The 70's and 80's in Ireland

ABlur

BBC are doing their Back in Time for Christmas series on the 70's, 80's and 90's today and tomorrow:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06sq9xj

Paddy Cow

Rubberlegs wrote: »

I remember never wearing seat belts in the back of the car and once my toddler sister wound up headfirst in the footwell going around a hairpin bend, and we all thought it was hilarious. Shocking looking back on it:(
I can remember going to the dump with my friend and her Dad and sitting in the empty trailer on the way home.
Building mazes and houses with the haybales in the fields, great fun

The attitude to car safety was shocking back them. I remember my Mum taking me and my two siblings to town. We were about 8, 6 and 3. No seat belts. I don't know what happened but my Mum slammed on the brakes and my 3 year old sister was standing in between the two seats and nearly went flying throw the windscreen. The only thing that saved her was my mother's hand knocking her back, which left an indent from her engagement ring on my sister's forehead. The moral of the story back then? Sit down or you'll get hurt! :eek:

Grayson

Just randomly came across these xmas adverts from the 80's

igCorcaigh

Paddy Cow wrote: »

The attitude to car safety was shocking back them. I remember my Mum taking me and my two siblings to town. We were about 8, 6 and 3. No seat belts. I don't know what happened but my Mum slammed on the brakes and my 3 year old sister was standing in between the two seats and nearly went flying throw the windscreen. The only thing that saved her was my mother's hand knocking her back, which left an indent from her engagement ring on my sister's forehead. The moral of the story back then? Sit down or you'll get hurt! :eek:

Hahaha yeah. No one wore seat belts. I was mocked for wearing it.

mikemac2

The seatbelt attitude didn’t change until the 90’s

Seeing people furiously trying to belt up when they saw a checkpoint was normal

Once I put on a seatbelt in the back seat and was just about called a weirdo.

Filmer Paradise

mikemac2 wrote: »

The seatbelt attitude didn’t change until the 90’s

Seeing people furiously trying to belt up when they saw a checkpoint was normal

Once I put on a seatbelt in the back seat and was just about called a weirdo.

Yup, I remember it well. Slinging on the belt quickly as you approached a checkpoint.

I bought a Ford Capri back then & the B-pillar (where the seatbelt was positioned) was much further back in them.

Seatbelt fumblings at checkpoints in that car would have me in danger of running over Guards.:eek:

Got into the habit of wearing one ever since.

Bobtheman

That **** Pat Kenny still around since then.
At least our taoiseach didn't virtue signal like Leo. Leo has no intention of doing anything serious to deal with homeless kids otherwise there would be no tax cuts but hey he feels your pain.
At least Charlie and Garret avoided that bull ****

JupiterKid

Loved this as a small child, as did my big sisters and our dear late Dad!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ9yAV8uQ7g

Of course the Oireachtas could be considered our version of The Muppet Show...;)

Wibbs

Filmer Paradise wrote: »

I bought a Ford Capri back then & the B-pillar (where the seatbelt was positioned) was much further back in them.

Ahh the car I learned to drive on. An electric shaver had more power and the brakes were scary compared to modern cars, but I loved that yoke. Fantastic driving position.



They did look fast though. Since then I kinda feel out of place in anything but a two door coupe.

JupiterKid wrote: »

Of course the Oireachtas could be considered our version of The Muppet Show...;)

A lot thinner on laughs though.

The Crowman

mikemac2 wrote: »

Kids getting electrocuted on ESB pylons
Dogs killing sheep at nightand and returning in the morning. Do you know where your dog was last night??

There were lots, the old public safety videos didn’t hold back the shock value!

“Where’s Grandad” in the water safety video. He fell in the river and a 3 year old drowned too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjWHrjCG1LQ

The grandad segment is unintentionally hilarious though. We used to be laughing our arses off at it.

Sardonicat

I always assumed Grandad just fecked off to the pub to get away from that awful 70s strip club music. Or maybe he went to a strip club.

branie2

Sardonicat wrote: »

I always assumed Grandad just fecked off to the pub to get away from that awful 70s strip club music. Or maybe he went to a strip club.

I'd say he did the latter.

Heroditas

I love the way the farmer covers the water barrel but leaves a razor sharp "knot" sticking out from the fastening wire so you'll take a chunk out of your arm when you walk by it

branie2

On a rather sad note, Penny Cook, who played Vicky the vet in an Australian drama from the 70s and 80s, A Country Practice, passed away yesterday.

miltonkrest

i bought my first house in the late 80's: £30k punts !

road_high

Paddy Cow wrote: »

The attitude to car safety was shocking back them. I remember my Mum taking me and my two siblings to town. We were about 8, 6 and 3. No seat belts. I don't know what happened but my Mum slammed on the brakes and my 3 year old sister was standing in between the two seats and nearly went flying throw the windscreen. The only thing that saved her was my mother's hand knocking her back, which left an indent from her engagement ring on my sister's forehead. The moral of the story back then? Sit down or you'll get hurt! :eek:

Not just my family so! I’d say this continued until the mid 90s. My parents didn’t regularly wear them either, didn’t have a car with them rear fitted I’d say until mid 90s either!
Had a similar accident to your sister in the late 80s- had a habit of standing in between the two front seats unrestrained of course. I was flung forward in a minor collision, luckily no injuries at all- parents would be arrested now for this kind of carry on!
As you say the attitude to road safety was terrible and that was reflected in the death and injury stats which were multiples of present ones. Don’t even get started on drink driving! Enormous strides have been made the past few decades on this front

The Crowman

Sardonicat wrote: »

I always assumed Grandad just fecked off to the pub to get away from that awful 70s strip club music. Or maybe he went to a strip club.

Lol I wonder what the music is. It does sound like something you'd expect to hear in some low budget 70s sexplotation movie.

Sardonicat

The Crowman wrote: »

Sardonicat wrote: »

I always assumed Grandad just fecked off to the pub to get away from that awful 70s strip club music. Or maybe he went to a strip club.

Lol I wonder what the music is. It does sound like something you'd expect to hear in some low budget 70s sexplotation movie.

Yeah, the bit where the bra comes off. (So I'm told, ahem)

Sardonicat

branie2 wrote: »

On a rather sad note, Penny Cook, who played Vicky the vet in an Australian drama from the 70s and 80s, A Country Practice, passed away yesterday.

I loved Vicki, Simon and Fatso the wombat.

Ipso

branie2 wrote: »

On a rather sad note, Penny Cook, who played Vicky the vet in an Australian drama from the 70s and 80s, A Country Practice, passed away yesterday.

Speaking of Australian tv shows, I remember the opening credits from Sons and Daughters.
Was it on just before The Den, or some other children's show?

branie2

I'd imagine it was on before the Den

Ipso

Actually it was The Sullivans I'm thinking of.

NewbridgeIR

Ipso wrote: »

Actually it was The Sullivans I'm thinking of.

The Sullivans was shown on RTE1 not RTE2.
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=108398827&postcount=1314

Hotblack Desiato

Wibbs wrote: »

Ahh the car I learned to drive on. An electric shaver had more power

Not true of the 3.0V6s or the later 2.8 Injection Capris but they were rare beasts here indeed.

You have to hand it to Ford though, take a Cortina parts bin and produce something they can market as "sexy" which probably cost no more than £100 extra to make

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WkMC9RUH60

Rostyle wheels and driving gloves and all!

This ad is very matrimonial, but I remember seeing another one on YouTube (Can't find it now) which had Married Man Driver with the mrs in the passenger seat and him imagining her disappearing and two 'dolly birds' appearing in the back seat :rolleyes:

mikemac2 wrote: »

The seatbelt attitude didn’t change until the 90’s

Seeing people furiously trying to belt up when they saw a checkpoint was normal

Once I put on a seatbelt in the back seat and was just about called a weirdo.

Most cars didn't even have seatbelts in the back until well into the 90s.

My dad bought a new car in 1981. It had the mounting points for rear seat belts, but you had to pay extra to get them - so of course he didn't. In fairness it did have a big annoying warning light right in the middle of the dash if you didn't put on your front seat belt - and even a weight sensor in the front passenger seat that lit up the warning light if someone was sitting in it and not belted up (our current shagging Toyota doesn't have that.)

In fairness he always belted up even in his previous car, an Austin 1100 which had those bondage and discipline seatbelts that basically locked you in place once done up. We kids would still be bouncing around unrestrained in the back of course. That car even had tip-up front seats with no catches - so under hard braking the front passenger seat would tip forward if unoccupied, and there was nothing stopping the child sitting behind it (me) from being launched into the windscreen

branie2 wrote: »

On a rather sad note, Penny Cook, who played Vicky the vet in an Australian drama from the 70s and 80s, A Country Practice, passed away yesterday.

That was actually a TV show? I thought it was a euphemism for bestiality.

mzungu

Ipso wrote: »

Speaking of Australian tv shows, I remember the opening credits from Sons and Daughters.
Was it on just before The Den, or some other children's show?

Sons and Daughters was on RTE 1 and it might have been on at the same time as The Den.

mzungu

Ipso wrote: »

Actually it was The Sullivans I'm thinking of.

Definitely not on before The Den as that was a late afternoon start at 4:30. When all of the seasons of The Sullivans had been shown, Carson's Law filled that time slot IIRC. Either that or Carson's Law followed The Sullivan's.

branie2

The Den, when Ian Dempsey presented it, showed a programme called the Campbells, about a Scottish family living in Canada during the 19th century.

The Crowman

Ipso wrote: »

Speaking of Australian tv shows, I remember the opening credits from Sons and Daughters.
Was it on just before The Den, or some other children's show?

Can't link as on phone but I found something really dreary about the title sequence and song.

Hotblack Desiato

Yep very dreary and very very cheap-looking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGnpJhGMqYU

NewbridgeIR

mzungu wrote: »

Definitely not on before The Den as that was a late afternoon start at 4:30. When all of the seasons of The Sullivans had been shown, Carson's Law filled that time slot IIRC. Either that or Carson's Law followed The Sullivan's.

I don't remember RTE finishing The Sullivans - showing one episode a week was not the way to do it.
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=108398827&postcount=1314

NewbridgeIR

I like Sons & Daughters. Pat The Rat was a great character.
There were two best of DVDs released in Australia but sadly nothing more.

branie2

The Canadian science programme Wonderstruck

Hi, I'm Bob McDonald. And I'm curious about things. Why they are the way they are, and why they're not something else.

Sardonicat

branie2 wrote: »

The Canadian science programme Wonderstruck

Hi, I'm Bob McDonald. And I'm curious about things. Why they are the way they are, and why they're not something else.

You should be called brainie, not branie!
That's some memory you have.

mzungu

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

I don't remember RTE finishing The Sullivans - showing one episode a week was not the way to do it.
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=108398827&postcount=1314

Fair enough, have my wires crossed there.

NewbridgeIR

Another great Canadian show was Degrassi Junior High - shown at the end of the '80s on Network 2. Think it clashed with the 9.00pm news so I was banished to the kitchen where I watched it on the portable.

mzungu

Does anybody remember a short programme called The Optimist. It used to be on for 10 or so minutes, maybe before the 6 O'Clock news on RTE 1?

NewbridgeIR

mzungu wrote: »

Does anybody remember a short programme called The Optimist. It used to be on for 10 or so minutes, maybe before the 6 O'Clock news on RTE 1?

I remember a programme of that name on Channel 4. I think it was on their opening night and became a series a couple of years after. Shot like a silent film.

branie2

mzungu wrote: »

Does anybody remember a short programme called The Optimist. It used to be on for 10 or so minutes, maybe before the 6 O'Clock news on RTE 1?

I do; it was a series of short films, from the Netherlands, I think

mzungu

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

I remember a programme of that name on Channel 4. I think it was on their opening night and became a series a couple of years after. Shot like a silent film.

It might have also been on Channel 4. It was silent, but had the same song running through every episode. I can hum it but I have no idea what it's called.

branie2 wrote: »

I do; it was a series of short films, from the Netherlands, I think

I would say you are bang on the money there. They were short and a handy way for RTE to waste a bit of time before the news. TBH most people I have said it to don't remember it at all. I was beginning to think it was a false memory!!

Fair play on the memory front as I never knew it was from the Netherlands.

Hotblack Desiato

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

Another great Canadian show was Degrassi Junior High - shown at the end of the '80s on Network 2. Think it clashed with the 9.00pm news so I was banished to the kitchen where I watched it on the portable.

Ooh - was just going to post about The Kids From Degrassi Street - which came before that one and was broadcast earlier in the day.

The Crowman

mzungu wrote: »

Does anybody remember a short programme called The Optimist. It used to be on for 10 or so minutes, maybe before the 6 O'Clock news on RTE 1?

Yes, I remember that. Yer man was a mime artist sort of. It was silent save for laughter track and incidental music.

The Crowman

branie2 wrote: »

I do; it was a series of short films, from the Netherlands, I think

No it was British, made by Channel 4. Enn Reitel is the actor in it. Cant link as on phone.

mzungu

The Crowman wrote: »

No it was British, made by Channel 4. Enn Reitel is the actor in it. Cant link as on phone.

Well played. Just looked that up and this is the Wiki entry..

The Optimist is a British television comedy series starring Enn Reitel and produced by Robert Sidaway.


Location shoot for pilot Sea Dreams in Cabo San Lucas (1981)
Each episode told a separate comic adventure in the life of an everyday man who, whether it turns out a success or a failure, always remains The Optimist. The stories made a feature of fantasy and dream sequences.

Citing the influences of Jacques Tati, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, as well as the character of Walter Mitty, the series was designed as a silent comedy, with original music and enhanced sound effects.

Shooting on 16mm, it was made on location in Cabo San Lucas, Los Angeles and London. A total of thirteen episodes were produced.

The series debuted on 14 April 1983 and the final episode was broadcast on 5 January 1985.

Episodes were 30 minutes long and I thought they were only about 10 minutes. I was a bit off the mark there!

NewbridgeIR

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Ooh - was just going to post about The Kids From Degrassi Street - which came before that one and was broadcast earlier in the day.

I remember that one, the kids were quite a bit younger.
Degrassi High was the third series in the franchise and was also great. It ran from 1989-1991.

Big Nasty

Once Upon A Time.........Life

The Crowman

Anyone remember a drama series shown on RTE mid 80's about a German spy in Ireland during WW2? Id say it was a co production with BBC or Channel 4.

NewbridgeIR

The Crowman wrote: »

Anyone remember a drama series shown on RTE mid 80's about a German spy in Ireland during WW2? Id say it was a co production with BBC or Channel 4.

Caught In A Free State.
It was shown in 1983. Think there was Channel 4 involvement - they broadcast it around Easter 1984 - one of our teachers recorded it and we saw it again in History class when I started secondary that year.

Two of the German spies that it was based on were still alive at the time of filming so their names were changed.

Would like to see again - RTE have absolutely no interest in releasing this stuff nor do they seem willing to allow anybody else do so - the likes of Network or Simply Media would be ideal if they could get access to the RTE back catalogue. The latter released The Price last year. Hard-hitting drama about an IRA kidnapping that hasn't been repeated since original broadcast in 1985. Really worth a purchase.

branie2

Big Nasty wrote: »

Once Upon A Time.........Life

It had a great theme song as well

The Crowman

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

Caught In A Free State.
It was shown in 1983. Think there was Channel 4 involvement - they broadcast it around Easter 1984 - one of our teachers recorded it and we saw it again in History class when I started secondary that year.

Two of the German spies that it was based on were still alive at the time of filming so their names were changed.

Would like to see again - RTE have absolutely no interest in releasing this stuff nor do they seem willing to allow anybody else do so - the likes of Network or Simply Media would be ideal if they could get access to the RTE back catalogue. The latter released The Price last year. Hard-hitting drama about an IRA kidnapping that hasn't been repeated since original broadcast in 1985. Really worth a purchase.

The Price, there's a blast from the past. Another big RTE production from the time that's been buried is the Year Of The French. I haven't seen it since it was shown on RTE in 1982. They never repeated it or released it on video.

NewbridgeIR

The Crowman wrote: »

The Price, there's a blast from the past. Another big RTE production from the time that's been buried is the Year Of The French. I haven't seen it since it was shown on RTE in 1982. They never repeated it or released it on video.

That was a prominent production at the time - I remember an RTE Guide front cover - was shown in the run up to Christmas 1982. One of my childhood friends moved to Mayo in 1980 and when I met him in later years, he mentioned the filming that took place in Killala - seemed to be a big thing then.

You're right - not seen a sign of it since. I think RTE were challenged on their lack of DVD releases. Someone came up with a bullsh*t excuses about actors' contracts not allowing for releases on home video - but couldn't explain about that isn't a problem for UK or US companies releasing archive television from those countries.

This book came out a while ago but is a good read - it really shows that RTE produced lots of quality drama back then - nearly all of it is languishing in their vaults.