Them's The Breaks

So we’ve reached a dozen episodes, and, as a treat, we’ve allowed ourselves day release from the mid-80s to hurtle through time to… the late-80s. It’s late 1988, the 88-89 season, if you will, and the decade is bursting into colour and creativity once again. And if you need to ask if that’s reflected in this ad break, well, you’ve not really been paying attention so far, have you? Still, we find s...

So, double figures reached, once more unto the breach. And brace ourselves we must as we venture into the wilds of God’s Own County.  Luckily, southern softy Martin has Yorkshire Television native Jon to be his guide.  At first, it’s hard to see anything different, the ads are as reassuringly national and branded as always.  First, we learn that when two great building societies mee...

Episode 10 – Radio Killed The Video Star (12 Apr 1986 ITV Central – Reebok, Ryvita, Electricity Board, Halifax, Philips, Renault)  We are 10! Well, not in years, but we’ve hit the big one-zero in episodes. To celebrate we’ve treated ourselves, and you, to a very special guest.  John Rain from the magnificent SMERSHPOD takes a break from dissecting films to help us parse some ads.&nb...

It’s Episode 9 and we’re ad jingling all the way into our Christmas Special!  Well, sort of.  Your hosts are children of the 80s, which means they were children in the 80s. That’s how it works. And how do you make a Christmas work for an 80s child? You shower it in plastic.  And my my, we’re squeegeeing up oceans of the stuff in this episode.  But it ain’t easy – it’s all over...

It’s Episode 8 and it’s our very first listener request!  Many thanks to Andrew Pinnell for suggesting this one and finally letting us have a go at Martin’s favourite year, 1989. As it transpires, Martin may actually have watched this very ad break very near the time – as a precursor to some colossal disappointment.  The ad break itself, we’re pleased to say, delivers. Lloyds does our jo...

It’s Episode 7 and it’s our Back to School special!  Well, not quite. In fact, Jon and Martin, your hosts, would have only been starting school for the very first time at this point.  As it transpires, the film that houses this break is entirely apposite for Martin’s early school experiences. But what of the ad break?  We kick off with a paper wrongly read by millions, fronted by a...

It’s Episode 6 and it’s our Summer Holiday special!  But how? Why would a Summer special focus on an ad break from deep in the festive period?  Booking cycles, old bean, booking cycles: unlike Martin’s dad, most people book their summer hols in Jan or Feb – so we have four ads here that are fluffers for that post-festive ritual.  And what a contrasting four ads they are: Club 18-30...

Episode 5 and we’re taking a short hop further back to 1983. It’s the graveyard that is early January, but the nation is being pepped up by the UK TV premiere of “Superman”, a super speedy 5 years after its cinematic release! So, what super brands are riding on his, er, cape tails?  Colgate bring in Arthur Fowler, or is it an alien decoy? Philips turn something potentially wildly exciting int...

Episode 4 and we’re in the very crucible of the “crap” 80s: 1986. It’s late June and it’s early-period Bond. And yet, for an even-then ancient film, this ad break sees us dancing with the big boys, two of the very biggest boys in fact. So what would make McDonald’s and Coca-Cola come out for this? Could it have something to do with what’s lurking in the shadows of the evening schedules? We won’t g...

Episode 3 and we’re in the most late 80s of late 80s years: 1987. What’s more, it’s FA Cup Semi Final weekend. Yet something doesn’t quite seem right. The ad targeting seems off. Why is that?  Setting that aside, it’s the usual curate’s rum bunch. The American military bring joy to extremely select households. Simon Bates and Dennis Waterman face off for the first time since Top of the Pops o...

Our second episode takes a short hop back to the late 80s. It’s the first Saturday night of 1988, and our New Year’s Resolutions are marked by intellectual aspiration. So we’re settling down to a night of Channel 4. But will the ads be in keeping with this loftiness?  Well, despite watching commercial television, we’re not beyond the reach of Auntie, and she’s gone nuclear. Save & Prosper...

Our first episode is a rip-roaring ride to the epicentre of the 80s: it’s 1985 and we’ve just been interrupted in our viewing of another classic from the Reg Grundy stable. But what an interlude it is. R Whites display the same ambivalence towards lemonade drinking that Trainspotting did towards heroin; Exchange & Mart issue a stark warning of the perils of using ropier, local listings papers;...