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Mark Braxton

@braxtm.bsky.social
444 followers 300 following 695 posts

Journalist, nostalgist, outdoorsist. Classic and current telly, archive posts. Radio Times writer, from Doctor Who to Detectorists and beyond.

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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"A rare treat..." The fantastic character actor Ronald Lacey, born #OTD in 1935. Photographed as 'Arris during rehearsals for the Porridge episode Storm in a Teacup, with Peter Vaughan as "Genial" Harry Grout. PLUS The bit you never really see – only hear! Another @radiotimes.bsky.social exclusive.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Hymn to Her... A night of pop excellence celebrating Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders begins tonight at 8.45pm on BBC Two.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
That's torn it... Remembering Ronnie Barker, born #OTD in 1929 – photographed by Don Smith for @radiotimes.bsky.social on 5 May 1971.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Happy birthday to Felicity Kendal, a delight to talk to last year about the Good old days... Photo taken on 9 November 1975 by Don Smith for @radiotimes.bsky.social www.radiotimes.com/tv/comedy/go...
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Good morning, everyone.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The golden Shop... From Posh Paws to letter-eating goats... @radiotimes.bsky.social celebrates Multi-Coloured Swap Shop's 50th birthday with John Craven: www.radiotimes.com/tv/entertain... 🍰 🛒
radiotimes.com
Multi-Coloured Swap Shop at 50: John Craven celebrates the "interactive television" pioneer
Posh Paws, Swaporama and a Star Trek spoof... anything could happen on the Saturday-morning children's favourite.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Fawlty Towers began in this week 51 years ago. Last year I was delighted to get co-writer and co-star Connie Booth's take on this classic sitcom for @radiotimes.bsky.social
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The height of cool... David McCallum, born #OTD in 1933, spoke to @radiotimes.bsky.social in 2022 about some very cool projects, from Colditz to The Great Escape and The Man from UNCLE to Sapphire and Steel... www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/dav...
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Second to no one... Farewell to Stephanie Cole. Photo taken on the set of Open All Hours in April 1985 by Don Smith for @radiotimes.bsky.social.
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Reposted by Mark Braxton
David Brown @davidebrown.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
"I wouldn't want you to think this was a tragic story. I'm not a tragic woman. Not that type...." RIP Stephanie Cole. Another of Alan Bennett's marvellous Talking Heads women gone...
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Four candles at 50! 🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🎂 The Two Ronnies' classic sketch aired for the first time #OTD in 1976. It was written by Ronnie Barker under the pseudonym of Gerald Wiley. Sketch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cma... And you can read more about the Rons here: www.radiotimes.com/tv/entertain...
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
A first-class production... Postman Pat is 45 today! 🎂 📮 Last year @radiotimes.bsky.social paid tribute to the genius animator who moved him and Jess around Greendale: www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/mag...
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Happy birthday to Clive Merrison. Clive was Sherlock Holmes to Michael Williams' Dr Watson on Radio 4 (I found this sweet feature about them from 1998). @radiotimes.bsky.social
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
There is high-concept and then there's Space: 1999... Happy Breakaway Day to those who celebrate – as @radiotimes.bsky.social did last year... www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/ge...
radiotimes.com
How the spectacular Space: 1999 set the bar sky-high for TV sci-fi
As the high-reaching Gerry and Sylvia Anderson show turns 50, RT talks to family and fans about dreams, nightmares, lofty aims and a lasting legacy.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
"I really do think that the comedy becomes richer as we go on," producer John Howard Davies told @radiotimes.bsky.social as The Good Life returned for a new series on Friday 50 years ago. illustration by Barry Fantoni.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Remembering Radio Times's star photographer Don Smith, born #OTD in 1932, pictured in 1992 with a Rolleiflex camera bought around 1954 for £126 when he was earning £8 per week. Plus one of Don's classic portrait shots, of comedian Tony Hancock. @radiotimes.bsky.social
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
"Maybe we are all a bit Reggie..." The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin is 50 years old today. What a joy it was to ask fan, writer and Reggie collaborator Simon Nye all about the classic sitcom for @radiotimes.bsky.social: www.radiotimes.com/tv/comedy/re...
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Fancy a little light reading..? Coming very soon: The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin at 50. Stay on this channel. @radiotimes.bsky.social
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
We Three Kings... What an amazing privilege it was to see the reunion of Kathy, Charles and Nan – Hayley Mills, Alan Barnes and Diane Holgate – and hear their memories of making Whistle Down the Wind, after a BFI screening with a theatre full of fans. Thank you, Josephine Botting, for organising it.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I remember this @radiotimes.bsky.social illustration and billing, and how excited I was for a new season of #DoctorWho, as though it was yesterday. The Masque of Mandragora by Louis Marks is 50 years old today. www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/do... @patrickmulkern.bsky.social
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Remembering Pauline Collins, born #OTD in 1940. Photographed on 3 January 1969 with Polly James for the Comedy Playhouse pilot of The Liver Birds. @radiotimes.bsky.social
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Derek Fowlds, born #OTD in 1937, photographed as Bernard Woolley in Yes Minister on 1 February 1981 by Don Smith for @radiotimes.bsky.social.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
West Sussex this afternoon. Invigorating.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Mr Saturday Night... Starsky and Hutch star David Soul, born #OTD in 1943, photographed in November 1976 by Jeremy Grayson for @radiotimes.bsky.social.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Oo-er! @radiotimes.bsky.social photos, taken by Don Smith, of the gifted and very funny actress Pat Coombs, who was born #OTD 100 years ago.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
A wander down memory lane... @radiotimes.bsky.social celebrates The Duchess of Duke Street, nearly 50 and still doing well on Saturday nights... www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/duc...
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Today is yesterday Everyday in Metroland* John Betjeman Night, full of archive treats, starts tonight at 10pm on BBC Four. Photos by @radiotimes.bsky.social *Words by OMD.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
"He was a consummate actor and I think his performance was outstanding. It deserved the Bafta. Spielberg saw him in Edge of Darkness and took him off to do Jurassic Park, which was amazing." Ian McNeice on his co-star Bob Peck, born #OTD in 1945. Photo by Andrea Cringean for @radiotimes.bsky.social
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
UFO on positive track... Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's sci-fi series UFO lands on Rewind TV from today at 12 noon and 7.30pm. Here's a @radiotimes.bsky.social tribute to the series, written for its 50th anniversary: www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/uf...
radiotimes.com
As UFO celebrates its 50th anniversary, family and fans look back on a dark sci-fi classic
Remembered for its purple wigs and cars with gull-wing doors, Gerry and Sylvia's scary and thrilling first live-action TV series debuted in September 1970, and can now be viewed by a new generation.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Happy birthday to Sylvester McCoy! 🎂🪐Photos as the seventh #DoctorWho by @radiotimes.bsky.social. A few months ago I asked him about the 1996 Movie and his time in the Tardis: www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/do...
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Good afternoon from Kew Gardens.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Ah... Ludwig! The new series starts tonight at 9pm on BBC One. Does anyone else still think of the 1977 animation when seeing that name? I can't help thinking there are a few nods to it in the @radiotimes.bsky.social photoshoot by Rob Parfitt.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
RHS Wisley today.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Boom! Boom!.... Happy birthday to Sir Tony Robinson, photographed as Private S Baldrick in Blackadder Goes Forth by @radiotimes.bsky.social
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Human after all... The fantastic Fulton Mackay, born #OTD in 1922, photographed as the no-nonsense Mr Mackay in Porridge, sharing a laugh with Ronnie Barker's Fletch. Photo taken by Don Smith for @radiotimes.bsky.social.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Happy birthday to Elizabeth Estensen 🎂 Photographed with her Liver Birds co-star Nerys Hughes on 25 January 1975 for @radiotimes.bsky.social
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Capital gains... magnificent views and a friendly atmosphere on a Saturday stroll from Borough Market to Westminster...
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Working under pressure... Remembering screenwriter Terry Nation, born #OTD in 1930, photographed by Don Smith in 1972 judging a Dalek competition for @radiotimes.bsky.social.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Baron Silas Greenback.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Remembering Joan Hickson, born #OTD 120 years ago. On location in 1984 with Gwen Watford for the BBC's Miss Marple series. Photo by Jeremy Grayson for @radiotimes.bsky.social.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Happy birthday to Barbara Flynn 🎂 Photographed, on location as Dr Rose Marie in A Very Peculiar Practice, by @radiotimes.bsky.social.
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Reposted by Mark Braxton
Simon Threadgold @sthreadgold.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
"Ivor the Engine. Look, there he is now."
Sandcrawler (metal warehouse on caterpillar tracks) traversing the desert terrain of Tatooine. From IVOR THE ENGINE.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Remembering the great Louis Armstrong, born 125 years ago today, with this joyous portrait taken in the mid-60s by jazz fan Don Smith for @radiotimes.bsky.social.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
BBC One #OTD 50 years ago. Lots of Proustian-rush TV there... @radiotimes.bsky.social
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Teasels against the blue.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Room with a view... The Bishop's Palace, Wells.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Happy Wednesday from Cheddar.
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
"It is always genuinely flattering when members of the public say, 'I grew up with you lot!'" So sad to hear of Bill Oddie leaving the stage, but I was thrilled to seek his input when celebrating The Goodies a few years ago... www.radiotimes.com/tv/comedy/go...
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Vision On #OTD 50 years ago looked at Puddles and Pools. And there was another chance to see French drama Belle and Sebastian. @radiotimes.bsky.social
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Mark Braxton @braxtm.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Happy birthday to David Essex, photographed on 19 June 1977 by Don Smith for @radiotimes.bsky.social, and on the cover of Look-in magazine on 20 September 1975. 🍰 🏍️
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