TV MEMORIES # 1 - BBC2 HORROR DOUBLE BILLS

It was the summer of 1980 and I was just 6 years old.

I can vividly remember that it was a Sunday afternoon and I was round my Grandma's house for our weekly visit. Bored by the grown-up's chit chat, I started to check out my Grandma's magazine rack for something to read. Even back then I was an avid reader and was never long without a book or comic in my grubby little mitts. For some reason though on that day I hadn't bought anything to read with me, so I was forced to peruse the battered old wooden magazine rack located next to my armchair for some printed entertainment.

That was when I spotted the above cover staring out at me - a slightly wonky looking Peter Cushing (or Peter Cushion as I used to mispronounce his name back then) and a BIG SCARY HORNED MONSTER DEMON !

Even at that young age I had a taste for monsters (mainly due to my obsession with Dinosaurs), but this was something else...something new. Little did I know but six year old me was about to take his first stumbling steps into being a lifelong horror movie fan.

My fumbling child's fingers flipped open the magazine - The Radio Times (a TV guide that covered what was on the two BBC channels of that time, if you wanted to know what was going to be on ITV in the coming week then you had to buy a second magazine - The TV Times. Utterly ridiculous considering that back then there where only three UK TV channels full stop).

Inside, the magazine informed me that starting on the following Saturday night BBC 2 would be showing a series of horror double-bills starting with Night of The Demon and The Ghoul. This news was accompanied by an article showing lots of stills - and even better - MOVIE POSTERS of some of the films that would be shown over the coming weeks. Images from films like Doctor Terror's House Of Horrors, Curse Of The Werewolf, Paranoiac and The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms assaulted my young boggling eyes. I was instantly hooked, I HAD to see these movies, my little life absolutely DEPENDED on it.

I pestered my Grandma to let me have the magazine and after a few disapproving remarks from my Mum and Dad (more because I was cheekily trying to defraud my Grandma out of her TV guide than anything else) my Gran relented and let me have the magazine, saying that she could always buy another. My Mum gave me a brief telling off for "being cheeky" on the way home, but I didn't care - I had a magazine with a bloody big demon on the front cover and some horror films to watch over the next few weeks. I kept that magazine for many years, even now I have a reproduction of that iconic cover hanging on my wall - that cool demon staring me down even as I write this very blog entry.

Of course, what I didn't realise back then was that the BBC 2 horror double bills where nothing new at that point. The channel had been showing a series of Saturday night horror double bills every summer since 1975, its just that this was the first time I'd been old enough to notice them.

Ironically enough, I don't actually remember watching that much touted first double feature. I probably crashed out before it started. My parents where always OK about me staying up late - especially at weekends - but sometimes my six year old flesh was weak regardless of how willing my mind was. I do have memories about some of the other weeks though, as clear to me now as if they where only yesterday...

The first really vivid memory I have is from the Saturday 19th of July showing of The Devil Doll (1936). My parents where out with friends that Saturday night so I was staying at my Grandma's house. I don't remember much about the film except for one scene with a shrunken midget scaling the side of a house trying to break in. For some reason that really gave me the creeps - the thought of that scary little man being out there at night trying to get through my bedroom window to do me unspeakable harm... I held onto my Grandma's hand a little tighter during that bit of the film.

The second film they showed that night was Daughters of Satan (1972) with Tom Selleck. I don't remember much about that one, other than being puzzled as to why Magnum P.I. was turning up in a supposed horror film. About half way through that movie my parents got back and we drove home. I was bundled off up to bed to dream of cat burgling dwarfs...

The following week (26th July) I tuned in to see Hammer's Curse Of The Werewolf. I can remember as I sat on the sofa with my mum and dad, not being as scared as I was the previous week. 

I think I drifted off to sleep a couple of times but I was certainly awake for the finale when Oliver Reed the Werewolf goes on a rampage through the streets of Paris. I can remember being thrilled as he leaps onto rooftops and hurls chunks of debris and burning haybales down at the shocked citizens in the streets below. Little did I know at the time, but this was probably just a normal Saturday night out for Ollie Reed...

Probably my most vivid memory of this series comes from a few weeks later on Saturday the 16th August. This is both due to the film itself and the circumstances I watched it in. That film was The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms.

As I said earlier, as a little kid I was absolutely OBSESSED with Dinosaurs. Between the ages of about 3 and 7 those ancient giant reptiles where my go-to monsters. As you can imagine, seeing this poster in my purloined copy of the Radio Times featuring what looked like a T-Rex/Dragon tearing the shit out of a city street really fired my imagination. The only problem was that weekend we where going to be away and there was no guarantee of having access to a TV. Remember, this was the very early 80's. Streaming and on-demand wasn't even the stuff of science fiction - even the people who made stuff up to entertain us hadn't even thought to make THAT stuff up. Even video recorders were yet to be commonplace, so it's not like I could set the recorder while we where away either. 

A quick word about where we were going to be that weekend. For a few years in the late 70's/early 80's my Mum's sister Brenda, her husband Jim and my Grandad would club together and hire out a static caravan for a week in Ingoldmells. I would go with them on the first weekend, my Mum would then join us after a few days and then - work permiting - my Dad would show up for the second and final weekend of the holiday. 

Ingoldmells is a small holiday town located near the Wash on the East Coast of England, its almost 90 percent composed of caravan sites and amusement arcades (these days theres a massive theme park there too with a huge roller coaster that dominates the skyline, but back in the day it was a lot smaller and quieter). The main attraction of Ingoldmells is that it's neighbouring town is Skegness - one of the larger seaside resorts in the UK which features even more amusement arcades and bars and caravan sites. When I was a kid both Skegness and Ingoldmells where just about my most favourite places on the face of the Earth.

Upon arriving at our slightly shabby 70's caravan, it turned out that A) there was a battered portable TV there and B) it was in full working order (OK, so it was a black and white TV and had snowy reception but that was fine because the Radio Times said that Beast From 20,000 Fathoms was a black and white film anyway). Besides, I still had a full week to wait before Beast was to grace our screens.

The following week passed in a haze of Ice Cream, trips to the beach (such as it was) and slot machines (this was so long ago even video games hadn't fully arrived in the UK yet, although the pub my uncle liked to go in did have a Space Invaders game). My Mum turned up on the Wednesday and my Dad arrived on the Friday. 

On the night of Saturday the 16th two car loads of us went to Skegness for the evening. My Parents and me in our car and Brenda, Jim and Grandma in the other car. I can remember I spent that entire trip in a sense of heightened anticipation. I was enjoying being in "Skeggy" but was worried that we wouldn't get back in time to see the film - I DESPARATELY wanted to see that giant Dinosaur smash up that city.

Eventually - to my HUGE relief - the grown-ups decided it was time to head back to the caravan. We got back just in time. Brenda and Jim retired to thier room and my mum and dad went to thiers. Leaving me and my Grandad to watch the film.

We each settled onto our respective bunks and for the next 70 or so minutes my eyes and mind where blasted by Ray Harryhausen's ground breaking stop motion animation. I loved it. I loved it when the monster smashed up the lighthouse. I loved it even more when the monster smashed up the city, crushing cars, trams and people in it's bloody rampage. It was absolutely everything that I was hoping it would be.

The film ended. Grandad didn't want to watch the second film - Night of The Lepus - because he said it sounded "daft" (turns out he wasn't wrong  - a film about giant rabbits attacking a town ? How could it be anything other than daft). That was OK though, I'd seen the giant Dinosaur smashing shit up, that was enough. I went to bed a happy little boy.

The season ended a couple of weeks later. The following year the horror double bills returned to BBC 2. I don't remember as much about the 1981 season. It had a lot of black and white Val Lewton films like The Cat People. As these films where more thrillers than anything else and didn't feature as many monsters they didn't capture my imagination quite so much. I do remember watching Zoltan - Hound Of Dracula on the 4th of July and enjoying that. However, the rest of the season didn't appeal to me as much and hasn't really lingered in my memories in the same vivid way that 1980 season did.

BBC 2 didn't have a horror season the following year. It returned briefly in 1983 and was a lot better - it showed lots of old Universal and Hammer movies so at least the monsters where back in force. Problem was, I was a bit older by then and those black and white films where starting to look a bit long in the tooth (and I'm not talking about Dracula's fangs either). I was 9 years old and compared to my latest obsession (Star Wars) these creaky old black and white horror movies seemed to be severely lacking (what an idiot I was). In short, the magic had gone. 

I'll forever be grateful to that 1980 season though. It opened my young eyes and helped shape me into being the horror fan I am today.

They say you never forget your first time. I, for one, certainly didn't.