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When Wagon Wheels Were Bigger

When Wagon Wheels Were Bigger is a weekly podcast that watches kids' TV from the eighties and casts a more cynical eye on the shows we used to love. Sometimes funny, usually disappointing, join your hosts Mark and Martyn and ruin a small part of your childhood week by week.
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Now displaying: 2016
Dec 16, 2016

Lovely Terry Wogan's soothing voice introduces us to the surprisingly good Stoppit and Tidyup.

There's also a chance for you, our beloved Wheelers, to interact with us this week - you know we're good for it, we basically have nothing else going on in our lives.

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Dec 9, 2016

A much anticipated show is finally picked from the floor, as Mark and Martyn watch the first episode of Mr Benn. Pro tip - if a mysterious man in a fez asks you to try on some clothes, and you end up somewhere strange and unfamiliar, maybe don't go back again.

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Dec 2, 2016

"It's the Playbus! Where does it go? Where does it stop? Watch for the sign of the lollipop!"

Mark and Martyn catch the Playbus, and the route this episode leads to the Playtent stop. And the playtent stop can also lead to dubious movie careers...

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Nov 25, 2016

"Mop and Smiff, they are two of a kind..."
Two dogs? Nope. Two cats? Nope. Oh. Not really then.

Hey kids, let's learn about bin men with cartoons and songs. And a big lie that has haunted Martyn since he was about 5...

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Nov 18, 2016

What would you do if you could stop time? Probably not just deliver leaflets or help old men be good at darts. Bernard is an idiot. A wasteful do-gooding idiot.

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Nov 11, 2016

Imagine Dylan Moran was a stop motion puppet living on a canal boat and dressing like David Essex. That's Joshua Jones.

Mark and Martyn wish they'd timed the release of their podcasts better so this came out the same week as their If You Like episode about Jessica Jones. Didn't happen though. Didn't happen.

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

Also, go back to listen to last week's If You Like about Jessica Jones and pretend it came out alongside this one.

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Nov 4, 2016

Windy Miller lives in a windmill. Fiery Stationer lives in a fire station. Floristy Shopper lives in a florist shop. Only one of those is true. We watched Camberwick Green.

Now I know people read the show notes you'd think I'd make a bit of an effort wouldn't you?

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy (like I said above)
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Oct 28, 2016

"Cockleshell Bay is a town near the sea, with sunshine and seagulls that screech,
There are shops that sell ices and buckets and spades, so that children can play on the beach..."

Cockleshell bay feels like the sort of puppet seaside town where a puppet David Tennant and a puppet Olivia Colman are about to turn up and investigate an horrific murder. A puppet murder. I'm sure nobody reads these show notes. If you read this, tweet @spreadthewhimsy with #ireadtheshownotes. It will make
Martyn's day.

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy (like I said above)
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Oct 21, 2016

"A Suitcase full of clothes, everybody knows, when you're dressed in your Sunday best... anything goes!"

Dressing up pigs in funny clothes and pretending they're something else is probably illegal these days. Or at least frowned upon. As the song says, "it was acceptable in the 80s..."

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Oct 14, 2016

"Oh come with me to the rolling sea where the weather's calm and still..."

Mark and Martyn watch the adventures of three men in a lighthouse, where there's nothing weird going on at all honest, and all the shipping forecast references are lost on the children it was meant for.

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Oct 7, 2016

This show is called "Tugs." Make up your own jokes. They'll be a lot better than ours.

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Sep 30, 2016

Imagine a Japanese Terrahawks that was good. A listener request that neither Mark and Martyn recalls watching, Star Fleet is that rarest of things - a kids' show from the 80s that was actually watchable...

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Sep 23, 2016

Noot Noot! It's Pingu, the plasticine penguin you probably thought was from the nineties. Well it's actually an eighties creation, so it fits our criteria. Only being five minutes long is a bonus...

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Sep 16, 2016

"Down at the bottom of the gar-den..."

Mark and Martyn watch the Poddington Peas, possibly the only kids' show to include a reference to the birds and the bees in its opening theme. So although that's a bit creep-pea, don't be grump-pea! The show's pretty crap-pea but at least the podcast is snap-pea. Ugh, kill me...

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Sep 9, 2016

Anthropomorphised shoes live in a magical village in a cobbler's back room. How are there still good new ideas nowadays if they were scraping the barrel this desperately in the 80s? There aren't any good new ideas, that's how!

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Sep 2, 2016

"Don't you open that trapdoor, 'cos there's something down there..."


Willie Rushton talks us through the animated adventures of your favourite childhood plasticine monsters. Let's all stop and appreciate the fact that this hasn't been remade using CG. Yet.

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Aug 26, 2016

Welcome to Pontypandy, the Welsh village where half the population also serve in the fire brigade. Still, when there are this many kites getting stuck and an arsonist child living nearby, I suppose that's for the best.

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Aug 19, 2016

"It's not much of a life when you're just a pretty face..."
It's probably not much of a life when your head's on backwards either. It's the Raggy Dolls, the reject toys who taught kids that being different is ok. Unless you're French.

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Aug 12, 2016

"Language Timothy!"

Ronnie Corbett's finest hour... was probably The Two Ronnies.

Ronnie Corbett's best sitcom... appearance was probably that episode of Extras he did.

Ronnie Corbett... was also in this.

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Aug 5, 2016
"There's a voice, keeps on calling me..."
Yes, it's everybody's favourite multi-skilled four-legged homeless do-gooder, the Littlest Hobo. As an added bonus, this series seems to have been made before anyone cared about animal welfare.
 
EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger
 
W4B theme composed by John Croudy.
 
Jul 29, 2016

"You and Me, Me and You, lots and lots for you to do..."
Mostly hanging around a market stall with a couple of raggedy puppets covering pre-school curricular basics. Still, at least sometimes Garry Wilmot was in it. Not this one though. Not this one...

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Jul 22, 2016

A magically alive superhero teddy bear with a spotty alien sidekick fights an evil cowboy and his henchmen, a fat man and a skeleton. That is all.

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Jul 15, 2016

"You must have seen the movie, you must have read the book..."
Mark and Martyn endure the adventures of Bob Godfrey's mellow yellow feline, Henry's Cat. Do you know someone who knows what he knows? You must know Henry's Cat. You MUST.

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Jul 8, 2016

"Llllet's get rrreadyyy to infringe copyright..."

Inspired by their sister podcast If You Like (this week covering WWE coughSHAMELESS PLUGcough), Mark and Martyn take a trip back to 1990 when wrestling was all colourful tights and saggy stomachs. It's the Royal Rumble match, full of all the faces you'd recognise in the eighties, and plenty that you won't as well. Sorry Dino Bravo...

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

Jul 1, 2016

"Up above the streets and houses, Rainbow climbing high.."

...Geoffrey sticks his bum out the window, poos in Bungle's eye. Yes it's Rainbow, the eternal target of all nostalgic kids' TV jokes. How have Mark and Martyn avoided it for so long? Ha ha ha, twangers, etc.
BONUS CONTENT - stick around at the end of the podcast for some uncharacteristic serious political discussion. SPOILERS: we wished the UK had voted "remain."

EMAIL: ifyoulikewagonwheels@outlook.com
TWITTER: @spreadthewhimsy
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/whenwagonwheelswerebigger

W4B theme composed by John Croudy.

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