Through the Square Window

In a very special episode, Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White travel to Rebellion Publishing in Oxford, the home of the mighty 2000 AD comic. But Rebellion also holds the archive for all of the comics that were published by the International Publishing Company – better known as IPC – through the 20th century. And it's that archive they're exploring, to look at the very many times British comics crossed over with British TV, including School Fun's Coronation Street School humour strip, The Goodies appearing in Cor! and, of course, the ever-changing jamboree of ITV-owned properties that were featured in the mighty Look-in magazine! Our thanks go to Ben Smith and Charlene Taylor for being such warm and wise hosts on the day. A video version of this episode is available on our YouTube channel. What'll you hear in this instalment of Samira and Graham's tour around the Rebellion archive is only really a tiny snippet. So we've put together a special, much more comics-focussed edition specifically for the 2000 AD Thrill-Cast, in which Charleen and Ben share the stories behind titles and characters such as Roy of the Rovers, Buster, the infamous Action comic and, of course 2000 AD. That will be available on their podcast feed on Wednesday 28 October. Find out more about the 2000 AD Thrill-Cast at 2000AD.com. Remember, we're now on Patreon 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. If you would like to contact the podcast, please drop us a line on [email protected] Our website is: www.squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.

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 protected] Our website is: www.squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.

This month Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White are looking at programmes from July 1996... 05:26: The satirical 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 protected] Our website is: www.squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.

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 protected] Our website is: www.squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.

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 protected] Our website is: www.squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.

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 protected] Our website is: www.squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.

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 51:52 - 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 protected] Our website is: www.squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.

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 protected] Our website is: www.squarewindow.co.uk This is a Square Window production, with music by Local Teenagers. Podcast logo by Stuart Manning.

The opening two minutes of episode one of Through the Square Window, a brand-new podcast hosted by Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White, guiding you through the UK TV shows we watched in decades gone by. Episode one launches later in September.