It’s not just the recession of the 1980s which is returning to haunt us – long-forgotten TV programmes and retail products from the same era are on their way back too. Shropshire Star feature writer Andy Richardson gets a sense of deja-vu

There was a marvellous moment in the current series of The Krypton Factor. A contestant, we’ll call him Harry though that’s not his real name, boasted of his physical prowess prior to tackling the much-feared assault course. “I’m all about brains and brawn,” he muttered, not realising the humiliation he was about to endure.

A few minutes later, Harry’s legs wobbled. In the parlance of sports commentators, they’d gone. He tried gamely to walk across a log but his balance was shot and he fell to the ground. Some minutes later the wild-eyed Harry staggered muddily across the line, with the unco-ordinated gait of Bambi On Ice.

Across the land, millions of us tittered at his misfortune. We holidayed in Harry’s misery. In these times of austerity, we need this sort of nobody-really-gets-hurt family entertainment to ease our troubled minds. It takes our thoughts from the libor, stagflation and the woes of a malevolent economy.

The original version of The Krypton Factor was launched in 1977 and ended in 1995, having been hosted by the inimitable Gordon Burns. It ran right through the last economic downturn, which started in the late Seventies and continued through into the mid-Eighties. It’s not the only recession-era programme making a comeback.

Minder was created by Leon Griffiths and starred Dennis Waterman and George Cole as underworld wideboys Terry McCann and Arthur Daley. The show was synonymous with Thatcher-era Britain and ran on ITV for ten series from October 29 1979 to March 10 1994. Characters often drank at the local members-only Winchester Club, where owner and barman Dave – played by Glynn Edwards – acted often unwillingly as a message machine for Arthur, and turned a blind eye to his shady deals.

As we lurch miserably into recession, Minder is also coming back. It is in production with the first episodes due to be broadcast this year. The new show will feature none of the original cast and will instead focus on Arthur’s nephew Archie, who will be played by Shane Richie. Actor Lex Shrapnel will play the Minder role in the new six-part series, to be broadcast on Channel Five.

The 2009 version will move away from the gritty storylines of the 1980s in favour of more family-based drama.

“We want to satisfy fans of the original, but will also add different elements in order to excite new viewers,” says Jonathan Young, the executive producer for Talkback Thames, who are making the new series.

Each hour-long episode will be a self-contained story located around iconic London landmarks such as the London Eye and Borough Market. Channel Five’s Ben Gale said the revived show would have “all the humour and charm of the original Minder.

“The assembled on and off-screen talent is exactly what’s needed to bring this celebrated series to life for a new audience,” he added.

Minder and Krypton Factor aren’t the only products of the last recession that are being revived for the 21st Century. A number of films and TV programmes, including Sherlock Holmes, Carry On . . . and Robocop, are all returning. Many of those overlapped times of economic hardship.

And who could forget the humble Wispa bar? I can’t. I gorged on hundreds of them during the last recession, and they’re back. Hurrah! Oh, and cheese-flavoured Nik Naks, a staple of my recession-dominated youth, are also available.

Wispas, of course, were made by Cadbury. No chocolate bar was more in keeping with the recession than the smooth, creamy, micro-bubbled confection. Wispa was launched in 1981 as a trial version in North East England – the very epicentre of the last recession – and with its success it was introduced nationally in 1983.

It became so iconic that a campaign was launched to bring it back to our shelves in October last year. This very moment, teams of workers are busy aerating molten chocolate with gas so that you can enjoy your credit-munching, microscopically-gas-bubbled bar.

It seems there’s plenty of scope for sweet makers, crisp manufacturers, TV programme makers, film directors and even celebrities to revive flagging careers. Surely, Cannon and Ball can step out of the shadows of panto land and double glazing advertisements and return to ITV.

Their glory years were at the start of the Eighties when they coined such memorable catchphrases as: “To be honest, the fuss that is sometimes made when we’re playing the theatres scares me. It’s like The Beatles. The Bootleg Beatles, that is.” Hmmm, never a truer word spoken.

And while Dr Who lurches from Dr to Dr, maybe it’s time for sic-fi buffs to tune into a remake of Battlestar Galactica. That programme ran from 1980 to 1984 complete with Cylons, the ace John Dykstra’s effects and an asthmatic robot dog called Moxie or Muffet.

Snack emporiums across the land could look at bringing back our favourite retro crisps and corn snacks. Farmer Brown’s, Fish ‘n’ Chips, Football Crazy, Good ‘N’ Crunchy Crisps, KP Griddles, KP Outer Spacers, Sky Divers, Piglets, Super Crunchies and Whale Bones could all be returned to the shelves.

With recession flavours filling our shop shelves and TV screens, it might be worth considering two more comebacks. Arthur Scargill could launch a union to protect the rights of impoverished white collar workers. And a 21st Century Red Robbo could come to the aid of bankers whose lives are now thwarted by the Siberian winds buffeting our beleaguered economy.

Stranger things have happened. Including the creation of Glo Worms . . .