EPISODE 14a: The Big Breakfast (Patreon exclusive)
EPISODE 14a: The Big Breakfast (Patreon exclusive) Our first-ever episode made exclusively for those following us on Patreon (find us here) is now out – and it’s available free. But from October, all of our Patreon-only instalments will only be accessible to those who have joined our Round Window tier. In this ‘minisode’ (we’re still working out what to call them), Samira and Graham follow on from their discussion in episode 14 about The Big Breakfast, investigating what happened to the show, how it affected British television, and we get Samira’s own memories of working for the BBC’s breakfast service in the early 1990s. As an additional thank you for supporting us on Patreon, we’ll be sending out a newsletter on October 7, looking ahead to what’s coming up in our next regular episode, when we’ll be discussing shows from 1971. If you would like to contact us, please drop us a line on email@squarewindow.co.uk We’re on Patreon at: www.patreon.com/squarewindowpod This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.
EPISODE 14: September 1992
EPISODE 14: September 1992 This month Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White are looking at programmes from September 1992… But first, an announcement! We’re now on Patreon and you can find us at www.patreon.com/squarewindowpod. Please do consider signing up to our ‘Round Window’ tier for additional episodes and newsletters from Through the Square Window. Now to this month’s viewing choices… 07:13: Benjamin Zephaniah’s Dread Poets Society, a 30-minute drama for BBC2’s ScreenPlay strand. 22:22: Bob Holness’ big board quizzer, Blockbusters. 38:24: Broke, an episode from BBC2’s excellent Present Imperfect documentary series, following two men attempting to stave off bankruptcy. 47:31: The debut of Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast, hosted by Chris Evans and Gaby Roslin. You can also find us on YouTube at www.youtube.com/@squarewindowpod, where we’ve put together a playlist for this episode. And finally, here’s that link to Diane Morgan and Maxine Peake taking speech elocution lessons. If you would like to contact the podcast, please drop us a line on email@squarewindow.co.uk Our website is: www.squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.
EPISODE 13: Joy Whitby
EPISODE 13: Joy Whitby In March 2026, Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White visited the home of Joy Whitby to talk about her 60-plus years making children’s television. Starting in BBC Radio as a studio manager in the 1950s, Joy moved into television in 1962, where she would go on to create Play School in 1964, devising the series and casting the presenting line-up. The following year, she launched Jackanory. She moved to London Weekend Television in 1967, where she produced The Growing Summer (1969) and Catweazle (1969). In 1970, she set up her own freelance company, Grasshopper Productions, and created the drama Grasshopper Island. Moving to Yorkshire Television in 1975, she oversaw a range of children’s programmes – including The Book Tower, Behind the Bike Sheds and The Giddy Game Show, as well as A Pattern of Roses, which featured Helena Bonham Carter in her first screen appearance. Our conversation covers all of these programmes, plus Joy also talks about her difficult relationship with the BBC following her departure, facing down sexism in her career, and working with Tom Baker. For more on Joy’s work, visit her website, www.grasshopper.co.uk. If you would like to contact us, please drop us a line on email@squarewindow.co.uk Our website is: www.squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.
EPISODE 12: July 1996
EPISODE 12: July 1996 This month Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White are looking at programmes from July 1996… 05:26: The satrical show The Friday Night Armistice, hosted by Armando Iannucci with Peter Baynham and David Schneider. 20:40: The Carol Vorderman-presented delve into the occult, Out of this World. 32:44: An episode from the fifth series of the sitcom Men Behaving Badly. 42:29: The opening instalment of drama Takin’ Over the Asylum. If you would like to contact the podcast, please drop us a line on email@squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.
EPISODE 11: The Beatles on TV
EPISODE 11: The Beatles on TV To (belatedly) mark the publication of Samira Ahmed‘s BFI Film Classics book on A Hard Day’s Night, she and Graham Kibble-White look at a quartet of Beatles TV shows… 05:22: Around the Beatles from May 1964 – Rediffusion’s racuous and stomping studio celebration. 21:41: James Paul McCartney from 1973 – an hour-long special with Macca and Wings, made to settle a dispute with ATV’s Lew Grade. 39:18: The Music of Lennon and McCartney from 1965 – a Granada showcase of the songwriting duo’s compositions. 50:49: Magical Mystery Tour from 1967 – the surreal Beatles-helmed film that aired on Boxing Day. If you would like to contact the podcast, please drop us a line on email@squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.
EPISODE 10: May 1987
EPISODE 10: May 1987 This month Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White are looking at programmes from May 1987… 05:56: A season three episode – ‘Blonde on Blonde’ – of US romance Moonlighting. 20:42: Paul Daniels’ BBC1 chrono-obsessed quizzer, Every Second Counts. 37:26: John Godber’s idiosyncratic BBC2 nightclub comedy-drama, The Ritz. 49:04: Network 7, Jane Street-Porter and Jane Hewland’s Channel 4, youth-orientated current affairs show, which believed “news is entertainment, entertainment is news”. And huge thanks to Network 7‘s theme music composer, Steve Levine for his contribution to our discussion. You can find Steve on social media, @mrstevelevine If you would like to contact the podcast, please drop us a line on email@squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.
EPISODE 9: Graeme Garden
EPISODE 9: Graeme Garden In January 2026, Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White visited the home of comedian, actor, author, artist, television presenter, writer, master of panel shows, medical doctor and – of course – Goodie, Graeme Garden to look back at his life in television. Our conversation covers the full gamut of his TV career, from Twice a Fortnight through to Star Turn, Bananaman, Bodymatters, The Adventure Game and If I Ruled the World, and via oddities such as the panel show about concepts The Very Idea, Graeme sharing teatime trivia with Nanette Newman on Tell Me More, and appearing on Barry Norman’s proto-HIGNFY quiz, Scoop. Running through all of that is The Goodies; Graeme telling us about the trio’s appearances on Top of the Pops, how a strike impacted upon one of their greatest-ever series, why they ended up working with Engelbert Humperdinck, salary discrepancies between the threesome and why the BBC fell out of love with the show. We really hope you enjoy this episode, and if you would like to contact us, please drop us a line on email@squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.
GRAEME GARDEN: THE THINKING WOMAN’S GOODIE
GRAEME GARDEN: THE THINKING WOMAN’S GOODIE If you’re one of the millions around the world who watched The Goodies, then you know Graeme Garden as the super-brain and often evil villain of the trio. As a scriptwriter and format creator, you realise how much TV and radio he’s devised, such as I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again (1965 – still regularly repeated on Radio 4 Extra), The Unbelievable Truth and I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue – the latter still one of the gems in the BBC’s radio crown. Both Graham Kibble-White and I are huge admirers of his work. Cartoon series Bananaman and medical magazine show Bodymatters hold a special place in Graham’s childhood. In my case, I used to dress as Graeme as a child in corduroy suit with elbow patches. And several episodes of The Goodies were taped on the Ahmed family VCR from 1975 onwards, with talismanic effect. The Cunning Stunts/Fleet Street Goodies episode, I used to quote to myself on the way into hearings for my successful sex discrimination employment tribunal back in 2019. I’ve interviewed Graeme a few times over the years and have been struck by the practical seriousness with which he approached writing some of the funniest comedy ever made. You can always sense the cogs and wheels constantly turning in his mind. And, equally, how the wild comedy co-existed quite happily on screen with his serious scientific problem-solving expertise, as demonstrated as a regular guest on Edward de Bono’s creative-thinking panel show The Very Idea! and, of course, as a presenter of Bodymatters. Sometimes the two sides came together delightfully, as in an episode of the cult locked room puzzle format The Adventure Game. You would always want to be on Graeme’s team. So it was a joy when Graeme agreed to go Through the Square Window with us, and he, plus his wife, Emma, kindly invited Graham and me to their home to record a special episode looking over the long arc of an unusual and exciting career. Among other things we discuss… The remarkable moment in the early 1960s which produced a generation of TV comedy actors and writers who overlapped with each other on formats, before settling down into the Monty Python crew, the Beyond the Fringe gang and those “superchaps three”. The striking willingness of major TV news presenters and journalists to make fools of themselves on The Goodies. Money rows – and why Tim Brooke-Taylor was paid more than the script-writing Graeme and Bill Oddie. Plus, the Steven Spielberg Goodies feature film that could have been. Graeme also tells us about the bizarre teatime magazine programme he hosted with Nanette Newman, which boasted – between items about making a battery from citrus fruit and the carbohydrate content of breakfast cereals – guest appearances from Kenneth Williams and… Michael Caine. Plus, the 1987 special edition of Bodymatters dedicated to the AIDS epidemic, and how he challenged a script line about viral transmission. As a host, welcoming us into his home, Graeme was warm and generous. As a guest on our podcast, insightful, wise and funny. In short, this edition of Through the Square Window is a really special listen. We hope you’ll agree. – Through the Square Window: Graeme Garden is released on Wednesday 8 April, wherever you get your podcasts
EPISODE 8: Barry Cryer
EPISODE 8: Barry Cryer Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White present a special extra episode for March 2026. Our previous instalment looked at shows from March 1979, including Thames TV’s The Kenny Everett Video Show. Writer, comedian and actor Barry Cryer, who passed away in 2022, was a key contributor to that series and in 2019, Samira visited Barry at his home to record an interview with him about the programme, intended to run in a future edition of TV Years magazine. That future edition never transpired, and so we’re presenting their conversation for the very first time. If you would like to contact the podcast, please drop us a line on email@squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.
EPISODE 7: MARCH 1979
EPISODE 7: MARCH 1979 This month Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White are looking at programmes from March 1979. And they are… 05:39: The BBC’s sci-fi saga Blake’s 7, and an episode from its second series, ‘Countdown’. 24:09: An edition of the documentary series, Man Alive, following a mum, dad and three children through a series of family therapy sessions. 40:23: Star Signs – the Michael Aspel hosted BBC2 panel show, based around astrology, graphology and other means of divining the future. With special guests Joanna Lumley and Peter Cook. 54:58: Thames TV’s The Kenny Everett Video Show, featuring The Average White Band, Kiki Dee and David Essex. 01:12:05: Stay tuned for details about an additional episode coming later in March. If you would like to contact the podcast, please drop us a line on email@squarewindow.co.uk Our website is: www.squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.
EPISODE 6: FEBRUARY 1969
EPISODE 6: FEBRUARY 1969 This month Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White are looking at programmes from February 1969. And they are… 06:00: The pre-Python children’s comedy, Do Not Adjust Your Set. 18:39: Civilisation – the groundbreaking BBC2 documentary, hosted and written by Kenneth Clark. 35:56: Saturday Night Theatre, and the play MacNeil, written by Alun Owen and starring Sean Connery. 48:20: Spy thriller Department S, specifically the episode ‘One of Our Aircraft is Empty’. If you would like to contact the podcast, please drop us a line on email@squarewindow.co.uk Our website is: www.squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.
EPISODE 5: JANUARY 2000
EPISODE 5: JANUARY 2000 And a Happy New Year. This month, Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White are looking at programmes that greeted the New Millennium in January 2000. And they are… 05:07 – Blue Peter‘s first edition of the year, in which they unearth the time capsule buried on the show back in 1971. 15:33 – The Coronation Street hour-long New Year’s Day special, revealing how the residents of Weatherfield rang in 2000. 29:28 – The very first episode of Dom Joly’s Trigger Happy TV. 41:35 – The BBC’s grand, ill-fated “social” experiment, Castaway 2000. If you would like to contact the podcast, please drop us a line on email@squarewindow.co.uk Our website is: www.squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.
EPISODE 4: CHRISTMAS SPECIAL 2025
EPISODE 4: CHRISTMAS SPECIAL 2025 And so this is Christmas… In their first-ever feature-length festive spectacular, Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White are joined by special guest Mark Gatiss, as all three nominate their favourite and least-favourite Christmas specials. They are… 6:58 – Samira’s least-favourite: The Star Wars Holiday Special 13:31 – Samira’s favourite: The Goodies: ‘Earthanasia’ 26: 38 – Graham’s least-favourite: Russell Harty Goes… Upstairs, Downstairs 35:36 – Graham’s favourite: Minder on the Orient Express 51:51 – Mark Gatiss joins us to talk about his A Ghost Story for Christmas for 2025, The Room in the Tower, which airs on BBC2 on Christmas Eve. And then… 55:57 – Mark’s least-favourite: The ‘wrong’ film at Christmas 1:01:11 – Mark’s favourite: The Ghosts of Motley Hall: ‘The Christmas Spirit’ Plus, listeners’ emails, and a salute to the magic of Woolworth’s Christmas adverts. And you can find Steve Berry’s Woolies YouTube playlist here. If you would like to contact the podcast, please drop us a line on email@squarewindow.co.uk Our website is: www.squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.
EPISODE 3: NOVEMBER 1984
EPISODE 3: NOVEMBER 1984 Eyes down for episode three of Through the Square Window! In this instalment, Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White investigate a selection of UK TV programmes that were airing 41 years ago, in November 1984: A blistering edition of BBC1 game show Bob’s Full House; Ray Davies’ Channel 4 TV film Return to Waterloo; we compare and contrast two female-led police dramas, both screening on Saturday nights, Juliet Bravo and The Gentle Touch; and we’re joined by TV director, producer and former Blue Peter editor Richard Marson to discuss the final ever episode of Rentaghost. Richard’s book, Box of Delights: The Story of BBC Children’s Television: 1967-1997 is published on November 17 by Ten Acre Books. If you would like to contact the podcast, please drop us a line on email@squarewindow.co.uk Our website is: www.squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.
EPISODE 2: OCTOBER 1990
EPISODE 2: OCTOBER 1990 Welcome, stranger, to episode two of Through the Square Window! In this instalment, Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White investigate a selection of UK TV shows that were airing 35 years ago, in October 1990: The TV pilot of cult topical comedy The Mary Whitehouse Experience; an episode on BBC One’s teatime consumer affairs programme Watchdog; Anglia Television’s sword and sorcery game show for children, Knightmare; and the first ever episode of Twin Peaks. If you would like to contact the podcast, please drop us a line on email@squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.
EPISODE 1: SEPTEMBER 1975
EPISODE 1: SEPTEMBER 1975 In their first-ever episode, Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White investigate a selection of UK TV shows that were also launching this month, albeit 50 years ago… The BBC1 hospital drama, Angels; Thames Television’s spooky anthology series for children, Shadows (plus a look at BBC2’s similarly occult-themed Leap in the Dark); BBC2 comedies Fawlty Towers and The Growing Pains Of PC Penrose; Samira’s favourite, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s Space:1999; and Graham’s favourite, Yorkshire Television’s glam rock-infused Animal Kwackers. If you would like to contact the podcast, please drop us a line on email@squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.