Anyone see Electric Dreams on BBC4

[blackbird]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/electricdreams/

 

 

"The Experiment

Over 30 days one family travel from 1970 to 2000, living with nothing but the technology around at the time "

 

Is that not what this site is about !!!

 

[Station]

Give me 1970 over 2009 anyday, at least you could look at a school without being branded a paedophile, etc etc.

[Station]

* Not to say I have some desire to look at schools, but you know what I mean.

[trigger]

I was just about to do a thread on this as well!.

 

What a great show, really enjoyed it, Loved watching them struggling with the 1600E's gearbox and the old computers and stuff.

 

And the attention to detail on the decorating the house is quite special.

 

I will be tuning in next week for the 80's edition.

 

Oh and it's on iPlayer now as well.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... ams_1970s/

[Pillock]

Yay, I may tuck myself up in bed with that on iPlayer soon (Although you have to question me using a Playstation Portable, wirelessly connected to a PS3, streaming video over a mixture of ethernet and fibre-optic cable to watch a program about 1970's technology.....)

[brammy777]

I was just about to do a thread on this as well!.What a great show, really enjoyed it, Loved watching them struggling with the 1600E's gearbox and the old computers and stuff.And the attention to detail on the decorating the house is quite special.I will be tuning in next week for the 80's edition.Oh and it's on iPlayer now as well.http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... ams_1970s/

Had read about this, cheers for the link!

[Pete-M]

I was just about to do a thread on this as well!.Loved watching them struggling with the 1600E's gearbox

Missed the show, but how on earth do you struggle with a 1600E gearbox?????

[trigger]

He couldn't get it in 2nd for some reason, oh and he moaned about the brakes and steering, and then when it snowed he decided he wasn't going to drive it and got into his nice new Discovery instead Give me the 1600E in Aubergine any day over a Disco.

[FredTransit]

He couldn't get it in 2nd for some reason, oh and he moaned about the brakes and steering, and then when it snowed he decided he wasn't going to drive it and got into his nice new Discovery instead Give me the 1600E in Aubergine any day over a Disco.

Indeed, but better a Defender over the both of them in the snow!

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Wait, hasn't this been done before?

 

[retrogeezer]

It's on again tomorrow at 8.00pm apparently.

[garethj]

The BBC buttons on my set only go as far as 2

[whitevanman]

* Not to say I have some desire to look at schools, but you know what I mean.

got yourself out of that quick didn't you...........

[Mash]

I thought it was very well done. There have been similar programmes but this brought back so many memories. The one tonight is the 80s.I thought the guy was a right whinging git to be honest but his missus threw herself into it wholeheartedly. I don't have a problem with modern technology, progress needs to be made but so many people these days have such a low tolerance for things that are a little bit harder to use or whatever.

[mnde]

You beat me to it blackbird, I was also going to start a thread on this!Cracking programme, the Cort was fabulous and I was cheering like a maniac every time one of the gadgets turned up. "Commodore Pet!! Yesss!!" I really wanted that naff music station with inbuilt cassette deck Looking forward to the 80s programme Mark.

[trigger]

The one tonight is the 80s.

I've just checked and it on weekly so next Tuesday is the 80's one.My dad still has his Philips music station in his front room that he bought new and i had to laugh when i saw the cooker, It's also the exactly same cooker my dad has, They bought there's in 1977 when they got married, It's lasted longer than their marriage!.

[Spottedlaurel]

Disappointed I missed this now, will have to look out for the repeat before next week’s episode. Thursday night at 8pm you say? Let’s hope I can retune the freeview set before then in that case. In fact I wish I had a ‘70s TV to watch it on, given that our 2yr old JVC is temperamental and seems too expensive to repair. Questionable progress there then...

[Guest]

Sounds interesting, I'll have a watch of that! I love the durability of some older stuff, seems like as a product goes on they end up cheapening it to reduce costs. No matter how old something is, if it's a premium item, it'll still feel like it to me. At work I've been building up a collection of old office equipment, it's amazing what ends up left lying around or ready to be chucked out.I love bashing away at my early 80s calculator (rescued from the bin as it needed a battery!) - same size as a regular one nowadays, but with lovely clicky buttons and real brushed stainless-steel finish. Never mind my tendency to repair old staplers and bring them back into use. There's a hole punch I'm hoping to obtain at some point too, looks like it's from the 1950s and I bet you could punch through a phone book with it!My ultimate dream is a nice old phone to replace these unbranded Chinese ones which I get through at the rate of at least one a year. Bet there's some chunky Bakelite thing languishing in a drawer in the basement somewhere, just waiting for me to give it a good clean-up and press it back into use. Then I'd be truly living the dream.

[Mash]

The one tonight is the 80s.

I've just checked and it on weekly so next Tuesday is the 80's one.

Yeah that's what I meant of course......

[Roc 24v]

Just watched it on iPlayer, excellent programme.

[Richard]

My ultimate dream is a nice old phone to replace these unbranded Chinese ones which I get through at the rate of at least one a year. Bet there's some chunky Bakelite thing languishing in a drawer in the basement somewhere, just waiting for me to give it a good clean-up and press it back into use. Then I'd be truly living the dream.

If you mean a proper dial phone of the type that was universal in the 70s they were going for £40 the last time I looked.

[AnthonyG]

Just watched this last night - father was a bit of a wimp not driving the Cortina in the snow, but you don't know the full story - BBC/vehicle supplier may have told him not to go out in bad weather, as they didn't want a wrecked Cortina. He seemed a bit 'health and safety' obessed what with his description of the Cortina as 'a deathtrap' and his concern about the pans on the cooker. The wife seemed to love the car, maybe he's just a crap driver.On the other hand he was impressed with his boys evasion of Mum with his trip into town on the Raleigh Chopper, so he's not all bad!I was suspicious of the black and white TV starting up instantly - sure these used to need to warm up, particularly if they had valves inside. Could have been an old cabinet with all newer bits inside, I suppose.Looking forward to the 1980s one next week.P.S. Transistor radio in the kitchen (a Grundig 'Party Boy') was the same as the one my mum bought in 1967 - still going strong!.

[AnthonyG]

My ultimate dream is a nice old phone to replace these unbranded Chinese ones which I get through at the rate of at least one a year. Bet there's some chunky Bakelite thing languishing in a drawer in the basement somewhere, just waiting for me to give it a good clean-up and press it back into use. Then I'd be truly living the dream.

If you mean a proper dial phone of the type that was universal in the 70s they were going for £40 the last time I looked.

On Ebay, tested, with modern connector and guaranteed to work with a modern BT line, £20-50 depending on colour. Look for GPO 706/746 for the standard 1956-early 80s one.Good idea to keep a cheap modern phone as a backup, to use with call centres etc, dial phones don't create touch tones.Bear in mind US phones (which you may buy intending to feel like Kojak or Starsky on each call) don't work in the UK without a lot of modification.

[Guest]

Vic has a Grundig "Concert Boy", presumably that's one step above.

[dollywobbler]

Caught this last night. Quite good really. His whole 'deathtrap' thing was irritating, as has been mentioned. His report on the 'appalling' brakes even raised a scoff from my wife. Oh how she's learnt! It's only six years since she first drove my 2CV and screamed "she won't stop!" as we went down a hill. Always fun when you first go from modern brakes to servoless ones...

[Spottedlaurel]

He didn't seem to make much effort on scraping windows and getting the interior of that Cortina demisted. Had he also forgotten to use the choke when he was trying to start it?He looks as if he was old enough to have owned/driven cars in the past that didn't have PAS, had a choke etc. It's funny how some people forget all of that.Was also interesting to see how reliant some people have become on dishwashers. We haven't got one, and I've just installed the new kitchen without provision for one and it wasn't even a discussion point.Did people really call home-recorded cassettes "mix tapes" then? Mine were just compilations, or "various".

[mk1_4dr]

I watched this last night. On the whole a good programme, although I agree with the bloke being a bit soft when it came to the Cortina, those gearboxes are a joy to use.I can see why he didn't want to take it out in the snow, as said, they didn't want an old bent Ford. I feel it should have been parked in that garage though

[Mr Lobster]

Hmm, I'd better try and watch this I think, sounds pretty interesting.

[r.welfare]

If he'd put the 1600E in the garage, they'd have had nowhere to put the chest freezer I was shouting a lot when he complained he couldn't get 2nd - if you can't get the gears easily on a Ford RWD gearbox you're not fit for the road. I suspect his Discovery 3 is an auto...Did have to chuckle when he got to the office to find out they'd been told not to travel, I did a similar thing at the time by not turning my work mobile on until I'd driven to the office.Otherwise t'wife and I thought the programme was excellent, and will definitely be watching again next week.

[Spottedlaurel]

Be interesting to see what car they give them for the ‘80s. I think they’ll have to change it partway through though – if he starts off with something that would be correct for 1980 (Cortina Mk5 for example) it won’t be very representative of the end of the era (Mk3 Cavalier etc).Hanging onto the Mk2 for all of the ‘70s wasn’t unrealistic, as arguably cars didn’t change that much through the decade, but I would say the ‘80s saw a massive change towards cars the chap in the programme would find much more useable.