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Forgotten Childhood – Round The Twist

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Have you ever had a thought like this…

The show’s distinctive theme song, with the lyrics “have you ever … ever felt like this?” was sung by Tamsin West, who played the lead female role of Linda in the first series. Now that you have that embedded in your brain for the foreseeable future lets dive in!

Back in the day – well back in the 80s and 90s to be precise, children’s TV really seemed to be in a golden age. So much quality programming – away from your high-pitching-high-school-musicalling-tween-bopping TV. Ah the nostalgia! And it is with these rose-tinted glasses that I present to you, Round The Twist.

What is it?

If you weren’t a child with a vivid imagination, Round The Twist fixed that. Anyone else hunt for babies in a cabbage patch or exploding talking mushrooms in their backyard? What the eff.

Round the Twist is a Logie Award-winning Australian children’s TV  show about the Twists, based on a collection of stories by Paul Jennings, in which a family consisting of three children and their father who  move into a haunted lighthouse in the small seaside town of Port Niranda in Australia and become involved in many bizarre (to say the least!) adventures.

Why should you watch this?
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To cut a long, bizarre and far-out story short, Round the Twist was a mash up of all things you would find on the TV during that time. There was comedy, horror, magic, mermaids, cabbage babies and absurdity.
In the total of four series, each comprising of  thirteen episodes, each self-contained episode carries a recurring theme carried out for the series. On top of these themes you have Mr Gribble who tries to steal the lighthouse from the Twist family at any given opportunity! Each episode depicted strange and supernatural goings on from the aforementioned Cabbage Patch babies to young men turning into mermaids to teenage male pregnancy – what more could you ask from a kids TV show? Compared to it’s counterparts (Goosebumps and Are you afraid of the Dark) Round the Twist did not set out to spook you, but it sure weirded you the hell out for twenty-five minutes!
You never know what’s going to happen in the land of the Twists, Pete, Linda and Brosnan, as each week they are thrown into completely uniquely unusual situations, and there have been some weird ones – but more on that later! Add to that some Australian humor and accents and some not-so-PC references  (birth, death, nudity to name but a few) and you have a hit to mesmerize and traumatize.
Must-Watch Episodes:

#1 Want to win a weeing contest?: Round the Twist has got you covered in ‘Little Squirt’. The basic premise for this episode centers on Brosnan who befriends a water spirit (who is creepy as all hell!) who in turn gives him the ability to win in a competition of, you guessed it, pee!  Based on the short story “Little Squirt” from “Unmentionable!” this is quite an interesting plot line to say the least! *Unfortunately due to copyright I can only use this video but trust me and watch it!*

#2 Can’t stop saying ‘without my pants’: In this weird one, a ghost of a boy who died trying to save his dog, curses Pete to add “without my pants” at the end of every sentence… why you ask? Why the heck not!

#3 A ‘Spaghetti Pig Out’:  A bit of a gross one if I’m to be honest, Pete finds a remote control that can control reality – when the local bullies find out, they steal it and use it to compete in a spaghetti-eating contest- competitions and contests are a recurring theme – first pissing then spaghetti eating!!

#4 ‘Nails’: The name along gives me the heebie jeebies. I have to admit that this is the episode that stuck with me – maybe it was my childhood obsession with mermaids, but yeah this one was a bit weird to say the least, when an young boy encounters a “fishy” problem…

These are just a few episodes that have stood the test of time in my brain! The list is by no means exclusive though… I’m sure there are many other memories of shows like this that are just waiting in the sidelines of my brain ready to pop up when I least expect it… But what were your favorite episodes? These are just some that stick to my memory as a look back warmly at this off the wall TV show from way back when in the land down under.

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