Nothing better than kicking back with some classic nostalgic TV shows | Lou Hannan

Every so often, it’s great to indulge in some nostalgic television.

I’ve written before about my love of the old-school variety acts and there’s something comforting about re-visiting the shows you remember from your youth.

Being born in the late seventies, I have an eclectic mix of memories from TV, repeats of Fawlty Towers, The Two Ronnies, Butterflies and the one that is always topping the ‘Britain’s favourite sitcom’ list, Only Fools and Horses is among my favourites.

Then, getting into my teens it was The Generation Game (with Bruce Forsyth rather than Larry Grayson) and who can forget Gladiators?!

I remember the highlight of my week being on a Saturday when I’d finish my part-time job on the perfume counter at Boots.

My dad would collect me (moaning about how much I smelt ‘like a walking air freshener’ as I got into the car) and we’d stop off for fish and chips on the way home.

That was back in the day when you didn’t need to re-mortage your house to buy a portion of fish and chips.

As soon as we got home, I’d be straight into my jim jams with my feet up in front of the TV for The Generation Game and Gladiators.

It’s funny how certain television shows bring back certain memories but for me, it was these two programmes that I recall most fondly.

First up it was Gladiators on ITV, wishing I could be Jet and drooling over Warrior and then as soon as that finished, it was over to BBC 1 for Brucie’s Gen Game.

I used to love seeing the mad games the contestants had to participate in.

From acting in a pretend feature film to the infamous sausage-making, not to mention the potter’s wheel.

The telly choices we have now are so much more varied but it was still nice that we all sat down as a family on a Saturday night for some good old-fashioned entertainment and we all honestly enjoyed it too.

Ah, the good old days.