Time for a ‘retro telly’ post I think. I’m inspired by a message I received from the legend that is Andy Warner (The Lord Drew Crow Star) on Facebook, saying that he had just enjoyed a Hammer House Of Horror marathon, so, in his honour, let’s talk HHOH.
HHOH was a series of 13 one-off stories made by the Hammer studio, a few years after they had ceased movie production. It was first televised on ITV in the autumn of 1980 and each story was an hour long (including ads) Thanks to the anorak friendly internet, the blurb on the DVD box set and my worryingly spot-on memory for times and dates, I realise now why I didn’t watch them all first time round. Back in 1980 only the most privileged of homes had a video recorder, and there were no endless repeats on satellite channels, so if you missed it when it was on, that what is, you were buggered and had to get the gist of the plot from the school playground on Monday, whilst pretending that you had been doing something far more interesting.
Actually, I’m happy to be able to say that I can give a fairly credible excuse for missing at least 4 episodes; The Jam at The Rainbow, The Vapors (don’t knock it, they were great live) at The Marquee and at least two of the excellent parties the girls we knew from St Micks Convent used to throw, usually in Golders Green or Finchley Central.
(just as an aside – my essentials for such parties would be; sta-press, a third hand Fred Perry shirt, my Purple two tone ‘tonic’ jacket, hush puppies, a splash of my brother’s ‘Blue Stratos’, the ‘More Specials’ album, a bottle of Gaymers Olde English, four cans of Heldenbrau, 10 B&H and my Mod parka. The irony of the mod parka is that a coat is supposed to be worn to keep you warm in winter, but I used to take mine hidden in a carrier bag, just in case I encountered the Tally Ho Corner ‘Skins’ en route, then put it on as I arrived at the party and wear it indoors all evening, sweltering, ready to pop it back in the back for the journey home. A born coward me, and proud of it too!)
Anyhow, where was I?
Ah yes. So HHOH was the prime time Saturday night viewing that took up where ‘Tales Of The Unexpected’ and before that ‘Thriller’ had left off, ie something a bit creepy to watch with your tea, and not on late enough to interfere with Match Of The Day.
At the time it was pretty good stuff, with some great stories too. Anyone who was aged maybe 10 – 15 at that time will remember some of the spookier episodes, especially ‘The Two Faces Of Evil’ with the horrible hitchhiker in the yellow cagoule and the nasty fingernail (now I was 16 by then and definitely thought I was old enough to know better, but that one still scared the crap out of me) Or ‘The Silent Scream’ with Peter Cushing and Brian Cox – probably the best story of them all with a really haunting ending. Oh, and ‘Charlie Boy’ the sinister fetish doll. And Diana Dors in ‘Children Of The Full Moon’.
Eventually, like most great TV shows of the past, HHOH was put out as a DVD box set, so I got to have a watch all over again a few years ago and more recently I have downloaded the whole series onto my i-pod. Wow, isn’t the 21st Century positively corking?
30 years later, it’s hard to imagine how HHOH can have ever looked ‘contempoary’ but like all great retro TV it’s the fact that it has dated that creates the whole feeling of (to quote The Crow Star) ‘retro loveliness’ Looking back, there were some of the top actors and actresses of the day (Denholm Elliot, Diana Dors) in the show and others at the start of their careers but now megastars (Pierce Brosnan – pre Bond, pre Remington Steele, even pre ‘dodgy IRA bloke in The Long Good Friday – and of course Brian Cox)
But for me, watching them over again, the real treat is seeing one of the weaker stories (‘Witching Time’) redeemed by featuring one of my favourite British actors, Jon Finch (‘Frenzy’ Polanski’s ‘Macbeth’) with a superb sub Bruce Foxton proto mullet at his usual velvet voiced, often half cut, manic best.
Obviously very tame by todays standards, a little hit and miss here and there and with some of the plots padded to bursting, but still a great one off series and a fitting epitaph on the tombstone of 1970s Saturday night TV horror.
On a final note, when I was re-watching this on DVD a few years ago, I offered my two girls (who were at the time quite happy to watch ‘Supernatural’ every week) the chance to watch a few episodes with me. They managed to get half way through ‘Charlie Boy’ and were spooked for weeks.
More to come
Col
Yes! I've been name-checked in a 'Chairman Arthur' post - does this mean I've made it?? :)
ReplyDeleteI was 10 when this came out, and it absolutely terrified/excited me(thin line between the two!) and the yellow cagouled hitchhiker was the most disturbing image of them all! I missed many of the episodes first time round too, but almost forgot there was a time before video recorders and endless repeats. And only 3 channels! But life was simpler and more fun. We had to make our own entertainment. We would... actually, I'll stop it there - might have to do a blog of my own where I can rant and rave about such things!
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