Didn't we just love Emma Peel?

Didn't we just love Emma Peel? As a kid, I would always be good on the evenings that this was on TV. The Avengers was so out there for me. It was on rather late but my Mum always knew I liked it. And in our house, if one wanted something, one had to get Mum's approval. So behave and perhaps I might get to see it.

In the sixties decade, Britain and the U.S. had wonderful escapism TV programmes. I suppose many of these retro shows are rather passe and twee nowadays. However, I still look back at many with nostalgic fondness. These things were part of the little 'impressionable boy' world I grew up in.

The Avengers and The Prisoner were two smashing TV shows that I was a glutton for. I liked the Avengers because of John Steed and Emma Peel. Every week they would have to confront some sort of bizarre criminal who found some diabolical way of potentially upsetting the normal way of life. 

It was gorgeously far-fetched and unashamedly so. That was what I think I liked about it. Even today, I enjoy the repeats of the show. Especially if the glorious Emma Peel is in it. I know the actress is Diana Rigg, but I like the character of Emma Peel. It fills me with 'Retro Brit' Nostalgia.

Fresh With the Tangle Sixpence!

Of course, the big bags like this were sold in cinema kiosks. In the shop, as kids, we bought them in tubes of wrapped sweets. These sticks came in four flavours. Orange, Lemon, Lime and Strawberry. This was in retro Brit days before the name change came about.

Opal fruits! 

Made to make your mouth water.

Fresh with the tangle sixpence. 

(That was two and a half pence decimal)

Oh, the good old days!

Edward Heath and Harold Wilson making a complete pig's ear of it all. Power cuts, three-day weeks, Miner strikes, car strikes, rail strikes, dustman strikes.

However, the tv shows and the sweets were second to none. 

Ripper Street - British Victorian Period Setting Crime Drama

I have been thrilled by the Ripper street TV series depicting the trials and tribulations of Lemon street policemen in East London during the late Victorian era. The stories begin just months after the last Jack the Ripper murder and no one knows what has become of the serial killer. Will the enigma strike again? When?

Amid this tense and paranoid time, other murders are going on as per usual and the viewer is taken on a roller coaster ride of various types of crimes delving into the shadier side of Victorian society. I can honestly say that I have enjoyed every episode from series one and series two. This joint British/American funded show has been splendid.

I have heard that the BBC has pulled the plug on the show. Why? I cannot say! What the heck is wrong with the BBC? Every time they get something good going, they abandon the thing. I know there is only so much that can be done, but as far as Ripper Street was going, there was much more to be explored and exploited. I do hope the powers that be reconsider this dynamic and thoroughly entertaining show. Please let us have a series three.

I knew two policemen from Lemon Street Police station. They served during the 1940s 50s and 60s. One was a Scotsman from Glasgow called Jock Hunter and the other was an Irishman from Cork called Johnny Holland. During their era, they saw some of the notorious villains of these decades, including the Kray twins.