re: #345 wrenchwench

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I remember actually seeing at the time it was broadcast, as “That’s Life” was a massively popular TV show back in the days when there was only 4 terrestrial channels in the UK, and the most popular shows would be watched by slightly over half the population of the UK at time of transmission, and the viewing figures for “That’s Life” were often not too far off that.

“That’s Life” was a kind of interesting show in the sense it was a kind of BBC1 approximation of tabloid newspapers in the UK at time: it alternated between humorous/salty stories that today might end up as Twitter trends (eg dogs that growl the word “sausages”; sleepy English villages that due to a mix up in the phone exchange get mixed up with a seaside town with nude beaches; wonky vegetables amusingly shaped like genitalia; etc) and sincere and earnest human interest stories like the one here.

Critics knocked it for being crass, and to be fair it was a bit unsubtle at times, but when it was good it was really good, like in this case. Compared to a lot of shows today, it seems positively sincere in it’s aims.