Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Two of the best episodes from two of the best drama series ITV has shown, first broadcast exactly 10 years apart. The Sweeney's 'Hit and Run' on 29 September 1975, and this a decade later. 033
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Some thoughts of mine on when pop opens the window and lets in a bit of welcome rain. Paul McCartney, Madonna, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Jason Donovan, Pet Shop Boys, Saint Etienne - these and others have all deployed a downpour, some successfully, some not. nearertotheend.co.uk/2026/09/28/t...nearertotheend.co.ukThe sound of rain in pop songsIn the absence of actual rain for much of the spring and summer of 2026, those missing the reassuring pall of dark skies and steady drizzle had to rely on the next best thing: pretend rain. Not eve… 020
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Wogan here saying "oh-oh-seven", and in 1981! This must be one of the last instances of such fusty pronunciation on national television. 010
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Good on Cliff Michelmore for pulling out of the tour with Ed Sheeran. He'll have more time now to finish filming that motoring holiday in the Weald of Kent. 031
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 29/08/2026A few more pennies in royalties for Paul Weller - and timely ones, given The Style Council were just about to fall out of favour. 000
Reposted by Ian JonesIan Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 26/08/2026I've taken a tour of the Carry On universe with stopwatch in hand, measuring the longest days, shortest plots and other horological messing about. nearertotheend.co.uk/2026/08/24/t...nearertotheend.co.ukThe passage of time in Carry On filmsJacques, James and Joey while away the afternoon in Carry On At Your Convenience In the Carry On universe, time flies with the insouciance of a budgie that knows how to predict the winner of the th… 1327
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 26/08/2026I've taken a tour of the Carry On universe with stopwatch in hand, measuring the longest days, shortest plots and other horological messing about. nearertotheend.co.uk/2026/08/24/t...nearertotheend.co.ukThe passage of time in Carry On filmsJacques, James and Joey while away the afternoon in Carry On At Your Convenience In the Carry On universe, time flies with the insouciance of a budgie that knows how to predict the winner of the th… 1327
Reposted by Ian JonesDan @danofthewibble.bsky.social · 08/08/2026I’m fairly certain not. Seem to recall some seventies Bonds going out early afternoon last year with some Craigs in prime time. I don’t think they ever show anything but the Craig ones in prime time now. 001
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 08/08/2026The Man With The Golden Gun was on ITV1 this morning at 7am and Quantum of Solace is on ITV1 this evening at 8pm. Bond at breakfast time is bonkers; they must have cut the film to ribbons for it to be shown at that hour. But is this the first time the main ITV channel has shown two Bonds on one day? 320
Reposted by Ian JonesWhy Don't YouTube? @whydontyoutube.bsky.social · 15/07/202680 YEARS AGO TODAY: Derek Griffiths is born. 04814
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Every once in a while I dig out Radio 1's glossy promotional brochure from the mid-90s ('The Schedule: As It Is') and remind myself of the station in peak Bannister-era swagger. From the mouth of which "attitudinal" DJ could these statements possibly have tumbled? 001
Reposted by Ian JonesWhy Don't YouTube? @whydontyoutube.bsky.social · 26/06/202630 YEARS AGO TODAY: the end of England vs Germany in the Euros and before cueing up the Cast, Des Lynam asks us reading this now a direct question.youtube.com1996 June 26th BBC England v Germany postgame BDes Lynam closes the program with a '30 years from now' comment. 3138
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 13/06/2026Some reflections on when and how I first heard a recording by the Beatles. I hope this sort of experience still happens. nearertotheend.co.uk/2026/06/11/h...nearertotheend.co.ukHearing the Beatles for the first timeMy parents bought a copy of The Beatles: 1967-1970 in summer 1973, a few months after the record was released. I was born in 1976 and during my early childhood the so-called ‘Blue Album’ was … 412
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 08/06/2026My love of #PetShopBoys only deepens as they (and I) get older. 020
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 05/06/2026I know the song is awful, but I do wish Millennium Prayer had stayed at number one for a bit longer, purely for statistical purposes, so that Cliff would have topped the charts in six consecutive decades. 000
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 25/05/2026My coping strategy today is to shut all windows, close all curtains and watch Richard Burton in The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. 000
Reposted by Ian Jonesarchivetvmusings @archivetvmusings.bsky.social · 20/05/2026Coronation Street - written by John Finch (20th May 1964). Martha's funeral cortege slowly wends its way to the cemetery. 1184
Reposted by Ian JonesIan Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 16/05/2026Never mind this year's contest. Come back with me to the 1950s and 60s, from where I've picked eight of the best #Eurovision songs of the era, all of which deserve hearing and remembering. nearertotheend.co.uk/2026/05/15/e...nearertotheend.co.ukEurovision songs of the 1950s and 1960sThe audience for the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest at the Royal Albert Hall, London There can’t be many people left alive who remember the very early years of the Eurovision Song Contest. There are … 053
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 16/05/2026Never mind this year's contest. Come back with me to the 1950s and 60s, from where I've picked eight of the best #Eurovision songs of the era, all of which deserve hearing and remembering. nearertotheend.co.uk/2026/05/15/e...nearertotheend.co.ukEurovision songs of the 1950s and 1960sThe audience for the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest at the Royal Albert Hall, London There can’t be many people left alive who remember the very early years of the Eurovision Song Contest. There are … 053
Reposted by Ian Jonesarchivetvmusings @archivetvmusings.bsky.social · 15/05/2026R.I.P. David Burke. Seen here with Jeremy Brett in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - The Solitary Cyclist (15th May 1984) 27426
Reposted by Ian JonesJoel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 13/05/2026Stop! It is necessary for you to see graphic designer extraordinaire Margaret Calvert’s 90th birthday cake. Perfection. 241530287
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 26/04/2026It's a seven-decade saga that charts the changing fortunes of the very long desk, co-starring ashtrays, telephones, banquettes, pulpits, piano lids and an over-enthusiastic electric fan. My history of BBC election studio furniture: nearertotheend.co.uk/2026/04/25/b...nearertotheend.co.ukBBC election studio furnitureCliff Michelmore at his desk during the BBC’s 1970 general election coverage A live television broadcast that spends six to seven hours confined mostly to one studio, disappears for a short b… 93514
Reposted by Ian JonesIan Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 14/05/2025Start of episode: "We really need to pick up the pace and not spend so much money." One minute later: "We've treated ourselves to a luxury trip to the middle of nowhere." End of episode: "We're gutted we finished so far behind the others." #RaceAcrossTheWorld 111
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 31/03/2026This is fantastic news. It's easily my favourite of John Barry's Bond scores and it's the only one where he gets to be both witty and sophisticated. Put a glass against the side of my head and most days at some point you'd hear the opening bars of 'The Whyte House' circling round and round. 140
Reposted by Ian JonesAdrian @adrianstirrup.bsky.social · 11/03/2026I’m sorry but the Cheltenham Festival has a long way to go before I think of it as anything but that massive super-spreader event in 2020. 021
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 05/03/2026As regards #EurovisionSongContest entries entitled One Two Three, there's a very high bar to clear. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zSK...youtube.comFrance 🇫🇷 - Eurovision 1976 - Catherine Ferry - Un, Deux, TroisYouTube video by Library of Eurovision 120
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 24/02/2026Probably the best version of Lal's "all down this side" routine. 020
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 22/02/2026Thank you for all the kind responses to my piece on #KennethWilliams. I'm glad it struck a chord and it's heartening to hear the man is still so appreciated and loved after all this time. 181
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 21/02/2026I've started a new site where I'll be writing periodically about TV, films, music and the like. To begin with, ahead of the 100th anniversary of his birth: Kenneth Williams and 1980s television - a story of commitment, triumph and upholstery. nearertotheend.co.uk/2026/02/15/k...nearertotheend.co.ukKenneth Williams and television in the 1980sKenneth Williams hosting Wogan, BBC1, 23 April 1986 Between January 1980 and his death in April 1988, Kenneth Williams appeared as a guest on 56 different television programmes. If you include othe… 57836
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 18/02/2026I've been 50 less than two weeks and I've already been invited to join a bowel cancer screening programme and attend a webinar on planning for retirement. 220
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 23/01/2026The endgame will take place in the grounds of our glorious castle. (If wet, indoors) #thetraitorsuk 130
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 28/12/2025Bought myself the 1989 Christmas Radio Times as a present for myself, and spotted the premiere of ‘Crocodile’ Dundee (which still holds the record for the UK’s single biggest TV audience on any Christmas Day since Barb began reporting in 1981) was billed as a “special presentation”. 110
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 23/12/2025Watching Tommy Cooper on the 1979 Parkinson Christmas special reminds me of how much I was terrified by him (Cooper, not Parky) as a young child. There was something quite brutish about his huge frame, gruff patter and missing teeth. I flinched every time he loomed at the camera. 110
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 18/10/2025Potential line-up for a mid-1970s Celebrity Traitors. 10 men & nine women, as per this year: John Le Mesurier Joyce Grenfell Terry Wogan Gabrielle Drake Kenneth Williams (if unavailable, Larry Grayson) Yootha Joyce Roy Castle Diana Dors Jonathan Miller Linda Thorson John Conteh Ann Haydon-Jones... 110
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 10/10/2025"Pull out chairs and easy on the swears." Advice I think we can all live by, Will. #totp 010
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 09/10/2025Good to see the celebrities maintaining the round table traditions of spelling each other's names wrong and addressing each other as "yourself". #CelebrityTraitors 210
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 22/09/2025Imagine if ITV had chosen to mark its 70th anniversary by giving over half an hour of this evening's schedule to a new performance of those exact same scenes from The Importance of Being Earnest, Baker’s Dozen and Private Lives. No, I can't either. 031
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 19/09/2025I remember Simon Mayo being so smitten with Vindaloo that he played it on air twice in a row. 220
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 09/09/2025John Cleese moaning (again) in an undignified way about the BBC reminds me of the way Terry Wogan moaned (again and again) in an undignified way about the BBC for about 15 years. With Wogan it was worse, however, as he moaned about the BBC while at the same time taking money for working at the BBC. 010
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 08/09/2025It's October 1987 and Q magazine has categorised helpfully the celebrities du jour. There's good news for Ben Curiosity, Bill Wyman and Lindas Davidson and Lusardi; less good news for Chris Quentin, Belouis Some and "sundry" Curiosities. First reserves include Nino Firetto and Gary Glitter. 100
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 02/09/2025While we're celebrating 40 years of Howards' Way, let's also commemorate the faltering evolution of the typeface used during the opening titles, which progressed series by series from slap-this-on-anything to bespoke-ritzy. 182
Reposted by Ian JonesAdrian @adrianstirrup.bsky.social · 01/09/202540 years ago today, #HOWARDSWAY was first broadcast. This drama of ambition, love and shoulder pads was often dubbed 'Dallas-on-Sea' for its glamorous portrayal of the wealthy yachting and business elite in the fictional coastal town of Tarrant. 🧵... 2187
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 30/08/202540 years ago today, I began keeping a daily diary. The first entries are rather prosaic, but a) I was only nine and b) at the time I didn't know I'd carry on. But I did - and I never stopped. (The names of the days are in Cornish; they were printed in a different language each week. Very recherché). 3182
Ian Jones @ian-jones.bsky.social · 16/08/2025Saw the first few minutes of At Bertram's Hotel on BBC4 - one of the most visually exciting openings of any of the BBC adaptations - and was struck by how pristine the remastered print looked. Then I checked and saw no Blu-rays are available in the UK *purses lips like Joan Hickson*. 020
