Episode 134 - The Silly Season (1982) - The Culture Swally

Episode Transcript
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[Music]

(00:15):
Hello and welcome to the Culture Swally, a podcast dedicated to Scottish news and pop culture.
My name is Nicky and I'm joined as always by the man who often needs a stroke
adjuster when he's thinking about a harmless bit of tit. It's Greg. How are you today, buddy?
I combine two things there. I combine two things from what we're going to be talking about later to

(00:42):
get you into it. How's things? Yes, good. Very good.
Yes, very good. I'm preparing to travel for the first time in my life to Hong Kong on, well,
my flight leaves at 3am on Sunday morning. Oh, that's just a bit of a kick in the bollocks.
I'm quite excited to go because I've never been, but the problem I'm having is you know,

(01:10):
sometimes you get something stuck in your head, you know, and it's related to something that you're
about to do, you know what I mean? Yeah. So if you cast your mind back to the early 90s when
Street Fighter 2 first came to the arcades, if you were going to fight Chun Li, the arcade cabinet

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or Super Nintendo every up to you know, I would say Hong Kong. How do you remind when I'm
thinking about going to Hong Kong, it just keeps popping up in my head. Hong Kong and at first,
I couldn't remember off the top of my head which Street Fighter 2 character because you know that

(01:52):
you fly all over the world. Thailand. Yeah, you say. I couldn't remember which character so much.
Someone mentioned so much today that I had to Google, I had to ask Google which character it was.
And literally, I don't have anybody around me that I can talk about that. So I've
essentially been looking forward to the podcast just so I can get it off my chest because I don't

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have literally nobody sort of spends most of their day dreaming time in the night. Oh, I assume
that nobody that I see every day spends most of their sort of day dreaming time in the 1980s, 90s
or earlier, those things like I do. I probably wouldn't have fucking clue what I was talking about.
If my old flatmate Dale, for some day I saw every day, he would, he would get it immediately.

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But I get it and it's very relevant because of course, the filming, then you Street Fighter
and Movie at the moment. Oh, yeah, believe they are. Yeah, that is a live action. Yes, it is.
Cody Rhodes, who you'll know from WWE. It's very gay. He is indeed, yeah. Shocking.
There's a couple of weird ones. I think Roman Reigns from WWE as well. He's playing, I'm not familiar

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with the character, Akuma. Akuma, yeah, I think he's from the later games. He's not a core. He's
not a core character from the original. I think there was six playable characters and then those
are three bosses and then the various other versions that allowed you to play as one of the three bosses.
The only other one that's really known is Jason Mahmoha is playing Blanca.

(03:30):
It's Jason. Yeah. And Balrog, who was obviously Mike Tyson kind of inspired.
Yes, he's played by 50 cent. Which shows me. I mean, that's something that's going to be very good.
This is your fight or film. I think it's a, I think it'd be fair. The mid 90s cocaine

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fuels Van Damme vehicle, where Van Damme played Gail and Kylie Minogue played the Scottish,
there's a Scottish character in the later Street Fighter games called Cammy, who's the sort of
lady soldier with big hips and a red berry. Kylie Minogue played her in a celebrated actor.
Celebrated dramatic actor, Rojulia, he plays Bison and it's his last film role, which is a

(04:16):
fucking kick in the nuts for Rojulia to be honest. Because he was a great actor. But yeah, I think I
would rather watch that again than watch Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes, who as far as I know is unproven
as a dramatic actor. Yes, yes. Yeah, no, I think I'll probably give that a miss. I remember
going to cinema to see the original Street Fighter film. I did as well. Yeah. I remember being

(04:39):
disgusted that Camber, the name of the guy I went with, it was a French school. Camber,
a charn, I think his name was. And I remember when Rojulia appeared on screen as embison, him going,
"Ha ha, you're dead." And... It's only a child in the Northease of Scotland in the mid 90s could.
I've been wholly inappropriate. I've been disgusted at him for that. Shocking behaviour.

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Yeah. Oh, well. So, yeah, you're off to Hong Kong. Hong Kong. Yeah. Nice Hong Kong. That'd be nice.
That'd be a good trip though. That'd be very nice. Yes, my hosts of schedule, then, a cable car ride
to see the Big Buddha statue. So I'm not mad keen on cable cars because I'm not mad keen.
Mad keen on heights. Yeah. But I might never get to go again. So all experiences should be

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well within Beezen. Should be experienced, right? Yeah. So you might never get to go again if you go
on that cable car, then, something happens. Well, yeah. I'm sorry, mate. I'm really joking. Everything
will be fine. I know. I know. I know. A little bit fine. Chinese efficiency. Exactly. I'll be all good.
Oh, wonderful. Look forward to hearing reports of that when you're back. Yes, indeed. Right then.

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Shall we have a look at what's been happening in Scotland over the last couple of weeks?
Cue the jingle. Hello. This is the Outdoor Heavilys Broadcasting Cooperation. And here is what's been
going on in the new. Okay, Greg, what have you seen in Scotland over the last couple of weeks? You'd

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like to share with me and our lovely listeners. So my first story comes from the daily record.
Now, our listeners who are engaged in current affairs, particularly in the UK will know that the
pressure group Palestine action has been deemed a terrorist organisation for some reason by

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the British government. So this story, the headline reads, no arrests at Glasgow protest,
after man detained over a plash the scene action top.
There's a clip on social media that shows the man with two police officers at the salt market in

(07:00):
Glasgow Saturday, a couple of weeks ago. The male can be seen wearing a white t-shirt with the words
"plastic scene action". We oppose AI generated animation printed on it, along with a picture of
classic animated character Morph. Morph for any listeners who aren't as major as us. And

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think we're up in the UK is one of the first characters ever created by the animation studio
responsible for things like Wallace and Gromit. And used to be on Tony Harp's heartbeat art program.
So the top is based on the signs and t-shirts seen at protests in support of Palestine action,
which was prescribed by the UK government under the Terrorism Act 2000 in July. So belonging to

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or expressing support for Palestine action are both criminal offences under the act in Cancaria
Maxx from sentence of 14 years in prison. The incident followed a stop the work, a stop the
work of the politicians national. I keep having to stop myself from saying plasticine, Palestine,
rally in Glasgow. So tended by hundreds of people. So yeah it goes on to describe some fairly depressing

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facts about what happens at the demonstration. But yeah, plasticine action really, really made me laugh.
I can't tell you how much. That's brilliant. So yeah, stopped and detained for a plasticine t-shirt.
That is insane. I mean, I can surely the cop would stop him and then read it and be like,

(08:39):
"Oh sorry mate, I just liked a little bit." But honestly, that's ridiculous.
Yeah, but that t-shirt, he's gone to the, he's gone to the rally we are in that t-shirt with one
intention. And that is arch solid gold, cast and gold, and put in a museum for all time,
shit housey. And I have got nothing but admiration and respect for that man.

(09:02):
The clip resurfaced for obvious reasons a few weeks ago. But did you ever see that clip that was
going around Instagram with a guy getting stopped going on the train because the police are like no
fancy dress allowed. Because he's wearing like a yellow vest, a red bandana, and he's got a blonde
handlebar mustache and blonde hair sticking out. And is mate, he's in like his fifties this guy.

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And his mate is creasing up laughing. And he goes, "Who's fucking always dresses like that?"
He's like, "You think you're a fancy dress?" And like, "I'm co-cogging."
I was like, "He's genuinely, he's just like, for a day out, he's dressed like that."
Cops aren't letting him on the train because they think he's at fancy dress.
Of a finder again, I'll send it to you. It's fucking cool.

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But yeah, you're right. He has probably gone there with the intention of,
yeah, this will ruffle a few feathers. This will get the cat amongst the pigeons.
This will get them. He stood, I mean, they've pixelated out his face. But he stood so
nonchalantly in the picture, but like, one hand on his hip, just he might even have like a

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bag between his fingers just a bit shorter. You know what I mean? I pay the sunglasses on.
Complete. It's cool as a cucumber. Just not bothered. But it just got me thinking like,
like, I can't ever imagine that happening in England. I just can't. And I'm not saying anything.
I'm not saying English, you don't have a sense of humor or anything like that. But, you know,
there was another example of this at the Oasis concerts in Murie Field when the bands were built

(10:36):
in a little by little. And some guys were holding a little shopping back. Second, little by little.
And I just can't imagine the the the Gatlinger brothers looking out over the crowd at Wembley Stadium
or Heaton Park or the Card of Stadium or any other venues that have played the UK. And seeing

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people just having fun like that. But because and I kind of feel like they would they they would
enjoy it. The Gallagher. I mean, I think they would. I think especially no Gallagher, I think you
probably find that quite funny. But yeah, just can't I mean, I just can't imagine it. But I need to get
myself a plasticine action t-shirt. I think. Get one printed up. We'll put you some more for.

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It's it's more of your favourite plasticine character. I don't I mean, I only I only watched when I was
a kid. I only watched a heartbeat for more. You know, nothing. Nothing against Tony Hart. You know,
it has a lot of old. I came to appreciate his artistic skill and his charisma on screen. But when I was

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a kid, I was it was it was just for Morph. Yeah, yeah, love this. Yeah, I'd be the same. Yeah, it was
more for like to morph. But yeah, couldn't be ours with the rest of heartbeat. Um, I would say, I don't
know, probably Traptor was probably my favourite. Yeah, yeah, all those shows stop motion. I always
really liked and I think probably that there was what it's charlton in the wheelies as well. I liked

(12:06):
his spell. That was stop motion. And yeah, hot and Traptor I really liked. I mean, that was a wee bit later.
But I remember my daughter and I just a few years ago, uh, sitting through because my daughter's quite
intro by youngest daughter's quite interested in an, well, she was more interested in animation
back then. She's not as interested now, but her and I have years go sat and burned through a bit

(12:27):
full episodes of Traptor and YouTube three years ago. And it's still cool because there's so much
going on on the screen. Yeah, so many things. It could be jars behind a bear and all that are animated
as well. So those things wriggling about and all that kind of stuff. It's like, mistakenly, that's
all been done by hand. Yeah, photographed. It must have taken fucking hours and hours to do it. Yeah.

(12:50):
Yeah. And now people are just taking the piss by way of t-shirts. I know. And now all that's done
an AI. But I like, well, what is the animation? How's called again that did Wallace and Grommit? Because
they do everything now. They do it the old way when they make films. Ardman. Ardman. Yeah, Ardman.
Because they did try a computer generated effort with Hugh Jackman was in it flushed away when he

(13:16):
plays a sort of like a mouse or a rat that's a secret agent. And it was, and it didn't do as well. So
the last one they did was, um, the last one I remember seeing anyway was a pirates and an adventure with
scientists. It's really good and really, really funny. Like Hugh Grant, he's just, he's, Hugh Grant,
is brilliant when he's doing like a character and not just doing Hugh Grant. Like an agent, oh,

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man, he's good and that's all right. And, um, and, uh, like, the last Paddington beer movie I
watched out with the girls and Pizzabadi and that and he's really good, you know what I mean? But he's
really, really good. And it's got an all-star cast, you know, but, uh, that scientists, uh,
but pirates film like Martin Freeman's in it and he, he's a Helen and bottom-carter and they all start
cast. I was, it's David Tennant in that. David Tennant's in it. He plays, um, he plays, uh, Darwin,

(14:06):
the scientist Darwin. Like, there's all about, he's all about evolution and all that and,
like, Queen Victoria would just want us to eat. She's the village wants to eat all these, uh,
all these, um, animals that are approaching extinction. So she's determined to eat this dodo.
Um, yeah, it's, uh, it's just a, a bit ridiculous sort of British gonna, humor, uh, but, uh,

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but I know that I was talking to you about Ardmond and it came out when the time that they were making
that film and that's, that's all done. It's all like hand animated, um, the Pirates film,
which I thought was awesome. Anyway, that's incredible. No. Indeed. Anyway, that's my first story this week.
Class of scene action, which you're, which your first story for this episode. My first story comes

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from Glasgow live this week, Greg. And there is, uh, you know, a big trend in terms of food blogging
and TikTokers and things, but ones come under fire in Scotland for their antics recently.
So a Glasgow food blogger who triggered outrage online after posting an insensitive TikTok rating
of a meal at a homeless shelter has been slammed by a charity. At, yeah, ridiculous. Uh, Tracy K. Hill

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makes videos on the social media site to her 45,000 followers. Greg,
reviewing food across the city using the slogans 10 at a 10 banging or 10 at a 10 stinking. However,
she has come under fire after she was seen criticising the food served at a homeless shelter in Glasgow.
In the now deleted video, Tracy was filmed laughing and sniggering whilst carrying a food container

(15:45):
with a plastic fork saying, "Is this 10 at a 10 banging here?" And we're in the homeless place getting
scran. She added, "I didn't even have to fuck it, be for it. Here we go." The video has been labeled
as exploitative by homeless project Scotland, who run programs to feed and shelter vulnerable people
in Scotland. A spokesperson said, "Our services exist to provide dignity, warmth and a hot meal to

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those in genuine need, often people who have gone days without food or shelter. They're not here
to be used as backdrops for online content or personal publicity. We find it deeply disappointing
when anyone treats the reality of homelessness is entertainment. Homeless is not a trend,
it's a serious crisis that demands compassion, not exploitation. Users of the app accused Tracy

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of taking meals from people who need it and using homelessness as a prop for content. One of those
was Tik Tok or Chloe Walker, who posted a scathing video and she said, "She's walked in at the soup
kitchen and thought it was funny taking food from people who haven't had a hot meal in days.
I don't know how you can take a meal from someone who needs it." Another Tik Toker, Shaw Bag.

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Fucking great, mate. The Tik Toker Shaw Bag also added, "You've gone into a space for
vulnerable people that are supposed to be safe. This is food being given to folk with nothing
and you're treating it like content." Responding to the outrage surrounding her post, Tracy

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defended her actions in a rebuttal Tik Tok video. In the clip, she claimed she donated money to the
shelter, despite earlier bragging she ate for free. She said, "I went to my sister who is homeless
and stays in a homeless centre. I sat with her and had food but donated money because I am a
Tik Toker and people know me. Take some time out of your lives from criticizing people,

(17:34):
all because I'm a big Tik Toker, you're criticizing me. I've had to do a lot of homeless stuff.
That's why I start a Tik Tok to make a wee bit of money and make a better life for me.
So me sitting and having some food with a homeless in a shelter is not disgusting. I'm not
mocking them." Tracy declined to comment when we approached them. Now Greg, I'm just going to show you

(17:56):
a little image of them. Tracy? For fuck's sake.
Yeah, I mean, this is not like the funniest story. She's got an lovely eyebrow tattoo as well.
It's not a funny story, but I wanted to highlight this because there's a trend for people doing

(18:16):
stunts and I see it quite a lot. Have you seen the video of that guy who goes up to a German tourist
in London and he taps his phone and he goes, "I've just taken 10 quid, thanks mate." The guy, the German
tourist grabs him and stops him and he's like, "No, no, no, no, he's looking round." And then two
undercover cops come over and arrest the guy and the guy's like, "It was a prank. It was a prank.

(18:42):
It was a prank. He's shitting himself and the cops and the tourists are taking no shit from him
and yeah, he gets bundled off and put in the back of a van. And you're like, "Really? This is
trigger-happy TV and stuff was 26 years ago and it was funny at the time. That was harmless
kind of pranks. But stuff like this for content, for like TikTok and it's going too far and someone's

(19:07):
going to get in serious trouble and get a serious doing for something." Yeah, I mean, people have.
Yeah, I guess I saw a video on Twitter of a guy in a supermarket in America who was,
I suppose he was doing again. I think he was running up behind people and sticking a bucket in
their head and then quickly sticking a bucket in his own head. Oh yeah. Yeah. And then

(19:28):
I was at him and then one guy was just to quick for him and absolutely beat the shit out of him and I
yelled. And I'm kind of like, it's hard to feel sorry for you. You know what I mean? I'm like, the sort of
pranks that I liked on trigger-happy TV were the ones that weren't really making fun of any individuals

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or trying to prank anybody and sort of, you know, they were just kind of doing something unexpected
in the street. You know? Like, it was just, you know, like something you wouldn't expect to see.
You know, I bet some of the best ones on trigger-happy TV was when they set up outside a
like a Grap magazine shop and when they get this, the first guy that came out, they were like,
"Oh, congratulations, you're an author, because the man don't be jolly, was dressed up like a TV presenter

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and there was cameras and there was never taking his picture." That one was funny, you know?
But I liked it when he would dress up as a snowman. When people walk past, they would throw a snowball
out of the sweat. But you know, that's kind of fine, but I think people go a bit far, you know?
It's like Jackass as well, when they get out of the one when they had the We-Man run into a

(20:38):
porta-potty and then wearing some kind of outfit and then Preston Lacey runs out wearing the same outfit
as if the We-Man's going in there and growing up into Preston Lacey or either we just have Preston
Lacey chasing after the We-Man making it done something to it. That's sort of things funny, because that's
just, that's not going to make fun of a prank and I'm not just a spectre and a member of the public.

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It's just funny, you know? No one gets hurt doing that, you know?
Yeah, that's a thing, but to be doing stuff for content and to be, I can quite believe that she
paid for the meal at the home of the shop, and she's just saying, "Haha, I got this for free
because she's thinking it's this will make me edgy and it's content." And it has massively backfired

(21:23):
and rightfully so because you shouldn't be exploiting things like that. Those are there for people in need.
And okay, yeah, if she's paid, but then still say she's paid. And she could have done something
differently with that and highlighted awareness and said that she's denated and that the food's
amazing and that, you know, it's a worthwhile cause, please donate to this. If she wanted to generate

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content, doing a good thing, not trying to be hard and say that she's, yeah, getting it for free.
To be fair, she said it was 10 out of 10 banging, so you know, it's good for something.
Yeah, she's made that, she's made that kind of severe edit of judgment there. So she has,
and she should probably just have said, "You know, look, I've made a mistake here, I don't mean it,

(22:05):
so I don't mean to do what I've done, really sorry, I have made it the nation, etc." I don't mean to
come off in sensitive, blah, blah, blah, but she's been a bit defensive and I think in in being
defensive, she's sort of confirmed actually that she's a con, you know, I wish she could have perhaps,
you know, made people believe that she wasn't. And looking at the photos of Tracy, I just want to say,

(22:26):
it was Greg that called you a con, Tracy, not just to make that clear. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'll be in
Glasgow in October if you want to square-go. We'll get TikTok or a shotbag to come and help you.
Anyway, what else have you seen this week, buddy? Well, speaking of Fickden, this comes from the,

(22:51):
another one for the day of the record, early in August, and the headline means, "Two bear
knuckle fighters in hospital after scrap at Scottish ice rink." Oh God, it's like small faces. Yeah,
so this is the second big event that happened at Murifield this month after the oasis concert,
but this is Murifield ice arena. And Murifield ice arena hosted a bear knuckle boxing event. Oh my God,

(23:19):
I thought it was just two people having a fucking square-go. I was at an actual event. An actual event,
which has led to the venue's license being altered. So in July, the Carnage at the Capital event,
so 30 fighters face off in one-on-one matchups in the sports first professional event in Scotland.

(23:41):
The arena's bossies thought that it fell within the terms of their indoor sports entertainment
license, which allows ice hockey, ice skating, roller skating, boxing and similar. But Edinburgh
Council officers disagreed saying that what they termed both as bear knuckle fighting and bear knuckle

(24:02):
boxing were not similar to the sports listed in the license. And they took the rare step of
writing a letter to the city's License and Subcommittee asking for the term and similar to be
removed from the license. In a narrow four-three vote, some fight fans on that panel,

(24:23):
councillors sided with officers with the two Labour and two Conservative councillors voting to
modify the license. At the event, at least two boxers per cent the hospital, one with a broken jaw,
and fighters had a range of injuries including an arm fracture and a torn ACL, which I understand
is really fucking sore. During Monday's meeting of the committee, License and Manager Catherine

(24:49):
Scanlon said concerns were raised ahead of this event and this was raised with the organizer.
However, the event did go ahead on the 5th of July. It's the directorate's view that we want
to avoid any ambiguity under what activities should be included in the license. The inclusion of
the words "and similar", which was used by the applicant to justify the operation of this event,

(25:14):
so we would ask to remove the phrase "and similar". Tom Veach, a trading standards manager, said
"it was advertised as featuring blood spattering, belowing shattering, blood spills, and carnage in relation
to the event." The concerns were such that both the council and the police considered the use of

(25:34):
an immediate suspension. On this occasion, concerns were resolved less than 24 hours before the event.
There was, however, significant council officer and police officers required for the event to go ahead.
If the sergeant in the meeting said that Police Scotland had no contributions to make to the
committee about the event, Bairnuckle Boxing is legal in the UK but has no official regulator.

(25:57):
So the event in July took place under the regulation of the International Sport Karate Association.
Caroline Loudon, a solicitor, representing the AESA Reena said, "we're slightly surprised
to get the notification to come to the committee today. It's a reposition that there is no ambiguity
here and that it's not necessary to vary the terms of the license at all. We don't feel that the

(26:19):
application by the director is necessary or proportionate in the circumstances in this case."
Scott Neill, who's the manager of the, or who's involved in the management of the AESA
hockey alone, could not sustain the site by itself year-round, causing it to look for events in the
summer months. He said that he felt that the event was safe and that the sports supporters would

(26:40):
say it is safer than glove boxing for a range of reasons, including the limits on the length of the
fights. But Tory councillor, Cuthbert Neill, I mean what else was Cuthbert Neill going to grow up to be
with a name like that other than a fucking conservative councillor in Edinburgh. He said,

(27:01):
"I think I'm happy to go with the recommendation of the report, but just reflecting we've had quite
a lengthy discussion about this. I think it has flagged up an issue that others have noticed as well.
There is an ambiguity, so it does seem to me that that has to be resolved."
Oh yeah, obviously the Liberal Democrats councillor Pauline Flannery advanced in alternative
positions saying, "I think boxing is similar. I don't think it was a difference, but it's what

(27:25):
I want to do for the future that I'm hearing underneath and that's a separate conversation."
So I did not realise that bare knuckle fighting slash boxing was legal. I always thought that was
something that Gypsy's did. I think I don't know if can I say that word? I always thought that was
something that Romany Gypsy's did. I think you can say that. I have to agree, I thought that was

(27:50):
what the travelling community did as well. I did not realise it was legal in the UK, but there's no
legal being regulated. That's correct. Recipe for disaster to be, it doesn't look to you.
Yeah, because then how does that stop like a scrap in the street? That's just like an
unsanctioned bare knuckle boxing match. Is that then can you get arrested for that? Or if both parties

(28:11):
say, "No, we're just having a bare knuckle boxing match." I don't know how that would work, but yeah,
never realised it was legal. That's bizarre. Especially for an event you like that to be putting that on.
How do you think that's a good idea? I don't understand that at all. It just doesn't seem,
it doesn't seem smart to me that at all. I don't know. I mean, they're saying that well, actually,

(28:37):
it's safer than boxing because the fights, I'm assuming they say they don't go on for as long.
So I'm assuming that the mean there's not as many rounds in a bare knuckle fight.
And maybe the rounds are shorter as well. Maybe they stop it at a certain point.
But the thing is, in boxing, and there's been lots of examples of this, it can literally be a lucky

(29:01):
punch that the recipient of the punch does not roll with or take properly and they can end up
like affected for life. There's a lot of, you know, Michael Watson, things like Chris Ubank for
in even worse example in America. And that's with boxing gloves on. So you have to imagine like,

(29:23):
with a bare knuckle fight because a boxing glove is not going to make you hit harder. It's supposed
to take a boxing glove, supposed to absorb some of it, right? So the boxers don't get to, like,
they should theoretically, they shouldn't get injured as seriously as they potentially could have
somebody hit them with a bare fist. That's why the whole Queen's Body Rules was introduced

(29:45):
when boxing became a sport in the 19th century, you know? So yeah, I'm quite surprised to see that
there's a burgeoning bare knuckle fighting events, a tinieree in the UK and they're advertising it by
saying, blood splattering, bone crunching, blood spilling, come and see the carnage carnage in the capital.

(30:06):
It's sort of, you know, they're like, they're sick, they're sick, people like to see people beat the
shit out of each other. That's why wrestling is so successful, and wrestling is a lot, you know,
obviously we know that it's a high degree of theatricality there and stuff and the wrestlers as much
as possible, try not to injure each other. But that's why boxing, so that's why MMA is become so popular

(30:34):
over the years, because MMA is like, is wrestling, but with theatricality taken out of it and the guys
are actually beating the shit out of each other, you know what I mean? That's why I like wrestling,
I like the theme music and the costumes and the pageantry and the big, the boars and the
makeup. It's a part of it, that's for real. My girlfriends, why do you watch this? And I'm like,

(30:56):
because I just call the restorative lines and the theatrics and it's wonderful. I don't
want to see people beat the shit out of each other. You know, Apollo Creed died in the ring and
that's no, someone we should never forget. We should never forget. Let's show some respect. MMA
organizers and athletes. It's not snatch. You know, you can't go around bare knuckle boxing.

(31:19):
But did you, did you see that thing in the news this week, in America, the guy who basically
beat a wrestler in an exhibition and the wrestler flatline, I think they managed to bring him back.
But this guy just took it too far and it, you know, it was supposed to be, it wasn't NWWE,
it was in a smaller franchise company. Well, the guy that did it is Rampage Jackson's son.

(31:44):
Yeah. Rampage Jackson was UFC fighter. He played B-A in the 80s film. That's right. I'll
show that place and be in the set. Yeah. Rampage Jackson, that's right. Yeah. I thought you were
sorry. That was okay. Yeah, it was his son that did it. And yeah, the guy's still in critical condition.
Yeah, you know, I mean, come on. So yeah, I don't think I'd be buying tickets for carnage in the capital.

(32:08):
No, I don't think I could leave them to it. But I will be keeping an eye out. I'll be watching
from afar. Anyway, that's my second story back to you. Good self. My second story is on the daily record
this week, Greg. And the headline is "Vintage Shop owner finds stash of drugs in pocket of 1990

(32:29):
Ston Island jacket." It's great. "A Vintage Shop owner was left stunned after he found drugs
stashed in the pocket of a jacket. Chris Boyle owner of the Dundee Soul store in the city's
Wellgate shopping center found a block of soap bar hash after purchasing a Ston Island jacket
from 1997. He reckons the drugs have laid inside the garment for nearly 30 years. Chris, who opened

(32:55):
the shop seven years ago said, "The jacket came from one of our long-standing vintage suppliers,
based in the south of England. We work with them regularly, source unique and authentic pieces,
and occasionally those pieces arrive with unexpected little time capsules hidden inside."
The jacket has been sold to a customer, and it proved particularly popular after people heard

(33:18):
about its unusual find. The discovery tops the list of strangest things he's found in vintage clothes,
and is now proudly on display within his shop in the northeast. The 37-year-old added,
"The soap bar has been kept here at the Dundee Soul as part of our small but growing collection of
unusual discoveries. We see it as a light hearted reminder of the charm, an unpredictability of

(33:42):
working with vintage clothing. Over the years, we've uncovered a surprising number of unusual items,
hidden away in pockets, linings and boxes. Many of them have been small snapshots of the moment in
time, ordinary objects, but frozen in the year they were left behind. Why don't you list any of them
in this article? I want to know what they are." That's a bloody thing. Chris shared the rare find in a

(34:06):
Facebook post, and he wrote, "You find some funny things in the pockets' advantage jackets. My
favourite finds truly are the things that have been long forgotten." This is hilarious.
Found in the pocket of a 90s stone island razzle, there's nothing more nostalgic to someone from
Scotland in the 90s than a bit of soap bar. The find went down well with customers who flocked

(34:32):
to the comments section to joke about the discovery. One posted, "Oh, this smell of that. I wish Yankee had
done a candle like that one." Another said, "I once bought a burberry golf jacket on eBay for my guy
in Aberdeen." A £20 note inside the inside pocket. A third joked, stick it in the pocket,

(34:53):
a summon in the shop, lucky dip style. That'll boost your sales." Another poster said,
"The cause of many a ruined shell suit." Chris told the record of the other rare finds he made,
whilst returning the shop, finding everything from women's knickers to cinematics from

(35:16):
90s blockbuster. As well as a ticket from London's King Cross station, he found an adjack
from the 70s. He also came across a cinema stop for the original Jurassic Park from July 1993.
Well, there you go. Lumpa soap bar hash Greg. Have you ever found... I mean, that's the dream, isn't it,

(35:36):
when you find a £20 note in an old pay-lifton or something? If I were to say that's a gem when you
find a big bet of treasure. Lumpa hash. I did, the only time I think that's happened to me. I bought,
or some of us into buy, it was my very first set of golf clubs and it was like an old, like, I'd done
lot, kind of starter kit of golf clubs. And bought them on due business. And I think I paid the guy

(36:03):
300 dirhams for them or something, which isn't a lot, like, you know, for... I was at a hunter's
quadricell in there. It was a set of irons, a part-hour drive, a three-wheeled and the bag and stuff.
And I was like, "Alright, fine." And I got them home and I was just checking everything and I
on-zip the pocket and I found a 500 dirhams note in the bag. So 200 dirhams up and I set a golf

(36:28):
club. So that was great. So I can't think of anything else that I've found in things that I've
purchased. I mean, I don't really purchase a lot of second-hand stuff, but I guess you can find
these things. Yeah, I think I found things like, you know, like I remember my dad and I
clearing out the loft that my grandparents house when my granny was moving into a home and

(36:54):
like off my granda had stuff wrapped in old newspapers and things from like the 60s and 70s and
just stuff he'd kept. They kind of kept the old magazines that I had bought in the early 90s. They've
bought this magazine called Now, which was like a sort of pop music magazine and I had two episodes.
One with Marty Kaskitschen on the front and one with Mark Wobair because he's better known now,

(37:19):
but back when he was Marky Mark reviewing that week's top 10 of like, bus being like 1990 or 1991 and
just like roasting every single song. So like, kind of stuff like that, you know, like when my dad
was a tenable hoarder, you know, apart from all the fucking grunt mags and pornography that we found

(37:43):
that was, you know, just like tapes and tapes and tapes and stuff that he'd, like videos that he'd
take, like films that he'd taped off the tally. Like usually Westerns like pale rider and the
outlaw Josie Wales and a man called horse and all that and Excalibur and I'm just thinking,
why the fuck is he keep up these? Because he hadn't had to get a video player for probably about,

(38:04):
well no I tell you what, I, he had a couple of video players like stuck in that wardrobe as well,
just fucking sitting in there, and they're calibrating dust. So I totally obviously thought, you obviously
thought he might need them again at one point and he had to load the albums that he had taped on
the cassettes at various times over the years that he'd kept as well and I was just like, you know,
he's putting part with anything, he's, he's bedroom is like fucking, he's bedroom is like fucking

(38:25):
stethers yard, you know what I'm about? The wardrobes and all that, the bedroom is, but you know, like
fucking shoes, like boots and shoes that he'd piled onto for fucking about 30 years, you know, like paint
covered fucking work boots, just, just guess I mean he did them, like my system went up it, we went
up in a his loft and there was like 20 broom high brand new broom handles that were also a strap

(38:50):
together. They obviously just seen them at a job and thought, oh, they make them in handy, I've
fucking taken them, you know, just stuck them in a loft. I say, God knows how long they've been there for.
That's brilliant. I'm so, well yeah, it's true, you never know, you never know when it's coming
to come in handy, you might have gone there one day and needed a pair of boots for some
robe and he said, I've got the very thing. A broom handle with a head, you know what I mean?

(39:17):
Yeah, you never know. He did, I mean, in hindsight, my bad was a bit sticky fingered to be honest
because there was tons and tons of like, you know, sort of building and joinery materials, like boxes
and boxes and boxes are like screws and nails and fucking, yeah, bits of timber and all sorts of

(39:38):
stuff up there. You can about another fucking house with all the, and he's obviously just, you know,
like tools, tons and tons of tools and stuff that he'd obviously just fucking helped himself to when he'd
been, when he, when the opportunity presented itself and then he could have been fucking selling them,
making a few quid, going down the pub, you know, whatever, but he just held all of them in case they
came in handy. Is anybody else? I don't know, can you sell claw hammer sound to pub nowadays? I think

(40:03):
might be frowned upon or maybe it's like bear knuckle box and it's okay. I don't know. I remember being in,
but you know, like at my granny, you still live in Hampton Hill next to Possil and I'd be in a
couple of pubs in Possil when I was younger with my uncles and you get guys coming in that had obviously
been like shoplifting or whatever or just on the rob and I mean, I remember going in to the toilet

(40:26):
and I wish Pupp was it. I mean, there's the, there's the sadison bar on sadison street and might
have been there. I went in there and there was a guy who had like basically all all these fucking
wares all laid out. He had the pairs of jeans and all that. Just having a piss he was like,
"Oh, take a look, but see if anything cashew shall I?" He looks like set up a little shoppin' the fucking
gents. That's brilliant. That was like maybe in the late 90s or something and I was ready

(40:52):
frightened being in there anyway. I was glad those with my uncle. I was, you know, I did, but I did not
belong in that pub. I was just reminiscing the other day. I won't tell the first part of this story
because that's quite recent. Recently relevant, but I was telling, I got from the big, um,
how my mum and my sister back in like the early 90s, I think, used to go to shoplifting parties.

(41:16):
Right. And I was like, what? And I was like, it was round one of their friend's house and be like,
"Oh, shoplifters are coming round." And it was this woman that used to just go into, I think,
it was her job. Well, her job. It was like a Tupperware party, but it was all the stuff that she'd
stolen from like River Island or, you know, John Lewis and stuff over the course of the week. And
it was like, "Are you anything here to take your fancy?" And stuff. And it was like, "Jesus Christ."

(41:40):
The things you forget about, um, nowadays. I remember when I was at college and we were in the
Gordon, the first year was at college. We were in the Gordon Centre up at the Przidon next to where
the Gordon Highlanders is. Thanks to their regiment, oh, barracks. Yeah. Aberdeen college, the
campus there. And we used to go down to the Don View pub, just down the road. It's just before the

(42:01):
bridge is coming towards town. Yeah. Could walk down in like five or ten minutes. And I remember,
they early on, I think we finished early one day, went down there for a jar and a couple of young
guys came in. And they were dressed really smart. And they had like loads and loads of like,
men's shirts for sale. And I kind of remember the brand. I think it was like a, it was a decent brand,
but it was, but we're probably knockoffs in hindsight. Yeah. And they were selling like two shirts for

(42:25):
Twick with until the bartender chased them, you know, but they sold quite a few shirts before the
bartender chased them. I didn't know this. And that could have reminded me of being in that pub in
a, in a saddestine street in Glasgow. That's fantastic. Well, there we go. There's some retro
drugs found in a stone island jacket. I had to be a stone island jacket, didn't it? Of course,

(42:47):
you did. I was ready. Who'd you hear something? Yeah. Well, the stone island's expensive, like I was in,
Fraser's in Glasgow a couple of summers ago. And they had the stone island section downstairs.
And I had to be look at just what just like, I never had any stone island stuff. I never really liked
it. Like the style of it that much. And wasn't really my cup of tea, but this really expensive

(43:09):
like for a, I could, I sort of, like, the sort of signature jacket is you're looking at like a bit
of grand. Yeah. Really expensive. Yeah. They are. I don't have the same. I've never owned anything
stone island. And I probably, well, I can say I never would. Just not my cup of tea, but, um,
yeah. Yeah. But yeah. Um, so yeah, a little bit of retro drugs. I love that. A little time capsule.

(43:32):
Yeah. I like that. I love the time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I guess I always use my train tickets as like a bookmark when I was doing a lot of travel by train.
And sometimes if I go back to read a book that I read before, I'll find they can old train ticket
from years ago, it'll follow at the back of the cover, because I just leave it in the book when I
finish the book, you know, I had that recently when I was going through my books. Um, and I opened one

(43:54):
and I found a, yeah, ticket stop from Aberdeen versus Kalmarnik from like 1999. Oh, wow. That's
a, yeah. A blast from the past. That was brilliant. So yeah, it was very nice. Yeah. Oh, good. Excellent.
Okay. Um, have you seen anything else this week? Nope. That's my two. No. Okay. Right. Oh,

(44:15):
wait. Four we enter the silly season. Let's have a little word from our sponsors. Now there's an
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(44:40):
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Gerrard's Aberdeen's favorite restaurant. Okay. So it was your choice this week, Nikke, for
movie or TV show. Be discussing. So why don't you introduce this week's content. Thank you very

(45:02):
much Greg. So today we are talking about an episode of the BBC show Play for Today, which was a
television and phology drama series produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC One and ran from
1978 and 1984. So we've covered a few of these over the years. I have to look back. We've done,
you see, a trend here Greg, we did just not our Saturday, the elephant's graveyard, just a boys game.

(45:26):
And then we did the slab boys. So the episode that we've been looking at aired as part of series 12
and it aired on 9th February 1982 and it is called The Silly Season. Directed by Alex Marshall and
written by Stephen Mulrini, it follows four students who start working at a factory over the summer
and meet Malcolm, who is hating his existence in a factory and at home. The students reawaken both his

(45:52):
passion for political leanings and for romance. Starring Derek Anders, Francis Lowe, Mary Riggins,
Ian Loughlin, Elaine Collins, Tony Roper, Jake Darcy, Jonathan Watson and Pierce Brosnan. Greg,
this was, I think you said you hadn't really heard of it last year. Is this your first time
watching The Silly Season? It's my first time I hadn't. I found in the process of preparing for

(46:21):
the podcast. I found a website called Letterboxed and they've organised the place for today's
quite well because in the years that it ran, I think they've said 316 episodes. And I thought
that I've seen most of the Scottish episodes of it, if not all, really. And I've watched a lot of

(46:47):
English ones as well. I really like a play for today. It's very, you know, because they tend to be very
topical, sometimes quite serious, sometimes they're quite funny. This one is sort of somewhere
in between. But yeah, I was really interested to watch it and I really actually really enjoyed it
as well. It's got an absolutely brilliant cast of Silly Stow Works and a few one or two actors

(47:14):
making their, uh, Swally debut, such as Pierce Brosnan, bizarrely. He was in the match? Of course,
yeah, he was in the match, wasn't he? Yeah, forgot he was in the, yeah, so yeah, but it's crazy.
Like, double Brosnan in the space of 3 episodes. I don't think with a Derek Anders though,
well, actually I tell you like, I was going to ask you, so Derek Anders was then taken over the

(47:39):
asylum and his credit is Billy and I could not remember who the character of Billy was for the life of me.
I couldn't remember either because I went back and I looked at his IMDB obviously to see that he
appeared and taken over the asylum and I couldn't remember either, but I think he was in six episodes.
So yeah, it must have been a, yeah, yeah, I don't know if he was, he must have been a patient or I

(48:02):
couldn't remember. I don't know, I could have just skimmed through the first episode and seen,
but I'm not sure. Yeah, so yeah, I really liked it. It's sort of a text of what of the kind of play for
today boxes. It's, you know, it's sort of doing its best to be topical. There's a bit of pathos.
There's some quite a lot of humor in there. I'd say it's sort of classic play for today material.

(48:29):
Oh, yeah, we can completely agree with you on that. It is, yeah, classic play for today. I think play
for today's were often, yeah, they had like a little bit of a political edge to them sometimes and kind
of in that, that time area. It was my first time watching it as well. I think I only discovered this.
I must have been looking at somebody's IMDB. It must have been probably Darcy or Watson. And I think

(48:52):
it, I saw this and I maybe saw it again on someone else's and was like, okay, I need to check this because
whenever I see a play for today mentioned, I click on it to find out which one and see if it's
something that we could do. Incidentally, whilst I was researching this episode, I find a website that
has every single episode of play for today. Oh, you said that. I will send that across to you.

(49:13):
So it must have been, and then I looked it up on YouTube and saw that some kind of soul had uploaded
this and just kind of parked it as, oh, maybe do that at some point. Yeah. So yeah, I picked, I just
thought it was, it was time. I thought it would be exciting to look at something covering
the labored disputes in a factory. I did enjoy it. It is, as you say, it is kind of a classic kind of

(49:36):
play for today's sketch. It's quite funny. There are some very amusing moments in it. But also,
it's quite serious and it's very of its time. You know, if you have the factory element and then
you'll see you're getting Malcolm's home life, but you're also getting the students as well. And
it's very interesting of that time to see the kind of disparity between the two because you can

(49:58):
kind of see that the factory workers almost resent the students in a way that they're coming in for
the silly season. I thought also it was a very key kind of touch point of the time because Malcolm,
you know, they're talking a lot about automation and the automation process of the factory and what's
this going to mean for his job in the future. And the students touch upon it earlier when they're saying

(50:19):
that I think it's, I'm going to jump about in this episode between calling the characters their names,
their actors names and their nicknames. So let's just say Jonathan Watson, aka Brian, aka Dr. Teeth.
He's talking about the guys playing shove hateney with bottle tops and the toilets. And,

(50:40):
Trotsky saying that, well, when the machines are running, they can do what they like. They don't have
to be there and do anything. And Malcolm hits on it later on when he's talking about time cards
being punched automatically in machines doing all the work. You know, the time of automation was
coming and it was a scary place for five workers that, you know, as Malcolm says, like it's fine for you,

(51:02):
but for me, this is my future that's kind of going tits up with automation and it must have been
terrifying. Well, this is that, I mean, this, you know, this is, it's sort of, there's automation,
but there's also the sort of decline of British industry in general, you know, like the government at
the time, getting things done cheaper, the Margaret Fatjars, War on the unions and all that kind of thing.

(51:26):
They don't, they don't go into all that, you know, they go as far as the automation, but, you know,
I think really by this point, this is the early 80s. So I sit big famously six million people unemployed
in the UK and, you know, a lot of traditional community industries being run down. I mean, I think the,
it's only like two years before the minor strike and all that sort of thing. So yeah, I mean, there's,

(51:50):
I think this is where you can, it maybe doesn't get long enough to explore all these themes because
really the, very quickly, the film, the show sort of starts off where a lot of the focus is about,
sort of, you know, Malcolm's past, there's a sort of trade union leader and people's concerns about

(52:12):
the factory and everything else and how the students see the, the workers and things, but then it can
quickly change his direction and it's, it's, it's, it's becomes more about Leslie and Alistair's
relationship than Malcolm's long sort of fancy and for wanting a better word of Leslie and then
that develops and his home life and it becomes a, it does become a bit of a bit so popery in the

(52:38):
sort of second half of the program, you know, it doesn't really, you know, and Malcolm isn't asked
about his job is he by that point, you know, he, he skives off for the day with Leslie and they go to
the lock and sit by the lock and everything of a customer cuddle and he's not bothered about his job.
So they can maybe be interested in to see, I don't know, maybe the writer hoped that because of

(52:58):
all these plays for today is quite a few of them became TV shows, right? They've been their own right,
they came, they're own, and maybe he was hoping that this might become a series and he could explore
some of these themes that he's interested in a bit more. Yeah, I think you're right because Malcolm
as Eddie, Jay Darcy's character puts it, he, he was very much into the union, he was a shopstured and

(53:22):
but he didn't support a strike. And yeah, as Eddie puts it, he was flung out the brownies. Yeah.
Tell him about your activist past. But shopstured? Yeah, how was it a while?
Shopstured by Christ, he was a golden boy. Cockered in North, they read DC. That's history, Eddie.

(53:43):
I tell you, he got flung out, he really support a strike. Not our principal, Eddie. Drumnut and brownies.
Well, I get caught till you leave him, caught the puns he bought us, holy Joe, when he caught the troops.
Yes, that, for 12, what was all that? No, it wasn't as simple as that. It was persistent theft, bad time
keeping. He was a management host to JD, he had bloody gift horse. Right. Well, that was the day when

(54:05):
you had money, wasn't he, where you had muthwist. And he's fallen out of love with that kind of thing
and you know, his wife, Ellen says to him, I thought you were done with all that. And he really is,
you know, nowadays he's depressed is, is Malcolm's, he's, he's unhappy at work, he just doesn't care,
he's, he's obviously miserable at home. And, you know, I, I feel a bit, I, I, I, I feel sorry for

(54:30):
his wife, Ellen, really, I mean, okay, she goes on a bit, but she keeps trying to say, what's wrong? He,
he's saying nothing, nothing. And he does say at one point, I'm just fed up. And, you know, he's depressed.
He's, he's got nothing in his life. And that's when Leslie comes along, maybe he sees that as
something new and something this is hope. This is something that he could possibly have. But

(54:53):
he even kind of fucks that up in the end, really. And it's a, it's a shame. I do feel sorry for Malcolm.
And I guess that's maybe how a lot of of me and his age felt at the time. And the, just the struggle
of, of he's got nothing going on. And you're right. There was a spark kind of gets ignited with the
students that he kind of feels that he can talk to Alistair. Yeah. About these political things. But

(55:15):
is he just using Alistair to get to Leslie? Because immediately the first time he sees it, he's just
staring at her. Oh, he, but he comes over before she appears, doesn't he? Because the, the guys are all
John Meche and Jonathan Watson. And what's his name? The guy Ian, Ian Locklin, are having their

(55:36):
team break. And he comes over to join them. And he's someone's cup of tea. And obviously he's,
we've had the earlier scene when he's, you know, he's, he's kind of got between, uh, Curly.
It's the co-alistair and Tony Roper's character. And, you know, he's, he's endeared himself to
Alistair. And so he comes over to chat to them. And it feels like he's interested in the conversation.

(55:58):
He's asking them what they're studying. And you know, you sort of get the feeling that he's an
intelligent guy who may be in a different, in a, in the multiverse could have gone and been academic.
Like these three young guys, but his life's taken him into the factory. You know what I mean?
Yeah, because he's obviously very well read. He's, he's able to converse to Alistair and

(56:19):
some things are talking about. He invites them to go and see a, a Chilean talk that he thinks that
Alistair and Lesley would be interested in. And yeah, he knows his stuff. And it is, you're right,
almost like he's, he's kind of wasted at the factory. And, and, but yeah, he's kind of given up. But he,
I don't, I don't even know if he sees himself above the likes of Evedy and Barney. Or I think probably

(56:41):
to an extent he does. But I don't think they see him as above them because I don't know if they
see him as another, another one of the washers, right? Yeah. Yeah. And probably that, that maybe they
did see him higher when he was, you know, a shop steward. But now he's down. So they just treat him
exactly like he's on their level. And I think, you know, his home life, you know, he's got a loving wife,

(57:04):
you can tell he's just completely checked out. And he's had enough.
But is she a loving wife because many riggins is, she's, she's pretty shrily in this, you know what I
mean? Like she's kind of hectoring. Well, she starts off, she's really hectoring and she's given
him a hard time about not going to see his dad who has appears to be severely disabled and so a

(57:28):
catatonic in a hospital bed. And, and then, you know, when she gets to the news, you know, when
she gets to the news that the daughter is a bell's pregnant. I mean, there's a, she really goes for it,
Mary Reggins in a big, big way. And when I think of Mary Reggins, I always think about his FA and
take the high road. And then, and she was like a really, really likable character as FA. I always

(57:51):
really liked FA and take the high road. But, you know, in this, and of course, like more recently,
she was famous for being in a Tobamori, the kids program, this one of the characters in that. But,
but in this, yes, she's just shrill. And it's no surprise. I mean, you know, going in and getting
fucking talked at and ballicked at home, we use what's sitting with the paper. You know what I mean?

(58:13):
It is a wonderful slice of life in that bit, which is telling him about the phone call she's had with
I leaned out, I know, eldest daughter. But we called. Yeah. And he's just not listening. And he's
speaking away. And then it becomes evident he's not listening. And she just kind of gives up.
She has got a couple of the great parts in this though, Mary Reggins in terms of there is a scene

(58:40):
where she's doing. I had just written down aggressive knitting. Yeah, angry knitting. I read that
he hangs my knits. And then angry, I heard it as well. But I think my favorite part of the whole thing
is I know we're skipping ahead here a lot, but it's when it's when the the boyfriend,

(59:01):
is it Jamie? No, Jimmy. Yeah, of course it's Jimmy. When he's on the phone to her, we'll come back to
that later. I've got a real one to talk about that scene. But she comes off the phone and he's
obviously told her about Leslie. And it just cuts to Isabelle. And you just hear Mary Reggins go
right you a slaps her. Yeah. It's right you. It's the right you. It's fucking brilliant.

(59:35):
It's just fucking clocks and a clumps of face. Oh, wonderful Mary Reggins. I can see our point.
She probably is a little bit of a pain. And I think she just wants to know what's up. Well,
Malcolm though, because there's obviously something up with him. He's not talking. He's not interested.
He's just away. So she obviously knows something's up. And then of course, find out, you know,

(59:57):
who is the some wee tart? She got a name. Yeah, she really goes off on one on this, definitely.
Yeah, I mean, those that's a bit of sort of, I don't know, so in 1980s, real domestic,
kind of drama layer. And the character that I found quite interesting, Zaline Collins is,

(01:00:17):
Isabelle, you know, she's sort of gothie. She's in a music whatever that means. And they're being
told about. Yeah, they're sort of sad. They're sort of, I think probably they could have
either sad scene in it. Is like after, after Mary Reggins finds out about Malcolm and Leslie.
And Malcolm is falling asleep in front of the tele in the chair. And you know, Isabelle comes through,

(01:00:42):
she's, you know, by this point, you know, she's pregnant. Everyone, her mum knows she's pregnant,
her sister knows she's pregnant. It's caused all these problems. And she kind of comes through
looking for an ally. And she even calls him daddy. And he's, you know, he kind of wakes up and he's so,
he's just not engaged at all. You know, she, she, she, she, she, she kind of doesn't want to go to Manchester.

(01:01:06):
So that in all this to have the baby adopted, never thin and she's stuck. She's kind of looking for her
dad to, I guess the way I read it, she's looking for her dad to give her the answers because she's,
like a young woman who has found herself unexpected, they pregnant to a guy that she's, you know,
can't stand evidently, you know, and then it just is, is, is no use to her at all. You know, he's

(01:01:30):
just, he's, he's barely listening and then she's just as kind of walk away from him. And then we
just like the last scene is her and our mum and sister. And I assume we Paul walking into Glasgow
Central. We're not the last scene like the second or last scene. And just for the credits role. And it's,
you know, it's really sad, you know, because he just, he's got myself in such a funk that he can,

(01:01:51):
you know, he doesn't sort of recognize his responsibility to his daughter anymore, you know,
in his family and she's obviously going through this horrendous unplanned life-changing thing.
And he, he's just at a complete loss. And it's like, he doesn't even try to kind of help or he just,
he's sort of, he's sick, he's sort of spaced out a wee bit, you know. He's not even mentioning

(01:02:15):
the, the pregnancy or anything. Yeah. He obviously finds out about it. But then it's, it's after that
that he goes on his little lock date with Les. Yeah. Yeah. And you never see him, and the next time you
see him in the family dynamic is when Mary Riggins is asking him, you know, who the, the, we tar is. And
yeah, yeah, yeah, federally throwing him out and well, telling him to sleep in his abel's room. And

(01:02:39):
yeah, he never mentions anything about the fact that his daughter is pregnant. Yeah. And you're
right, that is a heartbreaking scene when she comes through to him. She's, you know, initially she
says the gymnasia is going to get an abortion, then she's getting heavily pressured from her sister.
And that summed up the time as well. And I guess the, the Catholic kind of way of the obvious solution

(01:03:02):
is why you're going to marry him. Yeah. Because that's the solution you have to marry him. And then it turns
out, no, you're going to go to Manchester, you know, you're going to go away to have the baby. So no
one knows. Yeah. And that did happen quite a lot at that time. And then come back mysteriously
nine months later and, you know, pretend nothing happened. Yeah. It's another part of Peter Mullins film,

(01:03:26):
the Magdalene sisters that's set in Ireland, but it's, it's, it's girls like, it's a bel who, but the
the go to, I don't know, the sort of facility ran by the nuns to have the child to have the
children there. But they're all, it's also a bit of a school as well. I think I've not seen it for
years. I can't quite remember. But yeah, I think it was something that was very common right up until,

(01:03:48):
you know, I get well, at least in the 1980s, if not, you know, later, which is weird. It's weird to
think of that sort of thing went on in her lifetimes, you know, yeah, we could easily quantum leap into
that situation, Greg. Could be easily do that. Well, we could, it's in our lifetimes. So yeah,
we'd be able to, yeah, definitely. So the, I mean, the students of the factory, I guess,

(01:04:14):
Alistair is the, the main one really played by by Ian Lachlan. As we said, our Carlay or, or
Bigal, he likes to call himself, he is so familiar. And I was looking at his IMDb and I'm trying to work out,
like, is it, he was on Playboss or three days. And I don't know if it's that, where I know him from.

(01:04:35):
Of course, he's gone on to choose success. He's one of the creators of the Twinis. And it's like,
but he seems so familiar to me. And I can't work out what it is. Like, we're, I must be from Playboss.
It must be. On IMDb, he's only, it says he's only in like five or six episodes, but I, I think,

(01:04:55):
IMDb can be FA on things like that in time. So I think he was in it for a longer run. And I think
that must be where I know him from. But he's kind of, not going after this kind of gave up,
like, acting and he's done children's kind of TV and music since then. And yeah, to be one of the
co-creators of the Twinis, that's what I'm, yeah, fucking. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's done

(01:05:17):
well. Yeah. I mean, I think it's like, those kind of Playbosses and Playdays, they've probably,
they only filmed like, like, 20 episodes, and they just repeat them because I feel a little
kind. I probably don't realize that we've seen it before. You know, just like getting older.
So maybe, maybe you just saw my "Bold of Times" in the same episode, so please, maybe.
Maybe. He's a bit of a gobshite. Yeah. And that's a thing. I mean, you know, when, because, you know,

(01:05:46):
they, in terms of like the main male protagonist that's second and top, it's a bit of a toss up between
him and Malcolm, really. And it feels like it's more him early on and then it becomes a little less
about him and more about Malcolm. But it's got this really weird, uh, kind of manifest though about
art and not doing because he's obsessed with, for a while, he's obsessed with painting Leslie evidently

(01:06:10):
sitting on the toy that doing a shit. Yeah. You know, it's for the point. Working with the last taboo.
Yeah. Is that the last taboo? I feel like there's worse stuff than doing a picture of somebody doing
a job. You know, I think that's a last. I think I have a last taboo. I'm sure there's, you know,
I've seen enough money internet to know that it's not the last taboo. Yeah. But yeah, he's got

(01:06:32):
really, he's got this, you know, like there's the scene when, uh, Pierce Brosnan's character Dennis gets
a, a tax rebate and takes him and Leslie to the pub and like, you know, like we sort of join them in
the pub and they're all drinking paints, including Leslie. Whoever, then, like, is a pint because when
we see on the pub, Malcolm later on, she's on, she's on paints. Yeah. But, uh, yeah, it's,

(01:06:53):
it's Alice that is fucking banjled and Dennis, Dennis and Leslie are fine. And you have to assume
that Dennis at least is going to be matching drinks with Alice there. But maybe Leslie, you can just
hold her, can hold her water. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, I just presume that was to show that
Dennis is obviously Irish and a hard working man. So he can take his drink. You got a funny feeling

(01:07:16):
Leslie's probably just nursing the same pint or yeah. But yeah, Alice there was just absolutely
shitfaced and obviously can get his trousers off later and pukes into your bucket. The, I mean,
yeah, I don't really like the character of Alice, though. In that, he's, as you say, he's about
a gobbshite. He thinks he's superior to everyone else and he kind of gets on okay with Malcolm, but

(01:07:42):
it's revealing when they're in the bed with, when he's in the bed, but Leslie and oh my god,
all that ginger here, like, I don't have written a minor, ginger union because it's a scene where it
just looks like their hair looks exactly the same shade of ginger and it's like one big mass of hair

(01:08:02):
when their heads are close together. I just thought it was 1982. Do you imagine what's going on under
the covers there? That's just gonna be tangerine candy floss everywhere. That's just gonna be,
he reminded me of a kind of odd moment. So he says the hair, wait a minute and then he started
rigg was about and I thought, oh, he's pulling his wife on or something, he's gonna go for a

(01:08:24):
pish, but he says wait a minute, rigg goes his wife on, then just turns his back on and then goes to
sleep. Yeah, that was very strange to me as well. I don't, I don't know if it's you, but if I ever
behave like that with a woman, I'd be getting my fucking arse kicked right out of that single bed.
I wouldn't get a lovely little spoon off my female companion. I'd be getting a fucking kick in

(01:08:44):
the ginger boss because they're like midway through a conversation and then you're right. He's like,
oh, wait a minute and just like, okay, that's it. But then they carry on. Well, it just says you're
taking it in the middle. But that is when they have the conversation about Malcolm and they're basically
like, well, I feel sorry for him. And it's very condescending in terms of like poor Malcolm,

(01:09:05):
you know, he's that salty kind of a mind to what a shame never mind. Yeah, yeah. But he's very quick
when he agrees to go and see the the Chilean speaker. He's very quick to be like, oh, he's not going to go
and he lies to Leslie. And it's a very odd bit as well when he's like, oh, I need to go see a studio.
They've literally just spoken about, you know, not going to the Chilean thing. Shall we get a

(01:09:30):
cutie and watch a film? And then he's like, oh, yeah, I can't go tonight anyway. I've got to go and see
the studio. He's not. He's going with Dennis to get a toilet. And that's how you build it. Yeah,
how you build. With the intention of drawing Leslie on it and naked doing a shot. But it just
seemed very odd for that kind of thing. And yeah, he's a bit of a dick. And he just seems a bit, I don't

(01:09:55):
know, naive, but trying to fit in. Like, when he's sitting with the group outside, you know,
everyone's playing football and he's sitting there and Leslie's eating a flake and he says to her,
you look like one of those porny adverts and you're like, you fucking wet blanket. Like, one,
you don't say that to your girlfriend or whatever everyone, but do one of those porny adverts.

(01:10:19):
But that did leave me to think the flake adverts, what about porny, weren't they? I was going to say,
I remember those flake adverts distinctly. And yeah, I mean, a lot of it is advertising.
I think it's sort of seen as a bit of a, with some words, apex mountain that they use and they
watch to be watchables for advertising because you had like Ridley Scott doing adverts for

(01:10:43):
Matt West using like the paid runner kind of world. You know, I mean, then they're sort of classic
Volkswagen adverts. And yeah, those flake adverts were just like a beautiful model, essentially
fullating a chocolate bar. The one I remember is, yeah, lying in the bath with the water over
selling and yeah, like, can you like, Jesus, you wouldn't get an ad for like that nowadays.

(01:11:08):
Well, have you seen the Domino's Pizza Advert? No, I don't watch a lot of tea. My daughter and I
watch the chase every evening, right? And it's on a eight o'clock here because it's on a five o'clock
in the UK. And there's an ad there, right, where there is a sort of Arabic looking guy in the bath with

(01:11:28):
white lady, right? No, that doesn't matter, right? The ethnicity doesn't matter. I only
to say that the Arabic guy's pretty hairy. And they run the bath together and they're talking about
ordering a pizza, right? The Domino's Pizza delivery man emerges from the bath, the water behind the guy
and passes over a pepperoni pizza to the lady. This is after the lady has got some bubbles in her

(01:11:55):
toes and popped her toes on the guy's nose. So he's got a bubbly nose. And then, and I think the
this strapline is Domino's. We're always closer than you think or faster than you think or something.
And then the delivery guy sort of descends back beneath the bath water and the couple enjoy their
Domino's pizza together in the bath. And I thought it's not what I expected to see. Wow.

(01:12:19):
I'm gonna have to seek out that advert just to see it. So that's um yeah, I'd written here you wouldn't
get an advert like that nowadays, but obviously you would. Wow. Yeah. I mean nobody's particularly good
looking in this Domino's advert. It's all it's all I'll say. There's certainly nobody to the same
level as the ladies that used to pose with the flakes and those old adverts anyway. But yeah, to say to

(01:12:43):
your girlfriend, you look like one of those poornie adverts and then kind of that. He's obviously
free loading on Leslie because she mentions a few times. It's her place. And then yeah, she kind of
chucks him out when he comes back with his baryani and it's fine back into it. Now and of course,
she kind of throws him out and they split up the next day at the factory. He's laughing away with

(01:13:06):
John Mischee and I think is Eddie the Ruth. Yeah. Yeah, like not caring about it. That's right because they're
talking about Dr. Teeth getting covered in cola in the toilets. Yeah. But then he comes back with his
baryani and the last time you see them, they're in bed together, Leslie's awake, kind of looking

(01:13:26):
wistful. That's not gonna last very long, is it? No, and they, Leslie's character is it's not really
mispose, you know, they're trying to tell a lot of story and a fairly short space of time. But
all we really understand about Leslie is that, you know, she's obviously English, which kind of makes
a bit of the odd one out in this factory in Glasgow and she comes from a bit of money, you know,

(01:13:53):
she got her own flat, which I think it's said or suggested that her dad pays for or whatever and
that somebody asks her if her dad, somebody I says, oh, she's here because you hear because your
dad's got shares in the factory and they both can laugh it off. They'll laugh it off as well, you know,
like she's a good sport. But yeah, we don't really, and she's studying embroidery. Yeah. Can you study

(01:14:16):
embroidery at like college or university? Well, I think, because I had written that down, I think she's
studying weaving specifically embroidery. Yeah. It's like, you're going to art school for embroidery,
I guess, obviously it's a thing and she has her rug that, do they say it's not a rug? Is it a tapestry

(01:14:37):
that she's kind of hanging? Then, Alistair rips down to cover the toilet in, but then it does say,
I'll put your rug back up. That's after he's done a reen dance. Yes. Yes. Slightly inappropriate.
It was 1982. So, it was acceptable then. It was successful to call them red Indians back then.

(01:14:58):
Yeah. You know, it's not longer acceptable to call them red. No, it's definitely not.
But yeah, Leslie, you kind of feel a bit sorry for her, and especially because all the other factory
girls don't speak to her. And they're kind of, she's allowed to sit with them, but they don't chat to her,
they don't speak to her. It's all very kind of mean girls and like, school yard stuff really, but

(01:15:23):
I guess that's the way it was, but Malcolm does say to her, they aren't a third of what the men do in
the factory, but yet they kind of feel that they rule it. But then, just Alistair not say later on
that something like three quarters of the factory is female, but you don't see a lot of the lady.
Just the same one, so we're not over again. Yeah. Which is very strange. But yeah, they're very

(01:15:46):
bitchy to poor Leslie, but when she doesn't seem to, she seems like a really lovely girl. I don't know
what the fuck is she with Alistair. And obviously, Malcolm's taken with her. Dennis is trying to
on with her as well. And she's, yeah, she's far too good for him. So I hope she kicks him into touch.
Yeah, we even had Jake Darcy's character, so I think he sort of chases it at one point, doesn't he?

(01:16:06):
He does indeed, yeah. Did you notice, I don't know if this would be what you would describe
modern parlance as a Niste reg? But obviously, Elaine Collins is famously, well,
so I'm famously married to Peter Capaldi, but she's married to Peter Capaldi as we, when we did
soft top-heart shoulder, we'd spoke about it. So the boyfriend Jimmy is wearing a jacket that says

(01:16:29):
dream boys on the back, which was the band that Capaldi and Craig Ferguson were in before they went
into, I was acting and comedy, respectively, we're in a band called The Dream Boys. I thought, oh,
I wonder if I wonder if that's like, you know, that is like actual costume, like somebody who was a
fan of the band, maybe one of the production assistants, or maybe the actor who plays Jim himself was,

(01:16:53):
don't know, I did look, I did look him up. I couldn't find his name's John Butterfly. I couldn't
find a lot, there's not a greatly about him and I am DB, but I wonder if maybe he had been a member
of the dream boys at one point, or involved with a group in some capacity. But yeah, you see it when
they have the row after, as a bell phones are sister, you know, and her first attempt at looking for

(01:17:14):
an ally and support and phones are fucking absolute, our soul of a sister who obviously offers
no sympathy whatsoever. And they have that row and he goes storming off the street on the back of his
jacket. It's like it's got a chalked on, it's his dream boys. Oh, lovely, that's a lovely little
district, you see. Yeah, if it is even an Easter egg, I don't know. Don't know, I'm very good. So you

(01:17:36):
were going to mention the scene when there was something about that scene when he phones up, right?
Yeah, asked when he's pitched. So I did love the fact that this is heavily soundtracked by Rod Stewart.
So somebody three or four Rod Stewart songs that come up. And I was here for it because especially

(01:17:57):
I'm reading men in love at the moment. So obviously, Bigby's love for Old Rod is fantastic. So when
Jimmy calls up to speak to Isabel, he's speaking to Ellen, who is about to be the grandmother of his child.
Is that the best time I have the conversation when you're in the pub and it's soundtracked by
Hot Legs by Rod Stewart. He's telling her, he's having an argument with her in the background.

(01:18:22):
Hot Legs. Is this appropriate? However, the best use of the Rod Stewart for me is the end,
where you have, I don't know what to talk about it. And you've got Malcolm just sitting there
with his family looking at the room. I'm not sure if he's going to talk himself because he's just

(01:18:43):
so upset. But a wonderful use of Rods. But yeah, I just had to, the Hot Legs playing as he's talking
to Ellen on the phone was just wonderful. Yeah, the first cut is the deepest is on there as well,
isn't it? Yes. Is that the three is another one? I think that's the three. Yeah. I think,
and then obviously you've got the boom-ton rats in there as well. Yeah, it's just like,

(01:19:06):
oh, it's another Rod Stewart song. Well, it's Rod Stewart again. Brilliant. But yeah, I just thought
Hot Legs was just very inappropriate there. I like to lean Collins character as a bit. Well,
I like to performance because they only have a certain, I've probably seen our in Drums and
Drabbs over the years. But obviously in culture-swalley terms, I think, soft top-hard shoulder is the

(01:19:31):
only thing we've had to run where it's a significant part apart from this. And you know, it shows a range
really because unless she, she's what, I think she's obviously older than the character she's playing.
I would say, I think, I think it is about supposed to be sort of 16, 17, something like that. And I would,

(01:19:52):
I would probably have said, I think, I think, I think it is about supposed to be sort of 16, 17, something like that. And I would,
I would probably have said, I think, I think, I think, I think it is about supposed to be sort of 16, 17, something like that. And I would,
I would probably have said, I think, Collins, was in her early 20s or so when she filmed it. But yeah, I mean, she,
you know, if you compare her to the character she plays on soft top-hard shoulder, who's a sort of,
a much softer character, I suppose. And like, it is about this, like, she's so emotional and,
and can, can, can, can, I combat it if all the time. And all the scenes we see are in. So the two scenes

(01:20:18):
that I've already kind of spoken about a bit, the woman she's on the phone to her sister, can,
I've looked, you know, and she's asking after her wee nephew and everything before she breaks the news.
Yeah. Obviously, hoping to find an ally in I mean, and then she gets really upset when we don't
hear what her sister says to her, but obviously, we understand that she is not being sympathetic. And

(01:20:39):
then that other scene that I spoke about earlier when she goes to Malcolm looking for an ally. And, you know,
because it's really quite a sort of, what's I'm looking for? Because I understand you'd perform. And it's
really like, I mean, it's all well-acted this. And, you know, these are all the good thing about the
plays for today is that they're always cast by, I just get the impression actors who are at the time,

(01:21:03):
we're just working all the time, you know what I mean, probably, record this one day, maybe get a walk
on part on a long-running TV show one day, a bit of theater another day, whatever, do you know what
means? So all because of the pay the bills, right? So they tend to be really, really well-performed.
And she's like, she's great in this, because she could have just played the sort of petrol and

(01:21:23):
teenager the whole time, you know, screaming at everybody and arguing and stuff. But the fact that
she's, that she's softens, because she's really emotional in the scene, which is in the foam of
her sister. And then she sort of, she kind of regresses a bit when she approaches Malcolm, that she's
sort of like, she's a wee girl again when she kind of goes to him looking for support. So really,

(01:21:44):
really great performance from her, I think. Yeah, right, because the first time that we see her is
when she's watching TV, then, upload. And you just think she is just going to be this kind of
petrol and teenager, not going to have many lines just kind of there for dressing almost. So I
was quite surprised when a few minutes later we see her with Jimmy and it's evident they've just,

(01:22:04):
well, they haven't had sex, but yeah, she's kind of complains that she's not up for it. And you kind of
play, "Oh, okay, we're getting to see this." And then of course, when we find out, yeah, that she's
pregnant, you know, that's a great scene as well. And you're right, the character does develop over
the course of the play. And yeah, I felt really sorry for her in the end when she's in the end scene,

(01:22:27):
where she's kind of been shipped off to Manchester to hide until the baby's born. It's terrible.
Well, she's sort of, she's sort of lost control at that point. You know what I mean? You kind of
get the feeling that she's trying to stay in control with a situation. You know, I kind of go her own
way and do her own thing. And it's all, "Persister and her mother have just sort of taken all that away from her."

(01:22:50):
You know, and she's kind of resigned to the fact that she's not going to get what she wants at the very
end. She's just kind of walking sort of beaten through the train station, you know? Yeah, terrible.
Absolutely terrible. Did you like Tony Roper's mustache? But you can't talk quite suited them to be
quite honest for like, you know. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's a nice Tony Roper. I didn't have a play

(01:23:13):
more kind of prominent character than it to be quite honest. Yeah, but I guess this was before he wrote
the steamy and before naked video and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, I guess so. I think as well as the
the way that we're talking about the the automation of the factory and looking towards the future of
that, I thought Alistair did have a point in turn. I was quite surprised being 1982. It's it's

(01:23:36):
when they're in the pop and he's speaking to Dennis and they're speaking about page three and that's
why Dennis is all that fuss over a bit of tit. And Alistair then gets talking about, you know,
implants and bum lifts and lip fillers and how it's all artificial. And I was quite surprised in 1982,
like Christ, what would you think nowadays in terms of everything that's there? But that really kind

(01:23:57):
of hit home or was like, wow, you know, this piece is yeah, yeah, 43 years old. And they're talking about
it then like, and it wasn't as if it was just one thing. It was the bum, you know, Dennis is like,
don't forget the bum implants. And you're like, wow, I didn't realize that was a thing back then.
It all seems like quite a recent thing to be fair. But yeah, it didn't realize that was prevalent

(01:24:22):
back then. And he's against that, right? He makes natural women. Yes. He might be attracted to Leslie.
You are enslaved, pal. And that's where it starts. Do you believe that?
I don't believe that, do you, Leslie? Yes, I do. I do. But, bloody Leslie, you see,
the problem is, yeah, it's so wrong. Listen, Dennis, I'm telling you, women is, come on,

(01:24:49):
it's a press, it's a wedding probes, this system, saleable items. You can buy every part over the
counter. Sakes in there. Whatever, you have colour. Selling coin implants. But I'm left. Don't forget the
bum, definitely. I'm crazy, you'd be caress, optional, X's. Oh well, if you don't know the difference.
No, I totally have it. You can't have an honest relationship and that is that.

(01:25:13):
It was, yeah, it was good to see some younger kind of, you know, Jonathan Watson,
younger and, um, and John Mickey as well. It was nice to see him in there. Like, I know a big
role is Trotsky, but, yeah, I have a couple of scenes. I've met John Mickey. Oh, I've, yeah. He does,
don't think he likes being approached. Oh, okay. He was at the same event that I met David Heyman at,

(01:25:35):
um, and he was at the bar with his wife, I guess, and I attempted to engage him in conversation. And
he, you know, I was, I had too much to drink and he did not want to speak to me. I mean, he, he did
say a little bit, but I, I wasn't so drunk that I couldn't tell when my presence was not,
welcome. Just anywhere in the park. So I moved the way. But yeah, because when I met him, I think he was

(01:26:00):
doing coronation street post-tagger. Okay. Okay. So he was playing Michelle Collins. They played
Sunday in his stenders. He was playing her, um, her husband when they were running the rovers.
Okay, coronation street, you know, you wouldn't Dubai by then. You probably better watch on coronation
street. No, no, definitely. I don't know why I was watching it to be honest, but I was. I knew, I knew

(01:26:22):
it was in it. Anyways, do you know English accent, which was going to be weird? Oh, that's very strange.
Well, not approachable then. There you go. That's a culture-sawale exclusive. We can, yeah,
put that out there. Don't acknowledge on Mickey. Just to talk about Malcolm and Leslie's relationship
that they have. So obviously you can tell Malcolm is attracted to Leslie, because he's
staying out all the time. Now, it comes to when they go to the Chilean thing and he invites

(01:26:48):
Alistair, but he kind of makes a point of, oh, you can bring Leslie. Yeah. And obviously then
Alistair doesn't go to Leslie goes because he kind of feels she has to because otherwise it's a
shame on him. And also, Alistair sort of tells her to go, right? Because yes, because Malcolm's
expecting them and blah, blah. And it's Leslie that is, you know, he says, oh, what, Eirly, should we

(01:27:10):
get a coffee and she says, let's get a drink. Yeah. Okay. Let's go. Let's go paint. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.
We got a pint. So they go with the pubs. So she's obviously there. So they miss the lecture and end
up just having a drink, but they leave quite early on because they get harassed by some we-need in the
pub. Yeah. Yeah. So you're about, um, then he drops it off at home and gets a kiss on the cheek.

(01:27:36):
Now, you just know he's spending that whole car ride home thinking about that and about how when he gets
in, he's going to rip the heat off it. Thinking about that kiss. Right. Next to me, the riggins. And they
get in and he's confronted by the three women in his family hysterical about the fact that his teenage

(01:27:56):
daughter's pregnant. He's got to be like, for a fuck's sake. Yeah. Just wanting to come home. I've just
a lovely kiss in the cheek from lovely Auburn here at Lesley. I was wanting to have a bit of quiet
alone time and now I've got this. So, but fair play. You think it's the next day. He does. He's
had enough. So he leaves the factory with Lesley and they go off and sit on the rocks and have a

(01:28:20):
little kiss by the barn. Do you think they pumped? I don't know because the scene where these cars
broken down is a bit weird. Right. Yeah. She's pushing the car. Yeah. He's trying to get it to start.
And then he looks a bit sad and I thought, oh, you must be sad because he kind of gets
caught a start. But then we sort of realize later that he's sad because there's been some off

(01:28:42):
camera conversation when he's decided that it's not a good idea after, you know, for whatever reason.
And she's and she looks a bit because she looks a bit sad as well and I'm like, is she sad because
he's sad because he's got what's that? Oh, what's going on? That is left kind of undiscovered because
you see them there and obviously he says, what do you think about me? And before she can even

(01:29:03):
really respond, he goes, I love you. And then he's kind of talking out of how cat work and stuff
and then the kiss and then they passionate the kiss and then it cuts and you're right. The next
time we see them, she's pushing the car. So I didn't know what's happened. Was he not able to perform?
Was did they decide it wasn't a bad idea? Was he really bad? And, you know, prematurely in his

(01:29:27):
trousers and that's what it'd been a long time since he got his wee booby man out maybe. I don't know.
Yeah, to do anything like that. But it is very strange that that's we don't know. And all we know
is that it doesn't look like anything's going to progress in the future because obviously,
he's obviously still obsessed with her because he's thinking about her when he's sitting in his

(01:29:49):
abel's room in his pajama top, which I think is it buttoned up incorrectly to look like how he's
he's so upset. He can't even fuck button in his pajamas correctly. And then we see this slow motion
shot of Leslie sitting by the fucking lock and you know the hair blowing and the wind. Did you know
that? Yeah, really. And then he sat there himself looking to the side of what's Rod Stewart

(01:30:12):
players out. It's it's a strange ending and I kind of want to know it was this him just having a
last but of romance of freedom like a late midlife crisis. He knows it can't work out. Does he go back?
Does does made it against taking back after all this? Does he go back to her and just say is that what
he wants? I don't know. Is he going to be fired from the factory? Because McLaughlin does say it's

(01:30:35):
about time his tail was docked. Yeah, yeah. Is he in serious trouble? Is he completely fucked?
Has he got a form for doing that kind of thing? You know, like you say it bit in the past.
Yeah, I know it's kind of weird right? It's yeah and you wonder because he's like well you know I'll
probably get suspended. No biggie. Right? Yeah. I just try that. Cool. You think yeah.

(01:30:57):
Maybe that's why he's looking sad. Maybe he's like maybe he's realized that it's not going to work
and he's fucked his job up. You know, like on his own just for the sake of a about a moment of
madness with young Leslie. So what do you think he they have had a romantic time and then immediately
he's had remorse afterwards and you know once the realization's set and he's like oh fuck.

(01:31:21):
I've yeah. Fucked it all up. Maybe he's been sitting there and he's come to the realization that
he's fucked it up by making Leslie push the car where it won't start. He's stuck to himself.
He's sitting there going off completely fucked it. I mean I do that. I should have pushed the car
and she could have tried you know what I did. Yeah. Very strange choice. Very strange choice but yeah

(01:31:46):
I'd love to know what happens. Yeah. I don't know. It's all about weird right? The ending doesn't
you kind of need to know a little bit more about I think it could have done with the connection five
minutes just with Leslie and Malcolm. So we're going to understand exactly what's going on there.
Just a quick scene for them to say you know what this could never work. You know I love you too
but we're just too different and there's too much between us and this this can't work. That's all it

(01:32:09):
takes. It was also nice to see you know simpler times that Mary Viggins has found out her teenage
daughter's pregnant. She's found out her husband is having an affair with a younger woman but she can
still chuckle a carry on cowboy. She has a real little laugh to herself when she's doing that
iron and it carry on cowboy. It was nice. I wasn't sure if it was carry on cowboy or some

(01:32:34):
mothers do have them. I think you're right. I think it was Charles Houghton. It was Charles Houghton.
She wasn't in the head dress. Yeah. You're right. He wasn't in some of them. Second reference to
to Native Americans in the show. Sorry. Not some mothers. Not some mothers can have them
in and have hot mom is what I'm in. Yes. I was getting mixed up with. Yeah. I mean you know.

(01:32:56):
Okay. I mean carry on cowboy's a laugh. Just what you need. Just what you need when you're
when you're like swollen the pieces bit of a new endo. Just stick on a carry on film and everything
will be fine. So James will skewer everything. The other thing is so Malcolm comes in. Again
this struck me as Audrey. Malcolm comes in one night and is like where's there's a bell

(01:33:21):
and she says, because she's very regains it's like, oh, do you know what she's showing up to her?
What about your supper? She's like, I don't know what any supper. So I thought, oh, it must be like
the must have supper like tea and biscuits. So they make my grandparents just to have like tea
and biscuits at like nine o'clock or ten o'clock at night every night. You know what I mean? There's
a supper. And he comes in and he's like, oh wait, where is she? And she says she's gone to her bed.

(01:33:46):
He's like, what is she sleeping? It's only half past ten. I'm like, that's late. You know,
the people just go to bed later in the 1980s. My mum always been, they usually would turn
in after the ten o'clock news usually. That'd be the kind of latest, you know? Yeah, I'm just
saying bed by about half ten. Like I have to say. So I live in it a push and it's yeah, I find that

(01:34:08):
a bit strange. The I don't know when you're supper or half ten and then right enough, he sticks on
and it must be sports scene that's on. Yeah. Because he's watching its football highlights. I did see
a Muslim and Aberdeen game because I did hear De Groogfi's name mentioned. But yeah, I find that
strange as well. It's half ten. Very odd. Yeah. There's a few bits in this that are a bit

(01:34:29):
head scratching and I think you're right when you said earlier that it could have done with an extra
five minutes. I just want to see and explain what happened because it's not like it's meant to be
left on a cliffhanger. You're meant to know that things are obviously over. Yeah. Leslie's back in bed
with Alistair. Malcolm's looking upset and even more depressed than he was before all of this.

(01:34:51):
Yeah. You know, he's properly fucked it. But I just want to know why or what was the reasoning
because there's so many reasons. And who's a Manchester that's going to take him as a bill? Yeah, exactly.
Did she say, was that mentioned? It might be somebody I think it maybe it's not or am I thinking of
someone else? I don't know. That's just another thing that's not really covered. Yeah. Cause like in

(01:35:15):
that scene when Mary Reggins and Jeanette Fogel and then Collins are walking through the station,
you know, say the incolns hang back a wee bit. Mary Reggins is pushing the tram. We pawling it.
And she looks like she's off to the fucking seaside. She's got a big smile on her face.
On her way to Manchester to hide her daughter's shame from her from the neighbors and friends

(01:35:37):
in the chapel. You know, so she can have this baby. You know, pushing her grandson. Yeah, very odd.
Very odd ending for something that's so carefully and there's a lot of time earlier that is maybe
wasted on, no, wasted, but you know, it's a fluff. Like, you know, did you eat the seed with the,

(01:35:57):
I can't remember the character's name, but the woman from the office who comes in and the guy is
kind of flirting with her and I know, is that to show that Carly is flirting with her because he's
over Leslie or cut that and giving an explanation of what's happened. That's what yeah.
Exactly. Exactly. And you know, the thing is like with this and it's quite similar to the other

(01:36:21):
plays for today's that we've done in that very, very talky. Like, this is basically this is multiple
scenes of conversations between between the characters. You know, they don't really make
dramas like this anymore. They, they, they, they, they keep in the soaps and probably the closest thing
in terms of drama with a lot of talking is probably soap operas. Like, you know what I mean, but even then

(01:36:45):
they will have like some sort of incident in every episode, sometimes like a big incident, if it's
like a special episode or a more minor one or a bit of action or something like that, is they're
not, they're not as conversation heavy as probably soap operas used to be back then. But you know,
that, you know, again, this is that this is something that really takes the attention span of the audience,

(01:37:10):
you know, either respectfully or for granted. And as most people then, you know, I think I've
mentioned this before, like, you know, there's a real feat around them into all these plays for today.
And you know, like a play will have a lot of conversation, right? Especially they're sort of classic
plays like the most trap or Oscar Wilde stuff or whatever, you know, they're all very conversational.

(01:37:31):
And they call all these plays for today's that we've done even like Editant's Graveyard. I mean,
it's basically the conversations of two characters for 50 minutes or however long. And just a boys game,
just a lot of conversation, although it does have a bit more action in it. So good tunes and some good
tunes in the same way, just in a, just on the Saturday as well, you know, there's, there's action in

(01:37:55):
that, obviously, they, one scene in particular when they go up Femian Ali as they call it. But I
alongside that is a lot of conversations about society and what it means to be in the orange lodge and
what it means to be a Catholic and what it means to be a young man in Glasgow or an old man in Glasgow
and all that sort of stuff. Yeah, it's, uh, don't make them like that anymore to do this at well,

(01:38:20):
a well-worn expression. No, they don't. You're right. And yeah, it would be nice to, I guess, because
it's so tight because it's only an hour and 15 minutes or so. Yeah, but that's why they may be leaf out
some important things. Yeah, never mind. Anyway, I think it's time to put the silly season through
or swallow awards. Let's do it, Greg. Okay, so the first award is our Bobby the Barman award for the

(01:38:44):
best pub. And so we've got the choice of two we've got. I want to know what pub in 1980s Glasgow was
doing table service. First thing, when, uh, Pierce Brosnan, uh, and, uh, Alistair and Leslie are the
pub there. So there's that one and then there's obviously the absolutely rammed, uh, battle cruiser that,

(01:39:04):
uh, Malcolm takes Leslie to for their drink when they're supposed to be, um, going to see this talk.
I have written down both options and I have literally put, I'd pick the pub with Dennis,
you get table service. There's no wee neds and it's a lot quieter. Yeah, you can have a good gab.
Jukebox to yourself. You'd be able to put on some roadstuart and yeah, be able to just chill and,

(01:39:27):
oh, you're right. Have a good chat and the toilets put it close as well.
Because Alistair pops in and like that. Did you notice the, uh, the, the, the, how they check,
how they check the, the patrons of pub are old enough to drink? You, you, you pour the drink,
you put it in their hands, then you say, are you old enough for that? And then, and then you accept the,

(01:39:49):
what, you asked you a bus stuff? It got something, I was it to say back to something like that,
I can't remember. Yeah, it's somebody like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then just just wadders off. Yeah.
Yeah. No, I, I'm with you. I think that I'm not sure I'll have a pint in there. And then an
embarrassment of Richie's here for the James Cosmo award for being in everything Scottish. Yeah.
I mean, for me, it has to be Jake Darcy just sheer number of things like he turns up in even the

(01:40:16):
big part, small parts. Yeah. I think, I mean, it's probably Darcy, possibly Watson. I mean,
I did, it did a calendar. It's been in a lot of Scotland stuff like over the years, like Taggart,
Dr Finley, Rapsy, Nezbit, Sutherland's Law. He was 107 episodes. I take the high road. He's one of
those that he's instantly recognizable, but sometimes you can't think where you know him from.

(01:40:39):
You can't face him. Yeah. It's got a so well-cant face. And so I think it may be is Jake Darcy,
because you know, immediately, Jake Darcy, or we do, I wonder if a lot of people he is. Oh, it's
that guy, or he's probably mostly like, I'll just beat the Jakey, as most people probably know him, but
yeah, maybe. I mean, I think certainly in Scotland, and certainly with people of a certain age,

(01:41:02):
he's always going to be Jake Darcy, you know? Yeah. I mean, I think of all the things we've covered,
the thing that he probably has the biggest part in after this would probably be Gregory Skittle,
I think. Yeah. It's everything else. Everything else sort of like appearances, you know, they could
turn up at the the fag end of what we did in their holiday, in the last episode. You know, for a
really quick walk on part is a member of the band, right? Or something like that. But yeah, but that

(01:41:29):
is quite nice to see him, you know, and this is not a massive role, but it's certainly a
meaty role. He's got some good scenes, and he gets a lot of dialogue, and it was good to see him in
this doing all that. No, he definitely does. And he's even his character is referenced quite a few
times, like Malcolm mentions Eddie and Alistair has a particular thing that he says about Eddie,

(01:41:50):
which will come to you very shortly in one of the awards. Okay. The next award would usually be
your Jake McQuillan, your tease-out awards, but there is a part from a couple of dodgy tackles in the
in the fact that they football kick about. There's not really any violence in this as a... Well,
about to differ. I mean, Ellen slaps Isabella across the face, and she screams, "Right you!"

(01:42:12):
Yeah! Okay, fair enough. I'd really consider that. I don't know, like, I always think of like
explosive violence that's quite funny when you think of teaser. It's not funny. It's not funny.
My mum, like emotional ladies slapping each other. So the next award then is a Francis Begbe award
for explicit language. Now because it's a play for today, the language is reasonably tame, but there

(01:42:39):
is a scene where it sounds as slow then as an artist that keeps telling each other to fuck off.
Yeah, it does sound like that, doesn't it? And I think they are. I think they are.
I did have that. The one I laughed at the most because it's so ridiculous is it's off camera.
Isabella's staring in the mirror, and you just see I hear Eileen in the cat off camera going

(01:43:00):
stupid bitch. It's just the way the line's delivered. It's ridiculous.
I burst out laughing. But yeah, I don't know. I had them telling each other to fuck off.
Yeah. Just kind of related to that. So that's Eileen played by Janet Fogel.
There's enough of a resemblance between her and Eileen Collins to buy them as sisters, I think.

(01:43:26):
Yeah, there is. I know. You know, but there's just not too much, but just a bit enough.
They can look similar kind of facially. They do look like sisters.
So the next awards and easy one, the Yume Gregor award for a good true attrition unity.
We weren't expecting to see Francis those breasts.
No, we get to see them. Yeah, we do. There's Alistair's drawing them. Yeah, we certainly do.

(01:43:48):
Yeah. And then we see Alistair's painting of them.
Yes, where he's, you know, despite what he said earlier about enhancements,
it's been quite charitable in his rendering.
Yeah, yeah, unfortunately not on the toilet.
Well, unfortunately for Alistair, not for us, but he has been very charitable.
Yes, he has. Well, he does sort of realize that he's that was a bit of a silly suggestion to make.

(01:44:13):
Just thinking in his last sort of scene.
Okay, the next award then, archetypal Scottish moment, what did you go for for this?
Well, I too. I don't know why, maybe it's because I've grown up in Scotland and things,
being a, you know, like sort of grandparents and my father and all that, we're kind of labourers and

(01:44:33):
tradesmen and working class and stuff. But I always think there's something that really
Scottish to me about a trade union and sort of organisation in the factory.
But I think the thing that's probably the most Scottish is just everybody having nicknames.
The fact that all the young guys getting nicknames, in fact, they're like,
Trotsky and Dr. T. Thay, Dr. T. Thay just fucking really cracked me up.

(01:44:56):
Curly. Yeah, Dr. T. Thay was a brilliant. I had, well, teenage pregnancy, but I thought it was kind of a joke.
I did like when Jimmy says I'll marry you and Isabelle, so what worth your brew money?
And brew money, which is very Scottish. But I went for when Alistair and Leslie had in bed and

(01:45:19):
they're speaking and Alistair says the Eddie had a role in Mints for his piece.
Yeah, I remember that. It's just like a hamburger.
It says we invented them and they got better install it.
I mean, it's very a role in Mints. It's just a wonderful.
And I would, I'd be with no time I know's up at a role in Mints.

(01:45:40):
It's a bit quite honest with you. I'd be quite happy with a role in Mints.
Yeah, it's lovely. Yeah, very nice.
And then the last one, the last award is our show called "New Award for Who Wins the
Silly Season" and I did agonise a bit over who I felt comes out of this the best.
What does you think? I mean, I had put Derek Anders, but having a conversation with you,

(01:46:06):
I think maybe Elaine Collins might be in with a shout.
Yeah, I mean, I think Derek Anders, because I think it's a good performance from him.
You know, I mean, he's kind of midlife crisis. That of a crossroads in his life,
disappointed with the choices that he's either made or that he's had to make or whatever.
He doesn't go over the top. But then you could say maybe sometimes he doesn't go far enough.

(01:46:32):
But Elaine Collins, I think she's great and I think she's really, really good.
And I think she definitely deserves a mention there.
Wonderful. Yeah, I know I agree with you on Anders. I think he, sometimes it's understated,
but there's a couple of times where he's with Mary Riggins and you can tell he's kind of looking
off somewhere, thinking about something and then he kind of snaps out of it and, you know, what

(01:46:55):
you're saying? And it's very subtly done, but it's very well done.
When you say it doesn't go far enough at times, did you mean with Leslie at the law?
I just, you know, I think, you know, I think, you know, maybe it's by design.
You know, maybe you're, maybe we're supposed to feel Mary Riggins frustration, you know,
because he's never really fully articulates, you know, to the audience exactly what his problem is,

(01:47:20):
really. We know that he's got a bit of an infatuation with Leslie. We know that he's interested in having
sort of intelligent chats with the students. He's, you know, he's not satisfied with his home life
or whatever, but, you know, I think maybe we just need to, again, a bit more from him where he has a
moment where there's a character that he can unburden himself to, you know, and I thought that

(01:47:42):
might be Leslie, and he does a little bit, but he's a bit guarded even with her. It doesn't go into a
great amount of detail into everything that's going on at home when they have that time together
by the law. You know what I mean? But he's, yeah, I think it's a great performance from him, and
I think definitely deserves the big time award, but Elaine Collins definitely needs a mention.

(01:48:04):
I think if she was in maybe another couple of scenes, I'd have been, I'd have been a, if that's a
horror. Yeah, would you know? Well, wonderful. Yeah, I think we could agree with that. Okay. Well,
that was the silly season, which if you'd like to watch it, you could have watched it before we've
talked about it. It is available on YouTube if you'd like to watch the silly season. So that was my

(01:48:29):
choice, Greg. Why do you tell us what we're going to be talking about on the next episode of the
Culture Swally? Well, because we've come on to do a play for today and we've not done one for a while,
and I mentioned at the beginning in the midst of my research, I found this great website called
Letterboxed, which says a lot of really quite good information about all the plays all the plays

(01:48:52):
for today. And I came across one that we have mentioned in the podcast before, but I'll be quite
honest and I completely forgotten about it. So it is another play for today. It's from 1972,
and it's directed by Four Weddings in a Fumule and Donnie Brasco director Mike Newell, believe it or
not, and then when it has early gigs, it has David Heyman and he's first ever TV role. It has Jerry

(01:49:17):
Sleven, who was on tonight, that today's episode is the Foreman in the Factory. Mary Regans is back,
Ily McCallum, and a personal favourite of both of hers, Brian Petifer. And it's just your luck.
Peter McDougall's first screened submission to the BBC. So when Alison unexpected, they

(01:49:41):
false pregnant after a brief encounter with Alex, played by David Heyman, he decided to marry.
The joining of two seemingly different families opens into a witty, unadacious tale. So yeah,
I'll be interested in your thoughts on this, I've seen it. I've seen it before, but not for a long,
long time. So September on the swally, Play for today, and pregnancy month. Play for today,

(01:50:05):
looking forward to that. I've never seen it, but I'm aware of it, obviously. But no, I've never
seen it, so I'm looking forward to watching it. So the big, the big kind of plot point in it is that
Alison is Protestant, and Alex is Catholic in the families having to put aside their

(01:50:26):
deported cultural differences to come together. So yeah, expect a bit of uncomfortable
sectarian chat. Yeah, look forward to getting into that on the next episode. Great. Let's see
you looking a friend on the next episode of the swally. Okay, all right, well, thank you very much,
everyone. So yeah, next episode, just your luck. All right, well, thank you very much for listening,

(01:50:50):
everyone. Hope you enjoyed the show. Please give us a little rating, review, subscribe,
wherever you get your podcasts, it does help the podcast grow. And if you want to get in touch with
this, you can you can email us cultureswally@gmail.com with anything you've seen you'd like us to cover
or any new stories. Or if you just want to say hello, you can follow us on Insta@CultureSwallyPod,
and we have a wonderful website as well, don't we, Greg? Yep. All newly updated as well, the website,

(01:51:16):
so you can find us at cultureswally.com, thanks to other socials, blog posts, and some articles about
Scottish movies and television. So give us a bit of traffic over there. Excellent. Well, you have a
lovely time in Hong Kong, Greg. I know you're going for work, but I'm sure you'll get to go out and
about a little bit as well and enjoy the cable car. So if you excursions built into the agenda,

(01:51:41):
so yeah, get to do my tourist bit. And we'll get to hear all about it in between discussing
pregnancy, Catholics and Protestants on the next episode. Absolutely.
Well done. Until next. Yeah, so jump the gun in the other bit. Until next time.
Until next time.
Wesley, what do you think of me? Wesley?

(01:52:06):
I'm so into this, isn't it? Stop between floors and no electrician.
God, I wish I was Eddie. Don't.
Wesley, what does it tell me? Is it pity? No. Because

(01:52:28):
I don't know what I'm doing. I must see it, Shirley. I must surely know Leslie.
I love you.
[Music]

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Episode 134 - The Silly Season (1982)

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Episode 134 - The Silly Season (1982)