First viewed : 19 November 1994
I never made a point of watching this and usually caught the end of it before Casualty . I found it all intensely irritating, the whooping and cheering at little plastic balls rolling down a track, the guy trying to outdo John Motson in the pointless statistics stakes ( "eighteenth time in the main draw" etc ), the brain-numbing inserts about good causes, Mystic Meg, the grumpy old black woman who was allowed to be in the audience every week ( or was it a sentence ? ) and, of course, not winning anything.
Eventually, people got bored of the formula and it became incorporated into various game shows with Dale Winton which we'll look at separately if we get there*.
The televised draw in all its guises was scrapped by the BBC at the end of 2016 and returned in a 90 second slot- which is all you need - on ITV earlier this year.
* There is a definite cut-off in mind for this blog but I'm not saying what it is yet.
It's a source of (doubtless misplaced) pride that I've never bought a lottery ticket. I remember watching this show with my parents and making the (doubtless irritating) observation that mam could give me a quid ever week and every six months, I'd give a tenner back, from which we'd both be "winners". I probably deserved a slap on the head for being a cheeky little sod.
ReplyDeleteI hope someday you'll go back to your albums blog when you wrap up this one. I did mean to say I picked up an Icehouse compilation double CD set on the back of reading your pieces on them/him.
It must be years since I bought one- I didn't realise the price had gone up until yesterday.
ReplyDeleteAs regards the albums blog, well never say never but
a) I'm prioritising a book about the period 1978-82 from a personal and musical perspective( if you'd like to review the passages about Northern bands that'd be great ).
b) I'm not in the best of health at the moment so thinking more of winding things down rather than re-starting them.
As someone who's had their own health problems (including a recent setback), I hope things improve in the near future. Can certainly look over any pieces you'd like me to.
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