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Ghostwatch: Unlike Josh (and many others) I never thought this notorious dramatized ‘live broadcast from a real haunted house’ was actually real. Together it tells the story of the end of an era, the last time when watching television was a shared experience for the family and the nation, before the internet meant everyone watched different things at different times on different devices, headphones on to make absolutely sure no one could watch it with them. In Watching the Nineties, much-loved comedian Josh Widdicombe tells the story of a strange rural childhood, the kind of childhood he only realised was weird when he left home and started telling people about it. Josh Widdecombe seems like a thoroughly decent bloke and all-round ‘good egg’, so I feel slightly sheepish having to slate his book. This pretty much features all the recognisable shows of that decade, whilst other televised events like the Euro '96 tournament and the funeral of Diana.
Readers who pick it up because they're fans Widdicombe and want to learn more about him will get only two anecdotes that he hasn't already shared on The Last Leg, Would I Lie to You, or Graham Norton, in some cases all three. He co-hosts The Last Leg on Channel 4 and Hypothetical on Dave and has appeared on everything from Have I Got News For You to A League of Their Own and Blankety Blank .There were kids at my school who liked bands, kids who liked football and one weird kid who liked the French sport of petanque, however, we all loved Gladiators, Neighbours and Pebble Mill with Alan Titchmarsh (possibly not the third of these). I think it helps further if you were a child or teenager in the 90's but I think you'd enjoy it regardless. Readers who are the same approximate age and want to enjoy some light nostalgia are likely to find their attention wandering, as Widdicombe goes into such deep detail of everything as to explain each to someone who's never even heard of them. I'm definitely not his target audience as I was 24 when the '90s started, but nevertheless I enjoyed this and watched the majority of the shows he talks about in this gently amusing book. It was also a real nostalgia trip and heartwarming to read the similarities in mine and Josh’s childhood from the growing up in the middle of nowhere (in my case, Norfolk), the small class sizes and the very minor cases of rule breaking (one whole class detention).
Josh can at least justify his childhood TV addiction on the grounds that he grew up in a remote sparsely populated area of Devon. This book is a very easy read for a very niche group of people who lived through the fun kids’ TV of the 90s.Do yourself a favour and give this book a swerve, and maybe pick up a copy of ‘When Saturday Comes’ magazine instead. It was interesting to see the other perspectives (and hear which other comedian Lou would have married – and may run off with in the future! There are no chapters on Twin Peaks, Our Friends in the North, Prime Suspect, Inspector Morse, Cracker or Queer as Folk. And how come no one ever warned Rob or Josh of the sleep-depriving, sick-covering, tear-inducing, snot-wiping, 4am-relationship-straining brutality of it all?
Comedy and Music run through my veins and I love writing about them both, I adore interviewing acts and always on the lookout for something new! Widdicombe tours nationwide as one of the UK’s finest stand-up comedians as well as co-hosting The Last Leg, and has starred on Have I Got News For You, Live At The Apollo, Taksmaster and numerous other TV comedy Shows.I’m a few years younger than Josh and I didn’t watch as much TV as he did (it sounds like no one watched as much TV as he did) but I remembered most of the shows and other content. Unlike those who might pretend to have it all together, Rob and Josh comfortably discuss the highs and lows of parenting. I was waiting for the time when Josh would mention Romesh Ranganathan and Rob Beckett as examples of people on TV you might not be able to stand – as he’d mentioned it on the ‘Parenting Hell’ podcast – so I felt part of an ‘in-joke’ when I read that. From only having four people in his year at school, to living in a family home where they didn't just not bother locking the front door, they didn't even have a key.
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