(music) (5 hours) TV shows 1983 | Thursday Throwbacks | LMBYTS #1489 | Jason Newland | 13th November 2025

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🎙️ Episode Summary:
TV shows 1983 – Thursday Throwbacks – LMBYTS #1489 – Jason Newland – 13th November 2025
(duration: 1 hour, 15 minutes)

🎙️ Episode Overview
In this cosy Thursday Throwbacks episode, Jason drifts back to 1983 – a huge year for British TV – while meandering through dog-walking stories, TikTok experiments, supermarket silliness, and gentle reflections on childhood Saturdays in front of the telly. It’s a relaxed, nostalgic wander through classic shows, family memories, and the strange modern world of live streams and AI pop songs – all in Jason’s calm, sleepy, conversational style that’s ideal for drifting off.
🧠 Main Segments & Themes 1. Dog Walkers, Vinnie & Scrappy-Doo Energy

• Jason starts with a soft ramble about walking Vinnie and negotiating which dogs to avoid because Vinnie “runs towards danger” like a tiny Scrappy-Doo.
• He reflects on only really chatting with people who have small dogs, and how he always keeps Vinnie on the lead for everyone’s sanity.
• This leads into a warm memory of looking after his younger brother when he was a teenager, watching cartoons like Muskehounds together after school and quietly enjoying “kid shows” under the excuse of babysitting.

2. TikTok, Instagram & The Live Stream Rabbit Hole

• Jason talks about being on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and podcast apps, explaining how he’s started uploading hour-long versions of his podcast as simple “talking + image” videos.
• He describes the practical side: downloading from YouTube, trimming to under an hour on his phone, then posting to TikTok even though the app warns him that shorter clips are “recommended.”
• Instagram’s time limits confuse him a bit, so he muses about tinkering with it later to get full-length uploads working.
• After a chat with a dog walker about TikTok Live, he explores live streams on his TV, discovering a strange world of slime, arguments, people working on camera, and adults treating a live stream like a private conversation.
• He shares how he accidentally requested to join one, got kicked out of another without doing anything, and jokes about how odd it is to demand privacy in one of the most public places online.
• Underneath the humour is a simple realisation: the main difference between having 1,000 listeners a day and a million is people actually knowing he exists – so he’s experimenting with new ways to be found without changing what he does.

3. Polls, Platforms & The Boring Group

• Jason mentions his Facebook group, “Jason Newland’s Boring Group,” and a poll he posted asking where people listen: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, his website, YouTube, Podcast Addict, Overcast, Amazon/Audible and others.
• He notes Apple Podcasts is still strong, but his website listening is growing, which makes him quietly pleased.
• There’s a bit of gentle meta-chat about stats, listeners, and how his whole life is now built around making these recordings and looking after Vinnie.

4. Supermarkets, Holidays & A Romanian Ex (Plus Aldi as Harrods)

• In classic Jason style, a remark about Australian customs shows leads to a funny story about a Romanian ex-girlfriend who travelled with vacuum-packed meat in her bag for hours, intending to cook it for him.
• He politely declines the dubious dinner and points out that the UK does, in fact, have shops.
• This triggers a playful stretch about Aldi and Lidl being like ultra-exclusive Harrods-style membership clubs, then a mock “official warning” not to use this recording as a travel guide.
• He also riffs on UK shop opening hours in the 80s, licensing laws for alcohol, and his time working in a supermarket as a teenager – including occasionally bending the rules for regulars.

5. Thursday Throwbacks Core: TV Shows of 1983
Jason finally settles into the main theme: a soft, nostalgic tour through British TV in 1983, with plenty of asides, memories, and sleepy commentary. Highlights include:

• Comedy & Drama
  • Blackadder – historical sitcom with Rowan Atkinson, written with Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, moving through different eras each series. Jason explains why he prefers it to Mr Bean, and recalls favourite characters and catchphrases.
  • Crimewatch, That’s Life, and The Late, Late Breakfast Show – magazine and variety shows that mixed serious content with humour, stunts, and viewer stories.
  • Taggart (pilot in 1983), The Bounder, Fresh Fields, Just Good Friends, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, and others – Jason remembers some more clearly than others, often tying them to where he was in life at the time.
  • He reflects on Noel Edmonds spanning four decades of his TV viewing: Swap Shop, Late Late Breakfast, Telly Addicts, Noel’s House Party and Deal or No Deal.
• The Black and White Minstrel Show & Changing Times
  • Jason talks about how reruns of The Black and White Minstrel Show were still being shown in the early 80s, and how bizarre it feels in hindsight that it was once mainstream entertainment.
  • He mentions its massive popularity, record sales, stage versions and international tours, while gently acknowledging the uncomfortable racial history around it.
  • He touches on Lenny Henry’s early involvement and later regret, and how strange it is to think of this show co-existing with more modern TV in 1983.
• Children’s TV Golden Era
  • A big section is devoted to kids’ TV: Postman Pat, Grange Hill (including the famous hard-hitting storyline), Blue Peter, Basil Brush, Fraggle Rock, Danger Mouse, The Sooty Show, SuperTed, and more.
  • Jason shares memories of Blue Peter’s “here’s one I made earlier” cake and craft chaos, the vandalised Blue Peter garden episode that felt almost like the news, and his love of Fraggle Rock well into adulthood.
  • He recalls Basil Brush’s catchphrases, the Saturday night feel of those shows, and how they shaped his childhood weekends.
• Imports & American Influence
  • Magnum P.I., Knight Rider, The A-Team, CHiPs, Cagney & Lacey, Fame, The Fall Guy, Taxi, Happy Days, MASH*, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Inspector Gadget, The Smurfs, and more.
  • Jason talks about how many of these shows occupied prime Saturday slots, and how they mixed with UK favourites to create a particular “80s telly feeling.”
  • He reminisces about action figures, theme tunes and how these series became part of his everyday life.
• Sport, Snooker & Weekend Atmosphere
  • Quick mentions of Match of the Day, the FA Cup, Wimbledon finals and the snooker boom (Pot Black, etc.) as part of the background mood of the time.
  • Jason remembers long-ago weekends: renting videos from the shop, everyone gathered at home, and how Saturday night TV felt like the weekly highlight when he was 12–13.

6. Reflections on TV, Streaming & Growing Up

• Jason muses on how every era thinks TV has finally become “modern” and wonders what it will be like when everything is streaming and nothing is scheduled at a specific time.
• He notes how his own habits changed, from set times and limited channels to today’s on-demand world.
• There are gentle reflections on family, growing older, working in shops, and how different attitudes to customer service and work felt in the 80s compared to now.

📢 Listener Notes & Outro

• Jason reminds listeners that all of his recordings are available free on his website, JasonNewland.com, where you can stream or download as much as you like

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