Christmas by Anne Charleston And Ian Smith, and Do They Know It’s Christmas? by Band Aid II, not to mention Bing Crosby and David Bowie’s stilted stately home natter, Boris Gardiner’s mercifully forgotten third single, and the thorny question of whether Keeping The Dream Alive by Freiheit is a Christmas Single or a load of old twaddle. Along the way we’ll be hearing the World’s Worst Jane Leeves Impression, revealing who wrote and sang the theme tune for The Quatermass Experiment, narrowly avoiding giving the actual official worst Christmas Present possible in the entirety of all history, and finding out how to get accidentally mistaken for an extra in Neighbours.

You can find Stephen’s previous appearance on Looks Unfamiliar at http://timworthington.org/. You can also find Stephen on Looks Unfamiliar talking about The Office (the Steven Moffat one), LM magazine, You Can Do The Cube, Brilliant (the band), The Beachcombers and other last-minute ITV emergency schedule replacement standbys and The Morecambe And Wise Board Game here, and what it was like to watch the original transmission of The Box Of Delights here. 

If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. If it helps, Arthur and Terry could also get one for 'Er Indoors.

CHRISTMAS EXTRA - "CRISMAS BY BEETLES"

As a special extra Christmas treat for Looks Unfamiliar listeners, here's a compilation of highlights from the archives, with extracts from Christmas-themed podcasts of Christmases past by Tim Worthington, Ben Baker, Phil Catterall and Darrell Maclaine-Jones. A lot of this hasn't been available for years, and a lot of it is still rather funny, so we hope you enjoy it!

Along the way we talk about Now - The Christmas Album, Val Doonican, A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector, School Fairs, Department Store Grottos, Last-Minute Shopping and Disastrous Office Parties; run down charts of Bad Santas, The Worst Ever Christmas Songs and The Best Ever Christmas Quotes; and listen to bewildering Christmas Singles by Russ Conway, Rotterdam Termination Source, Mr. Christmas, Percy Sugden from Coronation Street and The Count from Sesame Street. We'll also be finding out who Tim thinks is more important than Father Christmas, who Ben suspects might BE Father Christmas, what happened when Phil went carol singing, and what the other tape in Darrell's house was. Not to mention who recorded a song called 'Santa's A Big Fat Fuck'...

You can find more regular editions of Looks Unfamiliar here.

You can find tons more Christmassy stuff, including a list of the Best Christmas Presents of 1986 and an in-depth look at the Christmas Special of Rentaghost, in Tim’s book Can’t Help Thinking About Me, available in paperback here or from the Kindle Store here.