New Article in Best of British (January 2023)

Although Christmas is still a few days away, I've already received an early present: an article of mine being published in the latest issue of Best of British. Following on from my debut in the March 2022 issue, the bods at Best of British towers have been kind enough to give me a couple of pages to detail the short history of Pay-TV - Britain's first pay television experiment which ran for a couple of years in the 1960s. If you're interested in taking a look, then just head to your local WHSmiths where it should be nestling on the shelves.

Christmas at the BBC 1972 – Dramas Out of Crises

By Jon Dear

The last couple of years have been rather tough, haven’t they? Starved of a functioning government and with Covid and Brexit stalking the land like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse after Tory cutbacks, plenty of people spent the long weeks of isolation in front of the telly. But the early 2020s don’t have a monopoly on bad times producing great stories. November-December 1972 produced some of the best regarded and well-remembered television, particularly in the field of ghost stories, and as we shall see, a lot of shit went down in 1972 as Britain had an identity crisis, went to war with a European neighbour over fish and there was a narcissistic liar in the White House. Hopefully we will never see these times again.

Bob Monkhouse: The Flip Side (Thirty Minute Theatre)

It's hard to believe that next year marks the twentieth anniversary of Bob Monkhouse's death. For decade upon decade, he was a resolute fixture in the schedules, and it almost feels as if he's still with us. In fact, if he popped up fronting a new quiz show tomorrow, no one would bat an eyelid. Such was his engaging warmth and expertly honed wit, it's far from hyperbole to describe him as a legend of British television. Oddly, he's never featured on Curious British Telly, but today that changes as I look at The Flip Side.