The DJ Kat Show: Kipper Tripper (1995) - FULL EPISODE

The thought occurs that the concept of the phone-in video game may just need to be explained to those who don't remember the 90s. Quite a few live shows had them back then, and they mostly consisted of a viewer shouting instructions down the line while simultaneously watching the screen at home. (At least until touch-tone phones became more widespread. There's something else that takes some explaining.) This game in particular is called Kipper Tripper - doesn't he play right-back for England? - and it's a case of navigating DJ Kat around a maze, picking up keys and avoiding obstacles. It's anyone's guess what it was running on, but I suspect it could be an Amiga, and although it doesn't look particularly advanced technologically-speaking, I bet this was a nightmare to get everything working smoothly. Funnily enough, though, this sort of thing probably wouldn't be workable these days at all, as broadcasting lag has only increased since the digital era began.

Anyway, Joe Greco and Emma Rydal present alongside DJ Kat (a.k.a. Don Austen), and the prize on offer for whoever tops the week's as-yet empty leader board is a Sega Mega Drive with a copy of Micro Machines '96. Well worth winning, that: the 16-bit Micro Machines games may just be the point at which gameplay peaked. Up for the task (in case they ever Google themselves) are Terry Hamill, Linda Risien, Kieran Sharp, Rebecca Herdson, and Kulrajdeep Sanghera, and as this is evidently a Friday, one of them does indeed land the star prize.

Also part of the same recording was the following episode of Inspector Gadget - which I'm afraid I've edited out - plus loads of ads before we go into the day's Star Trek: The Next Generation. It's funny to see Nickelodeon advertising on all their rival channels, and I'm always perplexed by the fascination with making dolls that 'wet'. Meanwhile, there was a fairly recent controversy about Mr Potato Head losing the "Mr" from his (or indeed her) name. Look out for an ad from the 90s that simply refers to "Soft Potato Head" with no salutation at all. Interesting.

As always, Sky's policy in this era was that master tapes should be wiped and re-used, meaning that there's a very high chance this is the last surviving recording of this particular DJ Kat, so many thanks to David for keeping it all these years and then sending it to me.

(To the best of my knowledge, the contents of this video have never been available commercially anywhere in the world. Please also note that I don't monetise any of my uploads. Nevertheless, if you are a copyright holder and have an objection, please don't hesitate to contact me.)