Adam Parker Sibun

🎄 It’s 1990, and Santa’s lost in my confusing network of chimneys.  🎙 Adam Parker Sibun from Merry Britsmas join us for a more silly than spooky Christmas special that takes us from Castle Duckula to a concussion-induced space adventure and back.  📺 You can find “A Christmas Quacker” on the Internet Archive (it’s mislabeled as another episode).  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  “Count Duckula” on Nick Knacks.  Count Duckula’s first appearance on “Danger Mouse.”  UK Christmas TV, an extensive archive of Christmas TV listings for the UK’s main channels.  Jack May (Igor) was the original English voice of Muzzy.  The Odd Case of Dennis the Menace: 2 separate comic strip characters with the same name debuting on the same day on opposite sides of the Atlantic.  Return to the Turducken Hunger Games.  The daydream scene in “Sidekicks.”  Mike Oldfield’s “In Dulci Jubilo.”  Today’s TV Trope: Blunder-Correcting Impulse.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Shreddies Cereal: Count Duckula Adventure Scratch & Win Game (1989)  Muzzy (circa 1989)  ****  “Count Duckula” and “A Christmas Quacker” © 1990 Carleton Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s 2012, and I found a 60-year-old tangerine under a floorboard in my bedroom that’s the perfect size for a snowman’s nose… or is it?  🎙 Adam Parker Sibun from Merry Britsmas joins us for another walk in the air back to 2012 for the charming sequel to the British Christmas classic, “The Snowman,” by the now-late Raymond Briggs.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  I finally got a copy of the original Raymond Briggs book!  UK Christmas’s “The Snowman” TV listing history.  Raymond Briggs hails Christmas sequel to his Snowman classic (The Guardian, 2012)  Billy has a picture of Fungus the Bogeyman in his room.  The Snowman finds a 1960s toy Batmobile in the shed. Maybe it lost a wheel.  A newer version of Andy Burrows’s “Light the Night.”  An older version of Andy Burrows’s  “Hometown.”  “Funny Looking Angels,” a 2011 Christmas Album by Smith & Burrows.  ‘Walking In The Air’ composer told to send a demo tape for The Snowman sequel (NME, 2012)  London landmarks seen in the special.  Let’s start building more creative snowmen with orange slices for ears and asparagus spear mustaches.  The Snowdog Art Trails around the UK, including Snowdog sculptures displayed in Brighton.   ****  📼 Commercial:  IRN-BRU Snowman Advert, 2011.  ****  “The Snowman and The Snowdog” © 2012 Snowdog Enterprises Ltd.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

☃️ It’s 1982, and we’re walking in the air. 🎙️ Adam Parker Sibun from the Merry Britsmas Podcast visits the Advent Calendar House as we melt over a British Christmas classic and a personal favorite I wish was more beloved stateside.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  We have a new theme song! Thanks, Bronwen’s Ghost!  Merry Britsmas episode on Raymond Briggs.  The British Film Institute’s Top 100 British TV Programmes of the 20th Century.  The special’s 3 openings, featuring Briggs, David Bowie, and Mel Smith as Father Christmas.  The original picture book wasn’t a Christmas story.  Other Briggs works mentioned: “Father Christmas,” “Fungus the Bogeyman,” “Ethel and Ernest,” and “When the Wind Blows.”  How The Snowman melted David Bowie’s heart (The Guardian, December 2016)  Duncan Jones finds his dad’s scarf.  Video of an owl flying over snow I eerily shared on Facebook the night David Bowie died.  The Maccabees cover “Walking in the Air.”  The Royal Pavilion and Brighton Palace Pier.  Today’s TV Trope: Polar Bears and Penguins.  The Snowman in a commercial for Barbour outerwear.  Irn-Bru soft drink’s parody commercial, and its sequel.  ****  📼 Commercials:  1985 Toys “R” Us Snowman Commercial featuring Aled Jones covering “Walking in the Air” (sung in the special by Peter Auty).  ****  “The Snowman” © 1982 Snowman Enterprises Ltd.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.