Mark Andrews: Nothing wrong with being stuck in the 80s

“You’re stuck in the 80s,” he remarked as we sat around the table at a Berni Inn. Actually, it wasn’t a Berni Inn at all, but I would probably have liked it to have been. There’s nothing better than a good steak with thick-cut chips, it’s miles better than all that nouvelle cuisine you get these days. And I’ve always considered the mock-Tudor beams and corporate horse brasses to be the last word in good taste and elegant style.

Anyway, the observation came about after I had just been waxing lyrical about The Comedians revival show, which I had just seen the Birmingham Alex theatre. A wonderful night of side-splitting comedy featuring the late Jim Bowen, Mick Miller – the first bald man to ever grow a mullet – and headline act Stan Boardman, who foresaw a time when Osama Bin Laden would be star turn on Through The Keyhole. No nastiness, no politicking, just good, if not especially clean, fun.

Actually, stuck in the 80s was probably a bit generous. A quick look through my DVD and VHS collection – yes, I’ve still got a video recorder – reveals box sets of On The Buses, The Sweeney and Van Der Valk, plus a bit of Minder and The Professionals. I’ve also got every episode of The Avengers – the real one, not that Marvel Comic nonsense – Mind Your Language, and a bit of early Jasper Carrot. Drop The Dead Donkey and Alan Bleasdale’s GBH just about brings me into the early 90s, and there is a bit of Alan Partridge for a more contemporary feel. But anything much after that is usually lost on me.

I was reminded of this the other week, as the newsroom became engrossed with the new series of Game of Thrones. I would love to feed you a few titbits of how the conversations went, but I’m unable to because I really couldn’t understand a word they were talking about. It really sounded like a foreign language.