And as the final ‘leg’ of the gigantic Advent Calendar project begins, step into Christmas with yer old pal, Ben ‘Elton’ Johns…

Yes at last… it’s the answers that at least seven of you have been waiting for!

Round 1
1. Eve Myles’ Tits from Torchwood
2. Strain 138 of the Shanti Virus from Heroes (honestly, why did so many of you confidently state it was the Sonic Screwdriver?)
3. The objects next to the Music Box from Camberwick Green
4. Gene Hunt’s ‘oops from Life On Mars
5. Alan Driscoll’s picture of Ant & Dec from CD:UK
6. Dexter’s breakfast from Dexter
7. Little Ted’s drum from Play School
8. House’s cane from House
9. Captain Jack’s Peak Cap from Doctor Who
10. Bubbles’ shopping trolley from The Wire

Round 2
1. Hartley Hare from Pipkins
2. Ant Jones from Grange Hill
3. Hugo ‘Hurley’ Reyes from Lost
4. Roland Rat
5. TV ‘Clown’ (Test Card)
6. Gareth ‘Gaz Top’ Jones
7. Gabriel ‘Sylar’ Gray from Heroes
8. Porkpie from Desmond’s/Porkpie
9. Gwen Cooper from Torchwood
10. Michael Parkinson from whingeing

Round 3
1. 1986
2. Merry Christmas Santa Claus
3. Invasion Of The Honeycombes
4. False
5. The Gift
6. Jaymi Bantok
7. Some children invaded the stage and dismantled Nookie Bear
8. Patrick Troughton
9. Nicholas Lyndhurst’s hair turned green before an important meeting (though Patrick Troughton took up ‘keep fit’ was also accepted)
10. Clarke Peters off of The Wire

Round 4
In order: Hey It’s My Birthday Too, Falcon Island, The Krankies’ Joke Machine, Children Of Fire Mountain, and the Monty Python sketch was ‘Blackmail’

Round 5
1. Mr Rusty, Zebedee, Dougal, Dylan
2. Nathan Petrelli, Gabriel Gray, Adam Monroe, Elle Bishop
3. Proposition Joe Stewart, Ziggy Sobotka, Dennis ‘Cutty’ Wise, Michael Lee
4. Hartley Hare, Topov, Tortoise, Pig
5. Alan Moore, Philip Smith, Spooner, Brenda Rose
6. Peter Hazel The Postman, Mickey Murphy The Baker, Captain Snort, Windy Miller
7. Hubert Davenport, Timothy Claypole, Dobbin, Hazel The MacWitch
8. DC Chris Skelton, DCI Gene Hunt, WPC Annie Cartwright, Nelson
9. Basil Fawlty, Sybil Fawlty, Manuel, Polly Sherman
10. Hugo Reyes, Ethan Rom, Ana-Lucia Cortez, Desmond Hume (though the last two transposed were also accepted)

Round 5
1. A robot from a BBC English Language instruction series
2. A Walk In The Black Forest by Horst Jankowski
3. It was pebble-dashed on the inside (and later knocked through to be ‘like living in a cave’)
4. Spitting Image and Good Morning Britain
5. Precognitive Dreaming (though he dreamed he could fly, so half a point if you said that)
6. Rubovia
7. Brenda, Spooner, Vienna The Cat
8. Head Tomorrow Person John
9. The BBC Schools Diamond music for secondary and primary programming respectively
10. True
11. Professor Humboldt (though somebody AGAIN suggested ‘Cripper’ Wilson)
12. PC Potter
13. The Master Of Zephon
14. ‘Bubbles,’ ‘Thirteen’ and ‘The Haitian’
15. Lancelot Link – Secret Chimp
16. Prisoners who escaped from Level 5 of Primatech in Heroes
17. Shortlisted but rejected candidates for House’s medical team
18. Alfresco
19. The Lost Islands
20. With a poisoned Key Lime Pie
21. He tethered it to a drainpipe
22. Trick question – they all were
23. Ronnie Corbett
24. Psychology
25. Paul, Basil and Rosalie

…and the scores are just in, and way out in front is Eve Myles. But heading the actual results table of the 2009 Out On Blue Six Telly Addicts Hoedown are Robert A. Stanley, a Ben Baker of Keighley, and Garreth F. Hirons Presents Garreth F. Hirons’ Team Featuring Garreth F. Hirons (Garreth F. Hirons), all of whom now go through to the Champion Of Champions round. Lucky contestants, please state your chosen specialist subject in the comments box, and prepare to go head to head…

…and it’s the Hang On That One Was Never In Telly Addicts It’s Been ‘Borrowed’ From Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Round. Here are four characters from ten long-running programmes with millions of characters – can you put them in the correct order in which they first appeared on screen?

The Magic Roundabout – Dougal, Mr Rusty, Dylan, Zebedee

Heroes – Elle Bishop, Nathan Petrelli, Gabriel Gray, Adam Monroe

The Wire – Michael Lee, Proposition Joe Stewart, Ziggy Sobotka, Dennis ‘Cutty’ Wise

Pipkins - Hartley Hare, Pig, Topov, Tortoise

Rising Damp – Philip Smith, Brenda Rose, Alan Moore, Spooner

Camberwick Green – Windy Miller, Peter Hazel The Postman, Captain Snort, Mickey Murphy The Baker

Rentaghost – Hubert Davenport, Dobbin, Timothy Claypole, Hazel The MacWitch

Life On Mars – WPC Annie Cartwright, DCI Gene Hunt, DC Chris Skelton, Nelson

Fawlty Towers – Sybil Fawlty, Polly Sherman, Basil Fawlty, Manuel

Lost – Ana-Lucia Cortez, Ethan Rom, Desmond Hume, Hugo Reyes

Where to start? There was so much to take in that I’ve only just got to writing up my thoughts on the first episode of the new series of Ashes to Ashes.

I’m going to focus on the things that may turn out to be significant.

Hospital scene

Only an hour has passed since Alex was shot. I think this means that a year in 1982 equates to an hour in 2008. I’m reasonably convinced, due to the presence of the 4th generation ipod, that the person in the hospital bed is Sam. This could mean that Sam remained in a coma after his leap in 2007.

Grange Hill

If Molly is in Grange Hill in 1982, does this mean she is also in 1982? The credit for Brian Capron could be significant. As far as I remember, the younger cast used to be credited before the teachers.

The stripper from Hyde

I think the reappearance of Hyde journalist Jackie McQueen later in the series will either reveal the mystery surrounding Gene’s ex-wife or what happened to Sam. I saw the figure in the background, and I know Kevin Hales admitted to killing Sally, along with his friend, but…I’ve rewatched the way she was shot. A moment before, Alex hears the air ambulance sirens from 2008 and looks into the light, then Sally is shot. It looks odd…my first instinct was that Sally caught a bullet, or was impacted, by something from 2008.

Dr Death

As far as we know, the only other person to time travel was Sam. I would like Sam to return, but wonder why he is so hostile to Alex? Assuming that she refused to believe him whilst he described travelling back to 1973, maybe he is angry that she is now inhabiting his world. The coma he fell into after jumping off the roof in 2007, could have finally come back to claim him in 1980. But since his body was never found, perhaps he was only being temporarily held in limbo.

Diana

I wonder if this might just be a way of indicating that the mysterious stalker knows about the future. It would probably be one of the most shocking things to tell someone in 1982. Note that in the final scene the stalker says he was holding back the grieving hordes at her funeral in 1997. Sam was in the force, and higher ranking police from across the country were probably deployed to London that day…

Regular readers of these pages will have already seen the following amazing charity shop find – the 1973 Life On Mars spinoff album Simm Something Simple by The John Simm Band.

Side 1 – Life On Mars; Solving A Rape In The Past; I’m Hands Christian Anderson; Motown Medley; Handbags And Gladrags; I Disown My Country

Side 2 – The ALF Song (With A Little Love For The World); What Do You Get A Wookie For Christmas?; Ronan Atkinson Presents Canned Laughter (A Single); [VETOED]; Track 3 Off Peter Wyngarde’s Album; The Sorry Song

Bonus Tracks On CD Version: Theme From “Meerkat Manor”, I’m ‘Avin’ ‘Oops (by Gene & The Hunters)

Well, never mind that Chris Skelton’s Own Personal ‘Being A Policeman’ Handbook that goes for a million pounds a time on eBay – if you’re after the real Life On Mars rarities, have a look at the following long-forgotten popular beat waxings that have recently been uncovered by dedicated researchers:

Gene & The Hunters – I’m ‘Avin ‘Oops

Not that difficult to find if you look hard enough. If you’re interested, you can actually hear a bit of it here.

Keith West – Sam (Tyler)

However, this little-known second instalment in the legendary unfinished ‘Teenage Oopera’ is much harder to track down, especially in this rare picture sleeve that was withdrawn after John Simm complained that it made him look ‘a bit like Pob’.

DC(I) Gleniston Featuring MC Philip Glenister – We Got An ‘Oop Thang (Remix ‘89)

The original 1977 ‘rare groove’ version of this disco classic is virtually unheard of, so instead here’s the inferior House remix from 1989, 12″ vinyl copies of which now fetch upwards of thirty quid. And if anyone out there has a scan of the cover of Liz White’s (She’s Our Dear Old) Test Card Girl, please get in touch…

“Slurp! Sloo!” – Gene Hunt, yesterday.