Interceptor: A Squawk to Remember

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[@TomJonty]

"I'm giving my money to Charity." That's the name of his mistress that lives in the guest house while his wife lives in the main home.

[@melll1972]

Charity is a stripper….

[@BigyetiTechnologies]

To pay for a termination

[@BungleBare]

Millard? Interceptor? I’ve never smashed a like button so quickly. Interceptor was the coolest thing ever when I was 10. Until it never came back for a second series and I pretty much forgot about it within weeks. The excitement for it was sky high (pun intended) in the Border TV area just before the series started, after a bit of cross promotion/filler for the local news bulletin about the Scottish episode. I think they might even have interviewed Annabel Croft for the piece. I also remember there was one irritating little dip5h1t who lived a few doors from me who’d start diving behind walls and hedges, hiding his back from view while banging on about how The Interceptor had tracked him down. Given we lived a few hundred yards from the helipad of a major hospital this got seriously irritating over the school holidays. When he started adding that stupid scream into the mix and doing his “bit” whenever a black car went past it was too much for the older kids on the road who “hid him from The Interceptor” in an old coal bunker. He didn’t do it again.

[@StuartMillard]

Absolutely a Top 5 comment I've ever had on here. Shaking with laughter.

[@peterlarkin762]

I feel kids of today are missing out on the formative experience of being hid in a coal bunker.

[@RoseTintedSpectrum]

I've such vivid memories of this show, at the age of somewhere between 7 to 10 and it being HEAVILY advertised as an up and coming show and I remember thinking: "God, this is such a weird idea for a TV show". Then I watched 1 episode and my concluding thought was: "God, this is such a weird idea for a TV show". I think I only caught 1 or 2 episodes, but it's been burnt into my brain ever since. It was like someone saw Challenge Anika and thought; "You know what would make this better? Snipers"

[@robd733]

I’ve only recently stumbled over this channel. I have to say while I realise it’s demographic of UK audiences of a narrow age band means it will never get big viewing numbers, the content is superb. Well written and funny (bordering on professional tv standard) and I’m enjoying wading through years of material. Yet another trip down memory lane here, awakening my memory to aspects my consciousness had chosen to ignore at the time

[@njm1971nyc]

Agreed. Very funny, very clever, and the deadpan delivery is hilarious 🤣

[@80srenaissance67]

Absolutely ...I was born in 78 and this channels content is pure nostalgic comedy gold

[@deanusrjm]

“Bill Cosby’s lawyer” 😂😂

[@edwinsmith-jones6205]

Can I request a video about "Scavengers", the 90's sci-fi game show, please.

[@StuartMillard]

I posted one on the Patreon last night. It'll be public on here in a month.

[@dab88]

@@StuartMillard looking forward to it!

[@user-jambo-white]

English budget version of "The Running Man" for posh toffs.

[@j0hnsturm]

Holy Edmonds! That Bill Cosby’s lawyer line?? Absolutely crying with laughter. 🤣 😂

[@drssexy2142]

simpleton then

[@stuartedwards3840]

When I read the words “upper class Gibberish” I spat out my Earl Gray. 😂

[@notreallydavid]

Grey! By all means kick me. All best.

[@Robslondon]

Used to love this as a kid…. can see now though why it never made it past 8 episodes 😂

[@theflyintheointment]

The whole chase sequence in the maze was just like a remake of the maze scene at the end of The Shining, instead here Sean O'Kane's screeching replacing Jack Torrance bellowing "DANNY! DANNNYYYY!!!" The only difference being that in The Shining you instinctively want Danny to escape, whereas here you want O'Kane to catch the irritating posh fucks and chop them into pieces. The "Columbine trench coat billowing" line was brilliant, really made me laugh much more than it probably should have.....

[@melll1972]

I loved Interceptor, it was absolute cobblers….

[@AgnesHOWL]

I’m so happy hawk boy got to live out his true self on national television 🦅 Ka-Kawww!

[@stuartmay6225]

The Interceptor himself looks like what I'd imagine the child of H from Steps and Rob Brydon would look like.

[@markdavidson9100]

Interceptor Boogie may have been like Doin The Crab 🦀 with choreographed strutting 😊

[@dinogoldie9716]

It only lasted for 8 episodes? Could've sworn it lasted for yonks (each episode certainly felt that way).

[@66oldgold]

Annabelle Croft and Samantha Beckinsale - you've never seen them in the same place together! 😮

[@freemansteinslab]

Even though its never cited officially, it alway been my personal head canon that Toby Gard was in some way inpired by Annabel Croft, when he created Lara Croft. I am aware that the official story was that it was a result of anglocising the earlier South American character concept of Laura Cruz...but the fact she ended up an upper class, English athletic adventurer with the surname Croft and a not dissimilar appearance cannot be a accident surely?

[@JeremyPhillips1981]

Love the moment of Interceptor athletically vaulting over the gate... and then having to open it anyway for his cameraman.

[@JagerLange]

I remember finding a re-run of this on UK Gold or something in the mid-90s and wondering what the fuck I was seeing. No one I asked could remember it being on before, either.

[@B3tanTyronne]

The Savile joke - utterly sublime :)

[@theflyintheointment]

I think you mean Sir Jimmy Savile OBE. Show a bit of respect mate.

[@stephenhough4957]

@@theflyintheointment Sit down, Fly, I’ve got some news for you……

[@njm1971nyc]

Hmm, this one passed me by as an 18 yr old "Essex boy" - no doubt I was up to some other mischief that summer. 34 yrs later, in the middle of a stressful day in NYC, I'm happy to be taking a break for a cuppa and a dose of Millard to cheer me up - whatever the content 😄 🇬🇧

[@AllOuttaBubblegum123]

Big up the Essex massive. I'm southend, mate.

[@njm1971nyc]

@@AllOuttaBubblegum123 Good old Southend...at 16, a train from Shenfield to Southend, fake ID...TOTS nightclub 😄 Well, when I say fake ID, I mean a doctored photocopy of my birth certificate 😂 Simpler times!

[@AllOuttaBubblegum123]

Yes mate, I used to go to Mr Bs nearby lol. Both long gone now.

[@Bromley68]

BASILDON IN THE HOUSE

[@davekennedy6315]

Braintree Massive!

[@sleepytabby9113]

I remember this being advertised but never watched it. My mum hated Treasure Hunt (helicopters ???) so this was never going to get a look in. 😂 Thanks for the upload, made me laugh after a frustrating day. ❤

[@craigcharlesworth1538]

I remember loving this as a kid, but as an adult it's like a TV equavalent of playing Call of Duty. You feel like you're on a fantastic exciting adventure where anything can happen, until you realise you're being funnelled down a very linear path peppered with very heavily scripted bits to up the excitement.

[@horrortackleharry]

It's funny the kind of stuff that was broadcast before the whole 'TV fakery' backlash of the 2000s. There was loads of stuff on TV we knew full well was fake, but enjoyed anyway.

[@chinnyvision]

They state 'transport is provided, it's up to you to find it' at the start of each episode. So it's quite clear they are being funnelled along the routes. Yes the episodes were recorded over a period longer than 40 minutes but the reasons they would stop were unplanned and logistical. Communication breakdowns were common (you could do it all on mobile phones today but look at the 2 radios the contestants have). They could also hit problems. Eg in the Cornwall episode they had to break for quite a while as it was a bank holiday weekend and there was a traffic jam towards the beach they hadn't planned for.

[@goodnightvienna8511]

That Cosby jab was sharp…the Columbine trench coat even sharper….that poor dog at 12:00 was freaking out was on the edge of biting someone. Poor thing didn’t know it wasn’t a group of home intruders.This is awful. American TV - Miami Vice. British TV - whatever THIS is…😂😂😂 I see the Americans did have a version too 😂😂 oh god that NOISE ..makes my teeth grind

[@venablesricky]

Love the Jacques rougeau rope flip over the gate... Oops sorry, let me get the gate for you.

[@wiseguy100]

Sean O'Kane's IMDB trivia section is like a game of 'Spot the Truths'.

[@4879daniel]

Nearly as good as Stan Collymore’s

[@Eckalicious]

In fairness to Interceptor Boogie it would've fitted nicely into a Dario Argento giallo.

[@killbotone6210]

You've only gone and ruddy well done what I'd been hoping you would. 👏

[@TheRealSeamless]

Watching your channel makes me both proud I was able to enjoy half the crap on TV at that time, yet also ashamed for the same reason. We really did grow up in simpler times....

[@lexiwilson9501]

I remember this show as a teen, can't say I enjoyed it much. This video is much better.

[@Gianfranco_69]

In your opinion ,after the Class War just who would be still alive?..

[@warrenbut1455]

So funny not the programme stuart comments brilliant

[@baronswagger]

19:25 Betrayal and a helpful shove onto the tractor bed 😮

[@Gannett2011]

"Hooray Henry" - cripes, I haven't heard that one in a while!

[@quiteliterallytheworst5977]

My memories of this show are really vivid. No-one I know seems to have any recollection if it. Crazy it only had 8 episodes! Also, "shirtless Derek Acorah" is my new band name.

[@kerethmakura4502]

The Squarker needs his wings clipping. I shall call him Darth Rooster.

[@danslider9014]

I loved it as a 10 year old, and it took me ages to see it again many years later on challenge. I spent a lot of time on the interceptors lair website aswell. Loved them fan made websites that dont seem to be a big thing anymore. I like it!!!

[@BungleBare]

Any chance of covering Get Fresh? There’s a complete episode on KZbin (minus the cartoons, ad breaks, etc.) of an episode from my home town of Whitehaven from 1986. That episode contains a skit where one of the hosts (Charlotte Hindle) is tied to an actual railway line with a train coming. This must have had ITV’s switchboard jammed by parents complaining about how stupid a thing it was to show kids on a Saturday morning, because when the show came back after an ad break Charlotte had to deliver an apology and a warning to never, ever, do that.

[@StuartMillard]

It's on the list for a Saturday Morning Archaeology at some point

[@freemansteinslab]

Oh my giddy aunt...I used to love this when I was little, but now I realise just how bloody ridiculous it actually was! 😂 Still...Annabelle Croft though 🤤

[@stephenhough4957]

Annabel….sigh…Croft. She’s just lovely, even with the vocal tic…..

[@FatNorthernBigot]

"Just keep your back away from him!". Unless it's his birthday, then just grin-and-bear it.

[@WallKenshiro]

The Intercepter himself is literally Simon Wesker.

[@AllOuttaBubblegum123]

I loved the concept, but it didn't quite pay off in reality.

[@michaelkitchin9665]

You could probably drop two people off miles apart these days and just get them to meet up without the helicopter drive-bys. Dump them in a field and the first street sign they find they can google like their lives depended on it. No location data sharing on the phones, though. That's cheating.

[@mairsh]

I still use the term "I like it, Mikey" to this very day. I thought this programme was the greatest thing I'd ever seen when it was on. Thanks for ruining it 😂 As usual, an hilarious watch, thanks for taking the time to make it. I really appreciate your content. Until I realise how old it makes me feel!!! Cheers!

[@multirevelator]

I liiike it!

[@brayster1979]

My favourite ever game show

[@j_thecerebral]

12:45 "Me, after your dad shows me his piss collection" - comedy gold! Awesome video, despite it's obvious flaws have a lot of nostalgia for Interceptor growing up and watching it on challenge TV. Didn't realise until years later there was only the 8 episodes. Very goofy show but the banter between the interceptor and Mikey was always entertaining.

[@youaintseenmeok]

Arkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk😂

[@SUK2293]

Airwolf

[@goodnightvienna8511]

I think the helicopter in Interceptor looks a bit like the Bell one in Airwolf, when that show ended, it went to Germany and crashed in a storm. 😢I think the pilot died and a patient it was an air ambulance?

[@stephenjwz]

Visiting family last weekend, they put "Hunted" (C4 series) on, which seemed a bit daft but familiar. Thanks for answering the question before I asked it.

[@warrenbut1455]

Block the drains joke so funny

[@retrogiftsuk4812]

I loved this show as a ten year old. Probably helped by me being oblivious to the contrived nature of the staged transport... That and there only being 3 other channels. Annabel Croft was such a contrived choice of host probably chosen after Anneka Rice not being available (and Madame Tussauds refusing the TV company to lend her waxwork)

[@chinnyvision]

A strange choice when the previous year she had already demonstrated she couldn't think and speak at the same time on Treasure Hunt (dim is understating it!). Perhaps Chatsworth liked her. Perhaps there was a horrible mix up and they ordered Annabel Giles on Wish and ended up with Croft instead.

[@dinogoldie9716]

I couldn't stand these minor celebrities repeating all their scripted lines thrice during a poorly staged televised chase. But enough about Channel 4's "Hunted." I wonder what Mr Millard makes of "Interceptor."

[@j0hnf_uk]

A definite case of trying to live up to the expectations set by, 'Treasure Hunt', by adding the Interceptor element to it, except the namesake ends up getting predictably boring and irritating after the second of third, 'squawk', instance. Meaning that the show rapidly becomes samey in the space of about 2 episodes. The fact that the contestants are all well-spoken middle/upper middle class people, who are on the same social strata as the host Annabel Croft, doesn't help any. Who wants to watch posh people running about the place, using vehicles that have been placed at convenient positions along their route for them to use when needed, being pursued by some bloke who looks like a charity shop Art Rutger doing impressions of a startled cat/birds of prey, whilst pointing a remote control from a TV at them as they run away? Enough to make a series, apparently.

[@TheNightBadger]

Ah Crofty... another one I never got to marry... _"Annabelle I'm in a village!" "Yes?"_

[@gyorkshire257]

If this was broadcast in late 1989, it must have been filmed that summer. In late may 1989, my nanna broke her leg when an old lady fell down the escalator at C&A and landed on her. She was 67 at that point, and the break was so bad that she was two months in hospital, and never walked properly again. Even so, I am pretty sure that, despite her condition, at the exact same moment that Gap Year was trying to run towards the tractor, (8:38), my nan could have moved faster.

[@deanothemanc5281]

Dont even remember this, i would have been 14 when this launched. Carnt even remember anyone mentioning it at school. Probably a bit home counties England, for us Mancs lol!!!

[@drssexy2142]

pleb. enjoy your quiz night

[@stephenhough4957]

Excellent Cosby lawyer reference 😉.

[@hippybuddhist]

The Interceptor was a pillock.

[@stephenhough4957]

Boat guy needs to be at the pub so he’s available to drive the boat but can’t drink for that reason. So, he’s just doing that most natural of British things, sitting on a wooden bench outside a pub and not drinking.

[@moroniciconic]

Mention Crystal Maze. Cut to dominic err something wood? Top kek.

[@goodnightvienna8511]

I say that Interceptor chap was an annoying little oik . The screeching. Lonely Walter Mitty type . I wonder where he is now….

[@hippybuddhist]

Actually, this would have been the result if Prince Edward had produced The Hitcher.

[@-Doom-Strike-One]

The producer used his helicopter as a tax write off and claomed expenses, so I suppose, ! Nice work.man. 😅

[@goodnightvienna8511]

I think the helicopter in Interceptor looks a bit like the Bell one in Airwolf, when that show ended, it went to Germany and crashed in a storm. 😢I think the pilot died and a patient it was an air ambulance?

[@JohnMTennant]

Aside from the obvious gold of the montage of screeches, I keep returning to this for the 'soundtrack to running out of a burning museum' as well as 'Charity? He doesn't even need it!'

[@DukeOfKidderminster]

That noise reminds me of the Curious Orange.

[@TheAlexmynameis]

Hah the screeching ! 🦅

[@BigyetiTechnologies]

I think I saw some of one episode, then 6 months later at sixth form, I was trying to learn to play Chopin's Revolutionary Study, and a friend pointing out that it sounds like the theme from "that helicopter programme with the screeching lunatic"

[@80srenaissance67]

What an amazingly precise memory recall you have of words spoken 35 years ago

[@ChrisHopkinsBass]

Annabel Croft doing her pieces to camera whilst looking like she’s just dropped some Special K

[@theflyintheointment]

Special K - ‘tis the poshest of all the breakfast cereals. No council estate scum like Coco Pops or Lucky Charms in the Croft stately home.

[@chinnyvision]

She's having to both think and speak at the same time and simply doesn't have the processing power. Like an 8 bit game that slows down when there is a lot on screen.

[@katewolfspirit6722]

@@theflyintheointment I think 'Special K' might be referring to ketamine, but I could be wrong...

[@ChrisHopkinsBass]

@@chinnyvision yeh, like those Freescape games that Incentive Software created. Almost unplayable on the original hardware but pretty good if you speed them up in an emulator

[@davekennedy6315]

​@katewolfspirit6722 yeah THATS the kinda Special K I used to LOVE! I don't miss my bladder in the slightest haha!

[@jonnywishbone4805]

Sounds like a freakin' Ringwraith

[@bigpmc]

Bill Cosby's lawyer line made me spit out my tea😂

[@prestigepea1235]

Was at 6th form when this came out and made silk screen printed Interceptor t-shirts in art. This had us in stitches at how awful it was/ the contestants were. When they dropped it before the end of the series, it was a disaster, but then they showed the final episode over the Christmas break... glorious!

[@chinnyvision]

The episode shown at Christmas was always intended to go out at that time. I was told by Micheal Malric-Smith (Mikey the pilot) when I interviewed him in 2002 that a second series was on the cards but Thames became tied up in their franchise renewal process and being a show contracted out Interceptor was expensive. They needed cheaper shows made in house which doomed the series.

[@MINKIN2]

Speaks in "upper class gibberish"

[@Michael-v7g6f]

A lot better idea on paper than it was in execution.

[@ChrisHopkinsBass]

Surely all you had to do was to lie on your back on the ground

[@chinnyvision]

The timer element means that all the Interceptor needs to do is waste enough of your time hiding the pack and you won't make it.

[@peterainsworth8026]

Too harsh. I loved this show.

[@Michael-v7g6f]

I just can't understand why this only got one series.

[@FranzSanchez-ky9up]

I used to love this show as a kid... I didn't realize it was this annoying.

[@peterainsworth8026]

That's because it wasn't.

[@neilshenton1834]

Oh my, how wonderfully demented! 😂😂😂

[@ChrisHopkinsBass]

9:25 Pat Mustard alert!

[@Johnnyafc]

The acrobatics over the gate 🐐

[@soulstorm_music]

Excellent content 😂 subbed

[@chinnyvision]

Interceptor is peak TV. We all copied it in the playground the next day because it could be easily imitated (ok without the hardware). Yes it is limited and has flaws. But look at the first series of Treasure Hunt compared to the later series. Chatsworth refined the format and got better at it. No reason to suspect they wouldn't have done the same here. Frankly the first series of TH is a mess! For the tractor ambush, if Hillary did clock the camera she probably wouldn't have questioned it as apparently the contestants were told cameras would be around the course. Presumably this was to cover if they clocked a cameraman in an ambush situation.

[@StuartMillard]

I love a good 'weird TV shows we played at school' anecdote, and Interceptor's a cracker. Imagine they'd got a second series, teachers everywhere driven mad by fish-eagling!

[@BungleBare]

@@StuartMillard Here’s a few then; Kick Start on BMX bikes, with an obstacle course made out of random old shit like milk crates. Cool Runnings re-enacted with two cheap skateboards nailed to one piece of wood, and a steep hill. The Krypton Factor assault course mocked on a playground near the harbour with some nicked fishing nets. And, deadliest of all, the pugel sticks from Gladiators recreated using brush shanks and vegetable oil canisters nicked from behind the chippy. With no padding on them one blow to the face usually resulted in injury. One lad had a broken jaw and several stitches.

[@drssexy2142]

i'm 82 years old and i've never heard the expression fish-eagling b4 today.@@StuartMillard

[@mythman6417]

I don't remember ever seeing interceptor on TV, however there must've been an episode filmed in the town I grew up in, it makes an appearance at 17.39 and again at 20.44...it hasn't changed a bit other than theres now a Greggs where the shop in the background is! Anyway love the channel, a true gem on KZbin!

[@docwallace]

Surprised you didn't pick up on her regular underwhelming welcome to "What we hope to be" another exciting episode. If you're taking requests, Skyrunners is worth a look, clearly a failed pilot they aired anyway and perhaps the most shambolic 'high budget' show ever aired.

[@IamRobotMonkey]

@0:24 "...and Crystal Maze" /me thinks "Richard O'brien has let himself go"

[@scottishwildcat]

I still say “I’ll be back for you missus!” to this day, to zero recognition from anyone else.

[@Makeroomformushrooms]

Hmmm....it seemed so much more dynamic in 89😂😂

[@andrewbrunton8664]

I remember when they came to Kelso to film this. Its shite eh?

[@lukeb247]

I legit forgot about the squawking.

[@neilelkins2009]

Somersaulting over the gate then going back to open it for the cameraman 🤌

[@niceuneasy]

You make a great critic love it😂

[@kidkunjer]

Bill Cosby's lawer:

[@Gorgutsforcongress]

This isn't real.

[@dickoon]

My single favourite show of all time, though I might not go quite as far as using loaded words like "best". Thank you for making and sharing this and reminding me of just how much fun it could be. 90% of it was very affectionate and 10% of it made me go "la la la I'm not listening", but that's probably as it should be.

[@dickoon]

Following up to this, I dreamt about my single favourite show of all time for the first time in years last night. This video must take the credit for that, so thank you very much.

[@dickoon]

There's one tiny piece of historical nuance that I think is relevant and may not be obvious. The show was broadcast in the summer of 1989. At that point, laser games were mostly new and futuristic. Sources suggest the first companies in the UK opened in 1987 and 1988, I'm not sure when the first actual centres opened, but they didn't really spread across the country until after the show was aired. (They'd been available overseas for years before then, and some simple, low-powered home kits were probably available by that point.) Accordingly, for me - and, I think, for many other viewers - the laser game depicted was something I'd read about and wanted to play but never got the chance to do so. When you're 13, about to turn 14, this was very exciting indeed. The quality of the tech may not stand up by today's standards, but in context it was cutting edge.