10 Spooky 1980s British Kids TV Shows 📺👻
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- čas přidán 16. 07. 2024
- RetroSpectives channel Halloween Special! 🎃
Countown of ten of the spookiest 1980s British kids TV shows. If there are any you think I’ve missed that might have deserved a spot on this list, post ‘em in the comments and we can have a chat about it there.
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Chapter Markers:
00:00 Intro
00:22 Welcome
01:03 Rentaghost (1976-1984)
02:23 Count Duckula (1988-1993)
03:27 The Trap Door (1986-1990)
04:34 Knightmare (1987-1994)
05:21 Terrahawks (1983-1986)
06:42 Children of the Dog Star (1984)
07:53 Chocky (1984)
09:00 The Box of Delights (1984)
10:17 The Boy from Space (1980)
11:30 Interference (1985)
12:44 Afterthoughts
13:04 Zombified End Card Links - Zábava
I was born in 1971 and probably watched The Boy from Space around 1979/1980 at primary school. There was another one we watched from Look and Read called Dark Towers around the same time. Spent my childhood throughout the 1970s, teens throughout the 1980s, and 20s throughout the 1990s. Hit 30 around the millennium and young life ended with the real advent of mobiles, internet and social media. Take me back!
Similar experience for me, born three years later. When I think about it, I'm glad mobile phones and social media weren't a thing when I was a teenager. I don't envy those kids now.
If Mr Spilsbury , who taught European studies, is watching this could you please return the trapdoor game for the spectrum 48 k that you confiscated in 1985
Haha! 🤣
remninds me of the kid who stole my Tomytronic games when his family moved away!
@@RetroSpectives now that's got me thinking about Darrel brielly who still has my copy of omega race for the Vic 20.
That tomytronic story is awful.
You never forget traumatic events like these
Oh and, of course, Doctor Who! Hands down the scariest thing. And even though it was just, basically, Jackanory, I always found Booktower to be a bit freaky. I think it was the music and Tom Baker.
I remember all of these to a lesser or greater extent. Box of Delights really does pluck at the nostalgia strings. I would have only been 4 so I'm surprised I remember it as well as I do. But it evokes memories of long winter evenings, watching it with my grandparents. Thanks for this.
Sounds perfect. I'm looking forward to watching it on DVD this Christmas.
@@RetroSpectives You definitely should. In my minds eye I can still see my grandparents Christmas tree in the corner. My recollection of Box of Delights is very closely entwined with Christmas. It's a 'cosy' memory.
Knightmare, loved that show. Whenever the contestant with the helmet on died you would hear the large bell gong and then hugo would be looking at the camera and he would say "ooohh Nasty"
Yep! He was proper sarky at times too, old Treguard.
I must say the 1988 BBC adaptation of Chronicles of Narnia was super creepy! Over on ITV, T-Bag had it’s moments, and I remember the Saturday morning show Ghost Train was aimed at being scary but probably wasn’t. Great list Steve 😊👍🏻
Cheers! 🙂👍
Some good shows you've pointed out there. I can't remember Ghost Train. I'll look that one up.
When The Box of Delights aired on the BBC I remember having to run into the front room each evening to hit record on the trusty Ferguson Videostar. I've still got that VHS tape as of today - fond memories.
Wow! That tape's a keeper.
Nice video! I loved Box of delights! Do you remember tomorrow people? That was quite eerie, also the singing ringing tree was totally disturbing! There was also a show called Henry about an alien that came to earth to learn about humans and took the form of a dining chair to do so. Not really dark but it was really good!
Henry sounds weird. Tomorrow People is one I remember being aware of, but never actually watched it.
Your list is missing Look and Read: Dark Towers. I'll always remember being made to watch it in junior school.
Yeah, that did come up when I was researching. I had to make some close choices for the list of ten. Boy From Space and Box Of Delights kind of edged it out. One of your favourites, or do you have traumatic memories?
@@RetroSpectives tbf I think the intro/theme tune was more memorable/scary than the show itself, but it was still scarier than The Little Vampire (1985) which we were also forced to watch.
@@Devilsharck omg, is that the one with the vampire called Rudiger!? I remember wanting some of that vampire dust that makes you fly! (or did I just make up that memory?)
I was a month too late with my comment but fully agree with dark towers, still gives me chills now and amazes me they showed that to us at school.
Excellent compilation, I remember Rentaghost as I was a child of the 70's, however I must have been playing on my computer when the others were on TV.
Pot luck, I guess, as to what we watched as kids. Rentaghost definitely seems to be one that pushes a lot of nostalgia buttons, (if the comments are anything to go by.) I might to a specific RetroSpective video on that at some point.
@@RetroSpectives thanks for replying, I'm sure you'll have a lot of views on a Rentaghost retrospective.👍🏻
Chocky was definitely scary to me but was tuned for every episode, i think i had the book aswell. When your face morphed at the end of the video gave me the same chills i got from most of the shows you listed. I will be 50 next year so i guess i was at junior school and early secondary school for most of these. Great stuff, just subscribed 👍
Thanks for that! 😄 Chocky was a favourite of mine. I used to shine my torch light on the wall at night and pretend it was Chocky. 🤣
Nobody remember the original Worst Witch 'film' shown on itv starring the great Tim Curry? You can still find it on CZcams.
I remember the book. The show must have passed me by. I'll check that out. 👍
@@RetroSpectives
czcams.com/video/hUkVcd7SbTw/video.html
Pat played Cole Hawlings in Box of Delights, he was not just a Punch and Judy man but a powerful user of the old magic, who was looking after the box, and then had to protect it, and entrusted it to Kay.
Loving your videos, Steve. The android siblings from Terrahawks used to literally give me nightmares! I was born in 1980 so a couple of these shows passed me by but they look creepy as hell!
Yeah, I'm not sure if that level of creepiness and horror would be aimed at small children these days.
No way man. Having babysat my nephews from toddlers to young men, I can safely say no modern shows are anything like the trauma inducing stuff we used to get. My younger brother was in to “Are You Afraid of the Dark” on Nickelodeon in the 1990s, but that was nothing on what we had in the 80s.
@@AurochsHorn Goosebumps springs to mind as well. I think that had a 'zany' non-threatening vibe. My step-daughter (now 30) was the right age for that. There's a fairly decent American family-friendly horror show on Disney+ at the moment that's worth a look; Just Beyond.
Hold on. Hold on. You don't think "in the night garden" is creepy as f**k?" The whole thing is a fever dream from a child dying of thirst out at sea. It has dimensions like something out of a Lovecraft book with vehicles being toy sized one moment and then big enough to get in the next. They all can only say their names as they are all figments of a very small child's limited vocabulary and imagination. Terrifying show
Remember those kids 'Safety Films' in the late '70 early 80's? Especially the friends playing hide 'n seek on a farm. One child at a time being killed in various horrific accidents..😳!?
Scared me to death in Primary school😧!!!
"Jimmy!!!" 🤭🤣
Great list, Steve, not heard of a couple of those shows, Loved renta ghost! :)
Definitely one or two obscure ones for sure, but if you saw 'em, you definitely can't forget 'em!
Great to see them again. Loved a few of those but the box of delights really brought back memories. I was 7 in 1984 and it was magical lol.
Yeah, as I said in the video - I'm gutted I missed that one. The DVD is only a fiver on Amazon. I'll be picking that up for Christmas this year.
@@RetroSpectives You did say that yeah and for £5 you cant go wrong mate. I should be watching these with my daughter over Christmas really. She'd probs just pull her phone out though lol. Kids of today.
Excellent video
Ta very much. 😎👍
Definitely dark towers for me. Remember being very scared of the tall knight.
I really have to look that up. Quite a few people have mentioned it.
@@RetroSpectives definitely worth a find
Great compilation, I used to like "The funky phantom" was in the same style as scooby doo 👍
I hadn't heard of that one. Just had to look it up. Typical Hanna-Barbera cartoon style, like Scooby Doo.
I unironically think that the Rentaghost theme tune is one of the best ever written for TV - I love it. Terrahawks was a real favourite of mine, and by far my favourite Gerry Anderson programme. I genuinely got scared by Sram as a kid, especially his first couple of appearances when he had the really incongruous posh English accent ("I am Sram, Lord of Felony!" and "Call your dogs off, Ninestein!"), as opposed to his bog standard I am a big roary monster schtick in later episodes. I don't know if every single episode had different noughts and crosses animations, but there were certainly several different ones - it was always disappointing when the Cubes won, which they invariably did by cheating and rolling the Zeroids out of position.
And many decades later, I STILL regularly respond to unfortunate things with, "ooh, nasty!" Long live Treguard!
The noughts & crosses thing .. I'm still not sure if it's a false memory or not. I guess that's what pushing 50 does to you. 😐
@@RetroSpectives Not a false memory; @El-Ritmo is correct, there were several animations, though some were reused, and the one I remember the most was the cubes winning by sliding the zeroids off the board. As I kid, I thought that was cheeky, but clever of the animators. I wonder if the animations were done by the same team/technique as the book in Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy.
Now you've mentioned the details, it's all coming back to me. Thanks for clearing that up. 😀👍
The Chocky series was one of my favourite programmes as a kid ... I even went out and got the boxset! Yes, I'm a retrogeek 😁 I also have boxsets of the likes of Bagpuss, Bod, Dungeons & dragons, Dangermouse, Ivor the engine etc etc Plus more older kids/adults stuff such as Streethawk, Knight rider, The A Team, Sapphire & Steel, Airwolf, Blue thunder, Cagney & Lacey, The Gentle Touch, The return of the Saint etc etc .. shed loads of them! Also an avid collector of anything about the ZX Spectrum, Commodore Amiga, Sega master system & Megadrive, Atari 2600, Grandstand games, Tomytronic 3D etc. Oh how I love this channel! 😁 I wish I was a kid again..much happier times with none of the adult responsibilities 😃
Was it sapphire and steel where there was an episode that had prior in it with no mouths? It's traumatised me for the last forty years
Chocky was a major one for me. I kind of obsessed over it for a while when I watched it back then. The idea of getting special powers from a benevolent alien kind of appealed. Your collection sounds brilliant, by the way. 👍
@@MrDirkles That does ring a bell.. can't remember which episode though. Pretty unnerving storylines which creeped me out .. much in the same way that the Hammer house storylines creeped me out for years (still do! 🤣)
@@petejames1000 I love the hammer house episodes. I'm also partial to some features of the unexpected too. If you haven't seen the flypaper episode then you owe it to yourself to watch its.
@@RetroSpectives Cheers .. my retro collection is getting bigger .. my wife has the patience of a saint thankfully! My Atari 2600 (wood effect version) is one of my prized possessions.. fully boxed and showroom condition - the original owner must have hardly used it. Another favourite is a the big box version of Chaos by Games Workshop (pretty rare), along with Shadow of the Unicorn, plus first copy Crash magazine which I never originally owned ... I didn't get my first Speccy until around 1983/84 (can't remember which)
Not an English show, but 'The Haunted School' an Australian program that aired in the UK in the mid 80s was pretty troubling for me as a youngster. Also there was a puppet show that was on around lunchtime in '85 ish, that had a fox narrating it. Quite unsettling! Cheers for another great video 👌🏻
Strangely, I can't remember any of those. Thanks again for watching. 🙂
Great list. I was waiting for Chocky - still spooks me today! No. 1 rang a bell. Was there a 'character' in the TV called Beattie? Definitely from a school's programme watched at primary. Could've been that one. The other creepy show I remember was The Gemini Factor. Lee and Leah. Yin and yang. Think it was Children's ITV. Thanks for the nostalgia. 😊
You're welcome. I'm pretty sure the TV woman had no name, so that might have been another programme.
I watched the original Boy From Space, I didn't realise it was made in black and white because everything was on our TV. We didn't get a colour set til much later.
Reminds me of when we watched V (the alien invasion miniseries) as a family. Saw the first episode at my Gran's house while on holiday there - she had a black & white TV. When we got home & saw the next episode on our colour set we were surprised that the lizard people were green, after seeing them as grey.
That bit at the end bloody brilliant
The zombie face?
The 'Make Me A Zombie' website does come in handy. 🧟
@@RetroSpectives looked blood fantastic matey got to be fair, you got anything planned for the other channel, ??
Spooky TV adverts!!! For tomorrow or upcoming
@@davidjones6470 I don't have a Halloween ad compilation - I'm kind of stuck with whatever turns up for the compilations, so it's a bit random each week. I am working on a new Epic Christmas ads volume 2 though, as last years was (and still is) really popular. It's the video that made that channel blow up.
@@RetroSpectives yeah Christmas they were good ones got to be honest, and yes not long is it !!! Bloody hell where's this year gone init!!!
I used to find moomins quite creepy that fuzzy felt would just freak me out
It was the Hattifatners (from the Moomins) that freaked me and my sister out.
Ooh yeah me too, the original stop start animation as opposed to cartoon.
I am glad it wasn't just me freaked out by the moomins
I rewatched chocky and children of the dog star again recently. Both still great and worth a watch.
Last time I saw any of those two shows was when I was researching for this video. It was good to see them again.
Quote "Boy from space" near daily with guys at work, either doing random Beep Beep "Vrripp vripp vroopp" noises to each other or lines from the show "I'm Dan and this is my sister Helen" "He came towards us, he was tall and thin" etc [It actually came out on DVD a few years back]
I tried running the sound of the alien voice backwards in my editing software. Still couldn't make out what was being said.
Well first thing first!!! Awesome Thumbnail Steve 👌
Thanks, my Dude! 😃 I'm still developing my mojo on the thumbnail front.
I only saw the 1971 version of The Boy from Space. Yes, it was creepy. I believe each episode ended on a cliffhanger. One I remember well was that the kids were on the upper floor of a building and someone is coming upstairs, but all you can see is their shadow on the wall as it moves. That one really scared me.
I've never actually seen the 1971 version. I need to look up some clips.
I was a teen in the 80s. I remember a lot of those. I loved Rent a Ghost and Box of Delights. We got a dvd of Trap Door for my kids to watch - they love it! I don't remember there being a zx Spectrum game of trap door but I still have a box of games in my loft with the old Spectrum. I'll have to go and look through.
The Trap Door Spectrum game was great. Lovely big character graphics and interesting action/puzzles to solve. I reckon you'll have a blast cracking out that old Spectrum. I still have a Speccy +2, but I was lucky enough to get a modern Spectrum Next in the first Kickstarter campaign, so any Spectrum gameplay I do now is on that.
Love that t-shirt 👌
It's from tshirtpark.com/
Worth a look. Their t-shirts are only about £7.
@@RetroSpectives Thanks sir I well check that out 👍
I knew them all down to Knightmare and then only Box of Delights after that. I think a few of the spooky ones I remember may have been later or not specifically for kids like Tripods, the Demon Headmaster and then there were a few pagan ones I remember... not Secret Garden, I think that was fine but Children of the Stones, something like that. There were a few that were similar all set in some celtic part of Britain.
Also the "Witches and the Grinnygog" I recently rewatched it here on youtube quite a few early Eastenders in it.
This brought back memories..I don't remember children of the dog though or chocky
I think it depends on age, and maybe sheer luck as to whether you happened to see it at the time. Those two you mentioned for me, were massive shows at the time.
If you do a similar list for the 70s, Children of the Stones deserves the top spot just for the theme tune alone. (Think the whole series is on CZcams)
Good idea. I'll put that on my brainstorm list, thanks.
I remember Count Duckula & The real Ghostbusters plus Round the twist which wasn't scary but did have a few episodes that were.
I have no memory of round the twist for some reason. I've heard good things about it, though.
We must be about the same age I reckon as I remember very well being made to watch the boy from space bbc program at school on the tv and video that were on a trundle trolley which was rolled in to terrify us. The worst and scariest for me though was definitely wurzel gummidge. It creeped me the hell out and I still can’t watch it now
Crikey! I've always loved Wurzel. Me and my wife, we both rewatched every episode last year & really enjoyed it all over again.
No mention of 'The Changes'? Scared the hell out of me back in 1973 or thereabouts.
I've never heard of that. I was born in 74 though. I'll look it up. Probably too early for a 1980s compilation.
A very interesting look back at 80's children's TV. I remember Rent a Ghost. I had forgotten about Chocky! I don't remember feeling scared watching children's TV. I remember being traumatized for a while after watching Halloween 3 with the melting pumpkin mask 😱🎃. I was also spooked by Ghost Watch in 1992, crikey that was thirty years ago 😳 Does anyone else remember Ghost Watch? I might have to look up Box of Delights. I vaguely remember it but not sure if I watched it. Thanks Steve 👍
You're welcome! And .. omg! Chocky was a big one for me. I obsessed over that show for a while. I used to shine a torch light on my bedroom wall and pretend it was Chocky! I don't know what that says about my mental health, but I think we're all a little bit weird in some ways, right? 😂
You missed "Watchers in the woods" scared me craplist when i was a kids !
I genuinely can't remember that. I will look it up, though. 👍
If it's this one, someone's uploaded the whole film to CZcams. I'll give this a tryout. czcams.com/video/2_N8MEkum5s/video.html
@@RetroSpectives yup this is it.
The ugly cat and crow on orm and cheep used to scare me too.
Yeah, me and my sister used to love watching Orm & Cheep. The snail who couldn't sing the theme tune in time used to make us giggle.
Excellent upload Steve great list ???
But No The Real Ghostbusters !!!!
Can't have everything, and, if I'm honest, I didn't even think of that! 🤦♂
@@RetroSpectives 😂😂 it's a Classic show as well!!
@@davidjones6470 It's just dawned on me why I never thought to include The Real Ghostbusters. I was looking for UK/British shows for the countdown. Children of the Dog Star was the only cheat, as it's from New Zealand.
@@RetroSpectives that's way then Steve 😉
Oh come on! Knightmare should have been much higher. Spellcasting "S.c.a.r.r.e.d.f.o.r.l.i.f.e."
I don't know; maybe I was too old at that point to be traumatised by Knightmare.
I think I'm a couple of years older but I don't know. It was the voice, the blindness, the various monsters. Something about it got me. I can't put my finger on it.
In Terrahawks the cubes cheat during the end credits
The two I definitely would also include are: The Children Of Green Knowe. Truly creepy at the climax. I think it was made following the ( phenomenal ) success of Box Of Delights, since it has much the same setting, feel, era. Both are based on mid 20th century children's books.
And of course: Moondial. Incredibly spooky, haunting, occasionally scary.
I've heard somebody else mention Children of the Green Knowe. I don't remember it, but I looked it up. Does seem like a spooky one.
Dark Towers!
Indeed.
Doctor Who scared the 💩 out of us kids in the 70's and 80's.
Yeah, pretty standard - hiding behind the sofa and all that. Pretty creepy at times.
@@RetroSpectives We loved it, despite what Mary Whitehouse said.
I rememeber in the 80’s…forgive me if i’m mixing up several shows…but it was mostly at night..there was a door and puppets or dolls were behind it…at midnight or sound of bells…they would awaken and start walking possibly to catch a girl and boy? God knows….but it burns my ass to this day that i can’t remember. I wonder if its dark tower or picture box epsiode.
Might be one episode of a particular show. None of that is ringing any bells for me. I have a weird memory myself I've never been able to identify: a TV adaptation of the book "Grinny" by Nicholas Fisk. Nobody else seems to remember it, and I can't find any clips at all. It's about an alien creature who manifests as an old lady and is able to convince the adults she's the grandma. She gets injured at some point and metal gears/levers are exposed under a damaged bit of skin.
Box of Delights is a true work of magic. For 80s horror - Sapphire and Steel couldn't be surpassed. I understand that it was commissioned for kids as a rival to Dr Who, but obviously outgrew that remit.
I used to watch Sapphire & Steel with my sister on a regular basis. Can't remember a single detail about it now, though. I'm going to have to look it up to remind myself.
@@RetroSpectives Assignment 4 was the thing of nightmares. If you just watch one story, make it that one.
Zelda on the terrahawks freaked me out
My earliest memory of Zelda was her picture on the front cover of Look-In. "Aargh! It's Zelda!" announcing the introduction of the new TV show. That was the first issue of Look-In I ever bought.
@@RetroSpectives my first look in was when they came with a free pair of 3D glasses, you know those cheap card board frames with green and red placker lenses!!!😁🖖
@@yourrightimsooosorry884 OMG! I Actually have that issue! E.T. is on the cover. I picked up that issue a few years ago in an antique shop that had a vintage comic section! 🤣
Sometimes, I really can't believe certain things were made into TV shows. I think I vaguely remember Count Duckula, but I'm fairly certain that that one is probably the only one that would have ever aired in the US. These are so different from the kinds of things children watched in the 80s in the US. It's all so sweet and tame looking by comparison, even for things that are supposed to be scary.
I think the word that might sum it up is typically British ... "Quaint" 🤣
It was going so well with great inclusions that I remember well and expected but I really thought there would be Round the Twist and Dark Towers (A look and read program that I think came after boy from outer space?)
I also expected Ghost Watch until google told me it was aired in 1992. (Not strictly a kids program but I watched it as a kid - whether I should have been allowed to or not is debatable!)
Ah, I guess you can't have everything in a ten show countdown. It was a bit of a random list, with a slant towards my own strongest memories.
Moondial. Bloody Moondial. 😮
I had to look that one up. Looks creepy.
What about The Demon Headmaster or Captain Scarlet? Those were pretty scary too.
Both good calls there, although The Demon Headmaster was 1990s. I do remember watching Captain Scarlet in reruns in the 80s, eventhough it was a 60s show.
As soon as you sneezed I shouted "Rentaghost" like an idiot.
Glad you spotted that. I forgot to include a clip of the ghosts pinching their noses to teleport.
Hard to miss. Ms Popoff was an early crush. Kept waiting for her to do some gag with sneezing in Corrie but was endlessly disappointed.
@@MrMann0123 Audrey Roberts, lol. 😂
Not sure what show they were from, but I remember some characters called The Ugly Wugglies.
I think they wore masks drawn with a simplistic face and didn't speak.
Would love to know which show it was 🙂
I have zero memory of those. I might do a little googling on my laptop later after work.
It was definitely 1980s and I have a memory of them in a secret tunnel of a Manor house and am pretty sure the main characters were a group of children....possibly set in the 1940s/1950s but I'm not 100% sure.
@RadiopodUk - Whoomp! there it is!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Enchanted_Castle
pbs.twimg.com/media/E0sAnpOXsAIwliY.jpg
@RetroSpectives No way! You are awesome. I did a search a couple of years ago and couldn't find anything. What is even more awesome, is the fact I managed to spell the name of the Ugly Wugglies correctly from a vague 40 year old memory 🤣😂
@@RadiopodUk Funny how some stuff sticks in the memory. Glad you're finally reunited with your old TV friends. 😁👍
Anyone remember the Drak Pack?
I think I spelled that right 🤔
I had to look that up. Never even heard of it! It reminds me of the Groovie Goolies, though. I used to love that.
@@RetroSpectives I don't think it was on for that long .. early eighties sometime. Groovie Goolies ... Yep, I remember that one .. had a funny Frankenstein, Mummy, and Werewolf that ended sentences with woowoowoooo.. or something like that 😁
@@petejames1000 - I mainly remember the Frankenstein character getting electrocuted and saying "I NEEDED THAAAAT!" 😂
Hardly scary lol
Nope, I guess not. lol
Thanks for taking the time to share your insight.
Nice retro throwback vid ruined by that intrusive looping background music!
Well, thanks for the feedback, anyhow. 🤣