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Scarred For Life
Scarred For Life Volume Two: Television in the 1980s
The second volume in the Scarred For Life Trilogy, Volume Two takes an affectionate look at the darker side of television in the 1980s. Shocking public information films, eerie children's shows, bizarre sci-fi, terrifying horror, surreal, bleak dramas, and much more are all featured at length. And find out how our beloved four channels tackled life on the dole, rabies, heroin, and AIDS. Prepare to relive your childhood nightmares. Prepare to be scarred for life all over again...
- GenresNonfictionHorrorTv
540 pages, Paperback
First published December 20, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 3, 2023
Couldn’t put it down 🥰! Fantastic cover art featuring Noseybonk and that window-tapping scene from Salem’s Lot! 😱 - if you know what I’m talking about here, then this is the book for you!
I’ve always had a weird hyperfixation with creepy moments in old children’s tv shows and those horrifying public information films, which can be more grim than any horror movie! The AIDS epidemic ones from the 80s have stuck in my mind for years even though it was before I was born!
Does anyone else remember being shown these extreme public information films in school!? I wonder if they are still shown now, there was a horrible Irish advert about a decade ago where a driver loses control of a car and flips into a class of schoolchildren out on a field trip. Awful, makes me sob every time.
These were instilling fear into primary school age children - no wonder am such a huge horror fan now lol got used to the adrenaline rush and I was also a big scaredy cat as a kid lol can literally still list everything (mundane) I used to be scared of!
Definitely need to get volume one (the 70s) aswell!
I’ve always had a weird hyperfixation with creepy moments in old children’s tv shows and those horrifying public information films, which can be more grim than any horror movie! The AIDS epidemic ones from the 80s have stuck in my mind for years even though it was before I was born!
Does anyone else remember being shown these extreme public information films in school!? I wonder if they are still shown now, there was a horrible Irish advert about a decade ago where a driver loses control of a car and flips into a class of schoolchildren out on a field trip. Awful, makes me sob every time.
These were instilling fear into primary school age children - no wonder am such a huge horror fan now lol got used to the adrenaline rush and I was also a big scaredy cat as a kid lol can literally still list everything (mundane) I used to be scared of!
Definitely need to get volume one (the 70s) aswell!
January 15, 2021
My review is up on
https://www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk/r...
https://www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk/r...
August 8, 2025
Gleefully erasing the idealistic, neon-infused vision showcased by countless 80s-set genre films and series, the SFL team offer a harrowing retrospective of the decade's rampant racism, homophobia, mass unemployment, misinformation and an endless number of ways to die horribly. It's a highly personal, witty and insightful look at everything from Bet Lynch vomiting in the blazing Rovers Return and Birkenhead's economic misery to Nic Roeg's brilliant AIDS public information film and sexual abuse in mainstream imported sitcoms. Looming over it all: the spectre of seemingly imminent Nuclear War. Some things never change.
June 23, 2024
Another top notch volume! Can't wait for volume 3
May 9, 2021
One I've been dipping in and out of happily (and mildly terrorised by) for a few months. They do what they do spectacularly and I look very forward to volume three.
February 4, 2023
I absolutely loved Scarred For Life: Volume One: The 1970s, the first book in this series. I bought both of these on a whim in the summer of 2022 and only got round to reading Volume 1 in December 2022 and almost instantly jumped into Volume 2 in January. I knew it at the time, but I probably should have held off a bit, because in the space of two months I've read about 1,300 small type pages about British media and culture in the 1970's and 80's. I think if I had read this book maybe six months after the first one I would have enjoyed it a lot more.
The concept of 'Scarred For Life' is essentially, that the period the authors grew up in, was well, a bit mad. There was an awful lot of stuff, primarily aimed at children that really wouldn't be shown today and in some respects it 'scarred us for life'. I loved the 1970's book and had recalled in my review that if they just focused on one thing, like television, or books, they'd still have a brilliant book. After reading Volume 2 I have changed my mind somewhat. The authors whilst writing Volume 2 realised they had so much material they have split it into two volumes - one for TV and one for everything else. I found reading this, I was craving to read about all the material that will be in the next volume! (which of course I will be buying).
There is also a sense in this book that the authors are growing up, they are no longer children, they are young adults and so reading this book it feels it is less about how media and culture screwed kids up and more about, 'this is the creepy / weird / strange / controversial' TV viewed through the eyes of people slightly older (the 70's volume did cover TV and films for adults too, but there does seem to be a tonal shift). The other thing which felt a bit weird, was that the 70's book felt like a homage to childhood but most of it I hadn't seen before, being born in 1975. Much of the TV mentioned in this book I was at least somewhat aware of. I think this changed my relationship to it, and I wasn't as nostalgic as I thought.
We do have a breadth of content in here, from children's TV shows, to horror and science fiction shows to the anthologies and the birth of Channel 4. The advertising of the era is covered, along with public information films and also documentaries. Everything is impeccably researched and goes into detail about each TV show's content, history and impact, including where to obtain the shows if they are released or on You Tube. It's a real labour of love and consistently of high value. (I did spot a possible error though - in the section about Napalm Death's appearance on 'What's That Noise' they refer to the singer as Barney Greenway. I am pretty sure it's Lee Dorrian in the video - I totally lost it watching that as a metal head in the 80's!)
It's hard to pick out highlights - my personal one though, and I suspect lots of kids my generation would agree is the Zammo heroin addiction story in Grange Hill. It's almost impossible to imagine that kind of story being broadcast at 5 o'clock to the nation now but I swear it was incredibly effective. I can say from experience it terrified me. From my mid teens to my mid twenties I took quite a lot of drugs but heroin was always a massive no-no and I put that down to Zammo.
I had fun reminiscing about 'The Tripods'. I remember when it came out and there was so much hype for it - it looked amazing, but sadly didn't last when you actually watched it. I remember it being really boring and made me turn over to watch the A-Team.
The section on Channel 4 was pretty cool and how they were the channel to try anything at the time. They had the best US imports, the weirdest films and the best content for teens. I remember thinking Network 7 on Sunday's was the best but it never scarred anyone for life so it's not here (we should get the authors to do a 'not scarred for life' book where we can all read about Tiswas and stuff!). I was also one of 'those' teenagers who would stay up late to watch subtitled films on Channel Four on the off chance there would be a bit of nudity, and I remember (along with our authors) regularly being disappointed in the flesh stakes but watching something bizarre too.
One thing which I was never really aware of back then (possibly because I was the target age group) is how teenage sexuality was approached. Some TV programmes aimed at kids and teens did show brief nudity or explore teenage sexuality in a way that wouldn't be broached now. I don't know how I feel about it, of course we have to protect children (both working and viewing) but I have a sense TV of the era was talking to young people and not treating them as stupid. On the flipside of that there is the nonce horror of Page 3 girls. Doing my paper round in the mid-late 80's I'd often turn to Page 3 to look at some tits. The girls in them 'looked' grown up but it is really quite sickening to think the nation's men were leering at girls who had just left school. At the time girls could be photographed topless from age 16, and in some cases the shots were taken earlier. I distinctly remember a 'countdown' to a girl's 16th birthday with her losing bits of school uniform before she had her tits out on her 16th. It's mentioned in this book in the documentary section but it turns my stomach to think of how exploitative that really is.
There is a good section on adverts of the era - it possibly could have been greater because I feel we have skimmed the surface. I remember most of the Public Information Films of the era - they don't seem to have been as varied as the ones in the 70's or old-fashioned. A big shout out goes to the heroin campaign and the AIDS campaign (and how they intersected). It really was terrifying! I can still see those 'Heroin, It really screws you up' posters and of course, condoms everywhere. (My mum dragged me down the family planning clinic when I was 16 to get condoms - at the time you get 30 every three months which felt like a lifetime supply!).
Of course if we weren't bothered about AIDS and heroin we had nuclear death and extreme poverty to worry about...
I enjoyed the sections about 'life on the dole', and I really enjoyed the authors brutal criticism of 'Bread' - I think scousers are still trying to limit the damage that show did to Liverpool and people's perceptions of scousers. This book also showed me a possible origin of the term 'Shite Hawk' and it isn't pretty.
This book is an essential read for anyone interested in the darker side of TV in the 80's. I really liked it but didn't love it, but that's down to reading in close proximity to Volume 1. Pick them both up - they are really worth it if you are into this kind of thing.
The concept of 'Scarred For Life' is essentially, that the period the authors grew up in, was well, a bit mad. There was an awful lot of stuff, primarily aimed at children that really wouldn't be shown today and in some respects it 'scarred us for life'. I loved the 1970's book and had recalled in my review that if they just focused on one thing, like television, or books, they'd still have a brilliant book. After reading Volume 2 I have changed my mind somewhat. The authors whilst writing Volume 2 realised they had so much material they have split it into two volumes - one for TV and one for everything else. I found reading this, I was craving to read about all the material that will be in the next volume! (which of course I will be buying).
There is also a sense in this book that the authors are growing up, they are no longer children, they are young adults and so reading this book it feels it is less about how media and culture screwed kids up and more about, 'this is the creepy / weird / strange / controversial' TV viewed through the eyes of people slightly older (the 70's volume did cover TV and films for adults too, but there does seem to be a tonal shift). The other thing which felt a bit weird, was that the 70's book felt like a homage to childhood but most of it I hadn't seen before, being born in 1975. Much of the TV mentioned in this book I was at least somewhat aware of. I think this changed my relationship to it, and I wasn't as nostalgic as I thought.
We do have a breadth of content in here, from children's TV shows, to horror and science fiction shows to the anthologies and the birth of Channel 4. The advertising of the era is covered, along with public information films and also documentaries. Everything is impeccably researched and goes into detail about each TV show's content, history and impact, including where to obtain the shows if they are released or on You Tube. It's a real labour of love and consistently of high value. (I did spot a possible error though - in the section about Napalm Death's appearance on 'What's That Noise' they refer to the singer as Barney Greenway. I am pretty sure it's Lee Dorrian in the video - I totally lost it watching that as a metal head in the 80's!)
It's hard to pick out highlights - my personal one though, and I suspect lots of kids my generation would agree is the Zammo heroin addiction story in Grange Hill. It's almost impossible to imagine that kind of story being broadcast at 5 o'clock to the nation now but I swear it was incredibly effective. I can say from experience it terrified me. From my mid teens to my mid twenties I took quite a lot of drugs but heroin was always a massive no-no and I put that down to Zammo.
I had fun reminiscing about 'The Tripods'. I remember when it came out and there was so much hype for it - it looked amazing, but sadly didn't last when you actually watched it. I remember it being really boring and made me turn over to watch the A-Team.
The section on Channel 4 was pretty cool and how they were the channel to try anything at the time. They had the best US imports, the weirdest films and the best content for teens. I remember thinking Network 7 on Sunday's was the best but it never scarred anyone for life so it's not here (we should get the authors to do a 'not scarred for life' book where we can all read about Tiswas and stuff!). I was also one of 'those' teenagers who would stay up late to watch subtitled films on Channel Four on the off chance there would be a bit of nudity, and I remember (along with our authors) regularly being disappointed in the flesh stakes but watching something bizarre too.
One thing which I was never really aware of back then (possibly because I was the target age group) is how teenage sexuality was approached. Some TV programmes aimed at kids and teens did show brief nudity or explore teenage sexuality in a way that wouldn't be broached now. I don't know how I feel about it, of course we have to protect children (both working and viewing) but I have a sense TV of the era was talking to young people and not treating them as stupid. On the flipside of that there is the nonce horror of Page 3 girls. Doing my paper round in the mid-late 80's I'd often turn to Page 3 to look at some tits. The girls in them 'looked' grown up but it is really quite sickening to think the nation's men were leering at girls who had just left school. At the time girls could be photographed topless from age 16, and in some cases the shots were taken earlier. I distinctly remember a 'countdown' to a girl's 16th birthday with her losing bits of school uniform before she had her tits out on her 16th. It's mentioned in this book in the documentary section but it turns my stomach to think of how exploitative that really is.
There is a good section on adverts of the era - it possibly could have been greater because I feel we have skimmed the surface. I remember most of the Public Information Films of the era - they don't seem to have been as varied as the ones in the 70's or old-fashioned. A big shout out goes to the heroin campaign and the AIDS campaign (and how they intersected). It really was terrifying! I can still see those 'Heroin, It really screws you up' posters and of course, condoms everywhere. (My mum dragged me down the family planning clinic when I was 16 to get condoms - at the time you get 30 every three months which felt like a lifetime supply!).
Of course if we weren't bothered about AIDS and heroin we had nuclear death and extreme poverty to worry about...
I enjoyed the sections about 'life on the dole', and I really enjoyed the authors brutal criticism of 'Bread' - I think scousers are still trying to limit the damage that show did to Liverpool and people's perceptions of scousers. This book also showed me a possible origin of the term 'Shite Hawk' and it isn't pretty.
This book is an essential read for anyone interested in the darker side of TV in the 80's. I really liked it but didn't love it, but that's down to reading in close proximity to Volume 1. Pick them both up - they are really worth it if you are into this kind of thing.
June 22, 2025
I loved this book. Th 80s is not bang on my child hood era. Here are some of my memories of being scarred for life….:
The big telly got wheeled out at school and they played….The first natural born smoker. Absolutely scared the crap out of me but I was gen x so styled it out. Yeah. lol.
I remember being completely obsessed with Knightmare.
And I couldn’t believe the mention of a certain horror I accidentally saw as a child within the book that took me straight back.
The house that bled to death.
I have spent nearly 50 years wondering what the hell it was and I still occasionally see it in my head. The dead cat on the window sill scene. I accidentally saw that and went into full meltdown. (I was an undiagnosed little autistic kid at the time) I remember getting incredibly poorly and my parents getting the doctor out and he couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. But it was full trauma about that cat.
Oddly. The thing I remember the most is that I could smell it. It stank of blood and all the horrible stuff you could think of.
I’d forgotten that that scarred me so badly I actually ended up having a doctor called out to the house.
Since then I have had black cats. Keeping them safe. And I always figured it was because of that one harrowing image lodged in my brain.
And nope. I am absolutely not watching it again. I’m very grateful that I can now put a name to it though.
And that’s what this book does bring it all back in vivid detail brilliant!
The big telly got wheeled out at school and they played….The first natural born smoker. Absolutely scared the crap out of me but I was gen x so styled it out. Yeah. lol.
I remember being completely obsessed with Knightmare.
And I couldn’t believe the mention of a certain horror I accidentally saw as a child within the book that took me straight back.
The house that bled to death.
I have spent nearly 50 years wondering what the hell it was and I still occasionally see it in my head. The dead cat on the window sill scene. I accidentally saw that and went into full meltdown. (I was an undiagnosed little autistic kid at the time) I remember getting incredibly poorly and my parents getting the doctor out and he couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. But it was full trauma about that cat.
Oddly. The thing I remember the most is that I could smell it. It stank of blood and all the horrible stuff you could think of.
I’d forgotten that that scarred me so badly I actually ended up having a doctor called out to the house.
Since then I have had black cats. Keeping them safe. And I always figured it was because of that one harrowing image lodged in my brain.
And nope. I am absolutely not watching it again. I’m very grateful that I can now put a name to it though.
And that’s what this book does bring it all back in vivid detail brilliant!
October 16, 2021
A wonderful trip down nostalgia lane reliving all those things shocked us, or that maybe wouldn't get made for kids today. While I enjoyed 80% of the book I found that I wasn't so interested in reading about some of the things that I missed at the time, or some that just didn't have an impact on me, so its probably better to just delve in and find those that give you a warm fuzzy feeling than to try to read the whole thing.
September 10, 2024
As with volume one, this is exhaustive, slightly over-enthusiastic, and under-illustrated, but passionate and evocative cultural archaeology. Probably of little interest to anyone who didn't grow up in 80s Britain, but if you did, it's full of "I remember that!" moments. I think the greater number of contributors this time helps, and the How We Used To Live section brings some useful context and provides a break from the detailed synopses.
November 6, 2021
My heart will ever belong to the 1970s, but the 80s had their moments too, and a lot of them can be found here in Volume 2 of this awe-inspiring study of things that scared the **** out of us as kids.
Absolutely packed with good stuff. I can't wait for Volume 3, covering the non-televisual media of the 80s.
Absolutely packed with good stuff. I can't wait for Volume 3, covering the non-televisual media of the 80s.
May 13, 2022
If you spent your childhood in mortal fear of exploding chip pans, sinking sand, Daleks, AIDS and nuclear war, you are the demographic for this nostalgia fest. My only criticism is the mention of Threads is too brief
February 3, 2024
(Review to come, but this was phenomenal!)
February 20, 2024
Enjoyed this second volume but preferred volume one as the seventies were my childhood
September 7, 2025
Essential reading for anyone with an interest in telly.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews