The Cat presents a clip show – 30th May 1988, BBC 2

[MichelleLyons]

The following has just been uploaded to Youtube:

It’s Danny, in-character, presenting a load of clips from The Pogles, Pertwee-era Doctor Who, and more!

Topic

[applemask]

Michelle, god damn it.

[Dax101]

How did no one know this existed?

[Nick R]

The Genome entry for the episode says Danny John-Jules was the presenter, but doesn’t say he did it in character. I suppose that’s why it was overlooked until now:
https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/732c04ec18d84704a7ae649a173dc52a

[Warbodog]

It’s been discussed as a lost treasure before, exciting that it’s been discovered!

Red Dwarf related stuff from the past that’s impossible to find in 2021

[Ben Saunders]

Skipped ahead to the Doctor Who bit and their first fact is “ITV turned down the idea for Dr. Who in 1962”, which I’m pretty sure is nonsense because it was always in in-house BBC thing. Also of all the monsters they could mention, they pick the Zarbi.

[applemask]

Yeah, that’s bollocks.

[Warbodog]

Loved it. The titles are amazingly of their time and The Pogles looked like some great folk horror for preschoolers. I hope the trivia about Oliver Postgate filming it in a wood is true.

[Technopeasant]

It’s been discussed as a lost treasure before, exciting that it’s been discovered!

Red Dwarf related stuff from the past that’s possible to find in 2025

[Stephen Abootman]

[Warbodog]

[Dave]

The titles are amazingly of their time

Watching them is like getting a pure injection of the 1980s.

[Unrumble]

[curtis]

This is a brilliant discovery. Thank you for sharing. 

[clem]

How marvellous that this has turned up. Presumably there was more, though, if the Cat hosted the entire DEF II strand that day, and introduced all the programmes. The poster on Roobarb’s Forum I quoted in the ‘impossible to find’ thread remembered him marking his territory like in Confidence & Paranoia.

[Jimboid]

I had a teacher at primary school who always used to refer to Red Dwarf as “That Def II thing”.

I wonder if this was the original source of the confusion…

[Warbodog]

Presumably there was more, though, if the Cat hosted the entire DEF II strand that day, and introduced all the programmes. The poster on Roobarb’s Forum I quoted in the ‘impossible to find’ thread remembered him marking his territory like in Confidence & Paranoia.

From the BBC Two listing for that day, it looks like Def II only included Babylon 2 (18:00-18:30) and Behind the Beat (18:30-19:05), which Cat signs off to but doesn’t seem to be involved in.

[Ian Symes]

Bloody hell. I go offline for three days.

[clem]

From the BBC Two listing for that day, it looks like Def II only included Babylon 2 (18:00-18:30) and Behind the Beat (18:30-19:05), which Cat signs off to but doesn’t seem to be involved in.

Ah right, thanks Warbodog. But could there have been one more link after Behind the Beat, just an outro or whatever, before handing back to regular BBC Two continuity. 

[Ridley]

I like Red Dwarf.

(Babylon 2’s a big pile of smeg.)

[Technopeasant]

Bloody hell. I go offline for three days.

And they announced a new special.

[John Hoare]

Ah right, thanks Warbodog. But could there have been one more link after Behind the Beat, just an outro or whatever, before handing back to regular BBC Two continuity. 

Just checked the paperwork – Danny isn’t in Behind the Beat at all (and it lists every single item). More to the point, there’s also no little link played by pres at the end either – Behind the Beat just went straight into a trail for Gary Shandling’s Show.

[Warbodog]

Danny isn’t in Behind the Beat at all

He’s called the Cat, don’t spoil the magical illusion.

[Ridley]

Is it fair to assume that the Cat would have become the show’s sorta kinda mascot if Kryten hadn’t become a main character? Or is it a world where Holly presents Smeg Ups?

[Jimboid]

Holly would’ve been a more logical choice for the presenter of Smeg Ups, really…

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Holly would’ve been a more logical choice for the presenter of Smeg Ups, really…

I think Holly is too deadpan. As a solo talking head for clip introduction, it needs a bit more personality put into it I think

anyway, the first tape released post series 6 (I think?) so they didn’t have a Holly

[Dax101]

Well they used Lister in the 2nd US Pilot and opening of Series 7 to do that kinda thing. So it would probably been Lister.

[clem]

Is it fair to assume that the Cat would have become the show’s sorta kinda mascot if Kryten hadn’t become a main character?

Good question. What with this DEF II thing and his appearance at the Smash Hits Awards, it seems like maybe the Cat was somewhat of a breakout character in the early days. I wonder whether there’s any more of this kind of stuff that’s just been completely forgotten about. I also wonder how Craig and Chris felt about the Cat’s popularity.

[Author]

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