Children of the Stones

[00:00:00] Hello! Hi! So, just to let you guys know, we've got some very exciting news. We are going

[00:00:06] to be performing an exclusive one-off live show as part of the Cheerful Earful Podcast

[00:00:13] Festival in October. It will be on the 20th. At 5pm. At the Bedford Pub. In Ballon. Nice.

[00:00:21] Tickets are £6. And we would love it if you could come. Tickets are linked in all the

[00:00:26] social media. Enjoy the episode. Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us again.

[00:00:33] So, I said in this episode that I didn't want to give any spoilers, but I was kidding myself

[00:00:41] and, of course, there are spoilers in this episode for Children of the Stones. Not massive ones,

[00:00:48] but if you have never seen this show and you want to go into it completely unspoiled, I

[00:00:56] would recommend doing that before listening to this episode. Especially as this is one

[00:01:02] that a lot of you might not have already seen unless you are a child of the 1970s and then

[00:01:10] you might well have seen it. I wanted to do this one because it's a famously scary TV show

[00:01:18] and it's October and I just love it and I just wanted to do it. So, I make no apologies for that.

[00:01:26] And that is really all I wanted to say. So, thank you for joining us and I hope you enjoy

[00:01:32] our episode about the Children of the Stones.

[00:01:38] This content contains podcasts. This adult contains podcast content.

[00:01:47] Adult content be advised. Enjoy the episode.

[00:01:51] All right. Are we ready?

[00:01:53] Yeah. I don't think Laura. She doesn't look very... She looks low on energy.

[00:01:58] Laura, I'm going to ask you a question and I want you to be completely honest with me.

[00:02:02] Have you seen this entire show?

[00:02:04] Yeah.

[00:02:05] Yeah.

[00:02:05] Oh, great. Okay.

[00:02:07] Fuck you for underestimating me.

[00:02:27] How's everyone's week?

[00:02:29] Oh, um...

[00:02:30] Long. Fucking... How is it not Friday yet? It's fucking so long, man. It is... It is...

[00:02:38] Fuck you, Will, long week.

[00:02:43] What's happened? I'm fine.

[00:02:46] Are you fine?

[00:02:47] I had a breakdown in the fridge about 20 minutes ago when I couldn't get my beer out the fridge

[00:02:53] and then I started laughing to myself as Laura just walked away from me.

[00:02:57] I had a breakdown about 10 minutes ago.

[00:03:00] Oh, no. No, it wasn't... It was for 10 minutes. It was a long breakdown.

[00:03:05] Is it yours or mine?

[00:03:06] Yours.

[00:03:07] Is raging a breakdown?

[00:03:09] I wasn't raging.

[00:03:10] Yes, you were. You were very panicked, but you were also very angry.

[00:03:16] Um, I think I take on an angry tone when I'm panicking as a way of containing the panic.

[00:03:22] I'm very short.

[00:03:24] You said the phrase is, I'm not going to let this ruin my day and I am in a good mood.

[00:03:30] One too many times for me to believe that you weren't angry.

[00:03:33] I did. So, listeners, I lost my hard drive, which I don't...

[00:03:37] And her temper.

[00:03:38] No, I didn't lose my temper.

[00:03:40] Surely the witnesses get to decide that.

[00:03:43] No, no, no.

[00:03:43] Not the perpetrator.

[00:03:44] Well, what did Laura say? She said something. She was like, why didn't you do this?

[00:03:49] And I was like...

[00:03:49] No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Hey, I was making a suggestion.

[00:03:53] No, I know.

[00:03:53] As a solution.

[00:03:54] I wasn't saying, why don't you do this? It was more, here's a thing we could do.

[00:03:58] No, I know.

[00:03:59] If it's being filtered and you're hearing that, you were definitely angry.

[00:04:02] No, I know. And I said to Laura, because I was panicking and I was trying to contain the panic,

[00:04:07] so I think I took on quite an angry tone. And what I said to her was, because I didn't think of it,

[00:04:11] because I'm not good like you, Laura, I'm bad. Or something like that.

[00:04:15] Yeah, you did.

[00:04:16] I said, I'm broken. I'm a broken person.

[00:04:18] It's all right. At least we saved basically a brewing argument for our whole...

[00:04:24] We solved the issue before we started falling out.

[00:04:29] Because I feel like if we hadn't found the hard drive before we'd started recording...

[00:04:33] It'd be a different beginning.

[00:04:35] It would. It would be a lot more tense.

[00:04:37] How are you, Laura?

[00:04:39] I had one of the best showers I've had ever this week.

[00:04:42] Wow, that's quite a claim.

[00:04:43] I was on Tuesday and I was like, this is just an incredible...

[00:04:46] Because it's hit that temperature again.

[00:04:48] It's cold now, suddenly.

[00:04:51] Seemingly unexpectedly, but I should have known.

[00:04:55] I think it's that weather where having hot showers is really nice.

[00:05:00] Where it's like, you're not the minute you leave the bubble of the warm water freezing cold,

[00:05:06] but you're really enjoying the nice hot water.

[00:05:09] Oh, sure.

[00:05:10] I don't like showers as hot as you do.

[00:05:12] Yeah.

[00:05:13] So I'm at that time of year where I can't get our shower at a correct temperature.

[00:05:18] It's either too cold or too hot and I just alternate between them for the shower.

[00:05:22] I just turned up the upper temperature of the water.

[00:05:25] Yeah, Laura likes to...

[00:05:26] If she's not lost a layer of skin, if she's not red when she leaves the shower, she's not happy.

[00:05:34] But also...

[00:05:34] I'm a lower temperature shower because I have my sanity.

[00:05:39] Well, I also have cold showers.

[00:05:40] Yeah.

[00:05:41] Cold showers.

[00:05:41] I tend to temperature vary throughout the shower, but it needs to be boiling hot at some point.

[00:05:47] But yeah, no.

[00:05:47] And I was just...

[00:05:48] Also, you're more...

[00:05:49] We talked about this before.

[00:05:49] You're more perfunctory with your showers.

[00:05:52] What do you mean?

[00:05:53] Like, we talked about how you...

[00:05:55] What are you trying to say?

[00:05:56] What does that mean?

[00:05:56] Because you always wash your hair.

[00:05:58] You don't have like as relaxing showers.

[00:06:00] Oh yeah, I don't generally really enjoy showering.

[00:06:03] Yeah.

[00:06:03] I just have to...

[00:06:05] I have to do it.

[00:06:06] Yeah.

[00:06:06] I love showering.

[00:06:08] I love not being too bothered.

[00:06:09] She loves it because she doesn't have to do it.

[00:06:12] She's fine with being smelly as well.

[00:06:13] No, it's a luxury.

[00:06:15] I just really like being left alone for like a good half hour where I'm also like nice

[00:06:20] and warm.

[00:06:21] I used to like being left alone for the half hour that I was on the tube and I've started

[00:06:25] to get signal on the Northern Line.

[00:06:27] Oh.

[00:06:28] And I'm actually really unhappy about it.

[00:06:31] And I've voiced this to several people.

[00:06:32] And I do feel like Laura's the only one who has properly understood this because everyone

[00:06:38] else just goes, put your phone on airplane.

[00:06:40] And I'm like, it's not saying.

[00:06:41] Showers.

[00:06:42] I have to be forced to turn out.

[00:06:44] Showers and commutes.

[00:06:45] I have to be uncontactable.

[00:06:47] When...

[00:06:47] Because when I went to school, I went to school in the neighboring country.

[00:06:50] And so the minute we left Singapore, I'd lose service until I got to school.

[00:06:56] No one could talk to me.

[00:06:57] It was great.

[00:06:58] Yeah.

[00:06:58] It's like choosing not to use your phone on the tube.

[00:07:02] It's not the same.

[00:07:03] It's like not being able to is what I want.

[00:07:06] I have to be forced.

[00:07:06] I mean, maybe that speaks to like a problem within myself.

[00:07:10] No, but it's also like no one can contact me.

[00:07:13] Like one of the things with being in the shower is that like you are gonna not...

[00:07:17] Unless something serious is happening, you're gonna leave me alone for the whole time I'm

[00:07:21] in there.

[00:07:21] Despite the fact that Laura of the three of us is the one who actually takes her phone

[00:07:25] into the shower and uses it.

[00:07:27] Like I know when you're...

[00:07:29] Sometimes she replies to the group chat as well.

[00:07:31] Oh, she's wet and naked right now.

[00:07:33] And she's talking to us.

[00:07:35] I like it.

[00:07:36] I play music.

[00:07:37] But no, yeah, it was Tuesday and like I was in there for ages.

[00:07:40] And I was like, this is just such a good shower.

[00:07:42] I don't want to get out.

[00:07:43] It was just really nice.

[00:07:44] Personally, I'm neither here nor there on showers.

[00:07:46] I have them for sure.

[00:07:48] Oh, really?

[00:07:49] Yeah, I don't...

[00:07:50] Yeah.

[00:07:50] Get that quiet.

[00:07:51] Yeah.

[00:07:51] Look at my hair.

[00:07:52] Do you like it?

[00:07:52] I washed it today.

[00:07:54] Smells gone.

[00:07:55] Yeah.

[00:07:55] Smells disappeared, hasn't it?

[00:07:56] They're very organized.

[00:07:58] My curls.

[00:07:59] Yeah.

[00:07:59] Thank you.

[00:08:00] Her hair.

[00:08:01] They're very organized.

[00:08:03] Because they're like, it's very defined each curl.

[00:08:07] Yeah.

[00:08:07] So, well, I actually did that manually.

[00:08:09] Yeah.

[00:09:25] We've gathered here today to take on one of my more self-indulgent episodes, I would say.

[00:09:34] They're both nodding.

[00:09:35] Mm-hmm.

[00:09:36] Oh, yeah.

[00:09:37] Yeah.

[00:09:38] Hated it.

[00:09:38] Hated every minute of it.

[00:09:39] Is it?

[00:09:39] No, you didn't.

[00:09:40] Don't lie.

[00:09:40] No, you didn't.

[00:09:41] Is it like really niche?

[00:09:42] No, it's not.

[00:09:44] Then no, I don't think it's that self-indulgent.

[00:09:47] Well, it's not really within our time frame.

[00:09:50] Like, we have done things as old as.

[00:09:52] Rainbow.

[00:09:52] Yeah, we've done Rainbow.

[00:09:53] So, I just...

[00:09:54] The remit is what we watched as kids.

[00:09:57] Yeah, I didn't watch this as a kid.

[00:09:58] Fuck.

[00:09:59] Thing is, Laura, how many of these did you actually watch as a kid?

[00:10:01] Very few, to be honest with you.

[00:10:02] I mean, just like at least one of us watched as a kid.

[00:10:04] It's the royal way.

[00:10:06] Yeah.

[00:10:06] Yeah.

[00:10:07] There's the avenue.

[00:10:09] The Millbury Stones.

[00:10:10] The books say they were erected about 3000 BC.

[00:10:13] Maybe even earlier.

[00:10:15] So they're holding the Stonehenge?

[00:10:16] Probably.

[00:10:17] By the time Stonehenge was completed, people have been worshipping here for a thousand years

[00:10:21] or more.

[00:10:22] Worshipping what?

[00:10:24] The sun, maybe.

[00:10:27] Here's the circle.

[00:10:28] With the village inside it.

[00:10:30] Scary.

[00:10:31] What is?

[00:10:32] Not knowing anybody.

[00:10:34] Well, you soon will.

[00:10:35] Suppose they all turn out to be nutters.

[00:10:37] Do we have to stay the whole three months?

[00:10:39] Yes, we do.

[00:10:41] If I don't complete my research, the university's going to want their grant back.

[00:10:44] Unless we've already spent half of it.

[00:10:58] Children of the Stones is a 1977 drama that was made by ITV.

[00:11:08] Or a kind of franchisee of ITV.

[00:11:10] I don't really understand how HTV fits into what is ITV.

[00:11:16] It's like a regional production centre.

[00:11:20] I don't really know.

[00:11:22] I did try and find out for you.

[00:11:24] I can't.

[00:11:25] It's very confusing.

[00:11:26] So it's ITV, basically.

[00:11:28] We're not going to go there.

[00:11:29] And it was filmed during the 1976 long hot summer.

[00:11:36] The famous...

[00:11:37] Laura's nodding like she knows what that is.

[00:11:39] The version of this that I watched was someone had either...

[00:11:44] Their VHS was the whole thing.

[00:11:47] Or someone had edited out the episode transition.

[00:11:51] So it was the full two hours and something minutes.

[00:11:53] Okay.

[00:11:54] And in the comments under that was people who had remembered it.

[00:11:57] And someone who'd been in it talking about how they filmed it in the long hot summer of 76.

[00:12:02] Whoa.

[00:12:02] Okay.

[00:12:03] And then someone else further down was like,

[00:12:05] Yes, you can tell because of how brown the grass is.

[00:12:09] Yeah.

[00:12:10] All of it is.

[00:12:11] The 70s.

[00:12:12] Everything was brown.

[00:12:13] Yeah.

[00:12:13] All the leaves.

[00:12:15] All the leaves are brown.

[00:12:17] Anyway.

[00:12:20] An instrument for measuring magnetic fields.

[00:12:22] Magnetic fields?

[00:12:23] Where are they?

[00:12:24] A magnetic field is a field of force.

[00:12:26] It surrounds a magnet.

[00:12:27] Oh, you've got no magnets either.

[00:12:29] That's where you're wrong, Mrs. Crabtree.

[00:12:31] You've got at least 53.

[00:12:32] The stones.

[00:12:33] The standing stones.

[00:12:34] Each one a source of great magnetic power.

[00:12:37] The stones?

[00:12:38] I never heard that.

[00:12:40] How do you know?

[00:12:41] It's my job.

[00:12:46] Well, I never.

[00:12:47] So you've come to measure our stones.

[00:12:51] Well, I never.

[00:12:53] It was considered a landmark in quality children's drama.

[00:12:58] That's what everyone says about Children of the Stones.

[00:13:00] Before I'd watched it, I always heard it's...

[00:13:03] Cracking.

[00:13:04] It's cracking.

[00:13:06] It's...

[00:13:07] It's considered like a turning point in children's drama and TV drama in general because of who

[00:13:13] produced it.

[00:13:14] I'll talk more about him in a minute.

[00:13:17] He's called Peter Graham Scott.

[00:13:19] Oh, I've heard that name.

[00:13:20] He did big things for telly.

[00:13:22] Also, folk horror.

[00:13:24] It's considered to be one of the main kind of pillars of British folk horror.

[00:13:30] The whole time I was watching it, I was going, this is so weird English folklore.

[00:13:37] Yeah.

[00:13:37] This is like dark bagpist.

[00:13:39] Which they absolutely loved in the mid 70s.

[00:13:41] So Peter Graham Scott was the director.

[00:13:44] Sorry, I don't think he was the producer.

[00:13:47] And he basically shaped British television drama into what it is now.

[00:13:52] So it used to be that it was inspired by theater.

[00:13:57] So like play for today, everything was sort of kind of inside number 90.

[00:14:03] Like it was kind of in one place, kind of proscenium archy.

[00:14:08] And then Peter Graham Scott came along and everything is now inspired by cinema.

[00:14:13] It's real locations.

[00:14:15] So he knew one of the writers.

[00:14:17] So the writers are Trevor Ray and Jeremy Burnham.

[00:14:21] They produced the script together and one of them handed it to Peter Graham Scott.

[00:14:26] And he said, this, this, this isn't for children.

[00:14:29] How can this be for children?

[00:14:31] He was really surprised.

[00:14:34] So they gave him episode one and he just kept asking for the next one.

[00:14:38] Can I have, can I have episode two?

[00:14:40] Can I have episode three?

[00:14:42] Um, eventually he ended up with six episodes and he said, can I, um, have the last one?

[00:14:48] And they were like, are you gonna, are you gonna produce it?

[00:14:52] And he was like, oh, okay, fine.

[00:14:54] Stop teasing us.

[00:14:55] So it was filmed in Avebury.

[00:14:57] Avebury is 800 years older than Stonehenge and a lot bigger.

[00:15:01] So it's kind of like the real fan of stone circles would go to Avebury and like the tourists

[00:15:08] would go to Stonehenge, basically.

[00:15:10] You said you wanted to say something about Stonehenge.

[00:15:13] No, I just thought, you know, we've done, what, like 55 episodes and we've never covered

[00:15:18] the stone circles of the UK.

[00:15:20] And I think that that's a pinnacle of British culture.

[00:15:23] We should talk more about it.

[00:15:24] Have you ever seen one?

[00:15:26] She said this to me yesterday.

[00:15:29] She was like, why have we never spoken about Stonehenge on the pod?

[00:15:32] And I was like, what are you talking about?

[00:15:33] She was like, well, we talk about a lot of weird crap.

[00:15:36] Why haven't we spoken about Stonehenge?

[00:15:37] Stonehenge.

[00:15:38] Why haven't we?

[00:15:39] I don't know enough about Stonehenge to bring it up naturally.

[00:15:41] Anyway, so why do we, what is the meaning of Stonehenge?

[00:15:45] We don't know.

[00:15:46] It's the next thing.

[00:15:48] So Avebury is in Wiltshire and it's like one of the oldest megalithic structures.

[00:15:54] That's a bit like my name.

[00:15:55] Oh my God.

[00:15:58] Do you mean Neolithic?

[00:15:59] Megalithic.

[00:16:00] No, Megalithic.

[00:16:01] That's a bit like my name.

[00:16:05] Yeah.

[00:16:06] So the fact that it's filmed in Avebury, you're so pleased with yourself, aren't you?

[00:16:12] I'm not good at much, but I can't recognize my own name.

[00:16:19] It looks amazing.

[00:16:21] Wouldn't you say that it's filmed amongst all the real stones?

[00:16:24] Yeah.

[00:16:25] It looks really atmospheric.

[00:16:27] It looks really cool.

[00:16:29] Some of the stones were enhanced with polystyrene and some of them were...

[00:16:34] You don't say.

[00:16:36] Do you, could you tell?

[00:16:37] Yeah.

[00:16:38] No.

[00:16:38] Which is like, there's no way that they look like that normally.

[00:16:41] Oh, some of them.

[00:16:43] Yeah.

[00:16:43] But they did create whole other stones, like big, those size standing stones from polystyrene.

[00:16:52] Yeah.

[00:16:52] I assume the one with the woman standing like a cactus, they made that.

[00:16:56] Yeah, sure.

[00:16:57] Yeah.

[00:16:57] Sure.

[00:16:57] But they were supposedly really, really convincing.

[00:17:01] So the girl in it, Sandra, the actress says that, you know, she wanted to make herself useful

[00:17:07] and like help carry props around.

[00:17:09] And they were like, go pick up that stone to, you know, to...

[00:17:12] And they pointed her in the direction of a real stone just to prank her basically.

[00:17:17] And she couldn't lift it.

[00:17:19] Oh, and she's only little.

[00:17:21] I know.

[00:17:21] It's mean, isn't it?

[00:17:22] She's a bit of a dickhead.

[00:17:24] And there's another story that all the casts tell that they were sitting around between takes

[00:17:31] and there were tourists around and a woman knocked over a polystyrene stone and was like

[00:17:37] really, really upset.

[00:17:38] She was like, this has been here for 400 years.

[00:17:41] Like, what have I done?

[00:17:43] Sorry.

[00:17:43] Yes.

[00:17:44] 4,000 years.

[00:17:45] If it was only there for 400 years, we'd know how it got there.

[00:17:48] Yeah.

[00:17:50] Someone would have written that down.

[00:17:51] The bigger mystery would be, how did we forget how it got here?

[00:17:56] So yeah, it's filmed within...

[00:17:59] So Avebury is within the stone circle.

[00:18:01] It's not a stone circle in this town.

[00:18:03] It's the town is in it.

[00:18:06] Apparently some of the crew had their watches go all weird when they were in it.

[00:18:11] I don't know if that's true, but it's something that's been said.

[00:18:14] So it was also shown in the US.

[00:18:16] There was a series on Nickelodeon.

[00:18:18] It was an anthology series called Third Eye.

[00:18:22] So it was...

[00:18:23] It was from later though, wasn't it?

[00:18:24] Like in 83 or something?

[00:18:25] Yeah.

[00:18:25] So 1983 to 1984.

[00:18:28] How do you know about Third Eye?

[00:18:29] Because there were people in the comments talking about it when they watched it for the first time.

[00:18:33] Yeah.

[00:18:34] This comments was full of people who were like our parents' age, which is an unusual comment section.

[00:18:38] Very dry, very statement based and less comedy.

[00:18:42] Speak of your own parents.

[00:18:43] Jesus.

[00:18:44] Yeah, right.

[00:18:45] You've got...

[00:18:46] Cool parent.

[00:18:46] Your parents are responsible.

[00:18:47] My mum was born the year this was released.

[00:18:50] Third Eye started with a disclaimer saying,

[00:18:53] The following is a science fiction programme and may contain some startling scenes.

[00:18:58] This show is intended for older children.

[00:19:00] It was seven dramas, all imported from the UK or New Zealand or Australia,

[00:19:07] presumably because they could get it really cheap.

[00:19:09] And all of them featured a character that was psychic.

[00:19:13] And I read through like a synopsis of a bunch of them and they sound really good.

[00:19:20] There's one that I actually want to read out because I feel like it fits within this genre really well.

[00:19:25] It's called The Witches of Grinnegog.

[00:19:28] And this was the last one that was shown on Third Eye.

[00:19:31] So when an ancient English church is moved to a new site in The Witches of Grinnegog,

[00:19:35] one stone, a strange statue, the Grinnegog of the title is found to be missing.

[00:19:40] Its accidental rediscovery by a woman not realising its significance gives it to her elderly father as a pseudo garden gnome,

[00:19:47] coincides with the arrival of three eccentric old women who seem to be looking for something lost or hidden many years before.

[00:19:55] The townsfolk find themselves looking into their collective past,

[00:19:59] but it takes a group of children to put the pieces of the puzzle together and make amends for an ancient injustice.

[00:20:06] So the reason I read...

[00:20:08] Sorry, go on, Laura.

[00:20:08] It sounds like some like Disney Channel movie plot, like Hocus Pocus Halloween Town vibe.

[00:20:14] It does.

[00:20:15] So the reason I read that one out is because there is a...

[00:20:21] There was a kind of trend in the 1970s with the sort of children's dramas and children's media to kind of only involve children.

[00:20:29] I know that you do see that in like most children's media,

[00:20:33] but things like The Witches of Grinnegog and Children of the Stones and another show called The Changes,

[00:20:41] they were sort of following in this trend in the 70s of taking a look at really quite deep subjects in a way that was almost a little bit scary.

[00:20:54] Like children's TV got a bit scary in the 70s.

[00:20:57] So I...

[00:20:59] There is a blog I found called Barn Flakes and it's by Barnaby Atwell.

[00:21:07] So he's a visual artist and there's very little information about Children of the Stones.

[00:21:13] It's just blog post upon blog post, just all the way down of people older than us talking about how they remember it.

[00:21:22] And he's taken four shows of that era that share similar themes and he's sort of summed them up really well.

[00:21:30] I'm just going to quote from that, if I may.

[00:21:33] Though the programmes were written and made for children slash teenagers and broadcast in the late afternoon and early evening children's time slot,

[00:21:41] they all deal with fairly heavy traditionally adult themes such as identity, myth, magic, sexuality, ecology and class, just to name a few.

[00:21:52] And stones.

[00:21:54] And stones!

[00:21:59] Rocks!

[00:22:03] Landscape is paramount in all the programmes and they all have a distinct sense of place and show the British countryside in an often lyrical way.

[00:22:12] Very Bronte of them.

[00:22:14] Very Bronte of them.

[00:22:15] In Children of the Stones, it's Avery and Wiltshire, called Milbury in the series.

[00:22:20] In The Owl Service, it's rural Wales.

[00:22:23] In Pender's Fen, it's set in the Mulvern Hills.

[00:22:25] The Owl Service is around the same time.

[00:22:29] He speaks about it in this blog and it's about a woman that might be possessed by owls or an owl.

[00:22:40] All the fucking things to be possessed by.

[00:22:45] You might be possessed by a bird, love.

[00:22:47] All right.

[00:22:48] What did you get?

[00:22:52] You warned me.

[00:22:54] You're going to scream.

[00:22:54] What are you, a fucking owl?

[00:23:01] That one as well.

[00:23:02] Yeah, we will.

[00:23:03] The Changes is basically always spoken about in the same breath as Children of the Stones.

[00:23:10] So it's...

[00:23:11] About a woman who's turning into an owl?

[00:23:13] No.

[00:23:14] No, not yet.

[00:23:15] She's going through The Changes.

[00:23:17] It's about a society where adults suddenly have a mega panic about technology and smash up all their technology.

[00:23:26] Oh.

[00:23:26] Luddite, Luddite, Luddite.

[00:23:28] Luddite, Luddite, Luddite, Luddite, Luddite.

[00:23:31] Right.

[00:23:33] And it's kind of like...

[00:23:35] It kind of walked so the Spartacal mystery could run.

[00:23:38] Oh, we're going to have to do that.

[00:23:39] So there's a girl who loses her...

[00:23:42] Like, she doesn't know where her parents have gone.

[00:23:44] All technology has broken down because the adults freaked out.

[00:23:46] And she's like walking through the British Isles, like meeting like pagans and witches and like weird people along...

[00:23:55] People who've never needed technology.

[00:23:57] Like, yeah.

[00:23:57] They were ready the whole time.

[00:23:59] Like meeting weird people along the way in...

[00:24:01] On a search to find her parents.

[00:24:04] So...

[00:24:04] Does she find them?

[00:24:05] I don't know.

[00:24:06] I've not seen it.

[00:24:07] There's a really great bit that Stuart Lee has done for a Charlie Brooker show.

[00:24:14] He's comparing...

[00:24:15] I don't know if you've seen it.

[00:24:16] I sent it to you.

[00:24:18] He's comparing...

[00:24:19] Oh, no, I didn't.

[00:24:20] No, that's all right.

[00:24:20] He's comparing teenagers in Skins to teenagers in these old 70s shows.

[00:24:27] And I'm going to play a clip from it because I think it really well sums up the difference in tone for how media is like written.

[00:24:37] Have you seen Skins?

[00:24:38] I've seen...

[00:24:39] I've not seen all of it.

[00:24:40] I've seen Skins.

[00:24:41] It's such a mystery though.

[00:24:42] Yeah.

[00:24:43] My favorite bit of Skins...

[00:24:43] It's such a big question mark.

[00:24:44] My favorite bit of Skins is when Tony...

[00:24:47] I know what you're going to say.

[00:24:47] Tony was hit by a bus and he's got amnesia.

[00:24:51] And Michelle is like...

[00:24:54] She's been quite patient with him.

[00:24:56] And I think they sat on his bed or something.

[00:24:58] And she's like, do you remember anything?

[00:25:01] And he's like, well, I've started to remember a song.

[00:25:06] And she goes, what song is it?

[00:25:07] And he goes, I'm horny.

[00:25:10] I'm horny, horny, horny.

[00:25:13] It's one of the funniest bits of television.

[00:25:18] Ever.

[00:25:19] Do you remember?

[00:25:19] I can't...

[00:25:21] It's pretty much the only...

[00:25:23] I've watched all of Skins and it's pretty much the only thing I remember.

[00:25:27] Do you remember the Trout Eyes tweet where he said,

[00:25:29] I'm horny is a tune that every cellist has to tackle or something?

[00:25:34] Skins opens with loads of shots of funky young people.

[00:25:37] Proceeds to depict their vile, selfish, misogynist lives.

[00:25:44] Kind of horrible, hip, sassy language.

[00:25:48] And there's just a degree of cynicism in the characters and in the way the program is put together.

[00:25:53] For Christ's sake, Tony!

[00:25:56] Tony!

[00:25:57] The opening five minutes of Skins is just this pointless invective between the Harry Enfield father and the horrible little rat-faced son.

[00:26:06] I just really want the Harry Enfield dad to just get that kid and punch his face in.

[00:26:10] Tony!

[00:26:13] So here's something that's happened in 30 years.

[00:26:15] Look how the kids in Skins greet each other, right?

[00:26:19] By fondling each other's genitals under a table.

[00:26:21] This is how children should greet each other, like in Children of the Stones.

[00:26:27] Hello.

[00:26:30] Where to?

[00:26:30] Oh, just round the village.

[00:26:32] Show you the sights.

[00:26:33] It's interesting looking at the different challenges that face the children in these programs.

[00:26:37] In The Changes, for example, Nikki has to find her way alone through a Britain that is in a kind of apocalyptic meltdown.

[00:26:45] And in Skins, Sid has to go and try and get some dope from a dope dealer in a brothel so that he can get a girl so catastrophically spliffed up that she'll have sex with him without realising who he is.

[00:26:57] I'm really glad I'm not a teenager watching TV for teenagers now because I would feel really left out by something like Skins.

[00:27:03] But there's something really comforting for, like, nerds and weirdos about things like Children of the Stones and The Changes.

[00:27:09] Things that make you feel less alone.

[00:27:11] And that's a really great thing that art can do.

[00:27:14] Whereas I think something like Skins would make me, as a teenager, feel more alone.

[00:27:17] So that was Stuart Lee on the difference between...

[00:27:20] Yeah.

[00:27:21] What do you think?

[00:27:22] I can't...

[00:27:23] Sorry, but I can't take that seriously because he talks in the same way he does stand-up comedy.

[00:27:27] Yeah, I know.

[00:27:27] So I was waiting for a punchline the whole time I was waiting for the joke to end.

[00:27:32] And I've always been serious.

[00:27:34] Oh, OK.

[00:27:34] Yeah.

[00:27:34] But that is also how a lot of his routines go as well.

[00:27:37] Yeah, he's thinking, Stuart Lee, you are an enigma.

[00:27:40] What do you actually mean?

[00:27:41] When you talk, do you mean what you say?

[00:27:43] Do you say what you mean?

[00:27:44] I have no idea.

[00:27:45] No one knows.

[00:27:46] That's the beauty of it.

[00:27:47] I think he was reading what he wanted to read from both pieces of media.

[00:27:54] Which is...

[00:27:55] Which is fair because I think he's...

[00:27:58] A lot of the stuff he's saying about Skins...

[00:28:00] Skins was never, ever trying to be relatable or accurate, right?

[00:28:04] It was like a hyperbolic version of all teenagers ever, he's the most extreme.

[00:28:10] Yeah, exactly.

[00:28:10] But if you were a teenager and you were...

[00:28:12] If you were 10 years younger and you were watching that, would you know that?

[00:28:15] Well...

[00:28:15] Yeah, because when I first watched it...

[00:28:17] I was even younger than 10 years ago and I knew when I was watching it that this isn't realistic.

[00:28:22] Yeah, that's the thing.

[00:28:23] When he says that it's about cool kids, even when I...

[00:28:26] They're not that cool.

[00:28:27] Yeah, I watched Skins when I was about 14 or 15, which I think is a bit too young for you to be watching a show like that.

[00:28:36] I do think it's pitched slightly higher, even though the kids are slightly younger.

[00:28:42] And I wasn't the kind of child that was climbing out of my bedroom window and going off to do drugs with my friends in a field or a crack den.

[00:28:55] But I never thought that they were cool.

[00:28:58] I always thought, oh, these guys are such losers.

[00:29:01] Yeah.

[00:29:01] When I was a 14, 15 year old not doing that stuff.

[00:29:04] Even the one that's like trying to be the coolest one in most of the seasons, it's like...

[00:29:09] Okay, especially the first generation.

[00:29:11] They're very explicitly not actually cool.

[00:29:14] It got a bit murky as they went on.

[00:29:16] They romanticized stuff a bit too much.

[00:29:18] But like...

[00:29:19] Yeah, I don't think they're all supposed to be like the cool kids.

[00:29:21] I found it entertaining, but I saw a lot of them were dickheads.

[00:29:25] And I do remember watching it being like, this is so unrealistic because not everyone I know is a dickhead.

[00:29:32] Like, it's basically like almost everyone in that show.

[00:29:34] I mean, some of the issues were relatable to me.

[00:29:37] No, some of them were like shades of one of the issues.

[00:29:41] Like maybe not the whole thing.

[00:29:42] Yeah.

[00:29:42] But like there's going to be something in most characters that you can kind of relate to.

[00:29:47] At least in one episode.

[00:29:48] At least half of the characters in any given generation of skins were assholes.

[00:29:55] And I was like, not half the people I know are twats.

[00:30:00] And that's why I was like, the most unrealistic thing about this is that you're telling everyone that young people are dickheads and they're not.

[00:30:07] I also just...

[00:30:09] I also just...

[00:30:09] He was like, oh, the depiction of people, the teenagers in the other shows is more accurate because they're like nervous.

[00:30:17] And I'm like, mate, they're psychic.

[00:30:19] And fucking what's the kid's name in Children's Stone?

[00:30:22] Matt.

[00:30:23] Matt.

[00:30:24] He's psychometric.

[00:30:26] He can do his dad's astrophysics sums.

[00:30:29] And he's hella confident ordering about the lady.

[00:30:31] I can't remember what her name is either.

[00:30:32] It's just like...

[00:30:34] Teenagers are not that decisive.

[00:30:35] Maybe they're relatable to you, old man, who thinks he's cerebral.

[00:30:40] No offense, Stuart Lee.

[00:30:41] I do like you.

[00:30:41] I've been to see many of your stand-ups.

[00:30:43] You've been to see loads of his stand-ups.

[00:30:44] I have been to see loads of his stand-ups.

[00:30:45] But it's like, you are coming from...

[00:30:47] It did feel like you're coming from...

[00:30:50] Coming at this from a more, I think I'm better than this kind of...

[00:30:54] Than skins.

[00:30:54] Than skins.

[00:30:55] Yeah.

[00:30:55] And it's like, no one's better than skins.

[00:30:57] We've all had a low moment.

[00:31:00] Yeah.

[00:31:00] But the benefit of being a teenager in the 2000s is this was on YouTube,

[00:31:04] so you could watch it if you wanted to.

[00:31:06] Yeah.

[00:31:07] Yeah.

[00:31:08] Hello.

[00:31:09] Hello.

[00:31:10] Just arrived.

[00:31:11] Why were you staring through our window?

[00:31:13] I heard you're coming.

[00:31:15] What?

[00:31:15] New people.

[00:31:17] We need new people here.

[00:31:19] Why?

[00:31:21] We've got to stick together.

[00:31:27] My trees.

[00:31:28] Who's she?

[00:31:29] That's Sandra.

[00:31:31] Her mum looks after the museum.

[00:31:32] She's strange.

[00:31:33] Yes, I know.

[00:31:34] She says funny things.

[00:31:35] Happy day, boys.

[00:31:36] Happy day, Mrs Warner.

[00:31:38] That's because she's not a happy one.

[00:31:40] What's a happy one?

[00:31:41] Someone who's happy, of course.

[00:31:43] It's mad that we've got to this point in the episode and we've not explained what it's about,

[00:31:49] but I just really wanted to set out the context first.

[00:31:53] So I've got a little bit more of that to do, and then we will go on.

[00:31:59] So I said that it's a big part of folk horror and what people consider to be one of the big ones.

[00:32:08] So typical elements include a rural setting in folk horror, isolation, themes of superstition, folk religion, paganism, sacrifice, and the dark aspects of nature.

[00:32:23] Although related to supernatural horror film, folk horror usually focuses on beliefs and actions of people rather than the supernatural.

[00:32:31] And it's usually about a naive outsider coming in and questioning this.

[00:32:36] Film theorists have come up with three films that they call the unholy trinity.

[00:32:43] And it's 60s and 70s British films that are considered to be the first folk horror films.

[00:32:49] So it's The Blood on Satan's Claw, 1968.

[00:32:53] Yep, cool.

[00:32:54] Witchfinder General, 1971.

[00:32:57] And obviously The Wicker Man, 1973.

[00:33:00] And this was filmed in 76.

[00:33:02] 76, so yeah.

[00:33:03] I'd love for some OG Samhain stuff to come back.

[00:33:08] They used to not only do carved pumpkins, you'd do carved any gourd.

[00:33:12] And I'd love to see some variation in the gourd carving.

[00:33:16] You did turnips, actually, was, I think, the original.

[00:33:19] Yeah, a lot harder to carve in a pumpkin.

[00:33:21] I'd carve anything, mate.

[00:33:23] I'd carve a block of cheese.

[00:33:25] It would melt if you put a little candle in it.

[00:33:28] Ooh, fondue.

[00:33:29] Ooh.

[00:33:29] Ooh.

[00:33:30] Yeah, you just sound better and better, doesn't it?

[00:33:33] Morning.

[00:33:34] Oh, good morning.

[00:33:35] Ooh, not happy day?

[00:33:38] Definitely not.

[00:33:40] Happy day sounds more like a password than a greeting, doesn't it?

[00:33:44] Yes.

[00:33:49] What are these?

[00:33:51] Oh, they're ley lines.

[00:33:52] Ley lines, are they indeed?

[00:33:55] Tell me you believe in all that sort of thing.

[00:33:56] I try to keep an open mind.

[00:33:58] Oh, come on.

[00:33:59] Invisible straight lines that are supposed to connect ancient sacred places, churches, markstones, barrows...

[00:34:06] And stone circles.

[00:34:09] You're my idea of hell.

[00:34:11] Write out 100 ley lines.

[00:34:14] I take it you're not a believer.

[00:34:16] I'm a scientist.

[00:34:19] Scientists need proof.

[00:34:20] Well, I can't offer you that, I'm afraid.

[00:34:23] But there are some interesting theories.

[00:34:25] Children of the Stones is kind of that genre of kids TV where the adults disappear and children are like...

[00:34:33] Actually, not in Children of the Stones so much because adults are very much involved.

[00:34:38] But it's part of that.

[00:34:39] There's a quartet solving all the problems of this and two of them are adults.

[00:34:42] So, like, kids working things out and putting themselves in danger together to get to the bottom of things.

[00:34:49] It's like that genre combined with folk horror.

[00:34:52] What else is it that particular genre, when you watch it as an adult and it is actually only children, you're going, okay, no, there should definitely be an adult here supervising because you guys should not be doing this alone.

[00:35:03] Or you're going, nah, they're...

[00:35:05] No, teenagers is too fucking thick to do this.

[00:35:08] Yeah.

[00:35:09] Well, something else I would liken it to is, you know, those public service broadcasts from the 70s and 80s that I love so much?

[00:35:17] Like...

[00:35:18] She always bangs on about them all.

[00:35:19] I do.

[00:35:24] Um...

[00:35:24] Huh?

[00:35:26] Huh?

[00:35:27] Huh?

[00:35:29] Qu'est-ce qui se passe?

[00:35:30] She loves to bang.

[00:35:32] Ah, si.

[00:35:33] The reason that they are so famously scary, like The Spirit of Dark Water and Apaches, like really horrible things happening to children, like really shocking things that were, like, little three-minute films that were put on during the day.

[00:35:48] They were to, like, shock and warn kids, like scare them away from, like, playing on building sites.

[00:35:54] Yeah, exactly.

[00:35:55] And obviously this is to scare people away from playing near big old stones.

[00:35:59] Like a little stone circles.

[00:36:01] Don't go near the stones, kids.

[00:36:03] No stones, not even gravel.

[00:36:06] Not a pebble.

[00:36:07] You can't pick up a cool rock at the beach anymore.

[00:36:11] No, because of woe.

[00:36:15] Yeah, the reason that they are that scary is because they were made on a very low budget.

[00:36:20] They didn't want to pay...

[00:36:21] Nothing scarier than poverty.

[00:36:26] I mean...

[00:36:27] Yeah.

[00:36:28] Yeah.

[00:36:28] But they didn't want to pay any adult actors.

[00:36:32] And so adults weren't generally in these public service boards.

[00:36:38] So it was like...

[00:36:38] Ah, child labour.

[00:36:39] And because it was, like, sort of 70s sort of psychedelic sensibilities, and you're also watching them on, like, very low quality media, they've got a kind of dreamlike, eerie feel to them that makes the danger seem even more.

[00:36:55] And...

[00:36:56] It's shit you'd see in the back rooms.

[00:36:57] It's shit you'd see in the back rooms.

[00:37:00] And even though Children of the Stones isn't this, it's definitely, like...

[00:37:04] Oh, it's got the sort of aesthetic, like...

[00:37:07] Very much.

[00:37:07] The content less, but the vibe and the look.

[00:37:10] And especially now with, like, the crackliness of it that, like, we watched a YouTube version, you know.

[00:37:15] I'd love to see this remade.

[00:37:17] It reminds me of that Snuff film episode of Inside Number Nine.

[00:37:22] Oh, yeah.

[00:37:23] Yeah, of course.

[00:37:24] I know.

[00:37:25] The Krampus one.

[00:37:26] Yeah, that's one of my absolute favourite ones, obviously.

[00:37:28] She loves the Snuff film.

[00:37:29] I do.

[00:37:29] You heard it here first.

[00:37:30] I love it.

[00:37:31] So I'm just going to round off this, I guess, aesthetics section with the Barnaby Atwell blog that I read earlier, because I think he sums it up in a really good way.

[00:38:14] The 1970s were a great time for many.

[00:38:15] In a lyrical way.

[00:38:16] Then in 1979, Margaret Thatcher got into power.

[00:38:20] The countryside has been raped and pillaged ever since.

[00:38:23] And all hope has been lost.

[00:38:25] Yeah.

[00:38:26] That was so true.

[00:38:26] That went from, like, a normal conversation to you finishing with, raped and pillaged ever since.

[00:38:31] Well, I mean, what would you say is the closest TV show now that...

[00:38:38] I mean, I would say Detectorists, right?

[00:38:40] Oh, to Children of the Stone.

[00:38:42] Or that sort of genre.

[00:38:43] Oh, no.

[00:38:44] The thing that actually reminded me, when I was watching it, because you watched it a few months ago.

[00:38:50] Yeah.

[00:38:50] And I caught a bit of it.

[00:38:51] And I said to you then, this reminds me of Edgar Wright's stuff.

[00:38:55] Yes.

[00:38:55] Because it's super...

[00:38:57] Yeah, a bit hot fuzzy.

[00:38:57] It's very hot fuzzy.

[00:38:58] It's super hot fuzzy.

[00:38:59] It's also super at World's End, or whatever the third one's called.

[00:39:03] It's kind of like if you...

[00:39:04] The World's End.

[00:39:04] Yeah.

[00:39:05] If you crossed hot fuzz with A Good Life, or The Good Life.

[00:39:08] The Good Life.

[00:39:09] Yeah, actually.

[00:39:10] Yeah, yeah.

[00:39:11] Something with Richard Bright.

[00:39:12] Yeah.

[00:39:13] There is no stone there.

[00:39:15] If it was a sarsen, it would show up in this photograph.

[00:39:18] Well, it's there, all right.

[00:39:19] Is it a recent photograph?

[00:39:22] Wait a moment.

[00:39:29] Would X mark the spot?

[00:39:31] Yes.

[00:39:32] It's impossible.

[00:39:33] Why?

[00:39:34] It's the place where the barber surgeon was found, crashed to death by a sarsen.

[00:39:37] That must be the stone we saw then.

[00:39:40] No.

[00:39:40] But why not?

[00:39:41] Because it was removed years ago, and re-errected inside the circle.

[00:39:45] There is nothing there now.

[00:39:47] But we saw it.

[00:39:48] Well, all right.

[00:39:49] Show me.

[00:39:50] What was in the water in the 70s that everyone was like, folk shit?

[00:39:58] Like drugs?

[00:39:59] Yeah.

[00:40:02] I don't know, because it's like...

[00:40:04] I don't think that explains all of it.

[00:40:06] Maybe it's just like, some stuff that was repressed for the generation before that,

[00:40:12] and then they got older and were allowed to look into it, and then they got super interested,

[00:40:17] and then they hit their 20s in the 70s, and put money behind it.

[00:40:21] Interestingly, to come back to Stuart Lee, in that kind of written piece he did for the

[00:40:26] Bagpuss anniversary vinyl, he says a similar thing about like, it's basically a yearning

[00:40:34] for a better time.

[00:40:36] Yeah.

[00:40:36] Like, where things...

[00:40:37] Potentially things are about to get real folksy again.

[00:40:40] Maybe.

[00:40:41] Who knows?

[00:40:42] Shall we start a movement?

[00:40:44] I've been trying to start a movement my whole life.

[00:40:46] I don't know what movement that is.

[00:40:48] It might just be Meg.

[00:40:50] The closest we got...

[00:40:51] I've been trying to start a movement my whole life.

[00:40:54] No one ever really invests fully in Meg, you know?

[00:40:57] Yeah, I know.

[00:40:58] And I think it's time to...

[00:40:59] It's sad, really.

[00:41:00] I think it's time we did.

[00:41:00] I've invested heavily in Meg.

[00:41:03] I get some returns, but I usually have to pay them back.

[00:41:06] What she means by investing is this whole recording so far as she's been tickling my feet.

[00:41:11] It has been...

[00:41:12] I've been getting so angry.

[00:41:14] No, I have invested my father's money.

[00:41:19] It's true.

[00:41:19] And expanding your travels.

[00:41:22] And then your dad stopped having a job and I was yearning for a better time.

[00:41:26] But I think the closest we got was like cottagecore.

[00:41:29] And then that kind of just...

[00:41:30] It wasn't commitment though.

[00:41:32] It was just dresses.

[00:41:33] You're right.

[00:41:34] This did make me think a lot of his written piece on Bagpuss.

[00:41:39] Because in the 60s and 70s, that was when British folk music revival was happening.

[00:41:46] And it with a kind of slightly psychedelic bent.

[00:41:49] Because, you know, it was the 60s.

[00:41:52] And in my research for this, something that is said about all these shows is that it was like a bit of an experiment.

[00:42:00] And I think it's very sad that adults with access to hallucinogens are not allowed to have their RT experiments shown on children's TV anymore.

[00:42:13] Like, clearly, they were just using ITV's children's evening slot to, you know, splurge their self-indulgent psychedelia onto.

[00:42:28] And just to see...

[00:42:29] Like, obviously, I'm probably exaggerating.

[00:42:31] But imagine being eight years old.

[00:42:37] And the TV's on in the corner.

[00:42:41] And you've never seen anything like it.

[00:42:44] And then that theme song comes on.

[00:42:48] Like, it would shit you up.

[00:42:50] My version of this is that I watched Spirited Away when I was like six on the telly.

[00:42:54] And like, holy shit.

[00:42:55] I was like, oh my god.

[00:42:56] Well, it's just like Doctor Who, really, isn't it?

[00:42:59] Yeah.

[00:42:59] Like, old Doctor...

[00:43:00] It has, you know, sprinklings of old Doctor Who.

[00:43:05] It really does.

[00:43:06] Yeah.

[00:43:06] It really does.

[00:43:07] Because it's not just a folk horror, it's also a sci-fi.

[00:43:10] Yeah.

[00:43:10] So we should probably go into what the show is.

[00:43:16] Shall I show you the picture, Dad?

[00:43:18] Yes, good idea.

[00:43:20] See if one of the locals recognises it.

[00:43:23] Mrs. Crabtree, come and look at this.

[00:43:39] How to describe?

[00:43:40] I think definitely watch it, because very aptly, no other show have I watched sober make me feel so stoned.

[00:43:49] Mm.

[00:43:50] If that makes sense.

[00:43:52] Yeah.

[00:43:52] Which, you know, again, excellent name to feeling ratio.

[00:43:56] But what?

[00:43:57] Because it's called Children of the Stoned.

[00:44:00] It was like really...

[00:44:01] Children of the Stoned.

[00:44:03] It was...

[00:44:04] It's hard to grasp fully everything that's going on.

[00:44:07] Yeah.

[00:44:08] Yes.

[00:44:08] I'm gonna try, though.

[00:44:09] Yeah.

[00:44:10] Yeah.

[00:44:11] I...

[00:44:12] Um...

[00:44:12] You really have to pay attention, because I got distracted a few times and feel like I lost crucial information in those moments.

[00:44:19] I think it's super worth watching.

[00:44:21] So, like, I think we should hedge it as much as possible.

[00:44:23] Like, make this as...

[00:44:24] Wait, I think it has to be vague by the nature of it anyway.

[00:44:27] Yeah, I don't want to give spoilers.

[00:44:28] Yeah.

[00:44:29] I'm not gonna do that today.

[00:44:31] I don't think...

[00:44:32] This is also difficult, I think, to give spoilers.

[00:44:34] Yeah.

[00:44:35] So...

[00:44:35] When you're not entirely sure what happened to yourself.

[00:44:38] I think that's a good thing, though.

[00:44:39] I think that it's nice that there was a drama for children that didn't talk down to them.

[00:44:44] Like, you actually needed to have your wits about you.

[00:44:46] You needed to be a little bit smart to...

[00:44:48] Or...

[00:44:49] I mean, I don't fully understand exactly...

[00:44:52] Like, first time watching it, I didn't really get it.

[00:44:55] And I watched it a second time, and I did just about understand how they saved the day.

[00:44:59] Yeah.

[00:44:59] I got that bit.

[00:45:01] Right, I'll start us off.

[00:45:03] Okay.

[00:45:03] A boy and his dad move to a village.

[00:45:06] Milbury.

[00:45:07] Milbury.

[00:45:07] Milbury.

[00:45:08] And why are they there else?

[00:45:10] Because the dad, widowed for two years...

[00:45:14] Widower?

[00:45:14] Widower.

[00:45:15] His...

[00:45:16] He's a psycho...

[00:45:18] No.

[00:45:18] He's a...

[00:45:19] Astrophysicist.

[00:45:21] I read your paper on megalithic lunar observatories.

[00:45:24] I was very impressed.

[00:45:25] Checking my references as a tenant?

[00:45:27] My dear fellow, don't be so modest.

[00:45:29] Anyone with the faintest interest in astrophysics has heard of Adam Brake.

[00:45:32] You must have more than a faint interest to have come across the observatories paper.

[00:45:36] I dabble, you know.

[00:45:38] It's difficult not to speculate.

[00:45:40] Inside the circle.

[00:45:42] Odd, that.

[00:45:43] Odd.

[00:45:44] Matthew coming across that picture.

[00:45:46] Perhaps the picture came across him.

[00:45:48] And he's got a grant to study the electromagnetism of the stones.

[00:45:55] Which is bullshit, by the way.

[00:45:58] Of Milbury.

[00:46:00] And...

[00:46:00] Yeah, but do we only know that it's bullshit now because he went there and studied it?

[00:46:04] Maybe.

[00:46:05] Adam, what's his name?

[00:46:06] Yeah, exactly.

[00:46:07] I actually didn't know it was to any conclusion that he certainly couldn't get published in a peer-reviewed journal.

[00:46:12] Because he ran away.

[00:46:13] Yeah.

[00:46:14] Complete your science.

[00:46:15] Don't run away.

[00:46:17] His son is also very bright.

[00:46:20] He's interested in the same things that his dad's interested in.

[00:46:23] You know when bright people talk like himbos?

[00:46:27] He talks like such a...

[00:46:29] I like peanut butter sandwiches.

[00:46:32] I'll have two Cornettos, please.

[00:46:34] That's how he talks.

[00:46:35] He does, yeah.

[00:46:36] Yeah, the little boy is like, oh my god, I was watching an interview with the director.

[00:46:43] And he said, I was working with some really good actors and some child actors that weren't that good.

[00:46:48] And I was like, oh my god, no, you can't say that.

[00:46:50] And he said...

[00:46:51] You can say that, governor.

[00:46:53] And he said, no, they were just an experience.

[00:46:55] They were...

[00:46:55] He was a heartful dodger over here.

[00:46:57] Like, he clarified himself.

[00:46:58] But like, I actually think that this little boy was really good.

[00:47:04] Well, we'll do...

[00:47:05] We'll go on to the cast in a minute.

[00:47:07] We can also...

[00:47:08] Acting tastes have changed, so...

[00:47:10] Sure, sure.

[00:47:11] They are being put up in this house.

[00:47:15] The mayor...

[00:47:16] I can't remember the mayor's name, but he's played by Ian Cuthbertson.

[00:47:18] So I'm just going to refer to him as Ian Cuthbertson.

[00:47:21] I'm sorry.

[00:47:22] That's more awkward.

[00:47:23] The mayor-looking man.

[00:47:23] Yeah.

[00:47:24] The butler.

[00:47:25] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:47:25] So he's organized their stay.

[00:47:29] They're going to be there for a few months.

[00:47:31] And they notice that everyone is really happy all the time and like slightly doped out.

[00:47:39] And really clever.

[00:47:41] And really clever.

[00:47:42] So when Matt goes to school, there's like the table of like maybe 12 kids.

[00:47:49] Freaks.

[00:47:50] That belong in the village.

[00:47:51] And they're doing like insane sums.

[00:47:54] It's like that episode of Doctor Who where they're all...

[00:47:56] They're solving the fucking code of the universe or some shit because they've been having smart chips.

[00:48:01] You should sit there for the moment.

[00:48:02] Thanks.

[00:48:03] Hello?

[00:48:04] Kevin!

[00:48:05] So, new boy.

[00:48:06] What you gonna do about that thing?

[00:48:08] Break your leg.

[00:48:09] Hey.

[00:48:09] Go on.

[00:48:10] Yeah.

[00:48:10] Stop it.

[00:48:13] Had to find out if he was human.

[00:48:15] Of course he is.

[00:48:16] He only arrived yesterday.

[00:48:17] Good.

[00:48:18] One of us then.

[00:48:19] What do you mean?

[00:48:20] Not one of them.

[00:48:21] One of them?

[00:48:22] Don't be silly.

[00:48:23] He doesn't know the difference.

[00:48:24] The difference between...

[00:48:25] Happy day, children.

[00:48:26] Happy day, children.

[00:48:28] So you've got the normal kids and you've got the crazy smart kids.

[00:48:33] And the adults are all really weird as well.

[00:48:35] And they call...

[00:48:37] They greet each other and say goodbye by saying happy day.

[00:48:41] Blessed be.

[00:48:43] Yes, it's a little creepy.

[00:48:45] It's cult vibes.

[00:48:47] It's cult vibes.

[00:48:48] Where does the painting fit into this?

[00:48:50] Do they get it before they get there?

[00:48:51] Yeah, so Matt has brought with him a painting.

[00:48:53] It's like a painting on wood.

[00:48:57] And it depicts a village that looks exactly like Milbury.

[00:49:01] It's really quite a scary picture.

[00:49:05] It's also always accompanied by very strong music cues.

[00:49:10] Yes.

[00:49:10] So in this picture, like a ceremony is taking place around the stones.

[00:49:16] And people are being turned to stones while two people run away.

[00:49:22] Then they meet another couple of newish arrivals.

[00:49:26] They've been in the village for about six weeks.

[00:49:29] And it's another single mum and her daughter.

[00:49:34] How convenient!

[00:49:36] How convenient!

[00:49:38] Between...

[00:49:39] Recent vacancy!

[00:49:41] Literally, the sparks are flying.

[00:49:45] There is really great chemistry between those two actors.

[00:49:48] Margaret Smythe.

[00:49:50] Another new arrival.

[00:49:52] She's curator of the museum.

[00:49:53] Ah.

[00:49:54] Widowed.

[00:49:55] One daughter.

[00:49:58] Margaret.

[00:50:00] This is Adam.

[00:50:01] Adam Brake.

[00:50:02] Poor fellow doesn't know anyone in the village and wants to be taken under your wing.

[00:50:06] Why mine?

[00:50:07] I think he likes the look of the feathers.

[00:50:10] Maybe.

[00:50:11] I think I'm going to need your help.

[00:50:13] I'm doing some research on the circle of the stones.

[00:50:15] I know.

[00:50:17] A village is a small place, Mr...

[00:50:20] Adam.

[00:50:21] Um, may I?

[00:50:22] Please.

[00:50:23] So, Gareth Thomas plays the dad and...

[00:50:26] Is he Welsh?

[00:50:27] Yeah, he is Welsh.

[00:50:30] And Veronica Strong plays Margaret, who is the single mum.

[00:50:35] The mum is the curator of the museum.

[00:50:38] That's why she's moved.

[00:50:39] So, her husband's died and she's moved to the...

[00:50:41] It's where she could get a job, basically.

[00:50:43] And her daughter is one of the normals at the school.

[00:50:46] Oh, God.

[00:50:46] She's there for the same reason that Buffy's there.

[00:50:48] Because her mum got a job at the museum.

[00:50:51] Oh, yeah.

[00:50:51] Yeah.

[00:50:52] Yeah, so she says to...

[00:50:54] So, this girl says to Matt,

[00:50:56] we've got to look out for each other.

[00:50:58] Haven't you noticed?

[00:50:59] Oh, you must have noticed.

[00:51:01] There are a lot of freaks here.

[00:51:06] These fucking weirdos!

[00:51:09] We're waiting for someone else to come along.

[00:51:11] I don't like him!

[00:51:12] I'm sorry, I just don't...

[00:51:13] I don't like him!

[00:51:14] Megan the Blitz in London.

[00:51:18] So, Gareth Thomas...

[00:51:19] Peace, mister!

[00:51:20] Sorry.

[00:51:21] It's okay.

[00:51:21] So, Gareth Thomas, science dad, he really doesn't take that much convincing of weird things.

[00:51:30] Yeah, for a fucking astrophysicist, man is ready to dive full hog into his kid being psychic,

[00:51:36] the rocks being magic.

[00:51:38] And I'm like...

[00:51:38] Sorry, what?

[00:51:41] Physics, you said?

[00:51:42] Yeah, so he goes for a drink with Margaret and they're talking about it and they're going backwards and forwards about them making obscene gestures with their hands.

[00:51:53] So, you jest, but it's great chemistry.

[00:51:57] It's actually really well done, I think.

[00:51:59] Oh, yeah, because they were actually fucking, that's why.

[00:52:01] No, because she was married to one of the writers.

[00:52:04] Oh, yeah, that stopped people.

[00:52:06] Let's just be a bit, you know...

[00:52:08] A bit what?

[00:52:09] I don't know!

[00:52:10] What?

[00:52:10] Are they going to fucking come for me for saying it?

[00:52:12] No, they're not!

[00:52:13] No, I don't know.

[00:52:16] The writers, by the way, were Trevor Ray and Jeremy Burnham.

[00:52:19] We know.

[00:52:19] She was married to...

[00:52:20] Oh, okay, she was married to Jeremy Burnham.

[00:52:23] I don't enjoy being alone.

[00:52:26] You miss your husband?

[00:52:28] No.

[00:52:28] No, I mean, you don't understand.

[00:52:30] You haven't been here long enough.

[00:52:33] Do you mean the happy day natives are unfriendly?

[00:52:37] I mean, I'm glad you're here.

[00:52:40] She's explaining to him, like, on all her museum walls, like, have you noticed there's 55 people in the village and there's 55 stones?

[00:52:48] And...

[00:52:49] You arriving makes it 55.

[00:52:50] Yes, yeah, you arriving makes it 55.

[00:52:52] So there's 53 stones, you arriving makes it 55.

[00:52:56] The ley lines, they all converge around the mayor's house and they stop at the stones.

[00:53:04] Like, it's all these things, they're all working things out and it's, like, deeply satisfying to see the four of them work things out.

[00:53:12] Really?

[00:53:13] Because I disagree.

[00:53:15] I felt like a lot of the answers to the questions were given away too easily.

[00:53:21] So, like, when they get the map down or, like, the map of the village with the stones and he's drawing the lines and he figures it out immediately, it's like...

[00:53:31] His super intelligence is just a convenient plot point.

[00:53:35] It never...

[00:53:37] I never felt that it was used in a, like, exciting way.

[00:53:41] It was just in a...

[00:53:43] So we can explain things quickly without having to do too much work kind of way.

[00:53:48] And I actually found that a bit frustrating.

[00:53:50] I wanted them to have to work more for their answers.

[00:53:53] Yeah.

[00:53:54] Especially the ley line map one because it's like, oh, you connected some lines together.

[00:53:59] Especially the...

[00:53:59] Genius.

[00:54:00] Especially the bit at the end where they're changing the clock.

[00:54:02] That all just worked immediately and it was like, come on.

[00:54:06] Yeah, it's very, like, there's...

[00:54:08] It's not breadcrumbs, there's whole loaves of bread that have been dropped on the floor.

[00:54:12] Yeah, yeah.

[00:54:12] I was just a bit...

[00:54:13] I was a bit frustrated because there was pretty much no point where I was going, oh, I wonder if this or I wonder if...

[00:54:22] That's what I want. It is a kid's show.

[00:54:24] That is probably the most...

[00:54:25] It's true.

[00:54:26] No, that's true.

[00:54:27] The most kid's show.

[00:54:27] Yeah, you say that, but what other kid's show is going to explain the workings of an atomic clock?

[00:54:32] Well, perhaps there's a master clock somewhere.

[00:54:35] Sending out signals to the rest?

[00:54:36] Well, it's possible.

[00:54:38] Quartz?

[00:54:38] No, it's not accurate enough.

[00:54:40] Atomic.

[00:54:41] Molecules...

[00:54:42] Wait a minute, wait a minute.

[00:54:44] Hendrick caught you in the crypt, right?

[00:54:45] You said you saw equipment machinery.

[00:54:48] The vent was making you choke, making your eyes water, right?

[00:54:50] That's right.

[00:54:51] Smelt trouble.

[00:54:52] Ammonia?

[00:54:53] You smelled ammonia in the crypt?

[00:54:55] Yes.

[00:54:56] The atomic clock is sometimes controlled by the ammonia molecule.

[00:55:00] No, they didn't really.

[00:55:02] They had to go.

[00:55:03] They showed how you can ruin one.

[00:55:07] They did explain how they work because it was what the ammonia molecules just don't.

[00:55:11] Oh, yeah.

[00:55:11] Sorry.

[00:55:12] Yeah, they did.

[00:55:13] There's a wonderful bit where the dad, on his first day on the job, gets back to the cottage and he's having dinner with his son.

[00:55:23] And they've got such a lovely relationship.

[00:55:25] Yeah.

[00:55:26] And their chemistry is really good as well.

[00:55:28] And I kind of love them as father-son casting.

[00:55:33] Um, you all right for a drink or two?

[00:55:35] Hello, hello, hello.

[00:55:36] I'm taking Margaret to the pub for an hour.

[00:55:38] So the anoract did the trick then?

[00:55:40] Don't wait up.

[00:55:41] But he's like walking away from the table and he's left his notes there and he's talking about his work and he says, oh, yeah, I'd like you to check the equations.

[00:55:47] And it's like, that's your 13-year-old son and you're an astrophysicist.

[00:55:52] This episode I saw with you a few months ago because I remember seeing that scene.

[00:55:56] Yes, yeah.

[00:55:56] And I remember being like, what the fuck?

[00:55:58] What?

[00:56:00] No, this is how you know it's a kid's show.

[00:56:02] Because if some PhD level astrophysicist is like, oh, could you just check my son's son?

[00:56:09] You who are 13 and have no, like, post school education.

[00:56:14] I was just sat there going, I wouldn't trust, no offense, either of you two to check my statistics.

[00:56:20] And statistics is way easier than astrophysics sums.

[00:56:24] It's only with our sonics that we can get that deep, at least within the circle.

[00:56:29] What about alignment?

[00:56:30] Done anything on that?

[00:56:31] Now, there's another interesting thing.

[00:56:32] Most stone circles are aligned either to the sun or the moon, right?

[00:56:36] Summer solstice, winter solstice or both.

[00:56:38] I mean, for instance, Stonehenge is aligned for both solar and lunar predictions.

[00:56:41] But this one isn't.

[00:56:44] What about other major stars?

[00:56:46] Planets?

[00:56:47] Well, these are only early figures.

[00:56:48] I'd like you to check the calculations.

[00:56:50] But there's no obvious path of alignment.

[00:56:53] I mean, talk about, what's he called, Brodie Sangster, the actor.

[00:56:58] Thomas.

[00:56:58] Thomas Brodie Sangster.

[00:56:59] The kid in this was 17.

[00:57:01] No.

[00:57:02] Yes, he was.

[00:57:03] He was 17.

[00:57:04] There is one bit where he does look like an old man because he's wearing like a bathroom.

[00:57:09] He's got like a mug of tea.

[00:57:09] Oh, I wanted to mention that.

[00:57:11] There's like half an episode where Adam's wearing the most lovely yellow dressing gown.

[00:57:17] It's so nice.

[00:57:19] And he's dressed like an old man.

[00:57:20] He just looks so cozy.

[00:57:22] But I mean, that's a lot of faith to put in your kid to have them check yourself.

[00:57:27] It's honestly, you couldn't afford an intern is how it's reading.

[00:57:30] There's another thing that they noticed that starts happening.

[00:57:33] So the new arrivals that starts with about eight people.

[00:57:37] And it's all of them because they notice that families change as a group when they change

[00:57:45] to become these happy day villagers.

[00:57:48] It happens in families.

[00:57:51] And they come at night.

[00:57:53] Well, famously not because you know how it happens.

[00:57:55] Yeah.

[00:57:56] I mean, they change them all in the night.

[00:57:58] But it seems like every family in Milbury is an only child and a single parent.

[00:58:05] Because they're all in pairs.

[00:58:07] Yeah, because there's only four chairs at that table.

[00:58:10] Where it happens.

[00:58:11] Yeah.

[00:58:11] Yeah.

[00:58:12] So they can only do two at a time.

[00:58:15] And you know, for early man, the bear was an object of veneration.

[00:58:19] The bear cult is probably as old as any other religion.

[00:58:21] What are you suggesting it was started by the primitive cave dweller who saw your supernova explode?

[00:58:26] Primitive cave dweller.

[00:58:28] I think you do him an injustice.

[00:58:30] According to legend, he was a visionary.

[00:58:32] Spiritual leader.

[00:58:34] A man of destiny.

[00:58:36] I beg his pardon.

[00:58:38] I think you might be well advised to do so.

[00:58:41] So Ian Cuthbertson.

[00:58:44] Yeah.

[00:58:44] He's like the Lord.

[00:58:46] I wonder if he's evil.

[00:58:48] Yeah.

[00:58:48] He's like the Lord Summer Isle character.

[00:58:49] So he's the one that's doing it.

[00:58:51] They're like his flock.

[00:58:52] He's the sheriff of Nottingham.

[00:58:53] He's the guy.

[00:58:55] He's like the god of the village.

[00:58:56] And he's like pulling all the strings.

[00:58:58] He is terrifying.

[00:59:00] His performance is so scary.

[00:59:03] He's very shark-like.

[00:59:05] Yes.

[00:59:06] That's it.

[00:59:06] He's got dead eyes.

[00:59:08] And I was like trying to put my finger on who he reminds me of.

[00:59:11] And I just got it today.

[00:59:12] And it's Kelsey Grammer.

[00:59:13] Yes, he does.

[00:59:15] Yeah, he does look like a shark.

[00:59:16] Like the way that you'd get rid of him would be to like punch him in the nose.

[00:59:19] He reminds me of that.

[00:59:20] Do you remember the Doctor Who episode where one of the guys turns into an ood?

[00:59:24] Yes.

[00:59:25] He reminds me of that guy.

[00:59:26] Yeah.

[00:59:27] He's just got this like constant smile.

[00:59:29] He does look like Kelsey Grammer though.

[00:59:31] You are right.

[00:59:31] And still he seems more alive than the people that he's kind of manipulating.

[00:59:38] Yeah, because he's their big daddy.

[00:59:39] Because he's their big daddy.

[00:59:40] He got to keep all his faculties.

[00:59:43] If he had no faculties he wouldn't be able to facilitate people.

[00:59:47] Yeah.

[00:59:49] His butler's kind of funny.

[00:59:51] I like the butler.

[00:59:52] Yeah, the butler's fun.

[00:59:53] There's one bit where they're talking about like women and children.

[00:59:57] The butler basically implies that the best of both worlds is to have married someone,

[01:00:02] had children, and for them to die.

[01:00:04] Yeah, because he's saying, oh, the big daddy is saying, Kelsey Grammer's saying,

[01:00:09] I never married, and yet I have my children, referring to the village.

[01:00:15] Yeah.

[01:00:15] And the butler's like, yeah, best of both worlds, isn't it?

[01:00:17] Yeah, and it's like, hmm.

[01:00:19] Okay.

[01:00:20] He doesn't think at one point called them his flock.

[01:00:23] Yeah.

[01:00:23] Yeah.

[01:00:24] Indeed, sir.

[01:00:25] Link, I shall be having another dinner party tonight.

[01:00:29] Sir?

[01:00:30] The sooner we're all one big happy family, the better.

[01:00:34] There are four to choose from, sir.

[01:00:36] Four who haven't yet enjoyed your hospitality.

[01:00:39] Yes.

[01:00:40] You'll invite them all together?

[01:00:42] No, no.

[01:00:42] They must come in order of precedence.

[01:00:45] So is the ladies first.

[01:00:48] Precisely.

[01:00:48] Well, I won't explain how he brainwashes them.

[01:00:54] A, because it's difficult to, and B, I don't want to spoil it.

[01:00:57] Yeah.

[01:00:57] But it's to do with the alignment of the stones.

[01:00:59] It's to do with time.

[01:01:02] Time is like kind of a semi-time travel plot as well.

[01:01:07] And the way that they slip under his radar is using science.

[01:01:12] And it's very Doctor Who.

[01:01:14] You're right.

[01:01:15] It feels really old Doctor Who, which is nice.

[01:01:17] It kind of feels a little bit like if Buffy turned up,

[01:01:20] she would get it sorted in an afternoon.

[01:01:22] Or if the Supernatural brothers showed up, they'd get it.

[01:01:25] What happened was shows became about people solving

[01:01:28] a Children of the Stones problem every week.

[01:01:31] Yeah, you're right.

[01:01:32] Yeah.

[01:01:33] No, you're so right.

[01:01:34] That happens so much in Sunnydale High.

[01:01:37] Yeah.

[01:01:37] And all over America in Supernatural.

[01:01:39] But generally, she just finds the person who's causing it

[01:01:42] and punches them, which they couldn't really do.

[01:01:45] Well, she could punch him.

[01:01:47] It wouldn't fix it.

[01:01:50] Should we talk about the music?

[01:01:51] Oh, fuck me.

[01:01:52] It's been going in my head the whole time we've been talking,

[01:01:55] especially when we're talking about the painting.

[01:01:58] It's earworm in the worst way possible.

[01:02:01] Yeah.

[01:02:01] It's been described as the most inappropriately scary score

[01:02:05] for a children's show.

[01:02:06] It's scary, but the one thing that annoys me about it

[01:02:09] is that it doesn't...

[01:02:11] The show in no way,

[01:02:14] no way conveys any sense of urgency.

[01:02:17] It's true.

[01:02:18] And, like...

[01:02:21] I'd not noticed that.

[01:02:22] No, you're so right.

[01:02:23] Everyone's, like, strolling.

[01:02:24] Yeah, I messaged Elsie about this earlier,

[01:02:26] and she was like, yeah, everyone's like,

[01:02:28] oh, you're going to turn me into a zombie.

[01:02:29] Cool, I guess.

[01:02:30] You're an intelligent man, Adam.

[01:02:32] Stay and help me in my work.

[01:02:34] You're not regretted.

[01:02:36] No, we're away.

[01:02:38] What is your work, Mr Hendrick?

[01:02:41] Matt, stay out of this.

[01:02:44] Father to the village?

[01:02:46] Squire?

[01:02:47] No, it's more than that.

[01:02:49] You see yourself as a high priest here, don't you?

[01:02:51] Matt.

[01:02:52] Let him go on.

[01:02:53] Let me just slowly stroll home.

[01:02:55] Stroll away.

[01:02:55] Yeah, because it gets to a point where they know what he's doing,

[01:03:00] and he knows that...

[01:03:02] They know.

[01:03:02] That they know, and so all they're saying is, like,

[01:03:05] you're very arrogant, aren't you?

[01:03:06] You think you can get away?

[01:03:07] But it's like, are you not?

[01:03:08] You can drive off!

[01:03:09] Except they can't drive off for reasons.

[01:03:11] There's some music when they're fiddling with the clock

[01:03:14] in the very last episode,

[01:03:16] and there's very quiet music behind what they're doing,

[01:03:19] and it's just like a long, long, sustained note.

[01:03:23] Instead of anything to convey that they might need to speed up,

[01:03:27] that their life's on the line, that they have a time limit,

[01:03:30] it's just like, hmm.

[01:03:32] I was watching it, and I was like, I'm actually starting...

[01:03:35] Are you sure that wasn't, like, the equipment,

[01:03:37] noise?

[01:03:38] I mean, it might have been, but at that point,

[01:03:39] I would have been putting in some music to convey a bit of urgency,

[01:03:42] because it was making me feel a bit tired, the noise.

[01:03:46] So...

[01:03:46] It's a very, like, unusual score.

[01:03:50] Like, it's a lot of people, right?

[01:03:51] It's a lot of choir.

[01:03:52] Yeah, yeah.

[01:03:53] Which is odd.

[01:03:55] It's also choir done in a way that's, like, very atypical,

[01:03:57] and I think a lot of scores stay quite safe these days.

[01:04:03] You know, you go with instruments you know.

[01:04:04] It was inspired by what they think language might have sounded like in that period.

[01:04:10] Oh, that's cool.

[01:04:11] So I can tell you...

[01:04:12] It reminds me of the original plan for the Avatar music.

[01:04:16] Oh, right.

[01:04:17] Because there was supposed to be a lot of, like, Scandinavian cow singing,

[01:04:21] or whatever it's called,

[01:04:22] with, like, weird sonar singing instruments you've never heard of.

[01:04:28] Yeah.

[01:04:28] Kind of, and, like, that unique weirdness that has made it such an earworm

[01:04:32] is very present and really unsettling.

[01:04:50] So I just want to tell you about the music.

[01:05:11] So Sydney Sager scored it.

[01:05:14] Super well done.

[01:05:15] Really well done.

[01:05:16] And it's the Ambrosian singers that chant.

[01:05:20] So that's kind of...

[01:05:21] Yeah, chanting, not even singing.

[01:05:22] Yeah.

[01:05:22] And there's one bit...

[01:05:23] Like, wailing.

[01:05:24] Yeah, there's one bit where they deadass just scream.

[01:05:27] Yeah.

[01:05:27] Yeah, so at least once in every episode.

[01:05:30] I think towards the end it slightly loses its effect,

[01:05:34] although I did binge it.

[01:05:35] If you were watching it week on week,

[01:05:37] probably this wouldn't happen, but...

[01:05:39] Genuinely, I would super recommend watching the two-hour 15 one I watched,

[01:05:43] all at one go.

[01:05:44] You might get very confused because it'll get to one bit

[01:05:47] where it says end of part one when you're over two-thirds of the way through,

[01:05:50] but that's just the end of an episode.

[01:05:51] Yeah.

[01:05:52] I like it when TV said end of part one and part two.

[01:05:55] I find it quite comforting.

[01:05:56] It's like, yes, I'm situated.

[01:05:57] I know where I am.

[01:05:59] I liked that about it.

[01:06:00] But yeah, in each episode,

[01:06:02] when it reaches the point of the most tension,

[01:06:06] there was a variant on the opening.

[01:06:10] And it is essentially just wailing.

[01:06:12] It's like zooming in on the creepy picture, for example,

[01:06:16] and wailing or zooming in on...

[01:06:18] They do those crossfades, a different part of the picture.

[01:06:21] Yeah, where there's actually people singing or doing the chanting.

[01:06:25] Yeah.

[01:06:26] And they're in the background.

[01:06:28] There was one bit that I noticed where they did a crossfade,

[01:06:31] but the original image got paused

[01:06:33] and there was people chanting over the back of it.

[01:06:36] And I couldn't understand the need for pausing.

[01:06:40] Yeah.

[01:06:40] Like, one was a still image.

[01:06:42] And I was like, why have you done that?

[01:06:43] I don't know why.

[01:06:45] It also has, like...

[01:06:46] Because Matt has these sort of psychic powers for,

[01:06:50] I'm guessing, for convenience.

[01:06:53] So that you know...

[01:06:54] He is a plot device.

[01:06:55] Yeah.

[01:06:56] It's so that you know what's happened to other characters.

[01:06:58] Yeah.

[01:06:58] So there's six people that are, like, three parents,

[01:07:04] three children in a room trying to work out what's happening.

[01:07:08] And one of the adult characters, he's a doctor.

[01:07:11] He's like, oh, I've got to go out of town to help an old patient.

[01:07:16] And he leaves his glove behind and Matt finds out he has these powers

[01:07:21] because he's holding the glove and they're static

[01:07:22] and he can actually see what the doctor's seeing.

[01:07:26] It's psychometry, which is like...

[01:07:27] Psychometry.

[01:07:28] Psychic via touch.

[01:07:30] Are they plastic or leather?

[01:07:32] Leather.

[01:07:32] I know.

[01:07:33] First principles, leather's a non-conductor.

[01:07:36] But it's there.

[01:07:39] Let me see.

[01:07:47] Nothing.

[01:07:48] I think that bang in the head's beginning to get through to you.

[01:07:51] It wasn't only what I could feel.

[01:07:58] It's getting stronger.

[01:08:00] And I can see.

[01:08:03] I can see.

[01:08:07] See what?

[01:08:09] Dr. Lyle.

[01:08:11] It's a good bit of the story.

[01:08:13] Like, he gets to the edge of the circle and he suddenly loses.

[01:08:16] He doesn't know.

[01:08:17] He can't see anymore.

[01:08:18] And then they don't know what's happened to the doctor.

[01:08:20] And the next day he's changed.

[01:08:22] So it's a good bit of the story.

[01:08:23] But the reason he has those powers is because it fits thematically.

[01:08:27] Yeah.

[01:08:27] And it's just easy.

[01:08:30] It's just expedient.

[01:08:31] Yeah, exactly.

[01:08:31] There's a bit later on when he's doing the same thing, seeing what's happening to someone

[01:08:36] else.

[01:08:36] But I wasn't paying full attention, which is my bad.

[01:08:40] And there's a bit where he's like got his hands on like this scarf, I think.

[01:08:44] And he genuinely just goes, sucking.

[01:08:48] He's like, wait a minute.

[01:08:52] Wait a minute.

[01:08:52] What?

[01:08:53] I'll go back.

[01:08:54] There's quite a...

[01:08:55] There's several times where I think the very last time this happens and he's basically just

[01:09:01] got his eyes closed and he's just saying buzzwords.

[01:09:03] I felt really bad for this kid because it's a really difficult thing to have to act, I think.

[01:09:10] Like bright light.

[01:09:11] Yeah.

[01:09:12] Like it's just difficult words to deliver well.

[01:09:15] Chanting.

[01:09:17] End.

[01:09:21] Visitor.

[01:09:25] Bright.

[01:09:27] Shining.

[01:09:29] Circle.

[01:09:32] Fucking...

[01:09:32] Such power.

[01:09:34] Yeah.

[01:09:34] Whenever there's like moments like that in any...

[01:09:37] Like it's usually sci-fi, right?

[01:09:38] Where they're like having a moment.

[01:09:40] I'm like...

[01:09:40] One of those word maps.

[01:09:42] Yeah.

[01:09:42] With the big words on there.

[01:09:43] Like it happens in Doctor Who a lot where they'll touch a thing.

[01:09:46] They're like, oh, it's such power.

[01:09:47] And it's like...

[01:09:47] Well, I think you have to because otherwise you don't know what's going on.

[01:09:52] But one of the things I kind of wish that they'd utilized more was like the power

[01:09:55] of the gang.

[01:09:57] Because...

[01:09:57] Yeah, me too.

[01:09:59] Sandra and Margaret.

[01:10:01] Was it Margaret?

[01:10:02] Sandra and Margaret, yeah.

[01:10:03] Margaret get converted.

[01:10:04] And I liked up until that point the kind of like famous five solar time mystery.

[01:10:12] Especially that it was adults and kids working together and knowing as much as each other,

[01:10:16] which doesn't happen very much at all.

[01:10:18] I really enjoyed that.

[01:10:19] That would happen in real life.

[01:10:19] If there was an emergency and you lived in a village, would you not rope your parents in?

[01:10:24] Yeah, exactly.

[01:10:25] I liked that.

[01:10:26] But I...

[01:10:26] I like that the adults believed them.

[01:10:28] That often doesn't happen as well.

[01:10:29] I wish that they'd given like Margaret a power or something.

[01:10:34] Like, like Matt could do everything and Margaret could do nothing.

[01:10:38] And I like, I just wish that there'd been like, she'd contributed more.

[01:10:42] Yeah, Margaret was like the Giles, wasn't she?

[01:10:45] Like, she had the resources.

[01:10:47] Yeah, and I liked that.

[01:10:48] But also, does he need to be, um...

[01:10:51] Does he need to have like superhuman intelligence and also be telepathic?

[01:10:55] I don't know.

[01:10:56] She could be the one interested in astrophysics.

[01:10:58] Yeah.

[01:10:59] Or her daughter had nothing.

[01:11:01] History, yeah.

[01:11:02] Or they could have at least fucking kissed.

[01:11:04] Come on now.

[01:11:04] I know, it's a shame.

[01:11:06] It's a 70s kids show.

[01:11:07] So?

[01:11:08] So?

[01:11:08] So?

[01:11:08] They were on drugs doing...

[01:11:11] They showed a village of people screaming and they were all doped out and chanting and

[01:11:17] it was about a cult.

[01:11:19] But oh, we're kissed.

[01:11:20] That's too far.

[01:11:21] I feel like in real life there would be something like, ergot poisoning.

[01:11:24] But her daughter, um, I think that actress does an amazing job.

[01:11:31] So she's cold, I can tell you.

[01:11:34] I think that nothing is more unsettling than chanting you're not a part of.

[01:11:39] The church!

[01:11:43] There's a carving of a serpent on the font.

[01:11:46] It's biting the foot of a bitch.

[01:11:48] And I told you what that meant, remember?

[01:11:50] Hmm.

[01:11:50] It represents the battle between pagan and Christian.

[01:11:53] Yes, that's right.

[01:11:54] You see, after the battle was over, the Christians built their churches on the sites of pagan temples.

[01:12:01] I mean, ground that was already sacred.

[01:12:03] But they couldn't be absolutely sure that the ancient religion had been completely stamped out.

[01:12:08] So the carving on the font was probably intended as a warning.

[01:12:12] A warning?

[01:12:13] Yes, to be constantly on their guard.

[01:12:15] Against the power of the serpent.

[01:12:17] That's right.

[01:12:18] She's called Catherine Levy.

[01:12:20] And there's a scene that she's in.

[01:12:22] It's her and Matt.

[01:12:23] And it often, like, makes the charts of, like, scariest TV scenes.

[01:12:28] You know, those sort of listicles.

[01:12:30] It's when, it's the day after her and her mum have been converted.

[01:12:34] And he's in the deconsecrated church grounds with her.

[01:12:41] The grounds of the mayor's house.

[01:12:43] And she sees him.

[01:12:46] And this is when he's decided, him and his dad have decided to leave.

[01:12:53] And she already knows.

[01:12:54] She's like, you're going so soon.

[01:12:57] It's like, who told you?

[01:12:58] It's like, they all know things.

[01:13:00] They're all saying things.

[01:13:01] They collectively know things.

[01:13:03] And if you're within the stones, you are known by the stones.

[01:13:07] Yeah.

[01:13:08] It is a scary scene.

[01:13:10] Because she just delivers it in just the most chilling way.

[01:13:14] So he says, oh.

[01:13:15] And he does not react enough to that.

[01:13:17] She's acting so fucking weird.

[01:13:18] She's acting a little heart out.

[01:13:20] And he's just like, ah, okay.

[01:13:21] So goodbye.

[01:13:23] Not goodbye, Matt.

[01:13:24] We'll see you soon.

[01:13:25] We'll see you very soon, Matt.

[01:13:27] It's like she knows what's going to happen.

[01:13:29] You know shit's been going down.

[01:13:31] You know that skinwalker stuff's been going down.

[01:13:33] But you're not going to react at all to how different your friend's acting.

[01:13:35] Again, no sense of urgency.

[01:13:37] It's like, why aren't you more scared?

[01:13:38] You should be.

[01:13:39] I know it's a kid show.

[01:13:40] Me, me, me.

[01:13:41] Well, I expected.

[01:13:42] You should be more scared.

[01:13:42] I expected the minute after he saw her, he'd go back to his dad and be like, nah,

[01:13:46] something's up.

[01:13:47] Because he's supposed to be fucking intelligent.

[01:13:49] Why have you not noticed that she's acting completely different?

[01:13:52] Another actor I'd like to talk about, because I think he's potentially the best actor in

[01:13:57] the whole thing.

[01:13:59] Is that the weird guy?

[01:14:00] No, no, no.

[01:14:01] Not Ian Cuthbertson.

[01:14:02] No, no, not him.

[01:14:03] Oh, no.

[01:14:03] We'll get on to Die.

[01:14:04] We will get on to Die.

[01:14:05] That's Freddie Jones who plays Die.

[01:14:07] An amazing actor.

[01:14:08] But no, Bob is the first kid he meets.

[01:14:13] Like the first sort of...

[01:14:15] On the bike.

[01:14:16] Clever, clever.

[01:14:17] Yeah, on the bike.

[01:14:18] And he's the first indication that things aren't really normal.

[01:14:23] And I think this kid plays it so well.

[01:14:28] Like he was like this, he was this little like blonde kind of village of the damned kind

[01:14:33] of looking kid.

[01:14:35] Yeah.

[01:14:36] I love that movie.

[01:14:36] So I googled him and he's called Ian Donnelly and he just played a fucking blinder.

[01:14:42] Like I saw that he's got, like I wasn't expecting this.

[01:14:46] I was expecting it to be like the boy who played Matt.

[01:14:49] Just like...

[01:14:50] One and done.

[01:14:50] Yeah.

[01:14:51] He's got like a full IMDB.

[01:14:53] He's done the soaps.

[01:14:55] I think he's got like a doctor's credit.

[01:14:57] Like he's there.

[01:14:58] He's out there doing stuff.

[01:14:59] My favourite bit is when they go into the shop for the first time and he says, would

[01:15:04] you like a Cornet?

[01:15:06] Cornets for two?

[01:15:07] Matt's ice cream?

[01:15:08] No, Bob.

[01:15:09] No thanks.

[01:15:10] Two please, Mrs. Warner.

[01:15:11] Vanilla?

[01:15:12] And chocolate.

[01:15:13] Vanilla and chocolate.

[01:15:15] I'll have two please.

[01:15:17] Vanilla and chocolate.

[01:15:19] I think that's...

[01:15:20] Do you think that might be where the Cornettos thing in Hot Fuzz is inspired by?

[01:15:25] Because I feel like Edgar Wright, I was trying to find anything anywhere.

[01:15:29] That had mentioned Edgar Wright and this in the same thing.

[01:15:31] Couldn't find it.

[01:15:33] I would be amazed if Edgar Wright was not influenced by this.

[01:15:37] Because he's a proper cinephile as well.

[01:15:39] Yeah, and like 100% this is somewhere in the inspiration for Hot Fuzz and The World's End.

[01:15:45] Because like it's...

[01:15:46] That's the plot.

[01:15:47] That's kind of the same plot minus some of the celestial shit.

[01:15:51] But like it's the same fucking plot.

[01:15:52] Yeah.

[01:15:53] Do you want me to...

[01:15:54] His showreels are all on YouTube.

[01:15:55] Yeah, so he replied to a comment on YouTube and he found it.

[01:16:00] Yeah, he commented.

[01:16:01] He was like, thanks for posting this.

[01:16:02] I played Bob, the kid on the bike.

[01:16:05] We shot it in the long hot summer of 76 and we had just the best time.

[01:16:09] I haven't seen this for 40 years.

[01:16:10] Brings back great memories.

[01:16:12] That's so nice.

[01:16:13] Apparently they did have a really wonderful time filming it.

[01:16:16] Amazing weather.

[01:16:16] Even if the kids were shit actors.

[01:16:18] Oh, come on.

[01:16:20] Come on.

[01:16:20] I was quoting.

[01:16:21] I was quoting.

[01:16:22] Oh, the director.

[01:16:24] They were not so good.

[01:16:26] I don't think he meant that.

[01:16:28] Why say it then?

[01:16:29] You're going to really knock some people's confidence.

[01:16:32] Well, clearly not that kid.

[01:16:33] But maybe, maybe that's the reason that Matt didn't go on to being anything else.

[01:16:38] Jokes, Meg.

[01:16:38] That's why he said it.

[01:16:40] Jokes.

[01:16:40] And you should know that better than anyone.

[01:16:42] Shut the fuck up, Laura.

[01:16:43] Shut the fuck up.

[01:16:45] I don't give a fuck.

[01:16:46] Shut up.

[01:16:46] Matt's called Peter Demmon, by the way.

[01:16:48] I hadn't mentioned his name yet and I felt bad.

[01:16:50] So that's him.

[01:16:51] Lovely job, Peter.

[01:16:53] Yeah.

[01:16:53] Good stuff.

[01:16:54] I like peanut butter and strawberry mousse sandwiches with gherkins.

[01:17:01] He asked for a sherbet butty at one point and I was like...

[01:17:05] That reminds me.

[01:17:06] You getting a supper?

[01:17:07] I had a sandwich.

[01:17:08] What sandwich?

[01:17:10] Ham and banana.

[01:17:12] With gherkins and honey.

[01:17:15] Oh.

[01:17:15] Earlier I said to Elsie, like, there were some bits I missed because I kept getting distracted.

[01:17:20] Is there a reason that Matt keeps eating weird foods?

[01:17:23] And she goes, no, that's the humor of the whole series.

[01:17:26] That's the kind of humor they tried to injure.

[01:17:28] I mean, I don't know.

[01:17:29] There's some humor in it, I guess.

[01:17:31] It's not too...

[01:17:32] It doesn't feel too heavy.

[01:17:34] It doesn't feel too dark.

[01:17:36] But I do...

[01:17:37] Probably because it was filmed in the long, hot summer of 76.

[01:17:39] Amazing.

[01:17:41] The only bit where I, like, didn't like Matt was when he, like...

[01:17:46] Who's their, like, housekeeper or whatever her name is?

[01:17:48] Oh, yeah.

[01:17:48] He was a real dick to her.

[01:17:49] Yeah.

[01:17:50] And he was, like, bossing her around and his dad didn't say anything about it.

[01:17:53] He was, like, being perfectly polite to everyone else.

[01:17:55] And the minute she says anything to him, he orders her to go do something.

[01:17:59] And, like, dismisses her entirely.

[01:18:01] Doesn't answer her.

[01:18:02] Doesn't engage in conversation.

[01:18:03] And I was like, what the fuck, dude?

[01:18:04] Probably because in 76, women still couldn't really own houses, could they?

[01:18:08] Like, legally.

[01:18:09] Well, it's like...

[01:18:10] Is that true?

[01:18:10] That's true, isn't it?

[01:18:11] He's being perfectly normal to the other women.

[01:18:13] Maybe it's because he knows that there are no consequences.

[01:18:16] Because if you're rude to these people, they don't even register it.

[01:18:20] Like, there's a bit where Bob gets...

[01:18:22] She looks displeased.

[01:18:23] And I feel like that was just the actor reacting to being told what to do.

[01:18:26] Yeah.

[01:18:26] Like, Bob gets punched in the face.

[01:18:28] And he's like, see, didn't solve anything.

[01:18:30] And it's like, yeah, these people are...

[01:18:31] Bob really goads him as well.

[01:18:33] Yeah, yeah, he does.

[01:18:33] And Matt bites.

[01:18:35] Yeah.

[01:18:35] No, it's not Matt that punches him.

[01:18:37] Sorry, not someone.

[01:18:37] And he...

[01:18:38] Yeah, he's like, go on, punch me.

[01:18:40] And the kid does.

[01:18:42] I've been dropped.

[01:18:42] I'm not in the team.

[01:18:43] What did you expect?

[01:18:45] I scored twice.

[01:18:46] Moms, isn't it?

[01:18:47] Top scorer and you get dropped.

[01:18:48] You argued with decisions.

[01:18:50] That's no way to be happy.

[01:18:52] Happy?

[01:18:52] That striker deliberately fouled me and the ref took no notice.

[01:18:56] Well, perhaps he was unsighted.

[01:18:58] Perhaps he was stone blind.

[01:18:59] You certainly told him so.

[01:19:01] Did it make you feel better?

[01:19:02] I'll tell you what would make me feel better.

[01:19:04] Go on then, thump me.

[01:19:10] See?

[01:19:11] Didn't solve anything, did it?

[01:19:13] Violence.

[01:19:14] So what?

[01:19:14] No kiss, but we can see someone being punched in the face.

[01:19:17] A child.

[01:19:18] A child.

[01:19:19] Well, by another child, so it's okay.

[01:19:22] Society's more accepting of anger than love.

[01:19:25] Oh, God.

[01:19:26] Is it?

[01:19:27] Showing it to kids, yeah.

[01:19:28] What you just said was, you said it like it was a fact.

[01:19:32] I'd like to preface that this was just an opinion from Laura.

[01:19:38] There's so much violence in kids' stuff.

[01:19:39] Very little romance.

[01:19:41] We need to talk about Di.

[01:19:42] The stones all seem to lean slightly towards the centre.

[01:19:45] My father reckons it's weathering or subsidence.

[01:19:48] But I was wondering, do they all lean at the same angle?

[01:19:52] And if they do, what then?

[01:19:54] I don't know.

[01:19:55] I'm not sure.

[01:19:56] Just knows, yeah.

[01:19:57] Leave the stones alone.

[01:19:59] But if they do align, it'll be too much to pass them off as coincidence, won't it?

[01:20:02] And if they don't, if your father's right, what then?

[01:20:05] Well, want to buy a homemade theodolite, one careful owner?

[01:20:11] What do you need to finish off your sight machine?

[01:20:15] Well, that's why I need your help.

[01:20:16] I thought if we could budge your telescope into it, do the lenses detach.

[01:20:19] No, no chance of that, none.

[01:20:21] Listen, Di, there's lots of important figures my father and I have to collect.

[01:20:24] The only way we're going to get this particular set is if you help me.

[01:20:29] Please.

[01:20:36] Just for a day or two, mind.

[01:20:37] Thanks.

[01:20:38] There's so much to do before we leave.

[01:20:42] Leave.

[01:20:43] What do you mean?

[01:20:45] Leave the circle.

[01:20:46] Leave.

[01:20:47] Milbury.

[01:20:48] Yes.

[01:20:49] Leave.

[01:20:57] Leave the stones.

[01:21:01] You never will.

[01:21:02] What do you mean?

[01:21:03] Nobody leaves the circle.

[01:21:07] Nonsense.

[01:21:08] You leave.

[01:21:09] You come and go as you please.

[01:21:10] Where do I go?

[01:21:10] They have a new sanctuary, the barrow.

[01:21:13] Never get away from the stones.

[01:21:17] Never get beyond their sight, boy.

[01:21:20] Never out of their grasp.

[01:21:23] Di is the weird, like, almost...

[01:21:27] The guy that leads through the window and no one had a problem with that.

[01:21:30] That's such a weird ingredient.

[01:21:31] It lives in the weird...

[01:21:33] Sanctuary?

[01:21:34] Yeah, so...

[01:21:34] That's got the stones with all the faces on.

[01:21:37] Yeah, so Di is a poacher that lives in the village and he's the only one that sort of speaks openly about what's going on.

[01:21:48] And it's like he knows a lot more than...

[01:21:52] And he's trying to tell them, but he kind of speaks in riddles and also he's got the most...

[01:21:58] Like, the thickest Welsh accent I've ever heard.

[01:22:02] You are a saviour, I am.

[01:22:04] Save me from what?

[01:22:05] The past and you are a future.

[01:22:16] I don't understand.

[01:22:18] I let you into the secret, boy, neither do I.

[01:22:20] Di, you do understand.

[01:22:23] You understand something which is more than we do.

[01:22:25] I've got feelings that's quite different from understanding.

[01:22:27] What do you feel?

[01:22:28] What do I feel?

[01:22:34] Wanted.

[01:22:36] No, not worse than that.

[01:22:40] Something happened here in the past and it's happening again today.

[01:22:45] You know in that weird, like, shack that he lives in?

[01:22:49] All the...

[01:22:50] A lot of the stones on the...

[01:22:51] You know that it's...

[01:22:52] They've got faces on them.

[01:22:54] I didn't notice that.

[01:22:56] It's a very interesting co-opting of pagan iconography into Christian iconography,

[01:23:01] especially in, like, early Anglican places in the UK.

[01:23:03] Yeah.

[01:23:04] And that might be what that's referring to.

[01:23:05] There's, like, you can find really funny, very old Anglican churches with the, like...

[01:23:11] You might have seen what I'm talking about.

[01:23:13] The, like, little stone statues with massive vulvas.

[01:23:18] Yes.

[01:23:18] I...

[01:23:19] No, I couldn't tell whether...

[01:23:20] Because I thought this was just something I'd missed the explanation for.

[01:23:24] But, like, he lives...

[01:23:25] He, like, barricades himself into that place, doesn't he?

[01:23:27] It's called the Sanctuary.

[01:23:29] The Sanctuary.

[01:23:29] And it's depicted in the painting.

[01:23:31] It's, like, where you're supposed to be safe.

[01:23:33] Yeah.

[01:23:34] And a lot of the stones have got what look like faces on them.

[01:23:38] Like, they're people that have become stones.

[01:23:41] And that's what I thought that was referencing.

[01:23:43] I thought it was referencing...

[01:23:44] Like, you know, at the beginning when they're, like, talking about people becoming stones in

[01:23:48] the painting?

[01:23:48] That's what I thought that was referencing.

[01:23:50] Probably it is.

[01:23:51] But I haven't got a clue.

[01:23:51] I guess maybe the stones would protect you from the stones.

[01:23:54] What do you make of that?

[01:23:55] What is it?

[01:23:56] Where did you get it?

[01:23:57] It's mine.

[01:23:58] I found it.

[01:24:00] It came to me.

[01:24:05] My father would be interested in that.

[01:24:07] Dad?

[01:24:08] It's more on your mum's line, isn't it?

[01:24:09] Yes.

[01:24:10] Should I show it to her?

[01:24:11] To my mother?

[01:24:12] It's mine.

[01:24:13] I found it.

[01:24:14] It came to me.

[01:24:15] But he's got an amulet with...

[01:24:17] Oh, an amulet.

[01:24:18] Yeah, he's got an amulet that he thinks protects him.

[01:24:23] Oh, do I say this?

[01:24:25] Because it is a spoiler.

[01:24:26] But I want to go on to talk about the actual proper horror moments.

[01:24:32] All right, well, spoiler alert.

[01:24:33] The kids are with him in his cave.

[01:24:37] And he's talking about how the amulet came to him.

[01:24:40] It's his protection.

[01:24:41] And he breaks it by accident.

[01:24:44] And he runs off.

[01:24:46] And I think this is one of the most chilling parts of the whole show.

[01:24:51] They're seeing him on a distant hill and he collapses.

[01:24:54] Oh, yeah.

[01:24:55] He's collapsed and they run over.

[01:24:57] And when they get there, it's just a stone on the floor.

[01:25:01] It's so scary.

[01:25:03] Have you guys seen...

[01:25:04] This is going to sound really off the wall, but if you haven't, I'll show you.

[01:25:08] Have you seen Jules Verne's grave?

[01:25:10] No.

[01:25:11] No.

[01:25:14] No.

[01:25:15] Wow.

[01:25:15] I don't like it.

[01:25:16] I saw a thing the other day that was like...

[01:25:18] That's amazing.

[01:25:19] Guys, Jules Verne's on his way back.

[01:25:21] Luckily, Medusa was there to stop him.

[01:25:24] Oh, I don't like it.

[01:25:26] She's going out to dinner tonight.

[01:25:30] How does she know?

[01:25:35] How did she know?

[01:25:37] Hendrik hadn't even invited us then.

[01:25:40] Please, don't go.

[01:25:42] Tell him you've changed your mind.

[01:25:44] Why?

[01:25:45] I'm longing to see the house.

[01:25:47] Look, Dr. Lyle said he was invited to dinner by Hendrik and he had to change his mind because

[01:25:51] he had an appointment with an old patient 30 miles away.

[01:25:54] Now, I don't believe he ever capped that appointment.

[01:25:57] And if he didn't, then where else did he go?

[01:26:00] He can't have gone to Hendrik's.

[01:26:02] Not if he wasn't expected.

[01:26:04] Wasn't he?

[01:26:06] Well, I'll be able to ask him, won't I?

[01:26:10] Oh, come on, Sandra.

[01:26:11] We must go.

[01:26:11] Look, promise me one thing.

[01:26:14] Anything.

[01:26:14] Of course.

[01:26:15] Come back here afterwards.

[01:26:17] For a nightcap.

[01:26:22] See you later.

[01:26:22] Another moment that I find very scary is literally from the off, they are driving towards Milbury,

[01:26:31] the two of them.

[01:26:32] Matt and Adam.

[01:26:34] And it's, I mean, it's your classic beginning of a horror.

[01:26:40] You're in a car towards the destination.

[01:26:42] Like The Shining.

[01:26:44] Like any of them.

[01:26:46] That's true, actually.

[01:26:47] Most of them, yeah.

[01:26:48] Now that they think about it.

[01:26:49] And they almost, he's like, Dad!

[01:26:51] Because they've almost crashed into a standing rock.

[01:26:53] And it cuts back to the rock and it's a woman standing in the middle of the road.

[01:26:58] And that's, I mean, in the first three minutes, it's really shocking.

[01:27:03] Or like when Bob cycles off into, like cycles off down the road,

[01:27:09] and Matt sees him cycle into an oncoming lorry.

[01:27:13] And he like closes his eyes.

[01:27:16] And when he opens his eyes, Bob's just done a circle of the road and he's coming back.

[01:27:20] The lorry was never there.

[01:27:22] Yeah, where are we?

[01:27:22] I think it's to like explain that he's got some sort of psychic,

[01:27:29] because it's also a time thing.

[01:27:31] I mean, it's weird time things are happening within the circle.

[01:27:36] It's like a time lock or whatever they call it.

[01:27:39] I'd love to get hold of the scripts for these.

[01:27:41] There's a radio play that they did a few years ago, right?

[01:27:45] Yeah, they did a podcast and Reece Shearsmith played the mayor,

[01:27:49] which is a very, very likely thing for Reece Shearsmith to do.

[01:27:52] It is totally his jam.

[01:27:54] Yeah, I'd like to see the script so I could see like the intentions.

[01:27:58] Fortunately, Link here, returning from a shopping expedition,

[01:28:00] came across your car at the entrance to Lynette Avenue.

[01:28:03] You were both apparently unconscious.

[01:28:07] Fumes, do you imagine?

[01:28:08] Carbon monoxide from a damaged exhaust.

[01:28:11] No, I think it was simpler than that.

[01:28:13] I think we lost our way.

[01:28:16] Is that possible in Milbury?

[01:28:17] No, not geographically.

[01:28:19] I think we missed the turning.

[01:28:21] The time turning.

[01:28:23] We failed to get through to our present.

[01:28:25] But especially in that scene where he's watching Bob go into a lorry,

[01:28:30] it cuts to...

[01:28:32] See, I think he does a really great performance in this.

[01:28:35] He goes, wait, stop.

[01:28:37] And then it holds on his face and he's screaming,

[01:28:41] but there's no sound at all.

[01:28:43] It's silent.

[01:28:44] There's a couple times where it's...

[01:28:45] It's just wonderful sound editing.

[01:28:47] There's a couple times where it goes completely silent,

[01:28:50] but like when I wasn't paying full attention,

[01:28:53] it going completely silent made me go,

[01:28:55] oh, wait a minute, what's about to happen?

[01:29:09] The silence is used really effectively

[01:29:11] considering the other side of it is such distressing noise.

[01:29:15] Yeah.

[01:29:16] Yeah.

[01:29:16] That balance is played so well.

[01:29:19] Because it's weirdly silent right at the end

[01:29:21] and it put me so on edge that they weren't okay.

[01:29:25] There's a, I would say throughout the series,

[01:29:29] three scenes where the villagers are having

[01:29:32] some sort of midnight circle chant and...

[01:29:37] Nothing worse than a chant you're not a part of.

[01:29:39] Exactly.

[01:29:40] I didn't complain when my mother held me to sleep.

[01:29:45] Never told my mother to shut up when she held me to sleep.

[01:29:48] I wonder why like British Isles have such a thing about stones.

[01:29:52] I was just thinking about some more.

[01:29:54] I guess we have them.

[01:29:55] I mean, that's why...

[01:29:56] There's stones everywhere.

[01:29:56] Yeah, but that's why Italians make made pizza first.

[01:29:59] They have really great tomatoes.

[01:30:01] Didn't they change their mind again recently

[01:30:03] about where the Stonehenge stones are from?

[01:30:06] I think some of them.

[01:30:07] Some of them.

[01:30:26] From Scandinavia though, they might...

[01:30:28] Because they are, I think, as old as Doggerland, right?

[01:30:31] What?

[01:30:33] You know what it is.

[01:30:34] You did geography.

[01:30:35] No, I don't.

[01:30:36] Okay, never mind.

[01:30:37] So 10,000 years ago, 12,000 years ago,

[01:30:40] there was land connecting us to Northern Europe.

[01:30:42] Yeah.

[01:30:43] Doggerland.

[01:30:43] Oh, we thought...

[01:30:44] Oh, that's weird.

[01:30:46] Then there was a huge, huge tsunami.

[01:30:49] You did geography.

[01:30:50] You should know what was there 10,000 years ago.

[01:30:53] We did coasts.

[01:30:55] Now coasts.

[01:30:56] We didn't have a coast at the time.

[01:30:57] Surely that's...

[01:31:00] Right.

[01:31:00] So that would...

[01:31:01] If they got there from Scandinavia,

[01:31:02] there was land there once.

[01:31:03] That makes sense.

[01:31:03] But I mean, maybe we were connected to Ireland.

[01:31:05] I'm not sure.

[01:31:06] No, it was glaciers.

[01:31:07] So we weren't connected to Ireland.

[01:31:07] How old Stonehenge went to be?

[01:31:10] 3,000.

[01:31:11] So 10,000 years ago when Doggerland was there...

[01:31:14] I can't remember.

[01:31:15] There were no people to bring the stones.

[01:31:18] No, but they could have already been here.

[01:31:21] What are you talking about?

[01:31:22] Well, they could have been brought...

[01:31:23] brought over here.

[01:31:24] A very long time ago by humans.

[01:31:26] And then later put down to...

[01:31:29] I don't know.

[01:31:30] Let's move on.

[01:31:32] So this circle chant,

[01:31:34] the way that they...

[01:31:35] So it focuses in on some of the characters' faces,

[01:31:39] like some of the villagers that we know,

[01:31:41] when they're in that chant,

[01:31:43] that they're all sort of looking up at the sky

[01:31:46] and the lighting is very, very dim.

[01:31:48] And this is not good content for a podcast, actually,

[01:31:51] but just the way that their faces look

[01:31:52] is utterly terrifying while they're singing.

[01:31:55] Describe it to us, Elsie.

[01:31:57] But especially Bob.

[01:31:59] Bob is...

[01:31:59] Do you know the shot I'm talking about?

[01:32:02] He's got a very expressive face.

[01:32:04] He really does.

[01:32:04] You know the shot I'm talking about, right?

[01:32:06] Yeah.

[01:32:06] And when I saw it,

[01:32:07] I actually thought,

[01:32:08] I've seen this somewhere before.

[01:32:10] Like, have I watched a documentary about it?

[01:32:12] I don't know.

[01:32:13] But I feel like it's an image that I know.

[01:32:15] Hmm.

[01:32:16] This has the potential to be very memed,

[01:32:19] and it's...

[01:32:19] I hope it goes weirdly viral

[01:32:22] and loads of things come off of it,

[01:32:23] because I think there's loads of, like,

[01:32:24] bits of audio and little clips

[01:32:26] that are very funny.

[01:32:27] I think it's had time and it's not happened.

[01:32:29] Old things come back.

[01:32:32] Adam.

[01:32:33] Mm-hmm?

[01:32:33] Would you do something for me?

[01:32:35] Of course.

[01:32:36] Touch one of the stones.

[01:32:38] What?

[01:32:39] I just want to see if you're the kind of man

[01:32:42] I think you are.

[01:32:43] What sort of man is that?

[01:32:44] No.

[01:32:45] Please.

[01:32:46] Come with me, please.

[01:32:47] The way that Margaret and Adam

[01:32:49] talk to each other

[01:32:51] when they're flirting with each other

[01:32:52] in the museum,

[01:32:53] like, she's very clipped.

[01:32:55] Like, she's like this foxy widow

[01:32:58] that works in the archives.

[01:33:01] And he's there, like,

[01:33:04] chatting to her about,

[01:33:05] oh, I'm a man of science.

[01:33:06] And she turns around with her,

[01:33:08] like, bouffant hair and says,

[01:33:11] Adam, I'd like you to do something for me.

[01:33:14] Touch one of the stones.

[01:33:16] Oh, yeah.

[01:33:16] Touch one of the stones.

[01:33:18] So I can see what kind of man you are.

[01:33:21] It's so fucking weird.

[01:33:23] It's so funny.

[01:33:24] So I can see if you're sensitive.

[01:33:26] A man of sensitivity.

[01:33:29] What kind of a man is that?

[01:33:30] A man of sensitivity.

[01:33:32] And when he touches it.

[01:33:33] If you've got gentle fingers,

[01:33:36] that's what she wants to know.

[01:33:37] Well, but the thing is,

[01:33:38] it's like, you have gentle fingers.

[01:33:39] Go touch that stone.

[01:33:41] He's a physicist.

[01:33:42] He's not going to have loads of calluses, is he?

[01:33:44] You don't need to test him, love.

[01:33:46] He might play the guitar.

[01:33:47] Just ask him nicely for what you want.

[01:33:49] And he touches,

[01:33:50] they walk out to the stones.

[01:33:52] He touches one of them

[01:33:53] and he goes flying.

[01:33:54] He goes flying,

[01:33:56] like, five feet in the air.

[01:33:57] And she just sadly looks at him like,

[01:33:59] I thought so.

[01:34:00] Yeah, she got the ick.

[01:34:02] That's not the kind of sensitivity I was after.

[01:34:05] Are you still determined to leave us?

[01:34:08] If we can.

[01:34:12] I'm glad we have such a hold on you.

[01:34:16] It's been nice.

[01:34:20] For me too.

[01:34:21] Even though, like,

[01:34:22] it's not the best quality.

[01:34:24] It's like, it's watchable.

[01:34:25] It's perfectly fine to watch.

[01:34:26] As long as you're not a fucking snob

[01:34:28] like my brother,

[01:34:28] you'll be absolutely fine.

[01:34:30] Yeah, some people...

[01:34:31] For ADP, it's fine.

[01:34:32] Yeah, it's fine.

[01:34:34] I could just about make out the shapes.

[01:34:36] Yeah.

[01:34:38] You know, if you just watch it

[01:34:40] and then you'll know how it feels to have glasses.

[01:34:42] You know,

[01:34:44] when you're watching something of that quality

[01:34:46] and it's like a night shot

[01:34:47] and it's really dark

[01:34:48] and it's actually just green.

[01:34:49] Like, it's not even black.

[01:34:51] Crackly.

[01:34:52] Mind you, I actually could see more

[01:34:54] in the night scenes in this show

[01:34:55] than in Game of Thrones, so...

[01:34:57] Probably it was better lit

[01:34:59] because lighting has gone out of fashion.

[01:35:03] The whole episode is just pitch black.

[01:35:05] Like, versus shapes.

[01:35:07] Having said that,

[01:35:08] in one of the episodes,

[01:35:10] Matt witnesses a ritual

[01:35:12] and Di is trying to protect him from it

[01:35:15] so he knocks him unconscious.

[01:35:16] He did it out of love.

[01:35:18] And they bring...

[01:35:19] His dad brings him home

[01:35:21] and the doctor's there as well.

[01:35:23] Fed off him a little bit while he is.

[01:35:24] I remember watching him knock out a child.

[01:35:27] Yes.

[01:35:29] With his weird, vacant look in his eye.

[01:35:31] Yeah.

[01:35:32] He's like,

[01:35:32] be on your way with your boy.

[01:35:33] Like, why do you talk like that?

[01:35:35] Anyway...

[01:35:35] They had to bring in

[01:35:36] some kind of, like, Celtic accent.

[01:35:38] Sure.

[01:35:39] Yeah.

[01:35:39] Well, Gareth Thomas,

[01:35:40] who plays the very posh English-sounding dad,

[01:35:43] was a proud Welshman.

[01:35:44] But, yeah.

[01:35:45] They brought him home to the cottage

[01:35:48] and they've got the doctor

[01:35:48] looking over at him

[01:35:49] and, like,

[01:35:50] the most visible,

[01:35:51] high-quality thing

[01:35:53] in this entire show

[01:35:54] is Matt's head wound.

[01:35:55] Yeah.

[01:35:57] Why is it so good?

[01:35:59] They really tried with that.

[01:36:01] They really did.

[01:36:02] It's crisp.

[01:36:02] It's so shiny.

[01:36:04] It's horrible.

[01:36:05] I love the font they use.

[01:36:07] It's such a, like,

[01:36:08] Gaelic-looking...

[01:36:09] I had, uh...

[01:36:11] When I...

[01:36:11] Shire shit.

[01:36:13] It looks funny.

[01:36:13] Yeah, it does.

[01:36:14] When I was at school,

[01:36:15] I had a music...

[01:36:17] Like, a book of violin songs.

[01:36:20] Called the Cayley Collection.

[01:36:21] It was full of Cayleys.

[01:36:22] And that is, like,

[01:36:23] the same font

[01:36:24] that was used on this book.

[01:36:25] It's, like,

[01:36:25] the Gaelic font, right?

[01:36:27] A lot of Irish pubs

[01:36:28] have the same font.

[01:36:28] Yeah, yeah, yeah!

[01:36:29] The ye olde Irish pub!

[01:36:31] Yeah.

[01:36:31] It's that font.

[01:36:32] Yeah.

[01:36:34] They went with the Celtic

[01:36:35] ye olde font,

[01:36:36] not the, like,

[01:36:36] baker...

[01:36:37] What is the

[01:36:38] really fancy font

[01:36:40] for, like,

[01:36:40] Old English?

[01:36:41] Oh, yeah.

[01:36:42] The ones where the monks

[01:36:43] did the really fancy

[01:36:44] first letters

[01:36:45] and then got bored.

[01:36:46] Yeah.

[01:36:46] I don't think that

[01:36:47] that's actually what happened,

[01:36:48] but...

[01:36:48] They did get bored,

[01:36:49] but they drew

[01:36:50] snails with penises

[01:36:51] around the edges,

[01:36:52] but that's what they did

[01:36:53] when they were bored.

[01:36:54] Yeah, those little drawings.

[01:36:55] The penis trees...

[01:36:57] You know,

[01:36:58] you've seen them.

[01:36:58] It's monastery.

[01:37:07] Have you ever been so funny

[01:37:08] that someone hit you?

[01:37:10] Because I just...

[01:37:10] I just saw Laura

[01:37:12] hammering on Meg.

[01:37:13] She just thumped me

[01:37:14] three times.

[01:37:15] Very gently.

[01:37:18] No, but you did it gently

[01:37:19] like a controlled,

[01:37:20] gentle way.

[01:37:21] Like, I really want

[01:37:22] to punch you right now.

[01:37:24] But I'm restraining,

[01:37:25] like, I'm holding

[01:37:26] myself back.

[01:37:28] I...

[01:37:28] I...

[01:37:28] Yeah, I wonder...

[01:37:29] How bored must we

[01:37:30] have been to be like,

[01:37:31] mm...

[01:37:32] Stones.

[01:37:33] That's this month's

[01:37:34] project, guys.

[01:37:35] We're moving

[01:37:35] lots of stones.

[01:37:43] This month's project.

[01:37:46] It fucking took

[01:37:47] the fucking decades

[01:37:48] to build the pyramid.

[01:37:50] This generation's project

[01:37:52] to get these stones.

[01:37:54] This generation's

[01:37:55] next generation.

[01:37:57] Have you seen that video

[01:37:59] of the...

[01:38:01] You know,

[01:38:01] the Easter Island heads?

[01:38:04] There was, like,

[01:38:05] a recreation of how

[01:38:07] they think they moved them.

[01:38:08] So, yeah,

[01:38:09] it's like they're making

[01:38:11] the stones walk,

[01:38:12] basically.

[01:38:12] Like, they're pulling

[01:38:13] them backwards and forwards

[01:38:14] on big ropes.

[01:38:14] We did that with the fridge.

[01:38:16] Oh, it's more like...

[01:38:17] Yeah, me and Laura

[01:38:18] did that with our fridge.

[01:38:18] You lean it onto one side

[01:38:20] and rock it forward

[01:38:20] and then carries it forward.

[01:38:22] And then you do...

[01:38:23] Yeah.

[01:38:23] I mean, it's a bit risky,

[01:38:24] though, isn't it?

[01:38:25] I don't know.

[01:38:25] How else are you gonna

[01:38:26] fucking...

[01:38:26] Early humans and stones,

[01:38:28] man, like,

[01:38:29] various things with them.

[01:38:30] They fucking loved it.

[01:38:31] They loved it.

[01:38:32] They fucking loved that shit.

[01:38:33] I suppose it's the most,

[01:38:35] like, permanent shit,

[01:38:36] right?

[01:38:37] Yeah.

[01:38:37] Because we haven't...

[01:38:38] All of their woods

[01:38:39] disintegrated.

[01:38:40] Yeah.

[01:38:41] Oh, there is one more

[01:38:42] thing I meant to mention

[01:38:43] that I didn't write down.

[01:38:45] The...

[01:38:45] Sometimes they're...

[01:38:47] Because obviously

[01:38:47] they're surrounded by

[01:38:49] stones wherever they walk.

[01:38:50] If they're not part

[01:38:50] of the main circle,

[01:38:51] they are still there

[01:38:52] and probably because

[01:38:54] a lot of those

[01:38:54] were the added ones.

[01:38:56] Yeah.

[01:38:57] There are shots

[01:38:58] where they're walking

[01:38:59] past stones

[01:39:00] that if you glanced at it,

[01:39:02] that's a person.

[01:39:03] That's cool.

[01:39:04] And they did that

[01:39:04] really well.

[01:39:05] Yeah.

[01:39:05] Like, there is a shot

[01:39:07] that I paused

[01:39:08] and I was like,

[01:39:09] sorry, if I was there,

[01:39:11] I'd be looking at it like,

[01:39:12] come look at this stone.

[01:39:13] Yeah.

[01:39:14] Like, they're so scary.

[01:39:15] Like, you know in...

[01:39:17] Is it Bly Manor

[01:39:18] or Hot No Hill House

[01:39:20] where they've got, like,

[01:39:21] hidden ghosts

[01:39:21] in the backgrounds of shots?

[01:39:23] Yeah.

[01:39:24] It's a little bit like that.

[01:39:25] This is...

[01:39:25] I'm super pro

[01:39:27] watching horror low quality

[01:39:28] because it makes it

[01:39:29] fucking scarier.

[01:39:30] Because, like,

[01:39:31] imagine Alien

[01:39:32] on a shitty VHS.

[01:39:33] Yeah, exactly.

[01:39:34] Like, it's darker,

[01:39:35] you can't see everything

[01:39:36] that's happening,

[01:39:37] which is, like,

[01:39:37] more accurate

[01:39:38] as if you were there.

[01:39:38] Which is the point of Alien

[01:39:39] as well, to be fair.

[01:39:40] Yeah, because it's like,

[01:39:41] imagine if you were there,

[01:39:42] it's fucking dark,

[01:39:43] you can't see shit,

[01:39:43] you're not paying attention

[01:39:44] to every fucking pixel

[01:39:45] around you

[01:39:46] because that's not

[01:39:46] how eyes work.

[01:39:47] But, like,

[01:39:49] I think that's

[01:39:49] a better way

[01:39:50] to watch horror stuff

[01:39:51] is when it's not 4K

[01:39:53] because then

[01:39:53] they can hide stuff.

[01:39:55] Yeah, I think that this would...

[01:39:55] Like, a remastered version

[01:39:56] of this, I think,

[01:39:57] would suffer.

[01:39:57] Yeah, no, that's...

[01:39:58] I think an animated remake

[01:40:00] or literally just

[01:40:03] remaster, I guess,

[01:40:03] would be really cool.

[01:40:05] I think it could be

[01:40:05] really done super well.

[01:40:06] Oh, or puppets.

[01:40:08] Ooh.

[01:40:09] Like, dark crystal.

[01:40:10] All right, well,

[01:40:11] yeah, that was good.

[01:40:13] Fucking, you go,

[01:40:13] Ari Aster,

[01:40:14] Guillermo del Toro,

[01:40:15] Children of the Stones.

[01:40:16] Well, who would you...

[01:40:17] Which Muppets

[01:40:18] would you cast?

[01:40:20] Because I think...

[01:40:22] Muppets of the Stone.

[01:40:25] Obviously...

[01:40:26] Obviously,

[01:40:28] Adam is Kermit

[01:40:29] and Matt is Robin.

[01:40:32] Then you've got

[01:40:33] Miss Piggy as...

[01:40:35] Margaret?

[01:40:36] Margaret.

[01:40:37] I don't know

[01:40:38] who her daughter would be.

[01:40:39] I guess...

[01:40:40] It's not a lot of

[01:40:40] Muppet women, is there?

[01:40:42] Well, is Peggy the name...

[01:40:43] Peggy Sue?

[01:40:44] That's another pig character.

[01:40:46] And who would the mare be?

[01:40:49] I've run out of Muppets,

[01:40:50] I know.

[01:40:50] Sam the Eagle?

[01:40:50] Miss Piggy.

[01:40:52] Yeah.

[01:40:52] Sam the Eagle for mare?

[01:40:54] Yeah.

[01:40:54] Or could Di be

[01:40:55] the sweetest chef?

[01:40:57] Di could be the...

[01:40:58] Oh, yeah,

[01:40:58] because you don't know

[01:40:59] what he's saying.

[01:41:00] Obviously,

[01:41:01] obviously,

[01:41:03] Bob is Beaker.

[01:41:05] Oh, my God.

[01:41:08] Obviously.

[01:41:09] Hello, darling.

[01:41:11] Finished your prep?

[01:41:12] Yes, Mum.

[01:41:13] Those equations,

[01:41:14] suddenly they're so easy.

[01:41:15] Miss Clegg's moved you

[01:41:16] to the high table?

[01:41:17] Yes, we're all there now.

[01:41:19] All except Matthew.

[01:41:20] Oh.

[01:41:20] I don't suppose

[01:41:21] you'll have long to wait.

[01:41:23] Happy day, Mrs. Smythe.

[01:41:25] Miss Sandra.

[01:41:26] Happy day, Mrs. Crabtree.

[01:41:28] I have a message for you.

[01:41:30] Professor Breakin, his son.

[01:41:32] I'm just on my way.

[01:41:34] Don't be late now.

[01:41:37] Poor things.

[01:41:39] They must have felt so left out.

[01:41:41] I really enjoyed it,

[01:41:42] but I did find...

[01:41:43] And I know that acting sensibilities

[01:41:45] have changed,

[01:41:46] but I did find a lot of it

[01:41:48] very unserious.

[01:41:50] Yeah, I agree.

[01:41:51] Guys, lock in.

[01:41:53] I genuinely think I could...

[01:41:54] Lock in, guys!

[01:41:55] I could count the number of times

[01:41:56] people blinked on screen

[01:41:58] with both my hands

[01:41:59] like that in a full

[01:41:59] two-hour thing.

[01:42:01] There was not much blinking.

[01:42:02] No, there wasn't.

[01:42:03] I noticed that as well.

[01:42:05] It's weird.

[01:42:07] I didn't notice,

[01:42:08] but I don't look out

[01:42:08] for that sort of thing.

[01:42:09] Next time you watch it,

[01:42:10] see how frequently

[01:42:11] people blink.

[01:42:12] Okay.

[01:42:13] None of the happy days

[01:42:15] people ever blinked.

[01:42:16] Maybe that was a choice.

[01:42:18] It might have been a choice, yeah.

[01:42:19] But that's a very detailed choice,

[01:42:21] and if they did do that

[01:42:22] on purpose,

[01:42:22] that's pretty cool.

[01:42:30] That's not all that serious,

[01:42:32] is it?

[01:42:33] You see that man there?

[01:42:34] The one with the white hair?

[01:42:36] Yes.

[01:42:37] That's Tom Browning.

[01:42:38] The farmer invited

[01:42:39] Dr. Lyle and me

[01:42:40] for supper

[01:42:40] the night we're all newcomers,

[01:42:41] remember?

[01:42:42] I remember.

[01:42:43] I know Mr. Browning.

[01:42:44] He's Jimmo's father.

[01:42:45] But it's the first time

[01:42:46] he's taken part

[01:42:47] in one of these occasions.

[01:42:48] It's so unlike him.

[01:42:49] He was so contemptuous often.

[01:42:52] He said they were

[01:42:52] an anachronism,

[01:42:53] a complete waste of time.

[01:42:54] He's obviously changed his mind.

[01:42:56] He's having the time

[01:42:56] of his life.

[01:42:58] So I'm glad we did this one

[01:43:00] because I've wanted

[01:43:01] to do it for a while.

[01:43:02] I love the history of it

[01:43:04] and we don't,

[01:43:06] like most of the media

[01:43:07] in the UK kind of

[01:43:07] doesn't touch on that

[01:43:09] period of history

[01:43:10] very much.

[01:43:11] I don't know why.

[01:43:12] Is it just not trendy anymore?

[01:43:13] Like why?

[01:43:14] I don't know.

[01:43:15] It's hard to,

[01:43:16] like if you're talking

[01:43:17] historical pieces,

[01:43:18] it's difficult

[01:43:19] because there's not

[01:43:19] a huge amount of

[01:43:20] written history

[01:43:20] from that time.

[01:43:21] No, I just mean

[01:43:22] that kind of aesthetic

[01:43:23] like it's,

[01:43:23] you don't really,

[01:43:25] there was just so much

[01:43:26] of it in the 70s

[01:43:27] and it's sort of gone.

[01:43:28] Let's bring it back.

[01:43:30] Yeah, it's like,

[01:43:31] it's cottagecore

[01:43:32] is like the closest

[01:43:32] but it's like

[01:43:33] you need like swamp core

[01:43:34] really.

[01:43:36] Village core.

[01:43:36] Village core

[01:43:37] because it's like

[01:43:38] you're not as pretty.

[01:43:40] It's not like prairie.

[01:43:42] It's fucking swamps.

[01:43:44] I don't know.

[01:43:44] Like it's,

[01:43:45] it's pagan.

[01:43:46] It's druid.

[01:43:47] It's weird.

[01:43:48] Druid core.

[01:43:49] There we go.

[01:43:50] Is it another thing

[01:43:50] we can blame phones on?

[01:43:52] I don't know.

[01:43:53] No, I think we can blame

[01:43:54] the Victorians

[01:43:55] and the Enlightenment

[01:43:56] and like

[01:43:58] centuries of

[01:43:58] Christians.

[01:43:59] No, I'm talking about

[01:44:00] why the TV

[01:44:01] doesn't have it anymore,

[01:44:02] Laura.

[01:44:03] Listen.

[01:44:04] Christians.

[01:44:04] Okay.

[01:44:05] I still think

[01:44:06] Christians.

[01:44:08] Do people long

[01:44:09] for a better time

[01:44:10] in the same way

[01:44:11] that they used to

[01:44:12] because definitely

[01:44:13] phones

[01:44:14] put an end

[01:44:15] to all that.

[01:44:16] You don't long

[01:44:17] for a better time anymore.

[01:44:18] You just long

[01:44:19] for someone else's life.

[01:44:20] I think

[01:44:21] what my version

[01:44:22] of that now is

[01:44:23] and what I see

[01:44:24] in media

[01:44:24] is not longing

[01:44:25] for a better time.

[01:44:26] It's longing

[01:44:27] for a time

[01:44:28] with less tech.

[01:44:31] Well,

[01:44:31] something

[01:44:32] that I

[01:44:33] began to think

[01:44:35] and I

[01:44:36] I think this

[01:44:37] watching The Wicker Man

[01:44:38] as well,

[01:44:38] there is a point

[01:44:39] where you

[01:44:40] begin to

[01:44:41] kind of be like,

[01:44:42] well,

[01:44:43] just go along

[01:44:44] with it

[01:44:44] and there was

[01:44:46] a bit where

[01:44:46] it was after

[01:44:47] Sandra and Margaret

[01:44:48] had been turned

[01:44:49] and they were

[01:44:50] talking about,

[01:44:51] oh, we'll see you

[01:44:51] soon as well

[01:44:52] and I kind of

[01:44:54] just thought like

[01:44:54] I know that

[01:44:55] they're not

[01:44:55] feeling anything

[01:44:57] but it just

[01:44:57] looks so nice.

[01:44:59] Like,

[01:44:59] it just

[01:45:00] looks so peaceful.

[01:45:01] Like,

[01:45:02] maybe I could

[01:45:03] be convinced,

[01:45:04] honestly.

[01:45:04] This,

[01:45:05] like,

[01:45:05] when we were

[01:45:05] leaving Alien,

[01:45:06] I was saying,

[01:45:07] I can't remember

[01:45:07] to which one of you

[01:45:08] I was saying,

[01:45:08] I was like,

[01:45:09] I just don't

[01:45:10] have the

[01:45:11] wherewithal

[01:45:11] for these

[01:45:12] situations.

[01:45:12] I don't have

[01:45:13] the perseverance

[01:45:14] to deal with

[01:45:15] a life or death

[01:45:16] situation.

[01:45:17] Induct me

[01:45:18] into the cult.

[01:45:18] It's fine.

[01:45:19] I'll be fine.

[01:45:20] That's easier.

[01:45:21] I don't get

[01:45:22] why people

[01:45:22] want to survive

[01:45:23] the apocalypse

[01:45:24] so bad.

[01:45:25] I really don't.

[01:45:26] I would much,

[01:45:27] much rather

[01:45:28] be dead.

[01:45:29] Just kill me.

[01:45:30] I don't want

[01:45:31] to be a final girl.

[01:45:32] No.

[01:45:32] I'll go out

[01:45:32] in the first league.

[01:45:34] It's fine.

[01:45:34] I'll be happy dead.

[01:45:36] What made him

[01:45:36] change his mind?

[01:45:37] Probably realised

[01:45:38] what he was missing.

[01:45:39] In a small village

[01:45:40] like this,

[01:45:41] there's no point

[01:45:41] in standing aloof.

[01:45:43] For complete fulfilment,

[01:45:44] one should play

[01:45:45] one's part of the community.

[01:45:46] I didn't notice you

[01:45:47] with bells on your toes.

[01:45:49] No,

[01:45:49] I have a certain

[01:45:50] position to maintain.

[01:45:51] Sounds pompous,

[01:45:52] I know,

[01:45:53] but the villagers

[01:45:54] prefer me

[01:45:55] to be a non-participant.

[01:45:56] If I joined in,

[01:45:58] they'd feel confused.

[01:45:59] Why?

[01:46:01] Because they need

[01:46:01] someone to look up to.

[01:46:02] Oh,

[01:46:03] I was just talking

[01:46:04] about being generally

[01:46:05] doped up

[01:46:06] and doing a Morris dance.

[01:46:07] I thought you were

[01:46:08] saying about like

[01:46:09] resisting evil.

[01:46:10] The Morris dancing

[01:46:11] did surprise me,

[01:46:12] yes.

[01:46:12] We still so hate

[01:46:14] that in this country.

[01:46:14] Like anytime there's

[01:46:15] Morris dancers,

[01:46:16] someone's hissing.

[01:46:17] So everyone thinks

[01:46:18] that this is really

[01:46:18] culty.

[01:46:19] Does it have,

[01:46:19] I mean,

[01:46:20] where does it,

[01:46:20] is it,

[01:46:20] does it have anything

[01:46:21] to do with paganism?

[01:46:22] Yeah,

[01:46:22] it does.

[01:46:23] Does it?

[01:46:23] Oh,

[01:46:24] now I'm just stupid.

[01:46:25] It's one of the very,

[01:46:26] very few things

[01:46:27] that England can actually

[01:46:28] claim as being

[01:46:31] properly English.

[01:46:32] A few weeks ago,

[01:46:34] me and Laura

[01:46:35] were both in Kent

[01:46:36] on the weekend

[01:46:37] and we went for brunch

[01:46:39] and she went off

[01:46:41] in a different direction

[01:46:42] and I went off

[01:46:43] in a different direction

[01:46:44] and then I had to go back

[01:46:45] to the place

[01:46:45] where she had gone

[01:46:46] and Canterbury City Centre

[01:46:49] was absolutely

[01:46:50] ram-packed

[01:46:51] and people were like

[01:46:52] gathered around

[01:46:53] a group of people

[01:46:54] like doing

[01:46:55] Morris dancing

[01:46:56] on the high street

[01:46:57] and I was like,

[01:46:58] loads of people going,

[01:46:59] what's this?

[01:47:00] And I was like,

[01:47:00] what do you mean

[01:47:01] what's this?

[01:47:01] People who want

[01:47:02] to watch Morris dancing

[01:47:03] will go to

[01:47:04] where the Morris dancing

[01:47:06] is.

[01:47:07] There are definitely

[01:47:08] more appropriate places

[01:47:09] to do that

[01:47:10] than the high street.

[01:47:12] Yeah.

[01:47:13] They are just,

[01:47:13] I'm sorry if you like

[01:47:15] Morris dancing

[01:47:16] but there are so many

[01:47:17] times in life

[01:47:18] where they're just seen

[01:47:20] as a public nuisance.

[01:47:22] It's,

[01:47:23] I'm fascinated

[01:47:24] by people

[01:47:25] that are into it.

[01:47:26] Like,

[01:47:26] it's,

[01:47:27] I kind of understand

[01:47:28] like-

[01:47:29] We had an English teacher

[01:47:30] who was into it

[01:47:30] didn't we?

[01:47:31] Yes,

[01:47:32] yes we did.

[01:47:32] Yeah.

[01:47:33] And I do sort of get it.

[01:47:35] It's like,

[01:47:35] well-

[01:47:36] You did Irish dancing

[01:47:37] didn't you?

[01:47:37] I did Irish dancing.

[01:47:38] I would say

[01:47:39] that that is different

[01:47:41] but anyway,

[01:47:41] I don't take that

[01:47:42] very seriously anymore

[01:47:43] because I was shit

[01:47:44] and I quit when I was 13.

[01:47:46] I was so,

[01:47:47] I was so shit.

[01:47:51] All right.

[01:47:52] But I kind of get it

[01:47:53] because like,

[01:47:53] it's a tradition,

[01:47:55] it's community,

[01:47:57] it's,

[01:47:57] it's all the,

[01:47:58] all the things of this cult

[01:48:00] that are the appealing things.

[01:48:02] Yeah.

[01:48:03] All the things that would entice you,

[01:48:04] that's kind of what

[01:48:05] Morris dancing is.

[01:48:06] I think that like,

[01:48:08] there's a lot of like,

[01:48:09] very English

[01:48:09] and like Celtic traditions

[01:48:11] that we have

[01:48:11] very much dismantled

[01:48:13] and put away.

[01:48:14] So like,

[01:48:15] when you think of like,

[01:48:16] English things,

[01:48:16] there's this standardization

[01:48:18] of like Western

[01:48:19] that English has sort of become.

[01:48:21] So it's really bland

[01:48:22] and palatable

[01:48:23] for,

[01:48:23] for everyone,

[01:48:24] right?

[01:48:24] Whereas like the weird

[01:48:25] other stuff

[01:48:26] got completely smushed

[01:48:27] by the Enlightenment

[01:48:28] and Age of Exploration.

[01:48:29] So we've become like a really,

[01:48:32] it's,

[01:48:33] it's slightly

[01:48:33] on like,

[01:48:34] on,

[01:48:35] I guess unseasoned

[01:48:35] is a pretty good way

[01:48:36] of saying it.

[01:48:37] British culture,

[01:48:38] where it's like quite bland

[01:48:39] and nothing specific.

[01:48:40] Like,

[01:48:40] so I went to a Danish

[01:48:42] slash Indonesian wedding

[01:48:43] and the Danish traditions

[01:48:44] that are weird

[01:48:46] and interesting

[01:48:47] are still very much alive.

[01:48:48] They still did them.

[01:48:49] There's no version of that

[01:48:50] for English stuff

[01:48:52] that's still alive.

[01:48:52] No, because when we do it,

[01:48:54] you know,

[01:48:55] I mean,

[01:48:56] Morris dancing is the thing

[01:48:57] and when we do it,

[01:48:58] it's like,

[01:48:58] oh,

[01:48:59] that's weird.

[01:48:59] And we,

[01:49:00] you know,

[01:49:00] we're like,

[01:49:01] oh,

[01:49:01] if you do that,

[01:49:01] you're weird.

[01:49:02] Bullying works.

[01:49:03] Yeah.

[01:49:04] Very deeply uncool.

[01:49:05] It's uncool.

[01:49:06] But like,

[01:49:07] we have those weird

[01:49:08] little things

[01:49:08] but we've so,

[01:49:10] we've not done them

[01:49:11] for a really long time.

[01:49:12] They're really suppressed.

[01:49:13] So English culture

[01:49:15] is just very like,

[01:49:16] bland on the surface.

[01:49:17] And this,

[01:49:18] this goes a little under it

[01:49:20] which I liked a lot.

[01:49:21] Yeah.

[01:49:22] And it does explore

[01:49:23] the things about it

[01:49:24] that are appealing.

[01:49:25] Yeah.

[01:49:26] And it's,

[01:49:27] it's strange,

[01:49:27] isn't it?

[01:49:28] How that,

[01:49:28] all that stuff

[01:49:29] has been turned

[01:49:30] into a horror trope.

[01:49:31] Yeah,

[01:49:32] because we've

[01:49:32] othered it so,

[01:49:33] so thoroughly.

[01:49:34] Like,

[01:49:35] paganism,

[01:49:36] non-Christianity

[01:49:37] became so othered

[01:49:38] that it's horror now.

[01:49:42] And yet,

[01:49:43] I'm glad of it

[01:49:44] because this is a series

[01:49:46] that I absolutely adore.

[01:49:48] I love this aesthetic.

[01:49:51] I love this era

[01:49:52] of British film and TV.

[01:49:54] I love it.

[01:49:55] Thank you for allowing me

[01:49:58] to do this slightly

[01:49:59] not within our remit episode.

[01:50:03] That's all right,

[01:50:03] just don't let it happen again.

[01:50:05] Oh,

[01:50:05] I will.

[01:50:06] It'll happen again.

[01:50:08] Final comments from you guys?

[01:50:09] Watch it.

[01:50:10] It's super interesting.

[01:50:13] Did it happen?

[01:50:14] Or didn't it?

[01:50:17] I don't know,

[01:50:18] Matt.

[01:50:19] I just don't know.

[01:50:20] Perhaps there was

[01:50:21] another circle

[01:50:21] beside the stones.

[01:50:23] What?

[01:50:24] Time.

[01:50:25] Perhaps that's circular too.

[01:50:28] You mean it might

[01:50:29] all happen again one day?

[01:50:30] It may already be happening

[01:50:32] to the people

[01:50:34] inside the time trap.

[01:50:36] Do you want to go back

[01:50:37] and find out?

[01:50:38] What I want

[01:50:39] is a sandwich.

[01:50:40] Oh,

[01:50:40] don't tell me.

[01:50:41] Peanut butter,

[01:50:43] lardy mousse,

[01:50:45] gherkin,

[01:50:46] golden syrup.

[01:50:47] Play a drinking game.

[01:50:49] Drink every time they blink,

[01:50:50] you'll be sober.

[01:50:52] That sounds shit.

[01:50:55] Drink every time

[01:50:56] the music creature screams.

[01:50:58] Laura's so bad

[01:50:59] at coming up with games.

[01:51:01] I play games with Laura,

[01:51:02] but they're all like

[01:51:04] guessing the top 20

[01:51:06] biggest countries.

[01:51:08] Most dense cities.

[01:51:09] Most dense cities

[01:51:11] according to Wikipedia.

[01:51:13] And then when you get to 20,

[01:51:14] you just keep going.

[01:51:20] You love guessing though.

[01:51:21] You love being right.

[01:51:23] You love guessing.

[01:51:24] Me and Laura used to,

[01:51:25] during lockdown,

[01:51:25] used to play GeoGuessr

[01:51:27] over FaceTime.

[01:51:30] We're not good

[01:51:31] with the games.

[01:51:31] Well,

[01:51:32] last night we played

[01:51:33] the song game

[01:51:33] for about two hours,

[01:51:34] didn't we?

[01:51:34] As you know,

[01:51:35] when me and Elsie

[01:51:36] were at college,

[01:51:37] we used to guess

[01:51:39] the coin age.

[01:51:40] I think that's worse.

[01:51:41] Yeah,

[01:51:42] it is.

[01:51:43] At least you're learning.

[01:51:46] So yeah,

[01:51:47] we'd have change

[01:51:48] and we'd be like,

[01:51:49] what's this?

[01:51:50] Oh,

[01:51:50] I think that's 2007.

[01:51:52] Yeah,

[01:51:52] it is.

[01:51:52] It is.

[01:51:54] So happy October,

[01:51:55] everyone.

[01:51:55] This was a scary one.

[01:51:57] Go watch it.

[01:51:58] It's brilliant.

[01:51:59] Happy Halloween.

[01:52:01] Come to our live show.

[01:52:02] Yeah,

[01:52:02] I think we're also

[01:52:04] going to have to record

[01:52:05] again next week

[01:52:07] because...

[01:52:08] Well,

[01:52:08] that's admin stuff

[01:52:08] they don't need to hear about.

[01:52:10] We need to pee, Meg.

[01:52:11] Yeah,

[01:52:12] we all need to pee.

[01:52:12] Okay,

[01:52:13] well,

[01:52:13] you can find us

[01:52:15] on TikTok

[01:52:15] at ThoughtsTVPod

[01:52:17] and on Instagram

[01:52:18] at ThoughtsTV,

[01:52:20] the O is a zero.

[01:52:21] And you can follow us

[01:52:22] on Twitter

[01:52:23] at Thoughts underscore

[01:52:25] underscore TV.

[01:52:26] You can email us

[01:52:27] at ThoughtsTV2002

[01:52:29] at gmail.com

[01:52:30] and we have a Discord server

[01:52:31] linked on all of us

[01:52:32] socials.

[01:52:33] Thanks for listening.

[01:52:34] Happy day!

[01:52:35] Ooh.