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This page is no longer being updated. It is still a pleasure to hear your thoughts and memories and you can still get in touch via the email address below, but comments will no longer be added to this page. Thanks to everyone who has commented. The address as always is:

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31 March 2009

Great Stuff, thanks so much for putting all the New Episodes up, it must have been a real task but its most appreciated. Its good to watch one episode and then the next one, (and I don?t even have to wait till next week lol) Once again Thank you Keep up the smashing work! Robin

19 February 2009

Hi,

First let me say congrats on the great website, it was so nice to see someone keeping the bad influence memory alive! I was wondering if you are planning on putting up any more videos to download? I really enjoyed downloading and watching the existing ones.

Thanks, Richard

27 October 2008

Hi,

Thank you so much for producing a fantastic show. It has inspired me so much growing up as a child in the video game media. I'm currently now doing BS Honors in Games Design and your web site is an sweet example of golden age of gaming. I feel I am 9 again watching the shows after coming home from school. Good times. Bad Influence a true classic!

Sincerely

Lorna

20 September 2008

Hi,

I'm just writing to say that you bring back this show, I use to love watching this as a kid. My favourate presenter on the show was deffientley Violet Berlin she was amazing in it, travelling across Japan to review the N64 was so exciting to watch, anyway I think you should bring it back including Violet and the rest of the team! this show was amazing

yours faithfully

L.T

15 November 2007

Hi,

Just wanted to say thanks for making this site. I stumbled across it today and it has set me up for the day. I'm a lot older now but still remember this show fondly. Looking forward to finishing work so I can go home, download and re-watch some of these episodes. 

Cheers,

Leo

10 September 2007

Seriously, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU and a hundred thousand more THANK YOUS! for uploading that video of Andy and Violet singing their version of the twelve days of Christmas. I have been searching for that clip for YEARS and finding it on your site has definitely made my month, if not year! For four minutes, I felt like my old nine year old games-mad self once again and I am so grateful to you. Happier times :) 

Mikey

6 September 2007

Hello Bad Influence,

My boss at work claims that he was once one of the young game reviewers on the show. I can?t for the life of me find any pictures of him on the website and so we workers are thinking that this is just a big ploppy joke. His name is Ben Wright and he hails from Halifax, according to him he was in all the series and is still using the fact that he once had lunch with Andy Crane as a claim to fame. 

Would it be possible to get some footage of him (if his claim is true) but if not, can you just confirm that he?s a big liar and that the zenith of his television career is in fact a hoax.

Cheers

Phil Vickery
Head of IT Services
Blue Saturn Media LTD

Reply: Well, he is telling the truth... and so here he is!

5 September 2007

The show was exellent, I remember been on the show when I was in primary school.

I remember there been an L shaped pool table that was brilliant. It would have been nice to see pictures from back then but I dont suppose there will be any.

Great memories though.

Carl

27 August 2007

Hello there Bad Influence! Website, I would just like to thank you for adding the Magazine pages to you site, they had some really good retro stuff on them.

Keep up the good work

Robin

31 May 2007

Stumbled across the site the other day. It has been bugging me for ages what that show was called! The episodes and clips downloads are very good!

Since there are only four series, it would make an interesting retro DVD release. I'd certainly buy it. Would be great to see all of the episodes from the golden age of gaming :-) 

Keep up the good work!

Matt

19 May 2007

Hi There,

What an absolute treat to see the shows again, many thanks for your hard work.

If there is any way you can get all the shows here please dont hesitate :)

Many Thanks, Mark

5 March 2007

I was glad to find this website as Bad Influence was a big part of my 
childhood. I was reminded of the series recently when I found my two tapes 
of series three I recorded. Watching them again was a real laugh and I do 
miss the format. Having now played games from the Atari 2600 to the Xbox 360 
(and just about every console in between, i never picked sides during 
console wars!) I have to say that the SNES/Megadrive Nintendo/Sega rivalry 
era was my favourite. Fingers crossed that someday (like maybe Super Smash 
Bros. Brawl...) Sonic and Mario can finally fight it out!

Thanks again for keeping the website up for me to find and relive.

Bye!

David

14 February 2007

Hello my name is robin and I would just like to say thank you
very much for letting me relive some classic memories of day when

I rushed home from school to catch my favorite computer games shows.

Thanks again.

robin

7 February 2007

Hi,

It was great watching the full episodes again. I really hope you make them all available soon. We never had a video recorder that had a good enough pause to watch the datablast at the time. I'm studying game art at the moment so it was particuarly interesting and amusing seeing the piece on the silicon graphics machine. Thanks for the memories!

Gregor

24 December 2006

AWESOME!!!

Kev/ 24/ Manchester 

21 December 2006

Hi there,

I used to watch your show when I was a little kid. I'd love to say that it was actually quite an inspiration for me as I am now a writer for a video games site that I set up ( www.8bithero.co.uk ).

I just think that it was so great what you guys did, it allowed gaming to edge closer and closer into the mainstream as an entertainment medium. Are you planning on 'bringing back' the show anytime in the future? Its great to see that there is a website out there remembering such a great show. 

Regards
Kerri

13 November 2006

Hey there!

I recently came across your fantastic website, and it brought back some great memories from the 90s! Bad Influence was one of my very favourite TV shows when I was 10 (I'm now 24). Andy and Violet were 
great presenters, and I always loved Nam Rood's appearances, surrounded by all his hi-tech junk and unusual pets!

I had a NES, SNES and Game Boy, and I must've spent months playing classics such as Super Mario Land 2 and Super Mario Kart. I'm still a huge fan of the old side-scrolling space shooters, such as Gradius III, Nemesis, Super Aleste, Axelay and R-Type III. I'm currently developing a simple game of my own in Java, called Asteroid Belt. By the way, if you haven't heard of Jets'n'Guns, check it out at jng.rakeingrass.com  - it's an awesome side-scroller inspired by the old 90s games.

Anyway, keep up the excellent work on the website, it's awesome! If I could make one request... please can we have more video clips and complete episodes :)

All the best,

Michael

Reply: I will have some more videos appearing soonish. Promise!

29 July 2006

Dear Bad Influence,

Let me start by saying, I loved the programme it was easily the best thing out there at a time when video gaming had started to become a big (but not necessarily 'bad') influence on many a British children's culture.

I'm still gaming nowadays, even though I am a full grown adult and miss the likes of 'Bad Influence' immensely. Computer games are bigger than ever now and I feel there is a large gap in children's television programming for such a well-researched, honest assessment of games.

Whatever happens I will still remember 'Bad Influence' fondly. It was a fantastic show, which gave a good account of gaming at a time when games had reached their zenith.

Regards,
Jaimie.

7 June 2006

Hello,

I was having a browse on your site the other night and unexpectedly took a lovely trip down memory lane.  Very informative and brought a slight tear to my eye, remembering the good old days of old! :)

Alistair

12 May 2006

Hey love the site, seen you on gamesmasterlive alot and thought id check your website out. Bad Influence was one of my favourite gameshows and its great to see somebody dedicated enough to keeping it alive, downloads are cool too. Bringing back some cool childhood memories. See you on gamesmasterlive i guess! Keep up the great work ;-)

Anthony (rutgerhauer)

16 April 2006

Hi Guys,
Just wanted to say what a great website this is. I loved watching the show every week when I was younger. It really was a great time to be a kid, just as video games were becoming more popular. One of the things that did surprise me was how much the games cost back then, 60 quid or more. Probably why my dad wouldn't get me a new game when i asked him. Something that you don't really pay attention to when you're 12 or 13 ;-)
I was wondering if you could get some video clips of sonya saul.
Thanks
ACE 

Reply: Yes, putting up some more clips from the final series (with Sonya) is next on my to do list, probably by the end of the month.

7 April 2006

Hey... 

I watched Bad Influence religiously when I was a child (I have a VHS with
all the episodes on it somewhere!!) and I remember asides from the 12 days
of christmas song.. the video of a Killer Instinct combo (A real combo not
some button bashing scum combo) and can't find it, wondered if you guys have
it.

Shame the show ended, I loved it! Violet is easily the coolest presenter
ever! I even watched the game-pad series until we got rid of sky
television (Is it still going?) still as attractive as she was in B.I...

Anyway, I hope you can help with the video as all help is appreciated.

A.d.M.

Reply: I shall include the Killer Instinct clip in the next update.

31 March 2006

Hello James,

Interesting site, brings back a few memories. The reason I'm writing is that
a visitor to one of my sites mentioned seeing a part of the program that
featured the Scorpion 16 ( a Sega Megadrive clone with region & language
switches). He remembers it being used to hook up to a japanese 32X to play a
US game - and it worked! My little site features these clones & I'd love to
find out more info for it. Do you have any or know where I might find out
more? Are there videos of the shows available?

Thanks for reading,
kevin

Reply: The Scorpion feature is now available to download from the Media page. Hope it helps!

15 March 2006

I found your website recently, and would just like to say it has brought
back fond memories. Me and my brother were big fans of Bad Influence in the
day, and I particularly found their articles on technology to be very
interesting. I did stop watching once Violet only started doing her Virtual
Violet part, but overall it was a highly enjoyable show. Thanks very much
for posting the videos too. Will there be any more?

Yours,
Luke

Reply: Yes, I will certainly be adding quite a few more video clips over the next few months.

The following are some of the messages sent to the original website in 2001: 

18 November 2001

Hi 

I have just found the site and think its captured the early 90's gaming era spot on. I watched Bad Influence myself when I was younger (13). I recenlty brought a 3DO system to capture my so called youth....Anyway I was wondering whether you have all the Bad Influnences on tape as I am looking for the 3DO one where Violet and Andy talk about the machine and the games that come at 
launch. In particular Crash'n'Burn. If you could send me the file or put it online I would be grateful. 

Another episode I particularly remember is the review on the 32bit consoles....I think the PSX, 3D0, Saturn and 3DO. I know they were raving about the mini games while the playstation loaded. 

anyway could you email me back with anything you have 

thanks 

Paul

15 November 2001

Wow, this brought back memories big time. I remember all those shows like Bad Influence and Gamesmaster and wonder what happened. The only show on now that isn't patronising is Bits, with Cybernet seemingly devoid of anything for people who grew up with this stuff. And is it just me or has Violet Berlin been replaced by someone else entirely? Watch her presenting Game Pad, she looks totally different now, she only has the same voice. Anyway, thanks for the reminder of the good old days.

26 September 2001

hi,

I think bad influence was the best video games tv show out of all time. around 1992 was the greatest time of all for kids into computer games at home or the arcade, i'm sure you'll agree with me. I was only 9 or 10 when bad influence aired at the time and had gota megadrive for christmas, it was fun. Watching bad influence in those days give me much extra nice memories about videogaming of the very late 80's early 90's. The sad thing for kids in this generation i'm quite sure that for them and the next video games will never be the same as the 90's. or as great.

Please reply and tell me what you think.

Thanks.

1 August 2001

Hi there

found your site *completely* by accident, and instantly it took me back to when I was about 12 and I used to buy CVG and all that. Where's all the time gone? I agree wit the notion that computer gaming has lost a certain appeal, there certainly isn't the sort of feeling there was, and that isn't just because I am now 20. It's been made all stylish and 'adult' and lost a lot of the naivety and charm. That's life I guess :(

I always preferred Bad Influence to Games Master because they covered the technology more and stuff, and I remember thinking how daring it was, when they pirated an Amiga game on the air!! (as i recall though, they also dumped it straight away as well!!). And, like many others, I learned what 'bits' were from the show, too...... the 'bit' of your computer seemed to matter a lot more back then as well, and I was endlessly bugged by a guy in my maths class who would insist that the SNES was actually 8 bit. GRR! 

So anyway I just wanted to thank you for bringing back all those memories..... ooh, I've come over all emotional now.. *sniff*

Take it easy, and keep up the good work

Mikey

14 July 2001

I just wanted to to say what a great site you have for one of my favourite TV programmes. Although I was 23 when it started it really was one of those look forward too kid shows as adult gamers were all but ignored. Thankfully I have one episode of it and a Gamesmaster still on video which still are great fun to watch. I'am hoping now with a lot of forgotten about TV shows being put on DVD that Bad Influence or GM will get converted. 

29 June 2001

Hiya
Just a quick note to say your site is fantastic!!!! the perfect site ive been looking for. Keep it up i love it. 
Have you seen the trailers for C4 programme BANZAI?? im sure they have Andy Crane in one of the challenges.
Hey do you have copys of Bad Influence for sale?? I used to love the show and wouldnt mind seeing some of the early ones again...dont suppose you can help me out can you?? 
Take Care 
Steve