This week, Edward and Ian give due consideration to a classic of the children's football TV genre, Jossy's Giants. A BBC Manchester production written by Sid Waddell and starring Jim Barclay, it's the most Newcastle-centric piece of children's programming ever to specifically not come out of Newcastle. Nevertheless, it proves sufficient fodder for your (decidedly southern) heroes to get deep into speculating about the childhood and artistic motivations of the piece's author and even speculate whether or not the programme deserved a longer run than the two five-episode series it was given.
There's also talk about the title character's crippling addition to gambling and his apparent hardcore aversion to women, which leads your usual panel to a very large leap of imagination indeed. While Ian didn't necessarily enjoy the programme, it did afford him one of his sporadic Proustian rushes, as he reminisces about chlorine, climbing frames, Adidas Lendls and Ipso Fruit Candies. Is Nottingham basically Newcastle? And how does a man who knows both Bobby Charlton and Bryan Robson seemingly have no other adult friends? We answer some or none of these big questions. If you'd like to listen to one of these podcasts every week, the only way to do it is to become a paid subscriber. Do it now!
Or, if you’re the sort of person who’s just found themselves thinking, “I could really do with watching ten consecutive episodes of Jossy’s Giants now”, well, I’ve got good news for you.
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