Through the Square Window

In a very special episode,  Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White travel to  Rebellion Publishing in Oxford, the home of the mighty 2000 AD comic. But Rebellion also holds the archive for all of the comics that were published by the International Publishing Company – better known as IPC – through the 20th century. And it's that archive they're exploring, to look at the very many times British comic...

This time, Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White are looking at programmes from October 1971, namely... 08:18: The bizarre US children's programme, HR Pufnstuf . 20:29: The very first episode of the BBC's seafaring saga, The Onedin Line. 36:09:   The Great Debate - an ambitious and ultimately calamitous live debate chaired by Robin Day about whether or not Britain should join the Common Market. 52:...

This month Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White are looking at programmes from September 1992... But first, an announcement! We're now on Patreon and you can find us at www.patreon.com/squarewindowpod . Please do consider signing up to our 'Round Window' tier for additional episodes and newsletters from Through the Square Window . Now to this month's viewing choices... 07:13: Benjamin Zephaniah's...

In March 2026,   Samira Ahmed  and  Graham Kibble-White visited the home of Joy Whitby to talk about her 60-plus years making children's television.  Starting in BBC Radio as a studio manager in the 1950s, Joy moved into television in 1962, where she would go on to create Play School in 1964, devising the series and casting the presenting line-up. The following year, she launched Jackanory . She m...

This month Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White are looking at programmes from July 1996... 05:26: The satrical show The Friday Night Armistice , hosted by Armando Iannucci with Peter Baynham and David Schneider. 20:40: The Carol Vorderman-presented delve into the occult, Out of this World . 32:44: An episode from the fifth series of the sitcom Men Behaving Badly . 42:29: The opening instalment of...

To (belatedly) mark the publication of Samira Ahmed 's BFI Film Classics book on A Hard Day's Night , she and Graham Kibble-White look at a quartet of Beatles TV shows... 05:22: Around the Beatles from May 1964 - Rediffusion's racuous and stomping studio celebration. 21:41: James Paul McCartney from 1973 - an hour-long special with Macca and Wings, made to settle a dispute with ATV's Lew Grade. 39...

This month Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White are looking at programmes from May 1987... 05:56: A season three episode - 'Blonde on Blonde' - of US romance Moonlighting. 20:42: Paul Daniels' BBC1 chrono-obsessed quizzer, Every Second Counts . 37:26: John Godber's idiosyncratic BBC2 nightclub comedy-drama,  The Ritz . 49:04: Network 7 , Jane Street-Porter and Jane Hewland's Channel 4, youth-orien...

In January 2026, Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White visited the home of comedian, actor, author, artist, television presenter, writer, master of panel shows, medical doctor and - of course - Goodie , Graeme Garden to look back at his life in television. Our conversation covers the full gamut of his TV career, from Twice a Fortnight through to Star Turn , Bananaman , Bodymatters , The Adventure G...

Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White present a special extra episode for March 2026. Our previous instalment looked at shows from March 1979, including Thames TV's The Kenny Everett Video Show . Writer, comedian and actor Barry Cryer, who passed away in 2022, was a key contributor to that series and in 2019, Samira visited Barry at his home to record an interview with him about the programme, inte...

This month Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White are looking at programmes from March 1979. And they are... 05:39: The BBC's sci-fi saga Blake's 7 , and an episode from its second series, 'Countdown'. 24:09: An edition of the documentary series, Man Alive , following a mum, dad and three children through a series of family therapy sessions. 40:23: Star Signs - the Michael Aspel hosted BBC2 panel sh...

This month Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White are looking at programmes from February 1969. And they are... 06:00: The pre-Python children's comedy, Do Not Adjust Your Set. 18:39: Civilisation - the groundbreaking BBC2 documentary, hosted and written by Kenneth Clark. 35:56: Saturday Night Theatre , and the play MacNeil , written by Alun Owen and starring Sean Connery. 48:20: Spy thriller Depart...

HELLLLOOO!!! And a Happy New Year. This month, Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White are looking at programmes that greeted the New Millennium in January 2000. And they are... 05:07 - Blue Peter 's first edition of the year, in which they unearth the time capsule buried on the show back in 1971. 15:33 - The Coronation Street hour-long New Year's Day special, revealing how the residents of Weatherfi...

And so this is Christmas... In their first-ever feature-length festive spectacular, Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White are joined by special guest Mark Gatiss , as all three nominate their favourite and least-favourite Christmas specials. They are... 6:58 - Samira's least-favourite: The Star Wars Holiday Special 13:31 - Samira's favourite: The Goodies : 'Earthanasia' 26: 38 - Graham's least-favo...

Eyes down for episode three of Through the Square Window! In this instalment,  Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White investigate a selection of UK TV programmes that were airing 41 years ago, in November 1984: A blistering edition of BBC1 game show Bob's Full House ; Ray Davies' Channel 4 TV film Return to Waterloo ; we compare and contrast two female-led police dramas, both screening on Saturday n...

Welcome, stranger, to episode two of Through the Square Window! In this instalment,  Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White investigate a selection of UK TV shows that were airing 35 years ago, in October 1990: The TV pilot of cult topical comedy The Mary Whitehouse Experience ; an episode on BBC One's teatime consumer affairs programme Watchdog ; Anglia Television's sword and sorcery game show for...

In their first-ever episode, Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White investigate a selection of UK TV shows that were also launching this month, albeit 50 years ago: The BBC1 hospital drama,  Angels ; Thames Television's spooky anthology series for children, Shadows (plus a look at BBC2's similarly occult-themed Leap in the Dark ); BBC2 comedies Fawlty Towers and The Growing Pains Of PC Penrose ; Sam...

The opening two minutes of episode one of Through the Square Window, a brand-new podcast hosted by Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White , guiding you through the UK TV shows we watched in decades gone by. Episode one launches later in September.