The Problematic Gaze

This week we're heading back to 1955 for bouncing bombs, stiff upper lips and one of the most famous pieces of music in British cinema as we revisit The Dam Busters.
Based on the true story of Operation Chastise, the film follows engineer Barnes Wallis as he develops his extraordinary bouncing bomb and Wing Commander Guy Gibson as he leads 617 Squadron on the daring 1943 raid against Germany's Ruhr dams. But more than 70 years after the film was released, how much of The Dam Busters is history—and how much is British myth-making?
We explore why the film became such a national institution, from its famous Dam Busters March and innovative special effects to its portrait of heroism, masculinity, class and that quintessentially British determination to face potentially catastrophic situations while displaying approximately three-and-a-half emotions.
We also look beyond the legend to the reality of Operation Chastise: the aircrew who never returned, the civilians killed by the resulting floods, and the continuing historical debate over how strategically successful the raid actually was.
And then there's the dog.
We discuss the racial slur used as the name of Guy Gibson's black Labrador, how later television broadcasts and releases have attempted to deal with it, and the difficulties it presents when showing a much-loved 1950s film to modern audiences. We also look at the long-discussed Peter Jackson remake and the extraordinary influence The Dam Busters had on later filmmakers—including some very familiar moments in Star Wars.
In Culture Corner, we're exploring Britain in 1955, a year in which Winston Churchill resigned, Anthony Eden became Prime Minister, ITV arrived to challenge the BBC, television advertising began, Dixon of Dock Green hit our screens, the first Guinness Book of Records appeared and Birdseye introduced Britain to the fish finger.
We also revisit Ruth Ellis becoming the last woman executed in Britain, the Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend controversy, the suspiciously well-timed demise of Grace Archer, Cardiff becoming the capital of Wales, and some of the biggest films of the year.
And next week we're making quite a leap: from bouncing bombs and Barnes Wallis to Bread (1986).
Now that's what we call range.

Next week we deep dive into Bread, a UK TV sitcom from 1986. Click here to watch our chosen episode on YouTube
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Click this link to watch the Dolly Parton documentary on YouTube discussed in this episode
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This week at PG Manor we're feeling slightly ill, not sleeping properly and discussing pensions, so naturally we've decided we're entering the third quarter of life. Apparently this is what passes for optimism now.
Fortunately, there's plenty to cheer us up, starting with your fantastic response to our Grange Hill episodes and some very exciting movement over on YouTube—including one of our Molly House videos creeping towards 20,000 views. We also hear from Paulina in Slovakia, who's returning to teaching and has some thoughts on what Grange Hill tells us about life in the classroom.
Then we turn our attention to an important scientific question: can dogs emotionally manipulate their owners? After a suspicious bout of canine illness coincides with a change in routine, we investigate whether dogs can sense when you're going away—and whether they might be quite capable of laying on the guilt when you do.
There's plenty to watch this week too. Lee recommends the brilliant Be Kind Rewind and its documentary exploring Dolly Parton's film career, while Dave has been watching How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, the comic murder mystery from Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee.
We also celebrate the extraordinary Gloria Steinem, looking back at her journalism, activism and famous undercover investigation working as a Playboy Bunny before she became one of the defining figures of the modern feminist movement.
Meanwhile, there's potentially exciting news for Wentworth fans, with a new spin-off on the horizon and Rachel Griffiths joining the cast. We also discover the increasingly depressing signs that you've finally become a proper adult, recount a yin yoga session that didn't go entirely according to plan, and discuss a new documentary connected to the controversial 1980 film Cruising.
And next week we're travelling all the way back to 1955 for one of Britain's most famous war films: The Dam Busters.
From Dolly Parton and Gloria Steinem to bouncing bombs. Just another perfectly logical week at The Problematic Gazette.
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Hello Gazers! We watched three episodes of Grange Hill discussed in this podcast:

Click here to watch the Racism episode from 1983 on YouTube
Click here to watch the first Zammo Heroin episode from 1983 on YouTube
Click here to watch the second Zammo Heroin episode from 1983 on YouTube
Get your school bags ready because this week we're going back to Grange Hill—the BBC children's drama. Created by Phil Redmond and first broadcast in 1978, Grange Hill broke new ground by putting ordinary comprehensive-school pupils at the centre of children's television. We explore its 30-year history, its changing filming locations, its commitment to working-class and multicultural characters, and the controversy that followed its determination to tackle subjects other children's programmes often avoided.
Then we're revisiting three episodes from the show's classic era.
First, we head to 1983, where notorious school bully Gripper Stebson targets Sikh pupil Randhir Singh in a disturbing storyline about racism. More than 40 years later, we ask how well it holds up and consider just how unusual it was for children's television to confront racial prejudice so directly.
Then it's 1986 and arguably the most famous Grange Hill storyline of them all: Zammo's heroin addiction. We revisit two episodes depicting his increasingly desperate behaviour, the damage his addiction causes to the people around him, and the moments that shocked a generation of young viewers.
We also look at what happened when the storyline escaped the television screen. Just Say No became a real-life anti-drugs campaign and Grange Hill cast single, eventually taking its young stars all the way to America and the White House.
Along the way we discuss the programme's battles with critics including Mary Whitehouse, the sometimes astonishingly harsh school discipline, classic characters and behind-the-scenes stories from three decades of Grange Hill.
And in Culture Corner, we're investigating that peculiar period in pop history when children's choirs kept appearing on enormous hit singles. Who were all these singing children, and why were they apparently everywhere?
Nostalgic, funny and occasionally much darker than we remembered, Grange Hill wasn't afraid to tackle racism, drugs, class and social inequality while still being unmistakably children's television.
More than 45 years after those famous school gates first opened, we're asking what made Grange Hill so groundbreaking—and whether today's children's television would dare to do the same.
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It's been quite a week. We've survived biblical weather, failed to see The Human League and said goodbye to two absolute legends: Tim Curry and Dolly Parton.
We begin back at PG Manor with the tale of the concert that never was. Plans to see The Human League, Toyah and Roland Gift were scuppered by a spectacular storm and eventual cancellation, leaving us with no synth-pop whatsoever but at least a reasonably dramatic story to tell.
We also catch up on your reactions to our Saturday Night Fever episode. It turns out quite a few of us had remembered John Travolta, the white suit and the Bee Gees while somehow forgetting just how extraordinarily bleak the rest of the film is.
Then we remember two much-loved stars we've sadly lost this week.
First, Tim Curry, whose extraordinary career gave us Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Pennywise in It and a wonderfully scene-stealing Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island. We celebrate his unique talent, his resilience following his stroke, and why so many of his performances became permanently lodged in popular culture.
We also pay tribute to Dolly Parton—singer, songwriter, actress, philanthropist, businesswoman and owner of perhaps the most recognisable hair in showbusiness. Beyond Jolene, 9 to 5 and I Will Always Love You, we look at some of the stories that made us love Dolly quite so much and celebrate the extraordinary generosity that accompanied her extraordinary career.
There's plenty of listener mail too, including a recommendation for the gloriously gender-bending Goodbye Charlie, one listener's determination never to watch Crocodile Dundee, and the suggestion that we turn our attention to Priscilla, Queen of the Desert instead.
Plus, we're watching Widow's Bay, discovering that apparently crows can hold grudges, discussing The Traitors: Canada, Reacher, Channel 5's Number 1 Fan and some intriguing casting news from Only Murders in the Building.
And finally, sharpen your pencils, straighten your tie and try not to get sent to Mr Bronson because we're going back to school. Next time we're taking a nostalgic trip to Grange Hill to discover just how much trouble there really was at that particular comprehensive.
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Pull on your flares, practise that pointing pose and dust off that Bee Gees soundtrack because this week we're revisiting Saturday Night Fever—although the film we actually watched is a lot less glittery than popular culture would have us believe.
Released in America in 1977 and arriving in UK cinemas in March 1978, Saturday Night Fever gave us John Travolta in the white suit, one of the biggest-selling soundtracks of all time and some of the most iconic dancing ever put on film. But strip away the disco lights and this is a surprisingly bleak story about working-class young people who don't see much of a future ahead of them.
We follow Tony Manero through the streets of Brooklyn, where his dead-end job, troubled family life and deeply troubled group of friends contrast dramatically with the glamorous world of the 2001 Odyssey nightclub. On Saturday night, Tony can become somebody—and Travolta's extraordinary dancing shows us exactly why.
But then there's everything else.
We tackle the film's toxic masculinity, misogyny, casual racism and homophobia, as well as its treatment of women, sexual violence, teen pregnancy and tragic deaths. We also discuss the dance competition and the moment Tony himself begins to recognise that the world he inhabits—and some of his own behaviour within it—isn't quite as straightforward as he thought.
In Culture Corner, we're heading to Britain in 1978, when disco was everywhere. We revisit the year's chart hits and youth culture while digging beneath the mainstream disco explosion to explore the Black musical traditions and Black, Latino and queer communities that helped create the culture—roots that Saturday Night Fever's overwhelmingly white version of disco largely leaves out.
And yet, despite everything that's difficult about the film, there's plenty to celebrate. Travolta gives a remarkable performance, the dance sequences remain electrifying, the soundtrack became a cultural phenomenon, and beneath Tony's swagger is a young man desperately trying to work out whether life might offer him something more.
So forget the fancy-dress version of Saturday Night Fever. It's angry, uncomfortable, occasionally shocking and far darker than its glitterball reputation suggests.
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