Scarred For Life Christmas show to bring 1970s and 80s festive nostalgia to Bradford

A live stage show exploring the stranger and darker side of Christmas television and popular culture from the 1970s and 80s is coming to the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford.

Scarred For Life – A Christmas Special will take place in the museum’s Cubby Broccoli Cinema on Friday the 4th of December 2026, featuring writers and broadcasters Bob Fischer and Stephen Brotherstone.

The show takes a light-hearted look back at some of the television programmes, toys, books and other festive memories that left an impression on children growing up during the period.

Subjects range from the BBC’s Ghost Stories for Christmas and The Box of Delights to Worzel Gummidge, The Stone Tape, K9 and Company, The Woman in Black and Jackanory Spine Chillers. The pair will also explore unusual Christmas presents, cards and traditions from the era.

Fischer said:

“The show celebrates the weirder side of the 1970s and 80s Christmas… from spooky TV shows like The Box of Delights and the BBC’s Ghost Stories for Christmas, to terrifying presents (some of the 1970s Doctor Who annuals are pretty grim), miserable Christmas specials (hello, EastEnders), morbid christmas cards (Happy Christmas, here’s a dead frog) and school Christmas carols with lyrics that could come straight from death metal songs.”

Brotherstone has been chronicling the popular culture of the 1970s and 80s since 2017 as co-writer of the Scarred For Life books, while Fischer writes about 1970s popular culture for Fortean Times and created The Haunted Generation, a multimedia project examining the more unusual elements of childhood during the decade.

Fischer added:

“We’re both vintage horror obsessives – I write about scary 1970s stuff for Fortean Times magazine, and Stephen is the co-author of the brilliant Scarred For Life books, staggeringly comprehensive guides to the terrifying pop culture of our childhoods.”

The Bradford show begins at 7pm and has a listed running time of 155 minutes. Tickets cost £15, with discounts available.

Further information and tickets are available from the National Science and Media Museum: https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/cinema/scarred-life-qa