109 - MITCH BENN - SPAGHETTI STAR WARS

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 musician, comedian and writer Mitch Benn, who's standing behind one of those big studio microphones clutching his headphones while telling everyone about all-star Heavy Metal famine relief fundraising single Stars by Hear'n'Aid, Gerry Anderson's Into Infinity. The Humanoid, A Man Called Sloane, Playmobil clones BusyBodies and The Kids Are Alright by The Pleasers, Along the way we'll be debating the efficacy of an army of giant robot replicas of Keir Starmer, discussing the suitability of Noel Edmonds hairstyles for secret agents, finding out when Brian Blessed is not actually Brian Blessed and assessing the physical plausibility of the angle that eighties television presenters would crane their necks by to get noticed by cameras filming charity singalong choirs.

You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at http://timworthington.org.,You can also find Mitch on Looks Unfamiliar talking about  Nobody’s House, Don’t Stand So Close To Me ’86 by The Police, Cyborg and Muton, Orion, Two Stage Self-Assembly Ice Cream Cones and Get Stuffed here, 54321, Logan’s Run The Series, Matchbox Zoomy Balloonies, Action Man’s Atomic Man and Bullet Man, King Swamp and fifties nostalgia in the seventies here, Monday Morning 5.19 by Rialto, The Laughing Prisoner, Oh Baby by Rhianna, Pocketeers, O.T.T. and the original pre-Geoffrey incarnation of Rainbow here, and Star Turn Challenge, evil Grange Hill teacher Mr. Hicks, Striker, Lines by The Planets, Night Raven and the rise of international celebrities acting in pop videos here.

If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. It nothing else it will help keep you awake during all seventy four million of those guitar solos.

THE BEST OF LOOKS UNFAMILIAR: CHEKHOV'S FIRE BRIGADE BAND CONCERT POSTER

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 Gary Bainbridge on Googi The Liverpool Duck, Tim Worthington on Ferrero Prestige, Becky Darke on Tubby Turtle, Toby Hadoke on the BBC's After The Bomb season, Anna Cale on Grange Hill's Ronnie Birtles' shoplifting storyline, Genevieve Jenner on Boomerang and Mitch Benn on internationally famous celebrities acting in eighties pop videos. Along the way we'll be rifling through Billy Butler’s collection of white noise recordings, finding out what happens when you take the concept of 'Pocket Coffee' too literally, assessing which bath toys are most suitable for hand to hand combat, estimating how much money you can get on eBay for a decades-old combination of Matey, mud and jam, revealing how to thwart a vampire armed with just a duvet, debating the difference between ‘Muppets’ and ‘The Muppets’, and pondering where Michael McDonald fits into the Running Scared Expanded Universe. Plus there are a couple of extras you may not have heard - Tim doing a commentary on the Trumpton episode The Bill Poster and chatting to Tyler Adams on Goon Pod about what you were liable to find in your parents' record collection...

You can find the full versions of all of these shows and lots 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. Nick Fisher will be along to paste over the Fire Brigade Band Concert posters with a Mellow Birds advert shortly.

098 - MITCH BENN - A SLIGHTLY MORE APOLOGETIC VERSION OF SUBBUTEO

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 musician, comedian and writer Mitch Benn, who’s trying to get a team of light entertainment stars to decipher his mimes for Children's BBC celebrity panel shows Star Turn and Star Turn Challenge, evil Grange Hill teacher Mr. Hicks, Subbuteo-rivalling tabletop football game Striker, Lines by The Planets, Marvel UK strip Night Raven and the craze for having international celebrities acting in pop videos. Along the way we’ll be debating whether the most glamorous showbiz spectacular would be a 'Challenge' or 'On Ice', revealing when you should stage a Rihanna-Off or indeed a Rhianna-Off, and enjoying a couple of rounds of The Official John Craven Soccer Game.

You can find more editions of Looks Unfamiliar at http://timworthington.org/. You can also find other appearances by Mitch on Looks Unfamiliar here, here and here, and on It's Good, Except It Sucks here.

If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying one of Tim's books here or by buying us a coffee here. Please inform us straight away if an international celebrity is 'playing' the barista.

THE BEST OF LOOKS UNFAMILIAR - YOU GOT HOW WE USED TO LIVE AS WELL, DID YOU?

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 Grace Dent on a mysterious clown that leaned into the television screen and waved, Deborah Tracey on Five To Eleven, Joanne Sheppard on Matchbox Fighting Furies, Lucy Pope on Barcode Battler, Mitch Benn on O.T.T. and Ben Baker on the 1990 Bullseye Christmas Special. Along the way we’ll be listening to Margaret Thatcher’s Panpipe Moods, questioning when pirates jumped the shark, admiring the Gucci Winter Barcode Collection, finding out what Naomi Campbell keeps in her pocket (providing she actually has one) and outlining the full horror of what would happen if an edition of Bullseye simply refused to stop. Plus there are a couple of extras you may not have heard before – Tim on The Sitcom Club USA talking about Friends: The One With The Football and Ben Baker's Christmas Box talking about BBC Schools programme Watch's retelling of The Nativity, plus a bit of chat with Joanne on It's Good, Except It Sucks about Blade II.

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. Make sure Rachel goes really long for it.

083 - MITCH BENN - RUMOURS LINE-UP RAINBOW

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 musician, comedian and writer Mitch Benn, who’s painting the whole world with Monday Morning 5.19 by Rialto, Jools Holland's one-off Channel 4 oddity The Laughing Prisoner, Oh Baby by Rhianna, Pocketeers, 'Adult Tiswas' O.T.T. and the original pre-Geoffrey incarnation of Rainbow. Along the way we'll be helping Patrick McGoohan to escape from an angry cupcake, visiting a pub full of men playing Rat-A-Tat, and wrestling with the multidimensional implications of the existence of Rhianna Prime.

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

THE BEST OF LOOKS UNFAMILIAR - THE ACCEPTABLE MIKE REID

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 featuring Mitch Benn on Matchbox Zoomy Balloonies, Catrin Lowe on Heartthrob - The Dream Date Game, Mic Wright on Army And Navy Sweets, Darrell Maclaine on Rutland Weekend Television, Mark Thompson on The Giftie, Will Maclean on The Fourth Pan Book Of Horror Stories, Stephen O'Brien on The Box Of Delights, Sophie Davies on The All Star Impressions Show and Tim talking to Ben Baker and Phil Catterall about A Christmas Lantern. Along the way we’ll be looking back the mercurial musical career of ‘Trevor’, disputing Peter Hitchens’ Hot Or Not rating, evaluating Ian Pick and Ian Mix’s retirement plan, discussing how to tackle an Out Of Control Eric Idle, finding out how ghosts answer the phone, hunting down television tie-in paperbacks in decidedly less than upmarket bookshops and rating celebrity impressions of the Jamaican Louis Walsh. Plus there’s something you may not have heard before – Tim on (Music For) The Head Ballet talking to Paul Abbott about Ringing On The Engine Bell by Bernard Cribbins.

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

Alternately, if you’re just feeling generous, you can buy me a coffee here. Please ignore The Bloke In The Bowler Hat saying don't buy it there, buy it elsewhere et cetera.

069 - MITCH BENN - THUNDERBIRD ONE IS BLUE YOU WEIRDO

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 musician, comedian and writer Mitch Benn, who’s hoping for another viral hit with his recollections of chocolate bar 54321, the Logan’s Run television series, Matchbox Zoomy Balloonies, King Swamp, Action Man spinoff figures Atomic Man and Bullet Man, and the inexplicable craze for fifties nostalgia in the seventies. Along the way we’ll be finding out where REM didn’t get their name from but secretly did, celebrating the Official Mike Lindup From Level 42 Toothbrush, and wondering whether it’s actually physically and legally possible to prevent Paul McCartney from dressing up as a Teddy Boy.

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

LOOKS UNFAMILIAR REQUEST SHOW EXTRA

This is a collection of highlights from previous editions of Looks Unfamiliar aimed at new listeners, so I thought I’d ask the current listeners what they thought should go in it. And there were more suggestions than I could even keep track of, including some pleasantly surprising favourites. I couldn’t get everything in – and believe me I did try – so here are the twelve most popular guests and choices as voted for by you, the Looks Unfamiliar listening public.

So enjoy another listen – or maybe even the first listen for some of you – to Bob Fischer on Giant Hogweed, Samira Ahmed on Havoc, Jenny Morrill on Boots Global Collection, Mitch Benn on Two-Stage Self-Assembly Ice Cream Cones, Mark Thompson on A. Mazing Monsters, Vikki Gregorich and Jeff Lewis on The Last American, Justin Lewis on Orbit, Emma Burnell on Split Second, Gillian Kirby on Teletext After Hours, Phil Norman on The Country Life Christmas Box, Andy Lewis on Vintage Anti-Enoch Powell Graffiti, and Rae Earl on Cheese And Onion. It’s every bit as eclectic as Anne Nightingale’s Radio 1 Request Show. Which reminds me, nobody’s chosen Win A Night Out With A Well-Known Paranoiac by Barry Andrews yet, have they…

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. Just not a two-stage self-assembly one. Not after last time...

THE BEST OF LOOKS UNFAMILIAR 09 - I HAVE A PHOTO OF YOU ADMIRING THAT LETTERING

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 Suzy Norman on Hugo The Hippo, Richard Littler on the episode of The Waltons with a Poltergeist, Gary Bainbridge on Radio City's Jack Your Body parody Deadly Boring, Tim Worthington on It's A Shame by Kris Kross, Phil Catterall on the On The Hour Christmas Special, Ben Baker on Now - The Christmas Album, Mitch Benn on Two-Stage Self-Assembly Ice Cream Cones and Darrell Maclaine on Blockbusters Bubblegum. Along the way we'll be finding out what Richard Stilgoe rhymed with ‘poltergeist’, speculating on what local radio’s obsession with records with ‘Of The’ in the title was all about, recounting how the cast of The Sullivans got caught up in a Southside-Eastside turf war, debating Steve Ditko’s role in the invention of the Cornetto, going to see a time-travelling Candy Flip, investigating how the ‘Hand Jive’ era of Blockbusters was entirely illicitly funded by holes in grandparents’ pockets, revisiting Peter Skellern’s ‘Lurpak Years’, lamenting the terrible fate of the Breakaway theme music, and unveiling our new foolproof scheme for alluding to now-disgraced celebrities without actually naming them. Plus there's also a bit of extra chat with Richard about an unusual BBC showing of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and something you might not have heard before - Tim on The Zeitgeist Tapes talking to Emma Burnell and Steve Fielding about the long-forgotten Clangers Election Special Vote For Froglet!

You can find the full editions of all of these shows - and plenty more besides - at http://timworthington.org/

If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, you can help to support the show by buying us a coffee here. Look, do you want me to ask this via a swanee whistle or something?.

049 - MITCH BENN - THE MARVEL AND DC OF ICE CREAM

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 comedian, musician, actor, journalist, sci-fi author and pretty much everything else besides Mitch Benn, who's trying to make out the images in a fuzzy black and white tenth generation copy of spooky Children's ITV comedy drama Nobody's House, Don't Stand So Close To Me '86 by The Police, Denys Fisher Toys' Cyborg and Muton, BBC2 rock opera Orion, Two Stage Self-Assembly Ice Cream Cones and million o'clock in the morning no-budget cookery show Get Stuffed. Along the way we'll be finding out about Steve Ditko's role in the invention of Cornetto, listening to the ‘L.A. Law Version’ of Pretty In Pink, going to see a time-travelling Candy Flip and discovering why Muton's ultimate enemy was the Skinny Vanilla Latte.

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. Preferably not a two-stage self-assembly one.