View Full Version : Look & Read
For some strange reason I was thinking the other day about old kids TV and stuff that we had to watch at school. Not much sticks in the mind but what (thanks to t'internet) I now remember as "Look & Read" does. Can anyone remember "Wordy" and the stories that went with it?
Two in particular stick out for me. Considering my age at the time I can remember them being pretty damn frightening!!!
Dark Towers (http://www.lookandread.myby.co.uk/stories/towers/index.shtml)
The Boy From Space (http://www.lookandread.myby.co.uk/stories/boy2/index.shtml)
Does anyone know if they're available on DVD (or god forbid) VHS?
ShakeyJake
27-09-2006, 22:03
From that website the ones I remember watching at school were Badger Girl, Geordie Racer and Through the Dragon's Eye. I have to admit I always found Boris, Doris and Morris pretty creepy in TTDE, and the whole thing was just odd.
gravesend46
27-09-2006, 22:42
Boy From Space and Dark Towers were rerun on BBC TV a couple of years ago and managed to grab them then. Boy From Space particularly weirded me out at 7 or 8 years old, not quite so scary now but really brought back those school days from the late 70s/early 80s.
studmeister
28-09-2006, 00:07
anyone remember a late 70s early 80s show called (i think) "how we used to live". the story was based on the lives of people living in england during the 2nd world war.
we used to watch it when i was in form 1 so i was probably about 8.
From that website the ones I remember watching at school were Badger Girl, Geordie Racer and Through the Dragon's Eye. I have to admit I always found Boris, Doris and Morris pretty creepy in TTDE, and the whole thing was just odd.
Theres a load of TTDE "nuts" on IMDB.com but even I watched it in the mid 90's when I was FAR to old to enjoy that sort of thing. :nuts:
DjSatansfury
28-09-2006, 00:50
lol i remember Badger Girl and Geordie Racer
And they had the BBC programs for the BBC Micros to go with them, on good ol Winchester Disk :lol:
Dark Towers and BFS where they only two I ever saw at school but DT absolutely freaked me out, especially the Tall knight and the "friendly" ghost. I even wrote into teletext letters page about it about 10 years ago (there were no forums to vent on)
anyone remember a late 70s early 80s show called (i think) "how we used to live".
I can vaguely remember watching it and that is about all.
Gingerdawn
28-09-2006, 07:53
Oh my god! Loved this programme, had forgotten about Dark Towers until I read this. I also watched the Badger Girl ones & one about a falcon (don't remember what that one was called), oh and the boy from space. Seem to remember Wordy annoying me! :)
Did watch how we used to live, watched 2 stories I think, can't remember what times though.
hookbeak
28-09-2006, 07:58
the boy from space scared the nuts of me as a kid. There was also another one about a falcon, can't remember much about it - it was about thieves stealing the eggs and using a complex code (ie writing backwards) to pass information
Pablo_Escobar
28-09-2006, 09:52
I remember wordy, don't remember dark tower or maybe i'm confusing it with martellow towers?
How we used to live was on CH4 wasn't it? Whereas Look and Read was on BBC2 with Me and You with Cosmo and Dibbs
fwoodroffe
28-09-2006, 10:02
Wordy was voiced by Charles Collingwood who plays Brian Aldridge in the Archers and occasionally appears on Just A Minute.
Reading the description of Dark Towers, it says that the location was never revealed, although it was in the vicinity of Bristol. Anyone know where it is?
And more to the point why can't they say? They don't say that they're legal obliged too so maybe they're just being nice.
How we used to live was on CH4 wasn't it? Whereas Look and Read was on BBC2 with Me and You with Cosmo and Dibbs
At its best, dramatised schools' programmes succeeded in drawing in an inevitably distracted audience, often taking them into areas of drama they wouldn't look at twice in the context of non-educational TV. Yorkshire TV's How We Used to Live, a series of period dramas revolving around the lives of family members, and set in various eras from the Victorian age through Edwardian and Second Word War series to the 1960s, is probably the best of the lot. On a fairly low budget, reasonably authentic settings and costumes were conjured up, and the fictional ups and downs of the protagonists dovetailed very neatly in with the historical events and issues that were covered (early shows included a 'breather' segment of narrated showreel footage at the start of each programme and halfway through, to impart some solid facts). Yorkshire showed the series after News at 10 at one point as it had proved such a popular programme in the schools slot.
Source (http://tv.cream.org/lookin/schools/index.htm)
HTH
paulnadams
28-09-2006, 13:07
that takes me back - used to love Look And Read.....think the first one I saw was called 'Cloud Burst' or something similar
the boy from space scared the nuts of me as a kid. There was also another one about a falcon, can't remember much about it - it was about thieves stealing the eggs and using a complex code (ie writing backwards) to pass information
Yes....yes.... that one was 'Sky Hunter' - memories
Moldiver
28-09-2006, 13:08
Oh man, Wordy used to terrify me. He was just a creepy piece of work. We'd have to watch vids of him at school also. I think it was just the strange levitations and wavey hand gestures and weird face. Actually I don't know for sure :D
I rememeber Geordie Racer also and soemtimes I'd watch a show called Ghost Writer.
There's one series that always bugged me trying to remember. Maybe soemone here knows, but my description is kinda obscure. It was a UK show on ITV I think. It starred this man who wore glasses. I think he might have done other shows too, like science ones. It took place in a white building and the intro I always recall unsettling me, I think because of the classical piece of music they used. I know I've heard that music before but I honestly don't know the composer, but it's kinda haunting. I think the main point of the series was to do with books, like a library he lived in or something. Sorry, but if anyone can help then I'd appreciate it.
TigaSefi
28-09-2006, 14:29
This is proof that we had it better back then than now :) The Boy from space really SCARED me back then. I think we had "Wordy" every afternoon. :D Good times.
I remember the "Peregrine Falcon" one and one with a kid at a fair, oh, and the Badger one :)
Look and read was ace - and what about You and Me (Until they made it all PC)
DeadWalk
30-09-2006, 21:00
Most of these have recently been screened on CBBC channel - I recorded them for a friend's 6 year old daughter who loved them. It may be worth keeping an eye out on the listings as I would imagine they'll be repeated again at some point.
robzinski
30-09-2006, 22:04
Wordy!
A memory of this thing that flew around the screen teaching me words popped into my head last week, and I couldn't remember what the show was called. Wonder what it is that caused the sudden recollection?
anyone remember a late 70s early 80s show called (i think) "how we used to live". the story was based on the lives of people living in england during the 2nd world war.
we used to watch it when i was in form 1 so i was probably about 8.
We used to watch that at school. I'd guess I was around the same age, maybe a year or two older.
Look & Read with Wordy I definately remember! We watched that too. No wonder I watch so much telly now :)
I watched Look & Read @ school - remember the entire class going to the "TV Room" to Cloud Burst.
Thanks for the link to the site -God I feel old now.
anyone remember a late 70s early 80s show called (i think) "how we used to live". the story was based on the lives of people living in england during the 2nd world war.
we used to watch it when i was in form 1 so i was probably about 8.
I remember that, it had Joey (Peter Howitt) from Bread in it!
mnementh
03-10-2006, 09:38
http://www.lookandread.myby.co.uk/
vBulletin® v3.8.5, Copyright ©2000-2010, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.