The first of the patients was Roy Figgis, played by James Bolam. Roy was the trouble maker on the ward. If there was something to complain about he would, and if there was a rule to be broken he would break it. Next was Archie Glover, a role that was just made for Peter Bowles. Archie tried to distance himself from Roy, thinking he was a better class of person. Finally there was Norman Binns (Christopher Strauli) who was the nervous, Mummy’s boy type character.

Their surgeon, Mr. Thorpe, was none other than Richard Wilson, better known as Victor Meldrew from One Foot In The Grave. He would come in and order the patients about, but given how long they were under his care he obviously wasn’t much of a surgeon.

Finally there was the male Indian hospital orderly, known only as Gupte (Derrick Branche), who was ordered about even more so than the patients by Mr. Thorpe, and was the stooge for many of the jokes. This was the sort of character that you just wouldn’t get in a sitcom these days as it would not be deemed politically correct.

As with many shows from my childhood, it is once again the theme tune that I most remember, which was the rather mournfully sung (at least initially) I’m H.A.P.P.Y. For quite some time I was convinced that the programme was actually called I’m H.A.P.P.Y because of this song.

You can get to the forum by clicking the Talk Eighties! link above, or entering http://forum.childofthe1980s.com into your browser. So why not come along and sign up, and let us all know what you loved most about the Eighties!

When the 1980s are mentioned, many images and stereotypes are immediately conjured. From Rubik’s Cubes to the A-Team, this was a decade that had many defining features. A development that was certainly at the forefront of many people’s lives during this era was the emergence of video games.

The early 1980s is often described as the ‘golden age of video arcade games’, and for good reason. This was a time period in which Super Mario Brothers, Ms. Pac-Man and Donkey Kong were created, so how could it not be noted as a period of considerable excitement within this industry?

Some games of the 80s are still very much in favour today, with Super Mario Bros. being the best selling video game of all time and Google even changing its homepage logo to a fully playable version of Pac-Man to commemorate the games 30th anniversary. 80s video game fever has become so apparent that classic games have even made their way in to cutting edge online casinos.

A prime example of this is the Street Fighter II and Street Fighter IV slots that can be found at the likes of Intercasino. These slots feature many characters from the games including Ryu, Ken and Sagat and even include enthralling bonus rounds which consist of choosing fighters and then helping them through fights in an attempt to win you big money.

As a result of the transformation of the Street Fighter games in to slot games, they are currently experiencing a resurgence in popularity. A new version of the game, entitled ‘Super Street Fighter IV’, was released in early 2010 as well as a short film called ‘Street Fighter: Legacy’ that starred characters from the game series.

Street Fighter is not the only video game to appear in online casinos. Inspiration for slot machines coming from all sorts of video games, ranging from Bejewelled to more recent games such as Hitman and Call of Duty 4. There are even casino games available that are designed to rekindle some of the enjoyment that was created during the 1980s. The iconic film series ‘Rocky’ has also provided the inspiration for an online slot machine in addition to the plethora of games based on comic book characters including Superman, The Punisher and Daredevil to name just a few.

More and more themed slots such as these are becoming available on a daily basis. This means that there is now so much choice within online casinos that each and every player is bound to find a game that they can enjoy.

I’ve started this weeks survey off with just three options, but please add your own as there are far too many for me to list without missing out somebodies favourite.

Today I want to concentrate on what I consider to be the Muppets at their best by talking about The Muppet Show.

The Muppet Show ran for five years from 1976 to 1981 and clocked up 120 episodes in that time. During this time the regular characters such as Kermit the Frog, the karate chopping Miss Piggy and the struggling comedian Fozzie Bear became household names, and are still well known today despite not being on TV regularly any more.

The show was conceived by Muppet’s creator Jim Henson, who was beginning to feel typecast for his work on Sesame Street and wanted to do something to appeal to all the family. He came up with the idea of the Muppets putting on a variety show from a theatre, a form of entertainment that was still popular back in the Seventies but which has become much rarer these days on television.

The format worked brilliantly, with comedy sketches and songs featuring a wide array of Muppet characters and also that weeks guest star. The Muppet Show became the one programme that real life stars wanted to be on, much like The Simpsons has been in more recent years.

There were so many brilliant bits to look forward to each week. My favourite was undoubtedly Pigs in Space (or Piiiiiigs Iiiiiiin Spaaaaace, to give it it’s proper title!) but I also liked Muppet Labs with Dr Bunsen Honeydew and the ever put upon Beaker. Veterinarians Hospital was usually fun too, if only for the end when Rowlf, Piggy and Janice would look around to find out where the narrator’s voice was coming from.

The Muppet Show has proved incredibly popular right around the world, and I think one of the reasons for this is down to it’s production. It always felt partly American thanks to the array of guest stars who were primarily from the US, but as it was filmed in the UK something British must have worked its way into the mix, as it also felt partly home grown too. Perhaps this is why the more recent attempt at bringing the format back, in the form of Muppets Tonight, didn’t work quite so well?

I’ll finish off by leaving you with the “most sensational, inspirational” Muppet Show intro. I’m sure you all remember the words and music, don’t you?

Alright, so the first thing is you probably start drawing moustaches on Coco the Frog in your copy of Tricolore (or perhaps even something ruder, if you were really bored) but when you discover somebody else has already done most of the pictures in your copy what do you do then?

Answer! You rip a page out of your exercise book and make a paper fortune teller!

It’s amazing how much fun there was to be had from a folded piece of square paper. They took just a few seconds to fold, a couple of minutes to write on some fortunes, colours and numbers, and then you were set to be the next Russell Grant or Mystic Meg (and would probably be more accurate too).

To tell someones fortune you simply slotted the fortune teller onto your fingers and told them to pick a colour from the faces on show. You would then open and shut the fortune teller whilst spelling out the chosen colour. Next your victim client would choose a number from one of the inner flaps which you would lift up and read the fortune written underneath, which was invariably something like “You smell!” or “You love the school spanner“.

Great fun, that is until the French teacher caught you…

Don’t remember how to make this masterwork of origami? I must confess that I had forgotten, so here’s a little video showing you how to make one. Enjoy!

Given the trouble I had trying to track down a decent image to accompany this (I ended up with a rather poor image of a currently available kit of this ilk) it looks as though this is another one of those past times which are gradually fading away as people move towards more immediate (and less messy) hobbies.

My personal memories of this toy are of a Paddington Bear themed set that I must have received as a present at some point. The kit comprised a couple of wibbly wobbly rubber moulds, a big bag of plaster of paris, lots of little plastic pots of acrylic paint and a paintbrush.

You mixed up the plaster of paris, poured it into the moulds, waited for a bit, then carefully (you might want to get an adult to help with this bit) peel away the mould to reveal a pure white statue of, in my case, Paddington. Daub some paint over it and voila, your very own statuette to display proudly on your shelf or window sill.

I remember having this ornament sat on my shelf for many years, as I was really pleased with it and only ever made one of them because we could never find anywhere that sold plaster of paris without having to buy another complete kit.

However, there was always one thing I never understood. Why was it called plaster of paris? Well, thanks to the Internet and it’s ability to know pretty much anything, I now know – apparently the name comes from the source of a large deposit of gypsum, which is located in Montmartre which is near to, yes, you’ve guessed it, Paris! I always imagined the reason must have been something far more interesting than that, but sorry, apparently not.

Earlier this week I wrote about the good old “funny” comic book – you know the ones, printed on newspaper in just two colours (normally black and red, just like a tabloid!) and containing stories that were quite often about naughty kids or animals getting up to mischief.

I’ve started the survey off with all the comics I can remember off the top of my head, but if I’ve missed your favourite, you can add it on the bottom!