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Don't Touch That Dial...Or Else (TV-Related Urban Legends)

A

Anonymous

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I'm currently very interested in Television related ULs. No, not the scandal ridden versions (involving lifts and female newscasters generally) that nearly got the TV Cream list shut down earlier this year, but something a little more esoteric.

I'm after odd stories relating to the mechanics of TV, I suppose; unbroadcast programmes, apocalyptic warnings ('Protect and Survive' can't have been the worst they had to offer) and after close down rumours.

So basically, if this makes any sense to anyone, I'd be glad to hear about it.

As for the more 'Ghostwatch/Poltergeist' stuff; I'l probably post on one of the other boards in a day or two.

So, any takers?
 
This is the kind of stuff that interests me too, I don't find ghosts, vampires UFO's etc. that interesting but all that stuff that, I don't know, lies beneath the surface of normality has me fascinated.

The details are very sketchy but I remember somebody talking about a possible UL where voices were heard coming from switched off TV's, this possibly happened in the north of England in the 60's......can anybody remember this story.......
 
There was of course the "transmission from the future" that interupted programmes, and was actually and advertising stunt for a bank/building society...

There must be a lot of ULs relating to things that may or may not have happened on live TV, especially in the early days - Including test broadcasts

Also I remember that many people in the early days of TV are said to have dressed in their best apparrel to watch the box, as they believed that the people on screen were looking back.

I was scared for years thinking that if you licked a TV screen, you got 10,000 volts through your body... Mainly due to a certain IT teacher...

On the subject of whispering sets - I seem to remember a kids TV series where a couple of children communicated through a switched off TV (horror thing... I'll be damned if I can recall much of it - scottish I think and very creepy). I'm sure this could inspire a few playground tales. Also, I think I remember some other reports of spectral appearances on TV sets (shades of Poltergeist/2010, anybody?)

Another good TV one, tho (O/T slightly), is the woman who wrote in to the BBC suggesting that the scrappy felt-pen style of the cartoon "Roobarb" damaged her child's eyesight. A mini version of the Japanese Pokemon panic? Oh - and the shot of naked women that appeared briefly onscreen during Saturday night family programming (an LWT programme, I seem to remember...)
 
Jesus, you have really opened up a can of worms there, I remember that kids show with the switched off t.v. and it WAS spooky. The spookiest thing on tv to my mind was the test card with the girl, the clown and the blackboard. I understand the bright colours were there to test resolution etc. but what was going on there, it was so surreal...........:eek!!!!:
 
Exactly what I was after. Keep it coming guys!

Fictional examples: remember the Cronenberg movie, 'Videodrome'? That was inspired by a similar idea regarding a secret TV channel, which you could only find by messing with the dial in the early hours. And Bob Burden wrote a story which briefly mentions a TV set which shows brief scenes that aren't in normal programming. And I quote 'Mulder and Scully hooting like owls and that bald FBI guy chewing on wicker'.

Keep it coming...we control the horizontal and the vertical...
 
JackSkellington said:
I was scared for years thinking that if you licked a TV screen, you got 10,000 volts through your body...
Click to expand...

Don't try it with a plasma screen.... ouch!
 
Originally posted by JackSkellington


I was scared for years thinking that if you licked a TV screen, you got 10,000 volts through your body... Mainly due to a certain IT teacher...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...


I remember telling my son about the licking the tv screen thing, it came about as he had a thing about putting his tongue on the terminals of a 9volt battery and as a 10 year old strong man he tried it on the tv screen, as he approached the screen he got an almighty static shock through his nose, for some time after that he wouldn't go near the tv.:D
 
Has anybody seen those excerpts of the beloved kids show 'Rainbow' that were made as a in-house joke where Geoffrey and co. are being very suggestive and freely throwing double entredres around?? I once caught them on a late night Victor Lewis-smith show and I could not believe my eyes to the extent that when I awake the next day I had to ask my husband if I had really seen them. People who I tell now do not believe that such an excerpt exists and believe its an UL like all those Captain Pugwash names....please somebody back me up......
 
Blueswidow> I've seen 'em... There are a number of tapes like this around, often made to be shown at Christmas parties for the cast and crew. The makers of Dr Who produced several of these.

There was also a piece filmed extra at the end of the last episode of Fingerbobs, where the American guy with the beard drowned Fingermouse in a cup of cold coffee.

Other legendary moments must be those that occur on live TV phone-ins, where they don't have the same 5 second cut-off as radio shows. I seem to remember someone asking Peter Andre on kids' TV why he was "So f*cking sh*t"...
 
...and I just remembered one - On weekday mornings, in the early days of This Morning with Richard & Judy, Richard Madely used to also present the quiz show Runway an hour ealier, with chat show The Time, The Place between the two Madely-driven shows. The chat show used have a live trailer before Runway, and one morning, They went to the The Time, The Place studio at the wrong point, where presenter Mike Scott was blatantly insulting Richard Madely to a member of the floor-staff, saying something along the lines of "...it wouldn't be so bad, but he's on twice in a morning!".

I'd like to know if anyone else saw that one...
 
Surely if we're talking ULs we can't forget Noel Edmunds' hidden camera revealing Chris Evans pleasuring himself while watching 'Baywatch'.

I said UL. That means I'm saying this isn't true.

Covered my back there?
 
I remember the bit of Saturday Morning TV with Peter Andre being asked about his crappyness. Me and my father actually gained some respect for him (where there was none before) because he actually responded in a respectable and competent manner. I seem to recall the taunting caller just replied "Oh" ;)

"In other news", there have been various instances lately of the BBC overlaying the wrong regions announcer, playing the announcer over the next program, stuff like that. I saw one of these on Childrens BBC one afternoon (I'm a student, it's my job to watch that stuff), and you could hear the presenters chatting over the program. However, I'm reliably informed by my girlfriend, who was watching at the time Blue Peter was beginning, that you could hear a conversation to the effect of "Oh yeah, I was on the pull last night. Nah, I didn't meet anyone, did you?"-style stuff over the start of Blue Peter. She was highly amused, but I missed it :/

Anybody else seen stuff like that? :)
 
JackSkellington said:
I was scared for years thinking that if you licked a TV screen, you got 10,000 volts through your body... Mainly due to a certain IT teacher...
Click to expand...

As a child I received a related warning from my mother. Basically you should not sit too close to the TV set because of the X-rays being emitted by it.

Not quite as weird as it may at first sound. X-ray machines produce X-rays by accelerating electrons in an evacuated tube, and then slamming them into a target. If I remember correctly (though this in itself may be a UL), the glass of a TV tube is actually shielded to block the X-rays. Perhaps the warning was the memory of an early scare story?


:)
 
I also heard the story about TVs giving of X-rays, etc, some decades back. As I recall, most of the radiation was emitted from the back of the machine - levels in front of the screen were acceptable.

I think this was probably true, but I expect standards have been tightened up since.

Incidentally, if you want to amuse a kid for 5 minutes, a magnet held up against the TV screen will distort the picture! (On my present TV and using a small magnet, it's only the colour that changes. I'm just a child at heart...)
 
rynner said:
I also heard the story about TVs giving of X-rays, etc, some decades back. As I recall, most of the radiation was emitted from the back of the machine - levels in front of the screen were acceptable.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was always told that the X-rays and such nastyness mainly came out the back of the CRT. (By family members who have worked in the electronics industry, too :) )

Incidentally, if you want to amuse a kid for 5 minutes, a magnet held up against the TV screen will distort the picture! (I'm just a child at heart...)
Click to expand...


But beware, if you permenantly magnetize the metal grills inside your CRT, it might be ruined ;)
 
one ul i found used to make me back off from the telly was the one that if you watched the telly too much or too close your eyes went square

for years i used to feel my eyes to make sure they were'nt square hehehe
cas,
 
dead flag said:
Surely if we're talking ULs we can't forget Noel Edmunds' hidden camera revealing Chris Evans pleasuring himself while watching 'Baywatch'.

I said UL. That means I'm saying this isn't true.

Covered my back there?
Click to expand...

But it just goes to prove that he is what a lot of people think he is . . .

Carole
 
Just in from America...

It's better to be safe than sorry...

Don't go to the bathroom on October 28th. CIA intelligence reports that a major plot is planned for that day. Anyone who takes a poop on the 28th will be bitten on the ass by an alligator. Reports indicate that organized groups of alligators are planning to rise up into unsuspecting American's toilet bowls and bite them when they are doing their dirty business.

I usually don't send emails like this, but I got this information
from a reliable source. It came from a friend of a friend whose
cousin is dating this girl whose brother knows this guy whose wife
knows this lady whose husband buys hotdogs from this guy who knows a shoeshine guy who shines the shoes of a mailroom worker who has a friend who's drug dealer sells drugs to another mailroom worker who works in the CIA building.

He apparently overheard two guys talking in the bathroom about
alligators and came to the conclusion that we are going to be
attacked. So it must be true

AND ANOTHER ONE

> KILLER BISCUITS WANTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER
> (the actual AP headline)

> Linda Burnett, 23, a resident of San Diego, was visiting her in-laws, and
> while there went to a nearby supermarket to pick up some groceries.
>
> Several people noticed her sitting in her car with the windows rolled up and
> with her eyes closed, with both hands behind the back of her head.
> One customer who had been at the store for a while became concerned and
> walked over to the car. He noticed that Linda's eyes were now open, and she
> looked very strange.
>
> He asked her if she was okay, and Linda replied that she'd been shot in the
> back of the head, and had been holding her brains in for over an hour. The
> man called the paramedics, who broke into the car because the doors were
> locked and Linda refused to remove her hands from her head.
>
> When they finally got in, they found that Linda had a wad of bread dough on
> the back of her head. A Pillsbury biscuit canister had exploded from the
> heat, making a loud noise that sounded like a gunshot, and the wad of dough
> hit her in the back of her head.
>
> When she reached back to find out what it was, she felt the dough and
> thought it was her brains. She initially passed out, but quickly recovered
> and tried to hold her brains in for over an hour until someone noticed and
> came to her aid.
>
> And, yes, Linda is a blonde. (This does not help crush the stereotype!)
>
 
Heard the Chris evans one, and the Saturday morning phone in one too, except it was the group five star and not Peter Andre that was the subject of the abuse. Also heard the finger mouse one, and seem to remember seeing a clip of the guy who contolled him actually drowning poor fingermouse, but then in the great scheme of fortean events, i could just have imagined it after hearing about it. Off on a tangent, i do remember BBC's absoloutely awesome 'ghostwatch', and being freaked totally until i put on the subtitles on ceefax and they pre-empted the presenters surprised reactions. Still wasn't sure until i talked it through with school friends the following day though, and saw the news paper reactions.
 
Hoketil said:
Heard the Chris evans one, and the Saturday morning phone in one too, except it was the group five star and not Peter Andre that was the subject of the abuse. Also heard the finger mouse one, and seem to remember seeing a clip of the guy who contolled him actually drowning poor fingermouse, but then in the great scheme of fortean events, i could just have imagined it after hearing about it. Off on a tangent, i do remember BBC's absoloutely awesome 'ghostwatch', and being freaked totally until i put on the subtitles on ceefax and they pre-empted the presenters surprised reactions. Still wasn't sure until i talked it through with school friends the following day though, and saw the news paper reactions.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that Ghostwatch program was definitely the best I've seen on British TV. Although I remember thinking at the time that the presentation was a bit 'off', which gave me the impression that it was a bit tongue in cheek - which gave the game away a bit.
 
Hi everyone ......does anyone in England remember a tv series called "The Omega Factor" a bit like an early X FIles.....was on around 1980 (maybe earlier).

Used to scare me sh*tless sometimes and now I can find no mention of it anywhere..was on BBC2 I think??

J
 
JackSkellington~ said:
Blueswidow> I've seen 'em... There are a number of tapes like this around, often made to be shown at Christmas parties for the cast and crew. The makers of Dr Who produced several of these.

There was also a piece filmed extra at the end of the last episode of Fingerbobs, where the American guy with the beard drowned Fingermouse in a cup of cold coffee.

Other legendary moments must be those that occur on live TV phone-ins, where they don't have the same 5 second cut-off as radio shows. I seem to remember someone asking Peter Andre on kids' TV why he was "So f*cking sh*t"...
Click to expand...
One of my ex's worked for the Beeb and these infamous Christmas tapes indeed circulated. I've seen two of them. They're so popular that the senior management always officially deny they exist but point out anyone found in possession of one would be suspended. Yes, I saw the 'Suggestive Rainbow' ... and one where Dr Who was being filmed (Tom Baker). The sound of the TARDIS arriving, Tom Baker just emerging ... and John Cleese peeking around the camera shot saying "The Doctor is IN!" much to the crew's mirth.
 
Thems the buggers!
Eeeeeh, takes me back!

The one you might not get is ...
Scurrilous anecdote unable to be detailed or backed with witnesses due to legal content
The weather studios used to be 'locked off'. I.e. No technical people were present, just locked-off cameras, the blue-screen for computer graphics and the weather presenter. When you wanted weather, the presenter was cued (via a speaker) and they spoke to camera according to script.
As a safeguard, engineers would periodically check the feed to each camera to make sure they hadn't been jogged, they were focussed etc.
Five minutes before weather transmission, engineer checked weather studio for the feed ... and had the sight of a well-known weather presenter playing with themselves in the deserted studio. Shock! Hit the record button! All over bar the shouting.

Weather presenter left the job a few months later with discretion. This isn't a FOAF tale ... I was close friend to the checking engineer and actually saw the tape, although it didn't 'do anything for me' apart from keep me laughing for a while when I saw the presenter on telly after it.
 
It wasn't Michael Fish, was it? *shudder*
 
Well, Stormkhan has mentioned that he is not going to be giving any other details out about this

Scurrilous anecdote unable to be detailed or backed with witnesses due to legal content
Click to expand...

So if folk could avoid posting up any questions about it and/or going through a list of ex-TV weather men on thread, it would be very much appreciated ;)
 
And for the obvious reasons I'll not answer in the positive or negative such questions even by PM. So, don't worry Q - I know the score.
 
I don't know if I should put this here or start another thread but as it's TV related urban myths, I suppose it kind of qualifies. Both myself and my Mum have recollections of something being on TV that no-one else remembers.

They're separate items altogether and while my recollection is of a TV show, Mum's recollection was of an advert. Neither of us can find ANYONE else that remembers the tv show/advert concerned and wanted to know if the Fortean community had any recollection of them.

My TV programme: Mid-80s, possibly US, but I seem to remember it being UK. A two-part science fiction TV programme. The first part being two hours long and centred on a murder being committed. It was either on a spaceship, or on a space station or possibly a land base on somewhere like Mars or the moon. The mystery wasn't solved at the end of part one but it became an interactive experience. Remember that this would have been before the Internet, before Interactive TV, before premium rate phone voting lines, definitely before mobile phone SMS voting. So to vote, you had to send in postcards on who you thought the killer was. Part two wasn't shown until a month later and was only half hour long to wrap up the story. Did such a programme actually exist?

My Mum's advert: "Jock Dog Food" (don't laugh). It starred two talking dogs, a Scottie Dog and something else. The tag line was: "You can see how good it is", to which the Scottie (with fur over his eyes) would say, "I can't." "Well get your hair cut then."

Can anyone assure us that these programmes existed or whether we're the victim of a bizarre televisual hallucination?
 
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