A
recent e-mail from a fan and researcher of Doctor Who requesting details about
episodes of Terror TV strip featuring the Time Lord made me realise that
I’ve left some loose ends when covering the strips that originated in MONSTER
FUN COMIC and were transferred to BUSTER when the two titles merged in 1976. There
were eight of them - Martha’s Monster Make-Up, Teddy Scare, Draculass,
Terror TV, Kid Kong, Gums, Mummy’s Boy and X-Ray Specs. I covered
their runs in MONSTER FUN COMIC in my detailed account of MFC a few years ago. I
have no wish to go too deep into BUSTER territory but the relatively short runs
of Martha’s
Monster Make-Up, Teddy Scare, Draculass and Terror TV in BUSTER AND
MONSTER FUN make me want to cover the four strips to their very end.
I am
not sure there’ll be much to say about all of them but Terror TV was a really
interesting one. You can refresh your memories of the strip by revisiting my
old article HERE.
In MONSTER FUN COMIC, Terror TV was a
two-pager, it ran for 24 weeks in issues 50 – 73. The illustrator was initially
Ian Knox. Barrie Appleby took over from issue 67 and drew the strip till the
end of the series in MFC.
Barrie Appleby remained in charge of the feature after
it transferred to BUSTER and became a one-pager. The first combined issue of Buster AND MONSTER FUN was
cover-dated 6th November, 1976. Terror TV ended 68 weeks later in
the issue with the cover date of 18th February 1978. It missed one week
(October 8, 1977), so the total episode count in BUSTER came up to sixty-seven,
all illustrated by Barrie Appleby. The strip made five front-cover appearances
in colour.
The vast majority of the episodes
lampooned real TV shows and required Barrie Appleby to draw lots of
caricatures of real TV personalities. My knowledge of British television of the
seventies is patchy and only a few of the names make sense to me (Fawlty Terrors
= Fawlty Towers, Doctor Boo = Doctor Who, Looterror Colomboo = Columbo, John
Claws = John Cleese, Jimmy Madville = Jimmy Savile, etc.). Below is part one of the complete
list of the episodes with a few scans of the pages that I find to be interesting
or nice. Part two will follow soon. Have fun identifying
the names of the shows and TV stars and reporting your findings in the comments
section :)
November
6, 1976 · New viewer for Terror TV
visits Terror TV
studios and gets a taste of some of their programmes – Miss Weird Contest,
Weather Fearcast and Opportunity Knees-Knocks
November 13, 1976 · Saturday
sports programme - Grimstand
November 20, 1976 · Nationweird
hosted by Michael Baarghatt
November 27, 1976 · Comic
couple – Eric and Ernie – Morescream and Wince
December 4, 1976 · TERROR TV featured on front cover. The
Generaving Game, hosted by Bruce Forfright
December 11, 1976 · Terror
TV’s Open Ghoulf Championship, presenter – Harry Carpenterror
December 18, 1976 · Christmas
film shooting (Christmas on Creaky Island)
December 25, 1976 · Christmas
Fright with Stars - chat with your
favourite disc jockeys Tony Bleakburn, Jimmy Madville, O.B.E. and Ed ‘Screwtop’
Stewart
January 1, 1977 · Terror
TV’s Annual Pantomime – Jack and the Scream-Stalk
January 8, 1977 · Animal
Panic, presenter – Johnny Morbid
January 15, 1977 · John
Raving’s Newsround
January 22, 1977 · Fawlty
Terrors
January 29, 1977 · Scaretrek
- the Scareship Enterrorprise
February 5, 1977 · Tomorrow’s
Weird presented by Raymond Backscare
February 12, 1977 · Filming
the commercial for “Daze”
February 19, 1977 · Looterror
Colomboo, your favourite TV cop
February 26, 1977 · Ghoulling
for a Song hosted by Max Robertscream
March 5, 1977 · The
Superscares – the programme where we find which star of sport stands up bests
to being terrified
March 12, 1977 · Another
tale of those wartime weirdos in Dad’s Scare Me
March 19, 1977 · Pot Bleak
- TV spooker game hosted by Alan Freaks
March 26, 1977 · New
Faceaches – the popular TV talent show hosted by Derek Horribleson
April 2, 1977 · TERROR TV featured on front cover.
Interview between John Claws and Ronnie Corbite
April 9, 1977 · Scare of
the Century – introduced by Nicholas Panics-on
April 16, 1977 · Angela
Rave-on welcomes you to this year’s Eurofearsome Song Contest
April 23, 1977 · Multi-Horrored
Shock Shop with Noel Demons
April 30, 1977 · Jim’ll
Freak It! with Jimmy Savage
May 7, 1977 · Terror
TV’s Special Weather Forecast
May 14, 1977 · Table
Terror Tournament
May 21, 1977 · TTV’s new
cowboy serial – The Revenge of Pocahauntus
May 28, 1977 · Scream
Test hosted by Michael Odd. Magnus Murkysome thanks reader for programme idea
June 4, 1977 · TTV’s Annual
Presentation of TV Awards
June 11, 1977 · Terrorzan
of the Jungle film
June 18, 1977 · Raving
Damp featuring that meanest of mean landlords, Mr. Rigsfear
June 25, 1977 · The Sky
at Night hosted by Patshriek Moore
July 2, 1977 · Groan-in
– TTV’s version of a phone-in programme where viewers ask people in the studio
questions
July 9, 1977 · TERROR TV featured on front cover. Wrestling
match – Big Baddie vs Terror TV’s Box of Tricks
July 16, 1977 · Bat’s
Life hosted by Esther Rantscream. Magnus Murkysome thanks reader for programme idea
July 23, 1977 · It’s a
Shock-out hosted by Stuart Horror
July 30, 1977 · Scaresky
and Hunch – the creepy crime-busters. Magnus Murkysome thanks reader for programme idea
August 6, 1977 · Top of
the Shocks introduced by Dave Lee Terror
August 13, 1977 · Horridge,
your favourite prison series with its number one convict, Norman Stanley
Freaker
COME BACK SOON FOR PART TWO OF THE COMPLETE LIST OF TERROR TV PROGRAMMES!
