Film characters comparing characters to people in other films

[Janik]

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads. The one about avoiding the result of an England match to watch the highlights in the evening (which dates things, doesn't it?). Wasn't that supposed to be England vs Tunisia?

[Satchmo Distel]

England v Bulgaria

[Jah Womble]

Less likely to be flooding in Tunisia, I'd have thought. But it wasn't based on a real game - unlike the genuine reference in the Christmas special 1974 to Newcastle's Boxing Day visit to Carlisle, which Bob and Terry were hoping to attend. (Whether they did or not wasn't recorded, but they'd have enjoyed it given that the Barcodes won 2-1, with goals from Tudor and Macdonald).

[Gangster Octopus]

The day that Harold Wilson resigned The Archers ended with Martha (I think) wondering to Phil about what would happen now that the Prime Minister's resigned...

[Gangster Octopus]

Less likely to be flooding in Tunisia, I'd have thought.

It was fog.

[Jah Womble]

I recall Kevin Kennedy and Michael LeVell (Curly and Kevin out of Coronation Street) having recorded a painfully obvious bolt-on scene where they were about to watch the 1998 World Cup final at The Rover's Return (proving that soap pubs do show football sometimes), replete with hastily-written lines like 'What a great player that Zidane is!' and 'Yes, but Ronaldo's going to boss this one!'

In terms of real-life events, Pauline and Arfur out of EastEnders also shot a brief additional scene following Hillsborough that had them listening to the news on the radio - which struck me as one of the least-likely ways they'd have learned of the tragedy.

It was fog.

Gedoudahere, Bob's pay-off line was 'England flooded out!'

[Satchmo Distel]

Would I be correct to infer from your post that you think those crudely bolted-on scenes actually made the soaps appear even more fake?

[Jah Womble]

Not really. More that, as one one who has spent a few years of his life working in TV, I just tend to recognise continuity glitches when I see them.

[elguapo4]

I was playing a match the day of Hillsborough and found out at full time by radio but I know what you mean

[Jah Womble]

It was more that the episode went out on the Monday or Tuesday - ie, at least two days after the tragedy - so the radio didn't strike me as being a likely resort by then.

I found out on the tube, having earwigged a conversation between two strangers regarding 'the latest scores in the semi-finals'.

[Various Artist]

Yes, you hear very occasionally that they've crowbarred a 'topical' scene into that day's Eastenders – sometimes planned, to reflect an either/or thing like an election result, sometimes conceived on the fly in response to big real-life breaking news that would be considered odd to have bypassed Albert Square. The one I seem to recall is how in 1997 Dot and Pauline were hastily shot sitting in the dimness of the launderette making morose comment (does Dot do anything else?) on Princess Diana. I imagine the ITV soaps do similarly?

[Jah Womble]

Other than with my World Cup reminiscence upthread, I cannot recall Coronation Street having done similar. Which - despite my having watched it for forty years (yes, I know...) - doesn't at all mean that they haven't.

[Sean of the Shed]

I always assumed that characters in soap operas can't watch and talk about real TV, because otherwise they'd end up watching the show that they're on - which would be interesting but have consequences outside the realm of normal soap operas, or they'd be consciously not watching it and watching other stuff instead, in which case the audience might wonder why it's so bad that normal people in Albert Square can't even face watching it.

Maybe it has the same consequences as time travellers coming into contact with their earlier selves. Perhaps if they see themselves as their character on the television the n they get sucked into the screen and disappear into an endless void. If this happened even I might be tempted to watch a soap opera.

[Various Artist]

That's a decent Doctor Who plot right there actually, Sean.

[Patrick Thistle]

Seth MacFarlane's film Ted had a load of references to the 80s Flash Gordon film in it, including a drawn out cameo role for the guy who played Flash.

[Snake Plissken]

Crocodile Dundee II.

"You know who that was? Clint Eastwood!"