Like most Irish people the TV of my childhood was dominated by English and American accents. From The Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles to the last days of the Seventh Doctor onto Batman the Animated Series and Gargoyles Irish TV played very little part in my day to day viewing*. In some ways I'm quite sad that there wasn't more of an Hibernian influence on the media of my early days but in another much more real way I'm just glad I got to grow up watching wonderfully terrible British "computer game" shows like Bad Influence!

Oh yes I watched Gamesmaster and Gamesworld, Cybernet and well... thats about all I can remember actually but its Bad Influence that sticks with me to this day. Oh Violet you still make my heart flutter.

Bad Influence! was an ITV show that featured news and reviews brought to you by the puberty quickening Violet Berlin and who ever the hell the male host was at the time. One of the shows main gimmicks was the game reviews written and delivered by normal kids, just like you and me! Also Violet's mystifying and prolonged championing of the Quickshot Supervision, a handheld not even the audience could pretend to care about. We had gameboys dagnabit! Heres some clips.

An average Bad Influence review segment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McU1ZBMICuU&feature=related

Bad Influence at the  Shoshinkai Show 1995

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dYqBQL6jEM&feature=related

Bad Influence on the Virtual Boy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X5eEbNCYw0&feature=related

Bad Influence on the history of game controllers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUw_TI36j2o

And finally Bad Influence interviews Peter Molyneux

Yes once upon a time he did have hair.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s9f5hiMgpQ&feature=related

Not the best show ever, not even the best games show of the time but the one I have the fondest memory's of.

Next time, why the Seventh Doctors era makes it clear The Doctor is the reincarnation of The Other and a detailed lecture on why Mark Hamill is the greatest Joker ever.