Down the Back of the Seats

Alasdair and Ellen are joined by Jim Parkyn to discuss Christmas traditions and their films of the year with many inevitable tangents.Email [email protected] or find us on Instagram or Facebook.

Ellen & Alasdair talk about The Thursday Murder Club, Canadian plays and a recent upsurge in strange cinema snacks. 

Alasdair and Ellen are in the same room this episode, talking about Sinners, Minecraft jollity and a brief dip into tariffs.  E-mail us on [email protected]

Ellen & Alasdair talk about independent cinemas, animation and intervals/intermissions.  E-mail [email protected]

In this episode we speak to the wonderful actor, and potentially the nicest man in the world, Michael Therriault.  Michael has a huge number of credits to his varied career including, on stage, The Producers, Lord of the Rings, Fiddler on the Roof, Parade and seasons at Shaw and Stratford Festivals and on screen in Cult of Chucky, Chucky the TV series, Here For Blood, Reign and a billion other things.   We spoke to him about how he approaches roles, his relationship with audiences and being killed a lot in horror films.Tell us what you think on [email protected]

Ellen and Alasdair discuss a recent incident at CPH, silly but fun horror films and David Lynch.  Contact us on [email protected] 

Ellen and Alasdair return after an unintended hiatus to talk about clowning, stars on stage and the state of UK cinema (again). Contact us on [email protected]

Apologies for our long absence.  Alasdair and Ellen talk about Small Things Like These, Paddington in Peru and dialect cinema.  

Ellen and Alasdair talk about recent box office successes, how much you can buy a cinema for and films going straight to streaming.

Ellen and Alasdair really knuckle down to do an optimistic episode talking about some of the new initiatives at the Picture House.  

Ellen & Alasdair talk about the closure of Oban Phoenix Cinema, watching Lawrence of Arabia on a phone and Ellen's hopefully brief foray into TikTok notoriety. Contact us on [email protected]

Alasdair derails the podcast before we've even finished the introduction with some talk about naked clowns.  Once that's done, Ellen & Alasdair talk about the current economic climate and how cinemas are faring.

Ellen & Alasdair talk about snoozing through films, the importance of pressing record and Civil War which Ellen thought was "fine".

Ellen & Alasdair talk about plagiarism, more double bills and other podcasts that they like.  E-mail [email protected]

Ellen & Alasdair talk to Kyle from the Broadway Cinema Prestwick about their plans to renovate and reopen the historic cinema.

Ellen & Alasdair talk about an inspirational film that Alasdair has just seen, unlikely double bills and the subject of intervals raises its ugly head once more.

Ellen and Alasdair talk about the big winner at the Oscars and the films they're looking forward to in 2024.  Warning - this episode contains Alasdair talking about Christopher Nolan (again).

Ellen and Alasdair waffle on about some more nonsense from the cinema.  

Ellen and Alasdair talk about American Fiction, how differences of opinion affect us and on/off screen synergy.  

Ellen and Alasdair speak to Robert Hartley.  Rob makes his living as a Games Master for Dungeons & Dragons.  He tells us about his relationship with his audience, what makes a compelling story and reminisces about working at Ellen's cinema. Contact us on [email protected]  

Ellen and Alasdair talk about the cost of just existing as a cinema at the moment and share the amazing business plans that children from the local primary school sent in.  To contact us email [email protected] or find us on Facebook and Instagram DowntheBackoftheSeats

Ellen and Alasdair talk about emotional support animals and enjoy some letters sent to the cinema by school children.  We'd love to hear your stories, questions or thoughts - [email protected] 

Ellen and Alasdair are back for another series of tales from behind the scenes at Campbeltown Picture House and other venues.  We report back on Christmas, films we've watched and don't have an argument about one of them.  We'd love to hear your stories - [email protected]

Ellen and Alasdair talk about Christmas at the Picture House, Christmas films and cleaning up after Christmas films at the Picture House.Merry Christmas!

In the final episode of this season we hear from the staff of Campbeltown Picture House in a discussion ranging from things customers do that annoy us to things customers do that annoy us.  We'll be back after Christmas but in the meantime we'd love to hear your stories on [email protected] 

Ellen & Alasdair get side tracked talking about porn film titles.  This episode features an awful lot of smut.  Apologies.

Ellen and Alasdair explore Alasdair's psychological issues with lace, the UK Cinema Association meeting and film title confusion.You can contact us on [email protected]

Ellen and Alasdair talk about tiered ticket pricing, the wonderful charity MediCinema and Alasdair's favourite classical music maestro, Andre Rieu.

Ellen and Alasdair talk to Alex about his time working in cinemas including stories of bodily functions (vom warning), playing controversial films (again) and audience behaviour (again).We'd love to hear your stories or questions - [email protected]

Ellen and Alasdair discuss The Screen Machine, more controversial films that Ellen isn't sure if she'd play or not and give some clarification to the anal intrusion incident.We'd love to hear your stories or questions - [email protected]

Ellen and Alasdair navigate some Sound of Freedom chat, discuss what an absolute soft touch Ellen is when managing staff and welcome Susan Christie from Cromarty Cinema who brings us stories of her film-related travels.  Get in contact with us on [email protected]

Ellen and Alasdair are joined by Canadian actor Emilio Vieira who shares stories of working at Stratford Festival, Ontario.  He talks about his relationship with the audience, being a wee bit disruptive on stage and the time opening night was evacuated for a bomb threat.February - A Love Story is still available to stream at www.februarytheplay.com

Ellen and Alasdair talk about whether audience behaviour is getting worse and receive an email that is the worst nightmare of an emetophobic. 

Ellen and Alasdair talk about heartwarming things that have happened this week, dodgy pipes and when no one turns up for your show.We'd love to hear from you on [email protected]

Ellen and Alasdair talk about intervals/intermissions, rude things in children's films and Alasdair gets told off for being silly.  We'd love to hear from you on [email protected]

Ellen and Alasdair talk about release windows, the death of cinema and are joined by comedian Viv Gee who brings tales of celebrity encounters.Viv's fab show 'Old Dog, New Tricks' is on now until 14th August at Leith Depot. 

Ellen and Alasdair talk about putting films in the wrong screens, event trailers and hear a story about a cinema ghost.If you have a story to tell we'd love to hear from you [email protected] 

Ellen and Alasdair talk about subtitles, Christopher Nolan (again) and welcome guest Jim Parkyn for a story that is the absolute bollocks...

Ellen & Alasdair discuss Barbie Vs Oppenheimer, more lost property and the sinister goings on during Fifty Shades screenings.

Ellen & Alasdair talk about the length of ads and trailers, censorship and an intriguing handbag.Stanley Kubrick's banning of A Clockwork Orange comes up in conversation.  There is a good article about it here.We'd love to hear your stories - [email protected]

Ellen and Alasdair talk indies vs chains, Al's childhood transgressions and a lot of poo.Find the Thirty Films to See Before You're Thirty introductions on the Campbeltown Picture House youtube channel .We'd love to hear your stories on [email protected] or find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at Down the Back of the Seats

Ellen and Alasdair talk BBFC certificates, projection disasters and CPH's 110th birthday.

Ellen and Alasdair discuss their favourite cinemas, watching films they shouldn't and problematic celebrities.We'd love to hear your stories - [email protected] or search Down the Back of the Seats on the various socials media.

Ellen and Alasdair discuss programming day, short films on the BFI player and cinema animals. Tam LinTam Lin (1970) | BFIO'er Hill and Dale Watch O'Er Hill and Dale online - BFI PlayerWe'd love to hear your stories - [email protected] or search Down the Back of the Seats on the various socials media.

Ellen and Alasdair discuss the price of snacks, emergency evacuations and things that men like.We'd love to hear your stories - [email protected] or search Down the Back of the Seats on the various socials media.

Alasdair and Ellen talk screening schedules, lost property and body parts.We'd love to hear your stories - [email protected] or search Down the Back of the Seats on the various socials media.