Podcast
The Problematic Gaze
Hosted by David Moor and Lee Arnott · EN
Winner - ‘Best History Podcast’ - Independent Podcast Awards 2025
‘Top 30 Podcasts To Listen To Right Now’ - The Radio Times 2025
Direct from PG Towers, join social historian Dr Lee Arnott and TV producer Dave Moor for a lighthearted look at the world of TV, Film and Popular Culture of yesteryear that has since been considered problematic. Each week we focus on a different piece of pop culture, and put it into context by looking at the news events and cultural landscape of the year it was released. Out and proud, Dr Lee and Our Dave present a humorous take on life as LGBTQ+ men of a glorious age, and present a digestible mix of academic social commentary, unflinching life lessons, media analysis, and hot takes on feminism, race, politics and cancel culture.
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60episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
100th Episode Special (2026): Mixtapes, Madness & Two Years of Problematic Gaze
4d ago01:09:46Tap to summarizeClick here to watch along to our YouTube Party Playlist featured in this episode!Hello Gazers! Break out the bunting, inflate the balloons, and check the expiry date on the party snacks — The Problematic Gaze has officially reached its second birthday and 100th episode of our main show!Broadcasting live from the grand ballroom of PG Manor (capacity: two hosts and a worrying number of themed playlists), we celebrate the milestone with listener questions, musical memories, and a journey through a YouTube mixtape that quickly reminds us just how strange popular culture used to be. Along the way we revisit songs that somehow made it onto the radio despite lyrics about underage romance, obsessive surveillance masquerading as love, and enough cultural appropriation to keep a university seminar busy for a fortnight.The celebrations continue with a deep dive into controversial adverts from decades past, including chocolate campaigns that definitely wouldn't survive today's focus groups, aftershave commercials fuelled entirely by misplaced confidence, and drinks adverts that somehow became embedded in the national consciousness. As ever, nostalgia proves to be a dangerous place.We also answer Gazers questions about how we choose topics, our favourite and least favourite episodes, standout performers from the films and television we've covered, dream movie-night selections, and what our lives look like away from the microphones. There are quick-fire dilemmas, unexpected revelations, reflections on coming out across different generations, and a heartfelt discussion about why we started the podcast and the wonderful community that has grown around it.Plus: laughter, memories, occasional emotional sincerity, and enough birthday chaos to power us through the next hundred episodes. Thank you for listening, thank you for your support, and thank you for proving that being problematic is always better together.Click here to follow us on all our socialsDon't forget to hit that FOLLOW button to get every episode of The Problematic Gaze downloaded and ready to listen!Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze. And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at theproblematicgaze@gmail.com. We love hearing from you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →THE GAZETTE: Hangovers, Caffeine Highs & Bunting Emergencies
1w ago00:24:32Tap to summarizeHello Gazers! With our 100th main episode and second birthday approaching faster than Dave can buy unnecessary items in Soho, this week’s Problematic Gazette is a gloriously unedited soundcheck special from PG Manor.As bunting plans reach critical levels, we dive into Netflix’s three-part Kylie Minogue documentary, covering everything from her Neighbours beginnings and chart domination to health battles, heartbreaks, reinventions, and the ongoing Tension Tour. Naturally, this leads to the sort of intense cultural analysis you’ve come to expect from two men who could happily spend an hour discussing Kylie’s catalogue.Elsewhere, we recount a lovely Soho catch-up with Matt Baume and an LGBT history tour, while Dave reports from the front lines of retail confusion and Dr Lee shares details of a late-night date followed by the inevitable consequences of being no longer twenty-five. We also reflect on the passing of Michael Keating and Judith Chalmers, discuss the indignities of approaching fifty, and compare notes on surviving a British heatwave armed only with caffeine and misplaced confidence.Plus: upcoming viewing plans including Star City, Ponies and SNL UK, praise for Race Across the World champions Joe and Kush, frustration at reports surrounding the Southport riots, and increasingly frantic preparations for the centenary celebrations. Will there be cake? Will there be bunting? Will either of us remember what happened in episode one? Tune in and find out.Click here to follow us on all our socialsDon't forget to hit that FOLLOW button to get every episode of The Problematic Gaze downloaded and ready to listen!Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze. And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at theproblematicgaze@gmail.com. We love hearing from you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →Basic Instinct (1992): Ice Picks, Erotic Thrillers & Sex Month Climax
2w ago01:01:12Tap to summarizeHello Gazers! As a heatwave hits the UK, we're getting HOT HOT HOT! We conclude Sex Month by sliding dramatically across the interrogation-room floor into 1992’s Basic Instinct — a film containing ice picks, cigarette smoke, deeply suspicious therapy ethics, and more uncrossed legs than Brighton Pride!This week we unpack Paul Verhoeven’s gloriously trashy erotic thriller, from its Hitchcock and noir inspirations to the infamous Sharon Stone interrogation scene that launched a thousand paused VHS tapes and at least three decades of cultural arguments. Along the way we discuss Michael Douglas once again playing a man who absolutely should not be trusted with police authority, the spectacularly chaotic sexual politics of the early 90s, GLAAD protests, and whether the film is genuinely subversive or simply what happens when several powerful men are left unsupervised with cocaine and studio money. There’s also a nostalgic Culture Corner dive into 1992 Britain, chart hits, and the end-of-series exhaustion that comes from spending four weeks analysing the male gaze while slowly becoming victims of it ourselves. Plus: ratings, disagreements, existential dread, and a tease for our upcoming 100th-episode birthday spectacular.Click here to follow us on all our socialsDon't forget to hit that FOLLOW button to get every episode of The Problematic Gaze downloaded and ready to listen!Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze. And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at theproblematicgaze@gmail.com. We love hearing from you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →THE GAZETTE: Heatwave, Soapy Car washes, Rivals and Kylie
2w ago00:24:42Tap to summarizeWe return from the luxurious broadcasting hubs of PG Towers and PG Manor to survive a British heatwave that has left us sweaty, confused, and emotionally fragile. Dr. Lee has a spiritual encounter with a dragonfly in the garden, while Dave nearly proposes marriage to a dishy car-wash attendant after a deeply awkward tipping incident. We revisit the national trauma caused by our Porky’s episode, discuss Britain’s endless obsession with class after a Guardian survey revealed everyone now identifies as “polyclass,” and somehow connect it all back to our episode on Keeping Up Appearances because of course we do. There’s also talk of our upcoming collaboration with Bernard from Everyone’s A Little Queer Podcast, including a surprisingly thoughtful debate about reclaiming the word “queer”. Plus: Rivals is peak 80's perfection, murder-marriage documentaries, Strictly gossip involving Josh Widdicombe, listener letters, Kylie Minogue praise bordering on religious devotion, and ominous teasing of next week’s Basic Instinct episode. Click here to follow us on all our socialsDon't forget to hit that FOLLOW button to get every episode of The Problematic Gaze downloaded and ready to listen!Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze. And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at theproblematicgaze@gmail.com. We love hearing from you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →Porky’s (1981): “Boys Will Be Boys” Locker-Room Laughs & Voyeurism, in the Reagan-Era
3w ago00:39:05Tap to summarizeIn this episode, we revisit Porky’s (1981), the hugely successful teen sex comedy set in 1954 Florida, to ask the important question: was this ever actually funny, and could it possibly be made today? Alongside the film, we take a trip through 1981 in our Culture Corner, covering everything from Charles and Diana’s wedding and the UK inner-city riots to the Scarman Report, the devastating tornado outbreak, and a year packed with cultural milestones including “Ghost Town,” “Don’t You Want Me,” Bucks Fizz, Cats, Only Fools and Horses, Brideshead Revisited, Chariots of Fire, and the first London Marathon. We break down the Porky's obsession with sex, voyeurism, revenge plots, and locker-room humour while unpacking its male gaze, racism, antisemitic subplot, fat jokes, and deeply juvenile tone—ultimately finding it far duller, and strangely tamer, than its scandalous reputation suggests.To watch Porkies on YouTube Click HereClick here to follow us on all our socialsDon't forget to hit that FOLLOW button to get every episode of The Problematic Gaze downloaded and ready to listen!Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze. And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at theproblematicgaze@gmail.com. We love hearing from you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →THE GAZETTE: Eurovision, Passport Warnings & AI Panic at the Disco
3w ago00:27:40Tap to summarizeWe are back after a week away and apparently the world survived without our opinions on Eurovision, AI, and 1970s sex comedies — though only just. This week we answer listener letters, discuss Cilla Black’s fifty-seven emotional interpretations of “Alfie,”, defend Confessions of a Window Cleaner as the cinematic equivalent of finding chips on the floor and still eating them, and prepare emotionally for Eurovision. Our Dave (AKA Judith Chalmers) reports from Dubrovnik with urgent passport warnings for the middle-aged and disorganised, while Dr. Lee worries that AI will destroy the planet, steal everyone’s jobs, and probably start writing this podcast description. Plus: George Michael, Freddie Mercury, Rocky Horror memories, Emma Willis rumours, Star Trek teasing, and preview our next Sex Month episode with Porky’s looming on the horizon like a grubby cultural comet.Click here to follow us on all our socialsDon't forget to hit that FOLLOW button to get every episode of The Problematic Gaze downloaded and ready to listen!Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze. And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at theproblematicgaze@gmail.com. We love hearing from you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →Confessions of a Window Cleaner (1974): Bawdy Comedy in the Age of the Three-Day Week
3w ago00:56:40Tap to summarizeIn the second week of our Sex Season, we pull on our nylon overalls and climb the ladders of 1970s British cinema to revisit Confessions of a Window Cleaner — the cheeky box-office phenomenon that somehow became the biggest British hit of 1974. We unpack Timmy Lea’s endlessly episodic adventures in window cleaning, accidental voyeurism, and improbable seduction while asking: what exactly made these “saucy” comedies so wildly popular before home video and internet porn?Along the way we discuss Robin Askwith, censorship, class aspiration, sexism, consent, the male gaze, and why the film is simultaneously tame, uncomfortable, ridiculous, and fascinating as a cultural time capsule. In Culture Corner: the three-day week, Lord Lucan’s disappearance, IRA bombings, ABBA winning Eurovision, Britain’s biggest singles, children’s TV landmarks, Tom Baker becoming Doctor Who, Princess Anne’s kidnapping attempt, publishing highlights, and the Miss World scandal that shook the crown.To watch Confessions Of A Window Cleaner on YouTube: Click HereClick here to follow us on all our socialsDon't forget to hit that FOLLOW button to get every episode of The Problematic Gaze downloaded and ready to listen!Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze. And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at theproblematicgaze@gmail.com. We love hearing from you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →Alfie (1966): Sex, Swagger, and the Swinging Sixties
May 501:01:59Tap to summarizeWe kick off Sex Month on The Problematic Gaze by diving headfirst into Alfie, the swaggering, unsettling snapshot of 1960s masculinity that still raises eyebrows today. We explore how Michael Caine’s charismatic performance—paired with that infamous fourth-wall-breaking narration—pulls us into Alfie’s world, even as his misogyny and emotional detachment push us away. We unpack the film’s origins in Bill Naughton’s play and Lewis Gilbert’s direction, while confronting its most jarring elements: the casual disposability of women, the cutting language, and the harrowing illegal abortion sequence that still lands with force.But we don’t stop at the screen. We place Alfie squarely in the contradictions of 1966 Britain—Swinging London’s promise of liberation colliding with the realities of Harold Wilson’s Britain, economic uncertainty, the shadow of the Aberfan disaster, and the ongoing shifts of decolonization. Against a backdrop of chart-topping music and cultural change, we ask whether Alfie reflects this moment in time—or critiques it.By the end, we’re left wrestling with a film that is as compelling as it is uncomfortable: bold, bleak, and still deeply problematic.You can watch Alfie on YouTube. Click hereGAZER HOMEWORK: Next week we turn our lens to 1974's sec comedy 'Confessions Of A Window Cleaner'. Click here to watch on YouTubeClick here to follow us on all our socialsDon't forget to hit that FOLLOW button to get every episode of The Problematic Gaze downloaded and ready to listen!Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze. And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at theproblematicgaze@gmail.com. We love hearing from you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →THE GAZETTE: Sex Season Prep, Shark Jumps & Streaming Picks
May 100:36:02Tap to summarizeWe record a live, unedited “Problematic Gazette” update from PG Manor while planning upcoming episodes that launch our “sex season,” starting with Alfie and continuing with films from later decades. We swap stories about accidentally overhearing loud sex through an open bungalow window, along with past experiences of disruptive noise in shared spaces.We also dive into what we’ve been watching lately, including Hacks, The Comeback (and its AI-written sitcom plotline), Netflix’s The Unchosen (a cult thriller), and ITV’s Secret Service (a modern spy drama). Along the way, we share our interest in The Devil Wears Prada sequel, unpack the origin and meaning of “jumping the shark,” and read listeners E-Mails.Click here to follow us on all our socialsDon't forget to hit that FOLLOW button to get every episode of The Problematic Gaze downloaded and ready to listen!Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze. And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at theproblematicgaze@gmail.com. We love hearing from you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →'Keeping Up Appearances' (1991) Class Anxiety in Bucket loads!
Apr 2800:52:38Tap to summarizeFor the first time ever, we visit 1991 on The Problematic Gaze to focus on class comedy caper Keeping Up Appearances. Hyacinth’s number is mistaken for a Chinese takeaway, she prepares for a church concert, Richard fears early retirement, Rose considers becoming a nun, and the farce culminates with Hyacinth fainting after discovering Rose and the vicar in a cupboard.We place the sitcom within its wider historical and cultural moment, reflecting on 1991’s defining events—from the Gulf War and recession to rising unemployment, the death of Freddie Mercury, an IRA mortar attack on Downing Street, the birth of the World Wide Web, early steps toward the Premier League, the Maxwell scandal, and the launch of The Big Issue, alongside charts and TV ratings of the time.Our discussion centers on British class anxiety, accents, and aspiration, exploring how the show both mocks and reinforces class stereotypes. We also highlight the standout performance of Patricia Routledge as Hyacinth and delve into trivia surrounding the rest of the cast too!Watch our chosen episode of Keeping Up Appearances on YoutubeGAZER HOMEWORK: Next week we kick off our SEX season with Alfie from 1966Click here to follow us on all our socialsDon't forget to hit that FOLLOW button to get every episode of The Problematic Gaze downloaded and ready to listen!Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze. And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at theproblematicgaze@gmail.com. We love hearing from you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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