Horrific Children's TV

[Sundae]

Okay, most of mine are going to be Brit-centric.
But then tbh, they're time-specific as well.
So don't worry about growing up in the wrong country, or at the wrong time - I forgive you. Just share your own experiences and we'll be equal.

As an imaginative child, I had a lot of horrors.
These included the sound of the upstairs toilet, and having my parent's closed bedroom door being behind me as I walked down the stairs.
And the living room door being closed in front of me - because central heating wasn't a reality in England in those days, so you always closed doors to conserve heat.
Half a second before I opened the door I was terrified at what I would find in there.

So, okay. It didn't take much to spook me.
But unintentional spookiness?

Worzel Gummidge.
Oh. My. God.
It had everything in the world that upset me.
I don't know why I was such a squeamish child (NOT a family trait - they're all very earthy) but he disgusted me. He's a scarecrow come to life. Even now, all you have to do is suggest a scarecrow has turned its head and I get goose-pimples. He was dirty, too. And overly familiar - and yes thought that at the time, with no knowledge of what paedophilia was (NB I am not suggesting Worzel was sexually interested in children, just saying I was creeped out as a child even without the knowledge that people could be.) And there were food fights. Which disgusted me on such a visceral level.

Seriously. If a child can be disturbed by anything without there being any disturbing content, that was my response to Worzel Gummidge. Forward to about 3 mins to see him in all his weirdness.


Secondly - Tizwas.
I've mentioned it before.
Now, as an adult, I appreciate the humour. Mostly.
And crikey me, it had some great guests!
But at the time, the same reaction as above.
It made me nauseous.
Other kids hid behind the sofa when Dr Who came on - but I loved that. I had to leave the room when Tiswas was on.
Funnily enough, my bro was the same - he was too young for Tiswas, but he couldn't bear any programme with gunge or muck or mess.
Maybe it was a repressed memory from our childhoods?!


And finally - something that has haunted me ever since.
I have mentioned this before too. But I'm bringing it all together now
The Finishing Line. Now this one was supposed to be spooky, fair enough.
It's representative of all Public Information Films. They ran the gamut from education to state-sanctioned emotional damage. All pretty nasty, in our own interests.
Note, however, that it comes a poor third after two entertainment programmes!
This again hit me like a gut-shot - and I feel everything in the stomach rather than the heart. I was shaking after I saw this, and it affects me even now. It's a short film to highlight the danger of playing on railway tracks. Actually, I wonder if this was to blame for my turn-around from typical gore-obsessed child to retching squeamish don't-even-say-blood-or-I'll puke-wuss?

Damn - the version I found previously was deleted from YouTube. Probably for copyright reasons. Although I'd like to think it was for child protection reasons Still, the Wiki precis and this snapshot might help explain my reaction.

The film begins with a young boy sitting on a railway bridge wall. As he ponders on his thoughts, he considers the idea of holding an Olympic Games-style sports event on the railway line. The rest of the film shows his imagined idea of what would happen, with children being split into four competitive teams to take part in different activities often carried out by young people trespassing on the railway. Three "games" are held, in which the children are challenged to break through the fence surrounding the railway line, play "chicken" with the trains and throw things at passing trains. Each time we see the tragic consequences of these activities, such as one scene where a driver's face is shredded by broken glass after a child throws a brick through the train window. The final task is for the children to run through a tunnel, but after they enter, we see a train approaching. Only four children cross the end of the tunnel, each of them injured terribly. One boy who crosses the finish line collapses as the overhead speaker announces the final results. The film finishes as a group of adults appear and go into the tunnel to carry out the bodies of the dead and injured children, which are then laid out in a long line along the railway track. The camera pans out to show all the dead and bloodied children along the track before returning to the boy sitting on the railway bridge wall, who seems to be reconsidering the idea.

What upset me most?
The pleasure of the competitors and especially the adults. Death was being celebrated.
It bothers me still.

So, if you got to the end of this, what were yours?

[Griff]

Kookla Fran and Ollie maybe? Nothing overly creepy though... I was an Electric Company kid so I didn't see much dark tv.

[Sundae]

ETA - found it!
Bloody hell.
I wanted to show you what I meant, but honestly, if it's not part of your history, don't invest 20 mins of your time being horrified. It tops the poll, having seen it again. Still, the first child doesn't die until 5 minutes in.

Don't show your children for Chrissake.


Even if you live by a train track.
In its callous disregard of life it's horrifying.
Did the job I suppose. But it was like bringing a mallet to brain surgery.

[DanaC]

The most terrifying aspect of Worzel Gummidge was his removable head. He had a collection of interchangeable heads for various purposes (one of which was a thinking head :P)....oh hang on, no...the most terrifying thing in Worzel Gummidge was the Crowman. He scared the bejeezus out of me.

We watched it as a family. Loved it.

The prgramme I most remember as totally scaring the shit out of me to the point that it informed my nightmares for the rest of my childhood, was the opening episode of Sapphire and Steel. Even now, the opening music sends a shiver down my spine. Locks me instantly into the delicious terror it inspired.

Two kids, one my age and one my brother's age. Alone in their farmhouse home, their parents having....vanished. Vanished as they sang "Ring a ring a roses"

*shiver* scary stuff.

Another moment from the show that stayed with me: the ghost of a first world war soldier walking up the stairs and through the wall. To the sound of 'pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile'


Both those songs have a very special and very spooky place in my heart:P

Most of the time when i was scared by stuff it was my brother to blame. His was the task of entertaining his baby sister whilst she had to suffer the indignity of twenty minute baths (in special oil). The stories he told me scared the shit out of me on a regular basis. It is thanks to Our Kid that I spent about 5 years terrified of allowing any part of me to hang over the edge of the bed at night. I slept entirely under the covers; with just a little gap at the top for breathing. Thanks bro.

[Sundae]

You know I have never watched Sapphire & Steel!

In fact the first ref I've had to it - since it was on TV and I wasn't watching it, I mean - is that P J Hammond wrote two of the worst received Torchwood episodes. And that I only found out in the last month (I'd seen the eps, but not realised no-one else liked them either.)

Live and learn.