THE DEMISE OF
Look-in

The beginning of the end (for me at least) started with the issue on the left, No.38 from 1981.  One of the main differences is obvious, the painting on the cover has gone, they still did appear sporadically, but they were to all intents and purposes a thing of the past.  I really loved the paintings, but maybe they were seen to be a bit old fashioned, and didn't give the magazine the fresh modern look the editors wanted for the 80's.  Stewpot had already left a while earlier to be replaced by a letters/news page called 'Look around'.  It was also around this time that Alan Fennell was to take his leave of Look-in after a long stint of service and hand over the reins to Colin Shelbourn, who had worked as art editor up to this point,  presumably it was Colin's decision to drop the paintings.

Another reason for Look-in's slide was the lack of good British adventure series (and good American ones for that matter), ITV had started buying in more American shows like 'The A-Team', 'Magnum p.i.', 'The Fall Guy' and 'Knight Rider', and it was shows like these that started taking the mantle of adventure type strips.  The one beacon of light was 'Robin of Sherwood' but this was not to come until 1984.  Also there was a dearth of good comedy series, and so Look-in started using light tea time cartoons like 'Danger Mouse'.  The only other comedy strip was 'Cannon and Ball',  which they held on to for far too long in my mind.

1983 saw a dramatic change, as the 'PC' police started to have an effect on Look-in.  As the magazine became anti-violence, weapons started being dropped from drawings, and fighting scenes were less graphic.

Angus Allan later said of these changes. 'kids like knock-about action, plenty of explosions, and lots of shooting. Gore and mayhem aren't necessary.  I don't agree with showing blood and guts being spattered all over the place,  It isn't subtle.  Anyhow, if I tell you that I wrote all of the A-Team series without once being allowed to show any weapons, and had a row with Colin (luckily I won) when he wanted me to write Robin of Sherwood without any bows and arrows, you'll understand that (just in my opinion, mind) the comic was doomed.  Kids yawn, and give up.  It became a vehicle for stuff like Scooby-Doo and Inspector Gadget, and slowly went down the pan'.  On the left, you can see an example from 'Robin of Sherwood', with not a weapon in sight.

Of course there was the usual pop fare, in the 'Colour Centre' which also started before the change of format.  They even gave modern groups like 'Bucks Fizz and 'Haircut 100' their own strips.  Haircut's was very reminiscent of 'The Monkees', whilst Buck's was an adventure type thing in the mould of the David Cassidy strips some years earlier.

1983 also saw another title change for Look-in, moving from a modern, to a more 'pop art' type title (right), adding further 'yuck!' to the mag.