Sparrow-Talk

WHO. AM. IIIIIIIIII?! A ruddy New Year's special episode, that's who. We’ll help you adapt to 2019 by probing Paul McGann’s outings as the Doctor: Doctor Who: The Movie and The Night of the Doctor. Keith takes a look at the oranges of Doctor Who – how did that Doctor start doctoring? We semi-settled some of the big Who questions: Is the granddaughter an android? (yes) How many regenerations does the Doctor get? Could McGann have grown all that hair himself? Is McGann the sexiest Doctor? Graeme presents another quiz heavily weighted to Tom’s strengths. Start your year the right way by watching the nation’s favourite Doctor on the BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01lhhv4 Keep in touch with us, twitter.com/sparrowtalkpod, or sparrowtalkpod@gmail.com.

This one isn't about the Denzel films, it's the TV show starring Ewar Woowar. Every episode of The Equalizer dealt with a different situation that needed equalising. Be it a graphic equalizer or a point scored that brought the two teams up to the same number of points, Robert McCall was there to help. For this final episode, we decided to make Keith sound like he’s sitting in a much bigger room than the other two. Sorry about that. Robert McCall drives a Jaguar XJ8. Ian Pie drives a Saab 900. Why won’t Tom let us make comparisons? Anyone who is anyone was in this gritty television, including some of the cast of West Wing. ‘James Bond’ isn’t a code name. Someone from Lyndhurst has sent Tom a tangential postcard. Apparently, psychics are a real and reliable source of future events. But what do you dip in soup? We’re still living with Tom’s earlier skewed ratings. There is no excuse for getting confused with such a simple scoring system. However, this does give us a chance to find out what we rated highest/lowest through this run of ‘Sparrow Talk presents’. Quiz. Done. Keep in touch with us, twitter.com/sparrowtalkpod, or sparrowtalkpod@gmail.com.

Children's TV. This is what it has come to. Written by a junior Steven Moffat, Press Gang was about some kids running a newspaper. This was when the print medium was still financially viable. Moffat later went on to write Coupling and Dr Who. Did he peak at Press Gang? You decide. Other future luminaries include Julia Sawalha, Dexter Fletcher, Max-from-EastEnders and Lucy Benjamin. Tom mislays the latest postcard from Lyndhurst, but don't worry, it turns up. Ruddy Dr Who came up for some other reason. He’s not Lobot. How do you get confirmation that someone exists while retaining the ability to save face? Tom is still haunted by his past flamboyant scoring. He’s got nowhere to go. There are suspicions of foul play in the quiz, Tom always does suspiciously well. Keep in touch with us, twitter.com/sparrowtalkpod, or sparrowtalkpod@gmail.com.

Let's gobble up BBC1's flagship pie-based police show. Richard Griffiths stars as Ian Pie, an experienced detective who isn't allowed to retire. Via James Bond, Dr Who, Naked Gun, Game On and The Last Train, we arrive at the big question: How do you resolve split hollandaise? Is it cold or hot water? We must know. Tom receives some more informative correspondence from Lyndhurst; whoever it is posting these to him. Peri: a mythical superbeing, or simply 'during’? Tom experiences scorer's remorse. You can't go back in time. Almost as if to prove that he can, Graeme finds a way to scrape even more of the barrel in this week's quiz. Keep in touch with us, twitter.com/sparrowtalkpod, or sparrowtalkpod@gmail.com.

Orbital! Officers Hughes, Claridge and Chief Inspector Keith reporting for duty. Sorry for Graeme's bad audio quality, his microphone was sub-orbital. Unusually for a Gerry Anderson production, this is a live action series rather than puppet-based. It was about police in space. Space police. In this space episode, we learn a lot about Tom's 'brown captain’. What sort of storage made it so brown? There's a space postcard from Lyndhurst, and a top quality space quiz. Keep in touch with us, twitter.com/sparrowtalkpod, or sparrowtalkpod@gmail.com.

Time for another stroll through the questionable world of ITV commissioning. In this episode we're enduring a Going Straight knock-off starring British man Brian Conley. As with Ronnie Barker's superior post-prison programme, the star sings the theme tune. So...enjoy that. While Graeme has abandoned his loyalty for his Bobble® bottle, Tom has doubled down and upgraded to a full one litre bottle! Tom gets a postcard from Lyndhurst, either from big Nick himself, or the mayor of Lyndhurst. The signature must be illegible. 'Poker’ isn't a verb. Time for a quiz, ha. It's about time etc. Keep in touch with us, twitter.com/sparrowtalkpod, or sparrowtalkpod@gmail.com.

We’re back to Lyndhurst for our first Christmas special. We hit Lyndhurst-zero by watching the 1972 Christmas special of BBC-sitcom Butterflies. It’s not set in a butterfly house. In a show described as “more bawdy, this one” we discuss a single episode taken from the end of the second series of Butterflies - itself set at Christmas. Christmas. It’s ol’ Nick Lyndhurst at his very best. Maybe he just needed the the acting chops of someone like Geoffrey Palmer to get the best out of him. Tom very much likes WH Smiths adverts from the past. There will be a Goodnight Sweetheart stage show next year. Quiz! Bobble®: Your thirst comes first. Keep in touch with us, twitter.com/sparrowtalkpod, or sparrowtalkpod@gmail.com.

How’s Tina Hobley? In the final episode of our second series, we tackle the wet drama, 'Harbour Lights'. The DVD is available from www.raretvondvd.co.uk. Graeme moves us with a verse of some hymn or other. Tom can't pronounce ‘lieutenant’. Keith watched enough of the show. At least 1.5 episodes, despite what others might suggest. There is a lot of bad 90s pop music in Harbour Lights. Dutch angles. Keith wonders about Nick Berry’s/Mike Nicholls’ morality. Tom questions Keith’s wisdom in choosing Harbour Lights. And as is now tradition, we wrap up with a quiz. It’s sort of all to play for. We’ll be back. Keep in touch with us, twitter.com/sparrowtalkpod, or sparrowtalkpod@gmail.com.