55 - The Hands of the Ripper

Love this podcast? Support this show through the Acast Supporter feature. It's up to you how much you give and there's no regular commitment. Just hit the link in the show description to support now. On BBC Sounds, good things come to those who don't wait. Like Desert Island Discs. So let's get started. Your first choice, what's it going to be? You're dead to me. The comedy podcast that takes history seriously.

and Friday night comedy. It's what's in the news with a big dose of satirical silliness. You don't have to wait to listen to the latest episodes of your favourite podcasts. They're on BBC Sounds before anywhere else. Listen first on BBC Sounds. At EDF, we don't just encourage you to use less electricity. We actually reward you for it. That's why when you use less during peak times on weekdays, we give you free electricity on Sundays. How you use it is up to you.

EDF. Change is in our power. Households who shift weekday peak usage by 40% could earn up to 16 hours of free electricity per week, subject to fair usage cap. For all T's and C's, visit edfenergy.com forward slash r-power. There's something about Whitechapel. Not much. Much something. I'll get you, Robocop! I'll get you, Robocop! Which is what we always used to say. I'll get you, Robocop! Britain. An ancient kingdom with legends of violence, cruelty.

and tormenting its blood. Join your hosts, Ross, John and James, as they bravely tread where few would dare. Witness their journey into the horrific history of British horror. They are... The General Witchfinders. So, ladies and gentlemen, goblins and ghouls, welcome back to the 55th episode of the General Witchfinders podcast. I'm James in Bournemouth in southern England. I'm John Pountney. I'm still here in the south of Wales, which is still...

When I regularly look and investigate, it's still in the south of Wales. Are you sure it's not North America now or something? North America. It's been purchased by Trump. There's probably enough coal here for him still to be interested, I would have thought. I think there's still 300 years worth of coal in some coal mines. I think that's a fact I heard. Which is pretty wild, isn't it? And I'm Ross in Dorchester in southern England, and this time we were captured by the hands of the Ripper.

Between the 2nd of April, 1888 and September the 17th, 1889, a dreadful fear descended over the streets of London. No one who saw that face lived. Except one small child whom he spared. Because she was his own flesh and blood. There was another murder. They're looking for Jack the Ripper. It's you. Records tell us that the Ripper killed nine times. Mrs. Goldie? Now Hammer reveal how the curse lived on into a second generation of terror.

Whoever impaled that unfortunate woman on this poker possessed immense physical strength. Anna is upstairs at this moment. She's what? Oh, Miss Anna, you're gonna look lovely tonight. Damn it, Pritchard, you've got to possess being in your home as savage as any wild beast. There's a violence in this girl. I felt it there. Something quite sudden. It's still there now. Something horribly violent. These are the streets. And these are the women.

And this is the girl who inherited the hands that Jack used. After last episode's hard left turn visit to the Lyndhurstverse, that's the Lyndhurstverse, we return to more familiar territory with Hammer's Hands of the Ripper. a 1971 British horror film released as the second half of a double feature with Twins of Evil. Was it me? Yeah. Directed by Peter Sazdy, produced by A.D. Young and written by L.W. Davidson from story by Edward Spencer Shue. That's spelled S-H.

ew by the way just in case any of my odd pronunciation making good use of the large baker street set at pinewood studios left over from the private life of sherlock holmes released the previous year The production was denied permission to film its final scenes at St Paul's Cathedral, so a replica was constructed instead. God! I don't know if you could tell that wasn't really the whispering gallery. The whispering gallery. I thought...

aspects of it were. I think the floor at the end looked very legit. Yeah, well, it wasn't. There we are. okay so and uh it says if the pritchard's home and staircase look familiar it's because hammer's ever resourceful set designers reused elements from the set of the curse of frankenstein from years earlier that's right I thought so. I can prove it. Where is it? Same stairs as Curse. Yep. There you go. Yeah. Eagle-eyed.

Where Professor Chechnikoff or whatever he's called is pushed. Over there, amazingly. A little bit further, Professor, a little bit further. Oh, Professor! You're going to be a goody good look at this painting. And it says... episode two, our nascent episode two of our podcast. How many years? Only three. No, we've been doing this for way longer than that. I don't know. Oh, man. I ran this for five years, isn't it? Well, we've roughly...

10 or 11 a year so it must be maybe four yeah yeah um so yeah so let's see episode two of our podcast for more discussion on that classic Then, director Peter Sazdy, who cited Hands of the Ripper as his favourite film, also directed the original Adrian Mole TV series, which, oddly enough, in a Jungian... Synchronicity. Thank you, Ross. That's the word. In a Jungian synchronicity way, I was thinking about the Adrian World TV series last night. I'm thinking...

How strange it was that I can always remember that Adrian Mole was played by Gian Samarco. Yes. And why do I remember his name? Why is that? He was in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. Yes, he was. I'm reading... Secret Diary to Rowan at the moment. I have to keep skipping it when he measures his penis. He talks about getting big and bouncy magazines. Both The Secret Diary and Growing Pains. Three episodes of Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense.

Three episodes of Hammer House of Horror and two other Hammer features. Countess Dracula and takes the blood of Dracula. The second of which is coming to the podcast later this year. Can I just ask John, because I'm probably going to lose all my cred here, but I didn't realise... I knew about Hammer House of Horror, but what was Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense? It's not as good. It was a follow-up to the Hammer House of Horror TV series. So Hammer, after they...

went shit at films, tried to do some TV. And they brought in some really big names. And Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense was repeated recently on Talking Pictures. And it's not very good. Hammer House of Horror is brilliant. And we're definitely going to do some episodes of that. Yes. Mystery and suspense is not very good and didn't hold my attention, even with... star guests in it all the star guests are american so you have like the guy who was the face in um

The A-Team, I think he's in one. Dirk Benedict. Yeah. And then the guy who was in, the small man who was in Quantum Leap, Sam. Is it Sam? No. Or is he called Sam? Dean Stockwell. Dean Stockwell. He was in... Dean Stockwell. Dean Stockwell. He was also in... He's in David Lynch's Blue Velvet and Paris X. And Battlestar Galactica. Yes. Remake. Yeah, David McCallum is in one. They're not very good. They're like feature length, which is too long, and it doesn't really...

Christopher Casanova is in one, and I think he's always in a silk dressing gown. It's quite weird. I think 80% of our podcasts are us just saying the names of actors, isn't it? That's what people tune in for, I'm saying. yeah i think so perhaps right so back to this most monumentally he also directed the legendary bbc ross put sci-fi thriller i i would say bbc horror classic the stone tape it's hard to

It's hard to pigeonhole, isn't it? That's very, very true. But for this, you must definitely check out General Witchfinders episode number five, which Ross says is our third most popular episode to date. Is that how long ago we did the stone tape? Yeah. Yeah, we did it early. Good God. In lockdown? Mm-hmm. 100%. All I want to say about Peter Sazdy or any of this era of directors, if Peter Sazdy is still alive as well, which I think is incredible.

Like Val Guest, who did like confessions of a window cleaner and the Quatermass experiment. Imagine now having on your CV the stone tape. this film and adrian mole like so are we looking for someone to do a thing about a diary of a 13 year old

Boy. In the Midlands. In the Midlands. And we've got this guy who's directed a film about the daughter of Jack the Ripper. Yeah, give him the job. Get him in. Perfect. I think it was probably made by Central, wasn't it? Yeah. I think it's interesting how... But directors didn't seem to get typecast, whereas actors did. Yeah. Directors could just direct anything. And I don't know if that's the case now. I'd like to be proved wrong.

But I don't think there's such a variety of things on TV anymore, is there? In terms of, you know, stuff as varied as, you know, in the 80s and 70s. everything seems to be done to a kind of beige standard basically yes yes so eric porter stars as dr pritchard renowned for his work in film television and theater

He famously played Professor Moriarty opposite Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes and Soames Forsythe in the Forsythe saga. Although much of his Wikipedia entry is dominated by debates over his sexuality. A strange focus given his accomplished career. Very, very odd, Frost. Strange, right?

But yes, I told you, John, Jeremy Brett would come up this evening. Oh, go on then. Yeah, so he was Moriarty. Oh, just because they were pals, not because they were lovers or anything. No, no, no, no. He was Moriarty. Oh, I see. Angharad. Angharad. Oh, Angharad. There, so I've never heard that name or seen that name before this. Give over, James. You must have done. I've never seen that. Didn't you get someone called Angharadus once, John? No, I didn't. Oh, me? I was about to say John. No.

Pell's best friend was called Angharad. Oh, there you are. And one of James Knee's exes is called Angharad. I could introduce you to... Dozens of Angharads know, if you want. Oh, they are. Okay, so my apologies to the beautiful and fantastic nation of Wales, as always. Love, love Wales. But I'm sorry that I'm ignorant of that name.

Anyway, so she plays Anna, the daughter of the Ripper. She appeared in Boon. Take a drink at home if you're playing the Witchfinder's drinking game. Starred as Demelza in 28 episodes of Poldark.

original version and the year after uh hands of the ripper featured in the star-studded film under milkwood alongside richard burton peter o'Toole and elizabeth taylor yes yeah she was made a fellow of the royal welsh college of music and drama and a pub named after her in ponty brit unfortunately closed and turned into a car shopping

Sorry. Sorry, John. Sorry, Wales. Did she really? In Pontypre. Yes. And it says here... Where in Ponty? I'm not sure. You got an address? No, it's been turned into a card shop in 2009, apparently. Oh, interesting. Which has now probably also gone out of business. So there was a pub called the Angharad Rees. Apparently so, yeah.

I'm going to look this up now. That's insane trivia. Go on, carry on, James. And then she also found a jewellery design company, Ank Harrod, based in Knightsbridge. Pieces she designed were featured in Elizabeth the Golden Age. Nice. Wikipedia also notes that she was once in a relationship with Alan Bates, whose name I have to say like that, which we only mentioned to plug episode 35, where we talked about Bates starring in The Shouts, which is fantastically nuts and great.

And then Linda, Nurse Gladys Emanuel. That is how you must refer to her as that at all times. baron appears yeah appears as long liz which is a curious choice of name considering that long liz was an actual canonical ripper victim Here she is depicted alive and well, at least initially, years after Saucy Jack's supposed demise. But isn't she supposedly misidentified as a victim according to From Hell? James R. Alan Moore Aficionado, please fill us in. No, Ross.

it's uh mary kelly oh okay who is misidentified he suggests that um that she's staying with somebody else And that she goes out for the, so she's gone out for the night and the person who's, that she's staying with is killed. And she got away. Yes. She was the one who was seen.

The policeman in the pub. Mary Kelly. Yes, yes. And the reason why is because Nettley, the coach driver, sees her going into... the uh the premises but doesn't hang around long enough to see her go out so he just goes back to gull and says she's at this address let's go and kill you know Let's go and kill her. So that's why. So yeah, there you go. So yeah, Linda Barron appeared as a returning character in both Coronation Street and EastEnders.

And she played three different characters in Doctor Who across three doctors who were. John, can you name the stories in Doctors, says Ross. One is Enlightenment with TV's Peter Davidson. Yeah, the fifth doctor, correct. What year, John? What year? I would say that's 83. Yes, well done. She was in one with Tennant. No. Wasn't she? Not quite. Almost. Is it a Matt Smith one? Yes. Is it the one with James Corden and the Cybermen? Yes. Well done. Closing time. What year was that?

Fucking hell, God. I'm trying to think by how ill I felt with IBS watching them. What level of hell I was in. 2011? Oh, John, well done, you're a bum. It's served you well tonight. That was the worst year until last year. And then a third Doctor. Yes. I didn't think he was going to get the... The Matt Smith one, so well done. Well, it can only be Capaldi. No.

John, I can see the scripts. And even the biggest Whovian in the universe, I would be astonished if they got this. In Doctor Who. She was in Doctor Who. Yeah. She played the saloon singer alongside the first doctor in the gunfighters. Oh, the gunsling. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. Come on. I had no idea about that one. It's a pretty wide-ranging career there, isn't it?

Yes, it is. Yeah. Again, someone that wasn't typecast. Yes. Right. So we also see Dora Bryan as Mrs. Golding, one of the two clairvoyants in the film. You may recognize her from her 50 episodes of Last of the Summer Wine. Her appearance in Boone, take a drink, or as Helen in A Taste of Honey, which, of course, was written by John's mum's friend, Sheila Delaney, apparently. Next door neighbour, yeah?

There you go. She, and that's Dora. The taste of honey. Tasting much sweeter than wine. Do-do-do-do. That's the Beatles, if you don't know. From the taste of honey. And that's half. our musical insert that we always have we always have to have a little sing song at some point don't we right so and ross says that she and that's dora not sheila also appeared in both a carry-on film and a centrinians lastly here we go lastly norman bird makes a brief appearance as the police inspector

If he looks familiar, it's because he had over 200 television and 60 film roles to his name. He was in the BBC's Look and Read series, Spy Watch, playing Mr Jenkins, and appeared in Boone, of course, take a drink, along with... three shows featuring exclamation points. Woof! Which is the thing where the guy turns into a dog. Yeah. Yeah. wacko exclamation mark and i don't know yeah it's not michael jackson jackson And the Stephen McGann-led help. He was also in the infamous...

Jim Davidson, the horrible Jim Davidson. And I'll say that. He can sue me if he wants. The horrible Jim Davidson sitcom. Up the Elephant and Round the Castle. Round the Castle. And which is only mentioned because Ross is sure this is alongside Marina Sirtis from Star Trek The Next Generation. But IMDB, she says she was only in one episode. And I think that is the case, Ross. I thought she was in every episode, but I don't know. I thought she was in every episode, Jim.

That sounded like such a scripted line then, Thieves. But it's a good professional is what I said. Anyway, back to Norman Bird. Other appearances of note include the Cheese Dream celebrity sci-fi game show, The Adventure Game. Yes. which i which i shared a brief snippet of with my two co-hosts oh it's synchronicity a go-go this week it's incredible being um killed by a And that brought back Galloping Galaxies to me. It's out of your mind.

Yes, I thought it was all a very similar aesthetic in 1985 or whenever it was. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was all sets left over from Blake 7, wasn't it? I couldn't work out if the adventure game was... was scripted or not because it just it was so weird that it was like it was like actors and celebrities doing games but like with like acted bits in it as well it's so confusing and now you have to put up with

Boring Rosman's House of Games. Smug House of Games on BBC Two. I don't enjoy that. My favourite game in the adventure game is when they had to put a little robot remote control car in a tunnel to go and get those little... little credits yeah oh the symbols anyway right so um and then it says he also appeared in the jesus in a shed feature film whistle down the wind uh steptoe and son faulty sours please sir and the medusa touch which has been on our long list exclamation mark

it did i tried to give it some uh and the medusa touch which has been on our long list of films to cover since day one we're still going he of course also played Mr Braithwaite, the farmer in the John Pertwee era of Wurzel Gummidge, and was finally the voice of Bilbo in the 1978 Ralph Bakshi animated version of The Lord of the Rings.

that man's had a career and a half yeah i doubt it i doubt it also before and ross you can put this out you know i know we did the disclaimer last time i'm just gonna throw a quick disclaimer if you would or maybe even uh oh yeah no apology um you're right the uh the the other week i spoke to my good friend uh joe

a former colleague of mine uh joe who's that you and um she she no longer teaches she now does a thing where she travels around the country and basically shows schools how to make maths more dynamic and exciting Oh, like sort of sells maths and does, you know, involved in these very technical, but kind of really galvanizing maths days. And she's doing a lot of work in Birmingham at the moment with Birmingham schools. And to that end.

God bless her for this. She is a longtime friend of the show. She listens to the podcast all of the time. She's an actual listener. And when we met up, she was talking about it. She said, oh, it's been really good recently because I've been driving up to Birmingham and back a lot. I'm all caught up on the podcast, which is thank you and sorry at the same time. And she said, I've got to say, you have got James, you've got a really obvious verbal tick. And I said, what is it?

And she said, the amount of times that you say in any way, shape or form. Oh, I like that. Well, there you are. And I said, do I? Because I'm always really conscious of it. Especially if I listen to other podcasts and things like that. If people use the same. phraseology or the kind of verbal tics obviously i try not to do that and i hadn't even realized that i do this one so i'm just putting this out there i would like to apologize to our listener

If you have got annoyed at me saying any way, shape, or form too much, I am now consciously... Yeah, if you get annoyed in any way, shape, or form. Shape or form. I want to know if I've got any now. Dear listener, have I got any verbal tics? Maybe talking about the cat people, curse of the cat people, that comes up in nearly every episode. Well, that's basically what most horror films are ripped off from. I say, for me, a lot. Yes.

Before we start, Cleaver, are you going to edit in two great songs that are about Jack the Ripper? One is by Screaming Lord Such. Jack the Ripper, Jack the Ripper. And one is by Morrissey. The live version is better. I think you should involve those somehow. Yeah, well, now you've mentioned them, you can't mention a song on this podcast without we putting it in.

yeah an extended long oh no not the extended no no no we don't want the you know just a 10 second version and we don't want the entire trailer of this film i'm listening to a podcast about the police academy movies at the moment

As we can tell from your new poster you put up in your kitchen. And they play the whole... traders for police academy and they make no fucking sense exactly this is what we're saying man anyway anyway right let's get going right so this i found was was quite um i often say this about the things that do you know it's always like a bit of a curate's egg yeah in that i felt there was like some really interesting ideas here

But as usual, in the Hammer's stylee, they weren't really thought through. Or they were just like kind of like a bit sort of half-arsed. Yes. It's a relentlessly miserable film, isn't it? It is, pretty much. But we've got to start with a pre-credits bit in this, which is quite unusual for a Hammer film, isn't it?

The one I watched, Cleves, had a link to the Smiths because I've already missed Morrissey. I don't miss Morrissey. I've already mentioned Morrissey. And that's that it's a J. Arthur Rank distributed picture, which is the name. And that's who the Smith's Life album was named after, as in J. Arthur Rank. It's called Rank. I can remember being something on the television, which is...

A big deal about them changing the muscle man who was banging the gong? Yes. Yes, Ross, I remember them doing that as well. Really? Yeah. In the 80s? It must have been. When did the recuperating go? When did it end? I would have said in the 80s. Easily, yeah, because they took over a lot of clubs and pubs and things, didn't they? And then I think that's where they kind of ended up going down there.

it uh it diversified into the manufacture of radios tvs and photocopiers as one of the owners of ranked xerox the company lane lasted until 19 february 1996 really i would have said that went like Yeah. Well, there you are, you see, when the name and some of the remaining assets were absorbed into the newly structured rank group PLC. The company itself became a wholly owned subsidiary of Xerox and renamed XRO Limited.

In 1997. That's weird, isn't it? Yes. But whenever you hear of any kind of, like, British... Oh, yeah, we're going to start making, like... Phones or... Yeah, you're just going to get eaten up. When Alan Sugar made those things for desks that were basically like... Oh, yeah, I remember those. Mobile phones that weren't mobile. Yeah. And you could email from it and it's like...

Yeah, we've just got mobile phones now. I think I sent new emails on that machine. More than likely, yes. Round your neck in a big gold chain. I think I've talked about this before, but there was one time John was meant to be coming down to Cornwall to go on holiday with us. But sat-navs didn't exist at this point. But my girlfriend's dad had a CD-ROM, which had maps of the UK.

So I got all the instructions of how to drive from Yorkshire to St. Ives, printed it out, and then faxed it to you on a massive long step-by-step. Yes. This was in 1998. I got as far as Leamington Spa, the alternator on my Mini went kaput, and the battery in my boot of my Mini, because they're in Minis. The battery was in the boot. The battery exploded. And I had whistling ears for like two days. And then I just went home again. This was like, I can't drive to...

With an exploded mini. Oh dear. Those are the days. 1998. Oh, and speaking of which, just some final Rank thoughts here for us. It says that via Wikipedia, our good friends at Wikipedia, at the Cannes Film Festival in 1980, Ed Chilton of Rank announced a £12 million slate of... projects. However, by June, they withdrew from production once again.

The decision was made to plunge on in and it was then pulled back, said Williams. The ranked films that had been announced for production, which were including an adaptation of HMS Ulysses, The Rocking Horse winner. No further details on that one. And, gents, a film version of To the Manor Born were cancelled. Oh, it now takes too long. Oh, wow. Would they have gone on holiday? Do you reckon? Yes. To the man abroad. Written in like a kind of handwriting font. Yeah.

Penelope Keith being outraged by Spaniards. Would there be a Spanish sort of double of Big Peter Bowles, which he would be a bit mistaken for? Well, there you are. We've written it for him. Should they ever want to go back? We'll get back in time and write it. So there you go. Right, okay, so that's right. So yeah, so we start off pre-credit sequence.

where it's absolute classic victoriana and it's delightful to see not only the ripper like oh like running away in hot pursuit just like in the nicholas i was gonna say duck into like an alleyway It literally falls straight on from Goodnight Sweetheart, doesn't it? It was just really weird. Which was weird. It made me laugh out loud, actually. But the only real difference, and it was such a lovely horror film trope.

The pursuing mob all had flaming torches. Where did they all get time to get flaming torches from? Did they get a load of flaming torches again? That's in my notes. That's in my notes. They've reformed the flaming torches band. The East End of Love. London, that's the place to go if you want flaming torches. Only ever used for chasing... Well, of course. Monsters. Murderers, killers. So, the Ripper.

um sprints away into you know quite a fair distance but bearing in mind what we're told later on where the uh the rippers residence is Quite a distance from Whitechapel, to be fair. It would be a good half hour run, even for a healthy athlete. Through the smog. Just let him go, fellas. He's run too far. He's got shit and mud. You. and um as a result he then ducks into his home and we see his domestic situation yes his wife is nursing a small child yes um she figures out that he is the ripper

due to his bloodstained clothes. A very small amount of blood on him. Yeah. This is probably the last Ripper murder, which would have been... And I've seen a reenactment of that. Is that going to be in every episode? In the serial killer exhibition. There would have been a lot of blood. Up to nine pints. Yes.

At this point, I question why he's got a badly burned face. Yes. Yeah, they don't... All the hands. Yeah, because it looks like he's just got eczema to me. Yeah. Yes. And later on, when the sheep becomes... leaping ahead a little bit, when the daughter of the Ripper becomes possessed by the Ripper, she seems to get X more on her hands. The titular hands of the Ripper, Ross. It's like burns, yes. But it's just like PVA glue, isn't it? So it's like...

PVA glue put on someone's face and then, like, I know this because I've done it myself, and then, like, done with a hairdryer. I was trying to, at this point, work out when this film is set. Yes, same. This scene obviously happens in 1888 because that's when the Ripper murders happen. So at one point she's described as 17.

Yeah. Which would mean it's 1903. Yeah. Yes. But they talk about Queen Victoria at this point. Queen Victoria! Who's been dead for two years. Yeah. I was really persplexed by it all. So it's quite hard to historically kind of... pin this down isn't it really it just looks Victorian let's just say it's not something I quite like was the way and I was thinking if I ever made a film I'd probably rip this off where they had the titles where everything paused

when the titles came up. Yes. That was a really lovely 70s effect. They do that quite often with early 70s Hammer. They do that with the Vampire Lovers as well, which I think is like a stagecoach.

uh kind of this i'm doing the i'm mimicking what a stagecoach is like yeah with the uh what do you call them the reins of the horse and i think there's a series of pauses there with garish pink writing over the top this one's yellow and red isn't it the hands of the ripper is a red kind of uh typeface which is quite nice um talking about like um

sort of cliches of our podcast we do normally talk about the titles for like the first for 20 minutes and then the rest of the film yeah um there's a lot of dutch angles as well in the first kind of pre-titled sequence which is if people don't know is like an angled shot so if you think of like the 60s Batman serial that's like a Dutch angle

I don't know why that then doesn't really continue throughout the film, because I thought it was quite cool at that point. It's like the Ripper's kind of signature effect, isn't it? Like a Dutch angle. So the Ripper kills his wife.

and then leaves his child in the room with the corpse of his person staring at the child. Yes. And what then follows is a very weird and semi-confusing... sequence which did take me a couple of minutes which is the entire film yes but in short we jump for we jump forwards um

As John has just said. We either jump forward to time or she ages very quickly. Yeah. Well, one thing or the other. At least now we're talking about. Yes. Yes. So. jump forward in time to see that she is now working um for uh they're all fraudulent So she's working for a fraudulent medium, but kind of doing that classic mediumship thing of she is hiding in the room where, you know, the spirits are being spoken to and she's hiding.

behind a curtain and giving voice to a doll on the table, which wasn't particularly clear. That's what I was like, what's going on? I didn't get that part at all, actually. And I thought that was quite cool because that was one of the sort of things which a medium would have done in that time. Yes. I thought that this... This harks back very clearly to Night of the Demon that we have done. Classic. Whatever. You can drop in the episode number here now, if you will, please. Okay. And then also...

The Treasure of Abbott Thomas as well has got sequences like this, hasn't it? Where there's kind of... uh spooky voices um i just want to say i'd say for us i love a good seance oh yeah yeah sequence or seance proved to be fake i'm always on board when we get that yeah I just want to say about the title sequence, I was surprised by how romantic the theme music was. Yes! The music fucking did my head in. All the way, I thought the film...

For me, the film was really good. The music is so bad, it spoiled it for me. But then when I looked at it, the guy who did the music ended up winning a BAFTA for doing the music for the Eid of Piaf. biopic. Oh, no way. Le Vion Rose? Le Vion Rose. Le Vion Rose. Oh, okay. Interesting. I just thought it was very atypical for Hammer. uh and that it was it it was a bit too kind of saccharine yes yeah

The booby era of Hammer, I think. This is particularly... I'm going to ban you from saying boobs. Please stop saying it. This is the time where they thought they had to put boobs in it, isn't it? Just say breasts. That's breasts. Tits. No. Just say breasts, Cleves. Breasts. Just breasts, because that's all they are. They're not boobies. That's all they are. well there's there's i'd be interested john if you've there's a lot there's a bit coming up in a later on in the film

And my notes just says, please, Ross, don't talk about this. So we'll see. We'll see if you had similar when we get there. I know. I know. I have written hair on Pritchard. I can't remember who Pritchard is. Who is Pritchard? He's the doctor. Oh, did I mean him then? I think you were talking about the inspector. The other boy. No, no, I'm talking about the boy who's his son. Oh, yeah, that'd be Pritchard Jr., wouldn't it? Yeah. Oh, it's 2-2.

Nice. So it's like it's like a Darth Vader helmet of hair, isn't it? And what I've written is that he's one of the special hammer men in the 70s. And well, maybe a bit like the Gorgon that we did recently. The lead kind of suave. strapping young man of the film is actually quite a weird, weedy-looking man. He is. Who's not, let's say, conventionally handsome. And doesn't actually...

you would think would be the hero, but it doesn't actually do anything. It doesn't do anything in this film at all. He's out of the film for a very long time. Yes. Doesn't he? He's out for ages and then just comes back at the end to provide, you know, the dramatic impetus. But also, with him, as I was watching it, I thought, well, he looks oddly familiar. I thought so. I thought, well, let me see what else he's done.

and he's one of these people he did lots of single episodes of things all the way through like the 1970s up to the early 80s including a thing with the band madness was he was he in boone He was not in Boone. Ross, he'd stopped working by then. No way. He's still alive. But then it's just like, stop. I think like the last thing he did was an episode of Minder. Yeah.

Well, mind us. Well, I was about to say, maybe he's just like, I've reached the apex. So if he's listening, you know, I think you are quite a handsome guy, but not conventionally handsome. That's what I want to say, basically, isn't it? But your hair in this film was disgusting. It was really, he looked like Dark Helmet in Spaceballs. It was very strange. I'm surrounded by assholes. He also reminded me of somebody who I went to primary school with, a guy called Matthew Joy.

With the same hair, James. Yes, very similar. Very, very similar. His face, everything. Very, very similar. The clairvoyant is doing a fake seance. Yes. And the daughter of the Ripper, Anna. the name Anna is doing the voice of the spirits but then something happens and she sort of semi goes into a bit of a trance starts crying and

And it sort of spoils the sounds and they all go home. The doctor figures out that it's a rum do, as it were. When they go and stand out in the hallway, he notices her very small foot. kind of sticking out from behind the curtain and purposefully steps on it and makes it go, sort of cry out in pain. He's like, I can see what was going on here. It's like Houdini disrupting mediumship. Yes. Yes, very much so. And then he leaves with his son, but leaving behind the other.

guest at the the reading the seance thank you that's the the technical word thanks ross um at the seance he goes upstairs yes with yes the young girl

And we find out that there's a lot of dodginess afoot. She's paying the playboy to take the virginity of the 17-year-old young girl. It's very sinister, and I'd forgotten how... creepy and horrible this scene is and it's um it's really distasteful it is it's very hammer's idea of Victorian London which I don't think is far off the truth to be honest and we see we'll see more of this in Taste the Blood of Dracula which is already

which is also directed by the same person. In fact, in the 70s, they were obsessed with prostitutes and taking people's virginities. That was like... That was the most sexy thing that could possibly happen. Yeah, it's mainly men of a certain age.

writing kind of fan fan fiction isn't it really of course ross this is also that time um you you must have watched there was that terrific like two-part thing on channel four that was all about the rise of like sex films in the 1970s in britain right no and you know sort of like the comedy sex films they spoke to the great great robert asquith and people like that and like confessions confessions of a window cleaner and then them saying that they would often make

two versions um not of things like confessions of a window cleaner but like um the sexier films as it were they're kind of more kind of titillation aspect films there'd be a version for great britain and then like a full-on porn version for you yeah yeah for distribution in europe yeah yes yeah and it was it was it was not because of the content i must point out but just honestly a very educational it was like well i had no idea i had no idea and as you said it was a

big big deal yeah but it just felt like they you know this is someone you know who came across a certain amount of 70s porn when they was in their um in their formative years yeah it just felt like they were just obsessed with the fact that Victorian times had loads of prostitutes and it was just really exciting and obsessed with like

Wouldn't it be great to take someone's virginity? In reality, who's getting anything out of that? Yeah, we're not going to put this bit in, please. I think that this film... treads into it a bit like dog shit, but doesn't go too far in that it's the permissive society. And I think what we see now is the permissive society in the end of the 60s and the 70s just went too far.

and it was shit for most people and it ended up with people like Jimmy Savile and all that kind of stuff. I just felt like they just had such a weird idea of what it actually... Yeah, but this film is part of the reality of that because the main... you've got in it has a nude scene for no reason why she's in the bath and you're like yeah there's no reason for that and it's and none of the male

stars have to do any of that, do they? It's not like Eric Porter's there in his underpants. But it was also very weirdly done in as much as like, oh, he's fine because he's your adopted father. So it was just, again, I just found it really creepy. Well, I think, yeah, that's what I've written. I think it's because he's a doctor and that's, it's like, oh, he's a doctor, you know, but I think it's just, yeah. So where are we? Because we've jumped ahead quite far now, haven't we? Okay, so...

So the man who, and you'll learn who he is in a bit, goes upstairs to have sex with the medium's young aide, who is the daughter of the Ripper. But whilst they are, he's kind of stood. silhouetted against her window. The doctor is outside having put his son in the back of a carriage to send him off on his stag night.

his handsome cab um and then while he's waiting for another carriage to arrive he sees the silhouette he figures out what's what's going on and decides that he's not going to put up for this uh and goes in to intervene but then while that's happening um uh the the daughter of the ripper becomes hypnotized she's presented with like a jewel

So it seems that when she sees flickering light, because I think that, so the reflection on the jaw, and when she's kissed upon the cheek, these are the things which trigger her possession by the saucy jack. Yes. But you would think that doesn't happen that often to someone, doesn't it? But hey, every 10 minutes. Yeah, so how does she, what she actually does is kill the clairvoyant. She stabs it with a poker.

right through a solid oak door. All of this film, surprisingly gory kind of reveals of the murders. Yes, because it's not really scary.

And am I right in thinking she only kills women in the film? That's a good point. Yeah, you're quite right. Yeah. If that's true, I don't know what that says, whether that's a really clever thing on the part of the writer because it's... you know that's what ripper only killed women supposedly i i was just like oh well she's she's also responsible for the death of the doctor at the end isn't she

Yes, she does stop him. She has that. She's in the most bizarre way possible for on that soon. Well, he would have died. But there we are. We'll get there eventually. So he runs in. He finds Nora Bryan is stuck to a door with a poker. Has he seen the other man run out at that point? He has seen him, but then when the next thing we see is taken in by the police, and he and the doctor hides...

the fact that he knows the identity of the other child. This dodgy man. I thought this bit was quite weird because it looks like they're in a prison. It looks like they're already in prison, but they've gone in to be interviewed by a police officer in what looks like a prison. It was just a quite... confusing kind of sequence wasn't it so that they can go into a room full of sex workers prostitutes yes yes and

and make their way through I don't know why they would be soliciting in the prison because it's not like they can do anything at that point but they're just compelled to do it they can't can't help but see a gentleman and all of their services. And all of which were delivered in the classic street walk away. And you can play along with this at home, should you wish. Which is, so if you want to do like, I'm a little teapot, short and stout. So they all kind of place their one hand on their hip.

and then kind of stand at a jaunty angle and go, are you looking for some trait, darling? Things like that, aren't they? And maybe wink, maybe a saucy wink. Yeah, yeah, yeah, broad wink.

broad wink as well yeah so yes we then learn that the mysterious the mysterious man um he is a dodgy mp and i know so well look nothing's changed given possibly but what i've said is that this immediately gave me the first name that sprung to my head well the first two names that sprang to my head here's one for the 90s heads out there first of all david meller yes chelsea kit antonio de sancia antonio yeah and do you remember that guy steven meller

he yes and he was he was the guy that was found in lady stockings with an orange in his mouth he did an auto asphyxiate that's the first time that i think my generation learned of auto asphyxiation yes going wrong before like Michael Hutchins kind of stole the limelight on that grasshopper out of Kung Fu yes I've forgotten his name David Carradine Darren Carradine yeah

right so yeah so once again well wouldn't you know it dodgy mp um and then the other thing that's quite amazing is that they've just got the murder weapon it's like how things have changed it's like look that's that's evidence yeah no one's they're just flailing it about well back in those days the only way you can catch someone is if someone actually saw it yeah yeah yeah yeah i put no wonder they couldn't catch a gold back then you know Unbelievable. Yeah. So that kind of gives us the setup.

and we learn it later on but in short the doctor doesn't want to name the mp saying oh i knew you were there because he wants to keep an eye on him because his initial thoughts are that you know he may have done the murder And, you know, the mystery is underway. Dr. Pritchard agrees to take on guardianship of the young Anna and takes her back to his home in a very creepy manner.

Yes. And it also looks exactly like the street that she's come from. Yeah. Where Dora Bryan lived, even though now she's like, oh, it's so lovely. It's so beautiful. And it's like, it looks exactly like the house she's just left. Yeah. Yes. And so in my notes is that basically, in short, it's turned into My Fair Lady slash Pygmalion, but with blood. 100%. Pygmalion that dripped blood. Yeah. Pygmalion. So, yeah, that's the vibe that's going to be.

happening here he's going to take her in from her life of prostitution and get big because the dodgy thing is of course the doctor's wife has died recently that's what i didn't quite get so They take her into a room and he's like, oh, this is your room now. And I was thinking, does he do this? kind of thing, particularly often. But then he says, oh, my wife has died. And then it's like, oh, find one of my wife's dresses. Maybe the last person who came in there was playing the hurdy-gurdy.

And then it just basically makes me think of Vertigo, where it's Jimmy Stewart's character is trying to redress. Yeah, which he gets out of the way, doesn't he? Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's really weird. But is it explicitly weird that we're meant to think it's weird at that point? It's quite strange, isn't it?

At EDF, we don't just encourage you to use less electricity. We actually reward you for it. That's why when you use less during peak times on weekdays, we give you free electricity on Sundays. How you use it is up to you. EDF. Change is in our power. Households who shift weekday peak usage by 40% could earn up to 16 hours of free electricity per week, subject to fair usage cap. For all T's and C's, visit edfenergy.com forward slash r-power.

we're james of food from shits and geeks podcast and we're currently being sponsored by now where you can stream all episodes of the new season of bafta winning sky original gangs of london instantly bro so season one is season two right it's probably the most

action-packed British show you will see. Okay, that's juicy. So there's madness happening in London right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there's a spike shipment of cocaine that's killed too many people. Okay. Too many people. And a lot of the fan favourites. are colliding okay people are bound by blood ties it follows a guy called elliot he's a former undercover cop now turned gangster he's trying to navigate his new role as a top level criminal alongside the damani family but things are spiking

throwing operations into disarray, bro. Okay, so let's... In this ruthless fight for control over London, bro, no one is safe in this underworld. No one is safe. But wait for it. There was no accident. It's all calculated. Let me ask you a question then. Talk to me. Who's pulling the strings? Stream Gangs of London season three instantly on now. With AI, if you can think it, you can make it. But so can cyber criminals.

Norton VPN Ultimate helps protect you and your family. Combining advanced online privacy protection with AI-powered scam detection so you can live your best digital life. Today's online privacy threats have met their match. Search Norton VPN Ultimate for a fast and reliable VPN that keeps you safer online. With the new Lloyds app, you can do it all.

You can freeze your card if you misplace it. Whilst you search behind the sofa, blame the dog, run upstairs, run downstairs, empty your bag, look behind the sofa again. Only to realize it's in your back pocket. Curse quietly under your breath and unfreeze your card. Shove everything back in your bag. Take a deep breath, smile and run for the boss. Freeze and unfreeze your card at the touch of a button. The power to do it all on the new Lloyds app. Download now. T's and C's apply.

Meanwhile, our hideously haircutted younger Pritchard has gone to the train station to pick up his blind fiancée. Although I didn't figure out she was blind to start off with at all. Did you guys miss that? It was only when she turned up at the house, I was like, oh, she's supposed to be blind.

i worked out straight away again loads of addition loads of like detail and added character traits which are not needed you know these characters we don't really need these characters in it at all really do we

And it's one of these things you think, oh, if this was an adaptation from a book, they've got to be in it because those characters are in the book. But no, they just added characters. I mean, it's only an hour and 20 minutes, this film. So I think that it needed more characters just... for a bit of padding because otherwise it is a to b to c to d isn't it and there is it's quite a linear not very exciting narrative otherwise where

It's a lot of set pieces where she sees the sparkly thing and then she stabbed someone. Yeah. And, and. The film is better than that, but I think that's what ultimately it boils down. Who does she kill next then? How does that happen? I'll tell you. I've got it on the notes, but I also, my other note that I really, really wanted to share with you, and Ross will back this up. Was that I said that it's

that what happens is in the space of a scene, there's suddenly like 100% more women in the house. They've gone from having no women in the house to suddenly there's loads of women in the house. And I said that in mere minutes... Yeah, they've doubled the amount of women in the house. And I said, this was our teenage Friday night dream, Ross. Just to try and double up the amount of women in our house. Well, you can't double none to...

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Unless your land counts. No, no, no, absolutely not. Right, okay. And then what we kind of learn... And this is one of our non-stupid points now, is that my note that I made, I said, knowing nothing about this film whatsoever, is I thought, oh. This really reminds me of something that I read when I was at university and really, really enjoyed, which was a book by Caleb Carr called The Alienist.

which they i then learned when i was like oh the deal with the alienist i said oh yeah they then turned it into a tv show that had luke evans in it oh no way Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I think it might've been on Apple. I'm going to say. Yes. And what they, and the pitch of the story is. There is a serial killer loose in late 1800s New York, and they get the help of the famed early psychologist William James.

To help figure out, like, why is he doing all of this? And to capture him. And I thought, oh, this whole, we'll use psychiatry to catch a killer.

that's been done before and then i was like actually i'm sure they then did something very similar with like freud i'm sure that and i and yes i was absolutely right In the 2005, 2006 time, there was a book called The Interpretation of Murder by a guy called Jed Rudenfeld, where once again... this time it's actually freud and young on their famous tour where they went around america and they get roped into helping to have to find finder coming off the back of um

doing uh bill and ted's history report yes that's right yes 100 that but i thought oh that's that's really interesting and so there you are for our actual listener who may listen to this for some form of horror content i thought well that's interesting that you know maybe this idea has been floating out in the ether for you for a little while the whole will use psychiatry or nascent psychiatry to try and uncover a serial killer

There is a scene now where the MP guy comes to try and blackmail him, isn't there? Yes. And then that doesn't work, and he ends up blackmailing the MP guy and saying, well... You know, if you don't let me study Anna. I will remember that you were the person that I saw coming up the house. Even I think at this point, Eric Porter doesn't believe that the MP man is the murderer at all, does he? No, I think he's pretty sure. Which is really weird that he...

He just thinks, he's harbouring this killer and he's thinking, maybe I do a little bit of experimentation on her and maybe watch her have a bath. Yeah, rich and famous because I've worked out why murderers... do murders and um and also for me it's like because you you're filming on you know a few numbers of sets it does feel a little bit like a play where it's like well this person then leaves through like this this sort of secret

exit which someone else leaves through that secret exit later on and stuff. Well it's like patio doors isn't it that weren't locked which is a bit careless. So basically we then have the sequence where She is ensconced in the house. And is this when this stag do is happening? Yes. Yeah, they're getting ready. She's meant to be getting ready to come to a dinner.

Isn't she? Dinner dance. Yes. Eric Porter's already at the dinner dance and the son and daughter are there. She is being dolled up by the maid. Dolly the maid. Dolly the maid. Dolly the maid is dolling her up. And that's when she sees the twinkling, not very nice coloured gemstone. No, no, no, no. It's like brown. Yeah.

it does not look out metrosexual james coming up here it does not go with that dress at all there is her hair doesn't look great and it doesn't go that you know in my ongoing role to try and be one of the queer eyes for the straight guy yes honey that just does not go none of that works you were giving it victorian urchin realness before now i don't know what you are you don't know who what you are

but this is when we get a um but again there's like a a random kiss evolved i just want you look so beautiful i would not put this kiss yeah because you know you can trigger her It's by flashing a jewel or something metal in front of her and then kissing her. I would have dropped the kiss because it just... Unnecessary. It's unnecessary. The flickering light, maybe. And what does she stab her with?

Oh, she slits her throat and then slits her throat and puts it in the bath. No, she reaches back. She reaches back with like a candelabra or something. A bit of broken mirror. And slashes the mirror. And then grabs a shard of the broken mirror and stabs her with that. Yeah. And then she goes into the bar.

Yes. Yes. She very neatly stumbles back, back, back and falls into the bath. Yes. Yes. So then Dr. Bridget goes back and finds the body and covers it all up. And also Dolly is quite clearly still breathing.

he's very close and near near to the front of the shot and yeah you can see her quite clearly still breathing but that's fine right yeah so yeah as the guys say he then covers it up and says oh no i don't know what's where dolly's gone and he with that he then has the horrible realization it must be my new young wife slash orphan slash charge. She's responsible for this and now I'm going to use science to try and figure it out. Is this why she handcuffs her to the bed? Yes!

It's not a bed, Ross. It's his consulting couch. Which has handcuffs attached to. Yes! Very convenient manacles. I just put... My notes now don't really make sense because I've written remorselessly miserable film, Web of Lies, Mrs. Bryant, and Nurse Gladys Emanuel. So for me, it's just a list of...

Does she escape at some point now and then just wanders off again miles into... Yes, back into East London. Okay, so at this point, Anna escapes the manacled sex bed and goes off to... uh the east end of london and is is is stumbling around uh again more sex workers she's in a daze isn't she she's been has she at this point has she been hypnotized or is she in some kind of oh yeah she's

Is she hypnotised by the doctor? I think she's hypnotised her. Or she's possessed, but it's quite hard to tell what's... What's happening? Which is that every time she kills, her hands go a bit flaky as well, don't they? Yes, like her old man's. Well, they're burnt. That's what the... See, I still don't think it's burnt. I still think it's some kind of skin complaint.

Why would it be a skin complaint? At what point do we see the Ripper being burnt? Well, we don't, but... But why would he turn up burnt? Well, that's what I'm saying. That's what I'm asking. Why is he burnt? I think he's obviously burnt at the start. I think he's just got eczema. Stupidest reasoning I've ever heard. He's just got eczema. Maybe he's got some kind of killer skin disease. Maybe he's just been burnt, Cleves. So anyway...

She bumps into Nurse Gladys Emanuel, who is a sex worker who kind of takes her in. out of kindliness, but I don't think you're meant to think it's kindliness. No, she's going to pimp her out. She's going to pimp her out. Yeah. But then Olga kicks off again. She gets a load of hat pins and stabs them through her hand into her arm. Brilliant.

Really good kill. I like that one. It's very, very gory, I think. And realistic, but it looked like it went for the hand. I think this is probably the goriest Hammer film.

which we've watched so far at least yes definitely because there's three or four startling pieces of slit throat stabbed in eye kind of stuff isn't there which hammer wasn't really known for especially in 1971 yeah it wasn't known for yeah um this is the first one i was glad the kids were in the room i'm not like yes yeah so i would have been quite yeah And then do we go...

Then basically, how does he find her then at this point? He runs around shouting for her. Oh, yes. He runs up to a pub that looks a bit like the Ten Bells, doesn't he? And he's like, where is she? Where's Anna? And they're like, oh, hello, ducky. Yeah, it's the amazingly named The Crown and Trumpet. And then also, he gets some information from, hooray, a Victorian tramp. It's our tramp watch. So, yeah, there is a Victorian tramp and he says, oh, I think she's gone over there. Yeah.

and to long liz's house and then the bit that i said oh please don't mention this ross is there's a bit when and we also say why we keep saying nurse gladys emmanuel because the actress Linda Barron who's playing this character is for our generation most famously known for playing the character Nurse Gladys Emanuel who's the object of the comic actor Ronnie Barker's affections in the

popular 1980 sitcom it's in all hours yeah where he is mesmerized by her extremely uh as my dad would say healthy chest that's the thing and then to that point um there is a scene where linda baron yeah where linda baron is examining anna um and looks and looks at her chest

and says don't worry darling they'll get bigger over time ross please i thought oh please ross is what i put please don't talk about this bit so well done well done we've we've got through that so yeah and then once again she gets dressed up um the hip oh sparkly sparkly light kiss uh stab through the eye um and then The nurse Gladys Emanuel starts wandering the street with the dress pins through her hand into her eye and she drops dead in front of the doctor.

And everyone goes, quick, get the burning torches. Quick, get the burning torches back out. Yay. He's still not convinced to go to the cops or... No, he busts into like a Hudson cab. Almost gets caught by the angry mob, but they realise that he was there when Longlist was found, so therefore he can get away. Yes. And then we go into the wedding rehearsal then, don't we?

which is quite a strange sequence where Anna's just back with the family and it's obvious this guy is just like, oh, whatever, she can kill who she likes as long as I can do my research, which I'm not doing because she keeps escaping. And then they have a kind of odd little...

conversation, don't they, where he looks like he's going to kiss her and then he doesn't kiss her. Yeah, it's creepy. It's all very creepy. I've got to say, this is one of the hammers that hasn't aged well in lots of modern contexts, isn't it? And then we get to see Supergram.

Yay! Oh, no, no. Is it Super Grand? No, it's McWitch from Rent-A-Ghost. I thought it was Super Grand. Yeah, McWitch. McWitch from Rent-A-Ghost. Rent-A-Ghost. Is the maid for a second... clairvoyant which we go to is it yes but the difference is the queen the dead queen victoria by this point

But yeah, so it's quite remarkable. And what I put is, so all the way through, the pitch of this movie has been, aha, psychology will solve this problem. This newfangled Dr. Freud. And then what actually solves the problem for them? is a sidekick. So having to box it all at the start. I said science versus possession. Like that. Yeah. I think what they try and do is make up this central...

uh, torment is like science versus possession. But then basically this woman, um, just deciphers it all. Doesn't she by being a medium, which kind of lets it down slightly, but then she also, um, gets, um, Stabbed, but I'm not really sure how she gets stabbed or what with at that point. A magic dagger which appears from nowhere. Knife appears from somewhere. But that was quite shocking for me.

Yeah, it was good. I liked that one. However, what we do have to point out is that there was one pretty good thing that I thought, oh, that's quite good. Well done. I like that. is that so the psychic then basically fills in the plot what we already know gives gives the doctor here is the deal this is the daughter of jack the ripper who

He used to live on Berwick Street, which is obviously, like, one of the more well-to-do parts of London. But there was a point when they said, like, who was the Ripper? I can't tell you.

that's it that was the good bit she is horrified yeah she says and her father was no and she is like she can't possibly say who it is it's too much um well whatever but i still thought and my notes were i thought that's a good way round the classic who was jack the ripper yeah thing by saying she knows but i can't i just can't tell you and then she's dead for she can reveal

That's quite good. I think the reason she got really weirded out is because the vision of Jack Roper being run down by a bus... in the 1990s. It just completely blew her mind that she was having a vision of something that was just going to happen in the future. They had to shoehorn some way of this woman kissing the Ripper daughter in order to trigger the... Trigger it.

the trigger, the death blow, but it was quite a nice reveal because she just wasn't moving until the doctor touched her and then she moved away. No, I thought that worked really well. I wasn't surprised because I've seen the film before, but I think it worked really well, yes.

So how do we get back to the doctor's house so he can be stabbed by a convenient sword? Well, what he says is, well, he then is convinced that... what has happened is that somehow the trauma is um has imposed itself on her subconscious mind And my note says it's time for some science. And he's going to science it out of her, basically, and say, you know, make her kind of...

either make her confront her past or make her exercise her past trauma. All while she's left a dead woman in her house. In her house. With McWhitch. With McWhitch you saw. to saw you coming in and then leaving. That part is totally forgotten within minutes, which is brilliant. And then there's a thing where there's some sort of lecture about the savage, isn't there?

Like, man has always killed people. I'm like, oh, well done. You needed a doctorate for that, did you? But this is to the MP guy, isn't it? Yes, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because he's popped up again. Yeah, and the MP is like, I knew it was her, and I think that I'm going to go and tell the peelers that it's her. And he's like, no, man, no. I frequent prostitutes, but this is possibly even worse than that.

yeah yeah i rape underage women but this is this is this is worse this is this is far worse and it goes without saying that his attempts to try and solve the psychic fissure that's um as stricken anna does not work she's triggered yet again and she stabs him as ross says with one of the many um

ceremonial decorative swords all over the house all victorians had all victoria yeah and but the weird thing is is like where she stabs him like most horror films you ever see you know it's a stab to the torso

It's through the love hand. To the neck. It's a stab through his hip. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So it's like given the length of the sword. It would have gone right through him to the other side. Yeah. Yeah. To the other side. But it's not. He's just going. Oh. There was a good bit, though, where he had to get...

hook the sword on the door handle and put it out of him. I thought that was brilliant. That's right. And then the original, their original kind of home help maid, the elderly maid, turns up and I put his... I would rather die than ask a woman for help. For some reason, he won't say, fuck's sake, get in here and help me, I'm dying. He's like, I'm quite all right.

She's my favourite character in the film. I really like her because she's just like... I could have had the whole film from her point of view, to be honest, because she's just like a busybody, isn't she? She's excellent. You see a lot of her teeth. I don't know. You see in her mouth somehow the way she talks is like, which is really strange. So, yeah. So then. What has happened in the meantime is that the young lovers buggered off to his city offices, but they needed a chaperone.

So Anna has gone with them in her trance. Which they haven't noticed. Yeah. Which no one seems to notice in this film when this woman doesn't speak. If I was sat with someone who didn't speak for a few minutes, I'd be like, are you okay? You wouldn't be like, oh yeah, I'm just going to keep talking to you while you're silent. Yeah, wouldn't kiss him.

For sure. Oh, you're so pretty. I'm just going to kiss you a minute. It's just so weird. It's such an odd film. And then they go to the very dirty St. Paul's, don't they? Which... It's pre-Charles and Diana. It hasn't been cleaned yet, so it looks quite Victorian. And we had a crash Zoom into Big Ben, Dirty Big Ben earlier for no real reason.

With some fantastic, yeah, because it says three o'clock on it. And I'm like thinking, is three o'clock going to be any kind of important? Have you seen Big Ben in... real life since it's all been cleaned up and it's yeah it looks weird now yeah all blue and everything yeah it looks too it looks a bit hd now doesn't it

I preferred it when it was just covered in pigeon shit. But I think the bit of Big Ben was library footage for some reason as well. I don't know why it was put in because it says three o'clock and you're like, what's happening at three o'clock? So the Americans can get excited about seeing Big Ben.

Hey, gee, look at that. The Elizabeth Tower. Oh, no, that's not Elizabeth. Or is that the Elizabeth Tower? It wasn't called the Elizabeth Tower at that point. I think it was named that for one of her... What's the other one called? Because I've been in the entrance under there. I don't know. I can't think what that's called. We need to go and do a trip to the Churchill rooms underneath there. The war rooms? Yeah, I think...

You go where you two would be a... Add experience. Yeah, would add a little extra to that. Do they have smells there? Does it smell like the wall? Because the best thing about Eden Camp, my favourite museum... Is that there's smells in different rooms? Or they used to be 25 years ago? I think you should start wearing siren suits, Jim. Start wearing what? Siren suits.

Those purple onesies that Churchill used to wear. They're very comfortable, I'm sure. Yeah, for some reason, our... Luke Evans. Soon-to-be-betroved couple have gone to... The whispering gallery. No, they haven't. Just the two women have. Oh, okay. Why have they gone there? Just for a look around. It's not explained. Something to do. Yeah. Why not? It's London. Yeah.

So she's going to show the whispering gallery up in St Paul's, which then, this is, as we said, they weren't allowed to film in there, so they got quite a bad sort of like painting. which they're kind of superimposed in front of. Who's the over? Yes. But she wants to have the... She wants to do the thing where one person sits on one side of the gallery and... And Anna will sit on the other side and she can whisper to her and it will go round. But this triggers the voice of the Ripper.

For some reason. I also put down... What's she going to whisper? I'm not really blind. I'm just putting it all on for a laugh. But no, Ross is absolutely correct. This is what triggers the Ripper. And once again, another mention this evening of Carl Jung and archetypes. This, for me, was very, very similar to Frank Herbert, the author of Dune.

Big, big fan of Carl Jung. The less of the two Herbert novelists. Yeah. Oh, yes. Sorry, sorry, sorry. It's a weeknight. My brain was a little slow there. So, yes. So Frank Herbert was a big advocate of...

Jung and the collective unconscious and that's the theory that he really starts to expand on in the Lays of June novels that the Bene Gesserit and anyone with suitable psychic training you can not only you know it's not only the archetypes you can actually go and talk to your ancestors and you can add you and that's what happens and they can then take you over and that's

spoilers yeah don't fancy that that's exactly right and that's pretty much and that's pretty much what happens here is that the ripper then returns and then says to her you've always been my daughter and it's like she's like is this a dream And he's like, I don't know. And I thought that bit was actually quite good when he said, I couldn't tell the difference between dream and reality. Yeah, that was a momentarily quite good bit there. Well done. I think from here on in.

When the kind of operatic music is playing, this film becomes pure cinema and it's one of the greatest moments of Hammer films. Up to this point, it's... subpar. I would say the titles at the beginning were brilliant and this bit at the end was brilliant. This bit is brilliant and it's really well choreographed. It's really well shot.

And then basically she's like, help me, Dr. John. And then Dr. John runs into the floor. He doesn't run in. He's absolutely. I've been stabbed through the guts. He doesn't. It's a great return for our occasional category and award. you look like you've had a night out in the west end with liam gallagher in 1996 awards he literally like stumbles out of the carriage and then comes in yes he's like his son turns up

And he's like, son, you're going to have to go up. Basically, I put, you're going to have to go, son, I'm fucked. Which is what he is, basically. And he's like, you go, go and stop us. That's basically me when I do anything now. It's like, hell, you go. I don't want to go for if I shit myself on the way up, basically. It's like when we went to Glastonbury. Yeah, I was going to say that. You two climbing a fucking mountain up to that stupid church thing.

And I'm like, you two can go, but you know, I might need the toilet halfway up. So carry on. All right. So then we, so it gets the climax of the film. She then, Anna, then starts to begin to strangle the blind wife. Yes. Fortunately, the son arrives in time to wrestle her away from Anna. And then at which point, like the realization of what she's been doing really kind of comes over Anna.

yeah and and the ripper is like keep killing people and then she looks down from the whispering gallery and this is the bit that john was saying oh yeah it looks pretty good you know pretty good down at the uh And then a dummy. And then a dummy is chucked over. Right, right, yeah, yeah. Down at the floor of the church. A miniature. It looked like a Barbie. Yeah. It looked like a Barbie dummy. It looks like a miniature to me. Yeah.

I think when you're looking up, it looks like an actual stunt woman lady. And then when you're looking down to where Eric Porter is, it might be a dummy at that point, but I don't think it's bad. It reminded me of when the woman is chucked off the balcony in The Omen. It was done in a kind of weird kind of... Well, however they did it, it's quite dreamy, isn't it? It's quite dreamy. Yes. It doesn't look bad. It's like slow-mo. Yeah. It's way better than any James Bond film.

where countless people fall. My favourite death by falling in a Bond film is the man when Mayday... We've all got one. When they're in the airship, but you don't know they're in the airship, and Mayday takes a guy to some stairs, and then it turns into a slope, and then the reveal is him falling out. Falling out of the Zorian Industries airship. James, can you name my favourite cinematic someone being thrown out of something? No, I was just going to say, my favourite thing from Bonds...

What, your one, Ross? Or mine? Well, if we were to talk about people being thrown off something, which one would be mentioned? To see, this is how you'd identify if I was a double. Come on, James. Well, my heart... It really goes to the one that I'd probably mentioned, because it's the end of Robocop. Yes, I'll get you, Robocop! I'll get you, Robocop! Which is what we always used to say, I'll get you, Robocop! And he's got ridiculously long arms when you watch it now.

Comically oversized. Yes, that's a good one, Ross. That's great. I was just going to say that with Bond, they always, for me, I always think... Miniature helicopters. Whenever they have a helicopter crashing into anything, it's always like a little miniature one, isn't it? When the flames look really big and stupid. What film have we covered which has a helicopter explosion from a Bond film in it?

Ah, no, it wasn't film. It was Doctor Who. Yeah, it was Doctor Who, wasn't it? The Demons. It was Doctor Who. Well done. Thank you. So if anything, first and only time I'll get it. Dance into the fire.

you are responsible for the death of john barry right that was once again this this might be a bit at the end one of the best documentaries ever and it's one of the things dear listener that i when i first met john we bonded over pardon the poll right okay so i turned up at howard gardens for the first time getting to meet you all and you guys had a cd on of the best bond themes

And then we were talking about the best Bond themes. And I said, there's been this thing on because Goldeneye had just come. Goldeneye, Bond was back. And Channel 4, I think it was Channel 4. Only the year before, James. there'd been a thing and once again if i look on youtube it's probably there now but to my it's like oh my god it was only everyone once they did a really fantastic documentary where they took you through every bond theme

and interspersed this with David Holmes composing and putting together the music for Goldeneye. Oh, nice. And it was really good. And my favourite stories is that that's the one where they say that when Tom Jones does... And so he strikes, da-da-da-da-da, like a boom, da-da-da. Whoa!

And then he went so hard and he was ill at the time that he fainted. Fainted. He faints on that last one. And that's the take that they use. Whenever you see it on TV, I always do a little mime of Tom Jones. Born on this very street, James.

Where you go, it's all tied. I didn't know that. I didn't know he was born on your street. No, I didn't know that. He was born on this very street. Is there a plaque? There is, yeah. I'll find the photo for you now. Did you two watch it? Is that in the South of Wales? Yeah. Yes, it is. You obviously didn't. But James, did you watch Graham Norton the other night? No, no, sorry. We always watch Graham Norton on a Saturday, on a Friday. And they had...

Oh, who was it on? Elton John and Robert De Niro. But didn't De Niro just turn up at the end or something? Yes. He wasn't going to sanction this nonsense. It's quite a weird vibe. But basically, Elton John is telling this story about how we, when he first met David. He organised a dinner party. And the people he invited for David Furnish, who we'd only been with for three weeks, were George Michael.

They're like the biggest star in the world at this point. We're talking like 94, 95. Robert De Niro and John Barry and his wife. Wow. Robert De Niro is like, yeah, I remember. It was like 30 years ago. Nothing interesting to add to it. And being like, George Michael, John Barry, Robert De Niro, and Elton John is your boyfriend. It's absolutely hilarious. Right, hang on. I'm just Googling Tom Jones. And while John's doing that...

They were then also told you the amazing thing of they did, you know, as John and I have just been singing, A View to a Kill from A View to a Kill by Duran Duran. And Simon Le Bon said, ah, it was brilliant. You know, it was the height of Duran Duran's popularity. Biggest band in the world at this point. And so they were living an utter champagne lifestyle. Total, total champagne lifestyle.

Hey, look at that. So that's the photo. Where it says Al and me, that's Tom Jones coming out of the house up the road. Brilliant. And it says on it, it's mad, isn't it? I'll try and find a better one. Carry on, James.

Okay, so he said that... like what you you did back then was that you met up with john barry and they said that like that in a couple of years afterwards he wasn't very impressed with our heart and our heart adored him or something like that yes but he really immediately got on with simon lebon and simon lebon said look before we even sit down and start talking about doing any recording let's go out and have a few drinks let's go out

And he said that like John Barry was not used to the level of rock and rollness that Duran Duran. And he just said, oh, you know, we're just ordering bottles of champagne. just like just get them down you and lebon said you know by two o'clock in the afternoon they were he was utterly paralytic and they said look we're not going to get anything done

We're not going to get anything done. And Simon Le Bon said, look, don't worry, don't worry. Come back to my flat. He obviously had a flat in Mayfair or Chelsea or something like that. I basically just sleep it off. And he fell asleep. And John Barrett, of course, because this was the mid 80s. They hadn't returned home. John Barry's wife was ringing round.

sort of ringing around trying to find him. And said to Simon Le Bon, where is he? And Simon Le Bon said, oh, I'm not sure, like not wanting to get him too much into trouble. And apparently John Barry's wife went, if he's dead, you will have the death of John. Barry on your hands. Wonderful. She thought he was out with that and John again. There you go. Yeah. Look at that. Tom Jones is born here. Wow. You need to take a picture in front of that, John.

I've tried to contact him for about a year for a project with Age Camry. It's really annoying. I don't know anyone that can put me in touch with him. Well, you've got to get with his son, haven't you? Yeah, well, I've tried with his son, but he never replies to emails. So there he is on the old bridge in Pontypris. Wow. With a pint. Which he bought from the Anne Harrod Rhys pub, I imagine. Yeah.

Have we got to the end of the film yet? I can't remember. Yeah, pretty much. Oh, we have, pretty much. So he's, she's fallen, and he's there. And lands on him, on the Doctor. It's the end, isn't it? The end. It's the end. And my note says, as I messaged to you both last night, the moral of this story is don't kiss women without permission. No, exactly. There you go. Right, I understand what that means now, James. Thank you.

And if only Harvey Weinstein had watched this during his former two years, we all could have saved it. A lot of people's trauma could have been saved. So what do we think, gentlemen? I'm going to give it a three because I really enjoyed the beginning and the end. Interesting. I felt that it was good. It was an interesting... Because when I thought we were doing the Hands of the Ripper, I had no idea it wasn't the Ripper story. And when you went, oh, maybe. I think it's a good twist.

and original story for hammer which is great yes um but the music for me just it spoil it because i think with different music um it wouldn't i quite like the music yeah but yeah i've given it a free

Interesting. Three. James, what did you think? Four, as I said, right at the outset, the influence that I think, you know, this got here first, and I think it then did go on to engender some... probably more interesting takes on this genre and i really love that whole notion and i would love to see now if someone does a whole you know science versus mediums i remember there was something on itv wasn't there with

The Michael Jackson seance. No, no. I was thinking of Colin West, I think, was in this thing that was, you know, once again, set in the Victorian era. he's scientific and or is there actually a ghost and you know psychiatry but i would really love to see if someone did a psychiatry slash you know it's kind of psychiatry versus mediumship

It's another one ripe for a remake, isn't it? Oh, 100%. So because of that, it gets a two from me. So I enjoyed it. But I did also think it did need some more modern editing. It was quite dragged out at points. And as Ross says, he didn't need the kiss. It's such a short film. It is quite slow, isn't it? Some good kills. Some good kills. Good kills. But yes, I didn't hate watching it. But it has a really interesting, I didn't hate it. Whereas, you know, I resented. I didn't hate watching it.

you know unlike sort of like the nicholas lyndhurst contributions and things such that um so for me yeah so so that was a two out of five and then john what did you think i i'm quite uh i don't know really I think it was worse than I remember. But I think the ending, like I said, it's such pure cinema that that kind of elevates the rest of it. I can't imagine it's... great for a rewatch but for me coming into it like not expecting this i'm glad i came into it not knowing what it was going to be

Exactly. I probably haven't seen it for 20 years, I don't think. I bought it on DVD donkey's years. Does that make you feel depressed that you bought something as an adult and then you cannot watch it for 20 years? Yeah. I mean, I'd probably give it a three

as an aggregate score, but I'd probably give the ending like a four or a five because I thought the ending was brilliant. Yeah. Where he's like, come to me, Anna, come to me. And then it's all slow-mo and stuff. I thought that was really effective, whereas other parts of it were just...

like in the gutter really yeah there's so much stuff in it which is now like such a cliche you would never do it so you would never have jack the ripper running around with a top hat and a cape no you would never have sex workers like doing all right unless you did it in quite a camp

Well, unless you did it scripted by Spike Milligan and played by Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker. I think you could do it in quite a camp way or a kind of... sci-fi weird way i don't think you could do it i mean i think the problem with this film is that it does play it quite straight doesn't it and it doesn't have the comedy parts that lots of hammers have like even the original dracula has got

comedy bits. Well, you've got Linda Barron, like, squeezing someone's boobies. I don't know... Oh, Ross. I don't know if that's meant as comedy, though, is it, really? It's just, it becomes comedy now because you're watching it thinking, you just feel uncomfortable for the professional people involved. Exactly. The actresses, you feel uncomfortable.

for them and for the men that kind of wrote and directed this stuff you think what the fuck are you doing yeah yeah basically yeah whereas the ending is so kind of elevated from that you're just like This is mad. It's like it's from a different film. Because I think it's like a black and white 40s film with...

with modern parts added, as in modern for the 70s. And I think if you view it through that prism, it's actually quite a good film. It did appear early 70s to me, though. I would have said late 70s if someone asked me when this was made. There's parts of it that are really good. I just think Peter Sasdy is quite an underrated director. And I think Taste of the Blood of Dracula is great. I think Countess Dracula looks incredibly lavish.

on a very minimal budget. And obviously the sound tape is brilliant. So, yeah, it's quite a hard one to score. But I'd say like a three, yeah, but the end in a five. Yeah, what's next time, Cleves? So next time, we're going to be doing The Creeping Flesh with Peter Cushing. Who else is in it, Cleves? I think we should say Sir Peter Cushing.

Was he ever served? No, but we should bestow that on him because I think he was a tremendous fellow and I would like to have made his little model villages and stuff with him. Wonstead or wherever it was that he lived. Directed by Freddie Francis. Yeah, nice. So that's Christopher Lee, Peter Cushion, and Laura Helleborn. Helleborn? Helleborn? Yeah.

There's a reason I picked it. I can't remember what it is. Is it a... Tygon. It's a Tygon film. Yes. Tygon British. We haven't done a Tygon. No, it's the next time we're doing the Tygon British film, The Creeping Flesh, with Sir Peter Cushing. Sir Peter Cushing. Lord Christopher Lee. Lord Christopher Lee. Recently knighted. Count Christopher Lee. Of course. I don't know much about The Creeping Flesh and I haven't seen it, so I'm excited to do one that I haven't previously watched in the...

in the fusty, cobwebbed realms of my youth. Okay, until next time. Happy day, everyone. Thanks for listening, everyone. Take care. Love, light, and peace, everyone. You have been listening to The General Witchfinder. Support the show and continue the conversation at patreon.com forward slash general witchfinders. Subscribe and spread the word at generalwitchfinders.com. Farewell. And don't have nightmares.

With AI, if you can think it, you can make it. But so can cybercriminals. Norton VPN Ultimate helps protect you and your family. Combining advanced online privacy protection with AI-powered scam detection so you can live your best digital life. Today's online privacy threats have met their match. Search Norton VPN Ultimate for a fast and reliable VPN that keeps you safer online. At EDF, we don't just encourage you to use less electricity.

We actually reward you for it. That's why when you use Leicester in peak times on weekdays, we give you free electricity on Sundays. How you use it is up to you. EDF. Change is in our power. Households to shift weekday peak usage by 40% could earn up to 16 hours of free electricity per week, subject to fair usage cap. For all T's and C's, visit edfenergy.com forward slash r-power.

I was just laughing, thinking of you. Yes, mate. Five live commentary. Sympathetic applause as Jack Grealish walks from the pitch. Yeah, John, if I go like this, I don't know if you can sit here. There we are, Charlie Goods. What's the score? I don't know what the score is. It's 1-0 to Manchester City. Oh, for f***ing. Harland. Yeah, I know. But it's very close. It won't stay that score at all. No. At all. Madrid will be doing quite well. And they...

And Manchester City scored with literally like their only shot on goal. And bearing in mind, there's another leg of it. Remember, it's a two-leg game. Yes. Well, they've all got two legs, haven't they? Most of them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a joke based on football. I know, I know. Sorry. It's been a long half term.

I did watch a one-legged Sherlock Holmes story the last few months, though, which was really good. John Thor is a one-legged man. Okay. The sign of Thor is with a kind of dwarf... assassin yeah that i wouldn't know how to describe really a bit like that but kind of i'm surprised it wasn't called the mystery of the one-legged one-legged man yeah I wouldn't know how to describe or even Google what the other person looked like. But he ended up being the murderer, I think. Spoilers.

It was quite hard to follow, let's say. So John was the one-legged man, was he? Yes, and he wanted vengeance for, hang on. How did they do that? Was he just limping? You can't really see. wow add that to the tramps tramps in your article james article that's right yeah yeah yeah yeah Oh, hang on. I can't zoom out now. That's annoying. I see a Stuart Lee now. There we are. Look, there's John Thor. Oh! I did wonder how John Thor...

well, basically carried on with it because he has to do it through the whole thing. It looks really quite hard work for him. Here we are. This is good. This is good. You're going to like this. This is very general witch finders. Ooh, yes, I like that. Yeah, but I don't know why he's got green skin. Maybe he's from, like, deepest, darkest Peru or something. Well, yeah, no, he is. But the other person that's... Yes, I think I know this one.

Use a blue dart to kill. Yes, here he is again. But the other person that's in it is the guy from Indiana Jones and the first one. What's that? Raiders of the Lost Ark. The guy with the thing on his palm. Oh, totally. Yeah. Ronald Lacey is the son of one of the baddies.

And I don't know, he looks insane. He basically, for about 20 minutes, just plays a corpse. Yeah. Because there's this whole scene in this study and they're trying to work out how he's died in the study because it's locked from the inside. It's very Sherlock Holmes. But he just has to sit there and look dead. Who was Holmes in it? It's Jeremy Brett. It's one of the ITV ones. Oh, I'm sure that he was.

I'm sure I've seen that one with him, and none of that looks familiar. It's brilliant. Here he is, look. Here he is playing the courts. Whoa, look at that. John, have you shaved? I reckon that... Well, shaved my entire head and my entire face. It was really, really good. It was a lot of fun. He looked like he'd be an expert on... Antiques Roadshow. Yes. Or Time Team. Yeah. There he is. But I don't know why his hands had to stay like that. His hands are like... Interesting choices.

Yeah, so Jeremy Brett... It's probably trying to match a demonstration from The Strand, I imagine. Yes, maybe. They liked doing the ad breaks, didn't they? Yeah. Jeremy Brett had to walk past him about five times, and he's like... And you can see him slightly move, but I thought it was really well done, actually. It must have cost a fortune. It's like a feature film. And then I looked and it's like episode six of like ten.

And they all must have cost loads and loads and loads of money. Yeah, I think Baker Street was a standing set, wasn't it? I would have thought so, yeah. The Baker Street Irregulars series they did, remember? And all I can think is it must have been one of those shows that they sold abroad.

And sold abroad. 100%. And was very popular. Yeah. So they must have known that like, oh, well, we know that we'll be able to sell this for X. Yes. Jeremy Brett is incredible in it. He's just so good. Well, he comes up later on in our script today. Oh. Does he? Yeah. Why? Wait and see. Because his heart had swelled to twice its natural size, and that's how he died. I thought he died of a broken heart.

No, I died of a grossly swollen heart. So that's actually what would have happened to the Grinch if his heart did grow three sizes too big that day. Yes, his chest would have exploded. I looked it up recently how he died. I can't remember why. Probably for this podcast. Yeah. And, yeah, he had a grossly swollen heart. Anyway, on that bombshell. Right. Look quite literally for Jeremy Bratt. Literally. Right. Okay. So hang on. Let me get the script ready. Goblins and ghouls. You know it.

Creeps and pervades. I need to double check the number. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It says 54. It should be 55. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, get with it. Have you plugged in your laptop, please? Yes. God, that was so much, that's the most stress fear I've had in my entire life. In your whole life. For a while, at least. You've had a very sheltered life. And you've been to the serial killer exhibition. I did fall asleep and listen to a documentary about...

Marcus Tassad the other night, and that's very brilliant. Why do you do this stuff to yourself, please? So I can't sleep and wake up. Why don't you watch something about antiques or something nice then? No, I just listen to... No! No, just listen to people describing 101? 100 Days of Sodom. Yeah, yeah. That's what it is. Yeah, Mark Harrison. Come and watch this with me. oh is that what happened wasn't it yes okay should we do it guys right okay then here we go talking about big ben

I've got a memory of Big Ben turning into a giant crocodile in a child's scarf illustration. What's that from? Well, that was, right, what Laura Koonsberg now is on BBC One. It was the BBC's Sunday morning political programme. Right. Yeah. Was it called On the Record, maybe, James? On the Record. Let me see if I can find it. piano driven it was on on a Sunday right okay yeah I had that vision in my mind

And the close-up was a blinking eye, and then the title of the program was in the eye. 100% correct. Oh, it's 3D. Look at that. I would have said it was 3D in my mind. I would have said that was about 1990, 1991 it started. Look at that. Bang. My parents would have watched any of that in our house. They would have been turned off if that was... Right, I'll send that to you now, Ross, so you can... Yeah, definitely. I'd say 1990-91. That's when programs had budgets.

Imagine how much that cost for a politics program on Sunday at like one o'clock. I was watching sort of videos on YouTube at Christmas of some department in the BBC where sort of like the... The Christmas eye dents were like 3D models, which they would have made out of Perspex and have rotating on a turntable with reflective surfaces and stuff. Nothing has any money now.

It's shit. Let's put you on the only person who watches live television anymore, John. Yeah, basically, yeah. Just shout at everyone. I watch everything. Why are you watching television? And The Alienist was on Netflix. Ah, there we go. Yeah, I've just seen the trailer for it if you want to see what it looked like. Thank you. See the vibe of Victoriana serial killer murdering solving through. Psychiatry In any way, shape or form.

In any way, shape or form. In any way, shape or form. In any way, shape or form. They're back. Come on in and register. Jones. Hightower. Callahan. I left. House. This old baby, it doesn't even break. It pulverizes. Tackleberry. Procter. And Commandant Lizard. Their assignment? Miami Beach. And they're beside themselves with excitement. Get ready for egg! This time, instead of making arrests, they're going to take one. He's thinking. But when ruthless criminals kidnap Lasside...

His loyal force put their vacation on hold and become bent on revenge. Once they spring into action, man for man. 10 for 10. Hello, Dork. They're the hottest voice on the surf and sand. And they'll do whatever it takes, no matter how much it hurts. Dork! Police Academy 5. Leave the swimming area now, mister! It's the best in fun and guns under the sun.

On BBC Sounds, good things come to those who don't wait. Like Desert Island Discs. So let's get started. Your first choice, what's it going to be? You're dead to me. The comedy podcast that takes history seriously. and Friday night comedy. It's what's in the news with a big dose of satirical silliness. You don't have to wait to listen to the latest episodes of your favourite podcasts. They're on BBC Sounds before anywhere else. Listen first on BBC Sounds.

With AI, if you can think it, you can make it. But so can cybercriminals. Norton VPN Ultimate helps protect you and your family. Combining advanced online privacy protection with AI-powered scam detection so you can live your best digital life. Today's online privacy threats have met their match. Search Norton VPN Ultimate for a fast and reliable VPN that keeps you safer online. With the new Lloyds app, you can do it all. You can freeze your card if you misplace it.

Whilst you search behind the sofa. Blame the dog. Run upstairs. Run downstairs. Empty your bag. Look behind the sofa again. Only to realize it's in your back pocket. Curse quietly under your breath and unfreeze your card. Shove everything back in your bag. Take a deep breath, smile and run for the boss. Freeze and unfreeze your card at the touch of a button. The power to do it all on the new Lloyds app. Download now. T's and C's apply.