📼 The VHS Tapes That Raised Me

(aka how a pile of dusty cassettes, a dodgy tape recorder, and a lot of chaotic children’s telly shaped my entire personality)

Hi, I’m Asten. I’m autistic, disabled, and I grew up on a glorious mess of taped-off-the-telly VHS tapes. Not the polished stuff — oh no. I’m talking weird compilations, half-recorded movies, and whatever my mum managed to tape in time before the adverts kicked in.

These tapes were more than entertainment. They were comfort. They were chaos. They were everything.
So here’s a lovingly unhinged list of the tapes that raised me — with a little help from Daisy Carter, my resident chaos gremlin and TV snob.

🎬 Part 1: The Disney Tape (aka Emotional Whiplash on Rewind)

This tape had range.
I’m talking Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, Snow White — all lovingly taped off the telly, sometimes mid-song.
There was no rhyme or reason to the order. One minute you were under the sea, the next you were watching a fairy tale get brutally interrupted by an ad for furniture polish.

Core memory: Fast-forwarding through the end credits because I was bored, then later realising those credits were lowkey masterpieces.

Also: one of the tapes had a random Muppets trailer spliced into it — which, as a kid with a full-blown Muppets phobia, felt like a personal attack.
(Thankfully I’m over it now. Mostly.)

Daisy says: “If a fuzzy creature popped up uninvited during Sleeping Beauty, I’d sue too.”

🕷️ Part 2: The Best Friends Tape (feat. Spider)

This one was labelled “Best Friends” but let me tell you… Spider was NOT a best friend.
It was a five-minute animated show about a boy and his pet spider. Sounds cute, right? Wrong.

The spider would just… appear. Out of nowhere. Jump scare. Boom. Every single time.
Also on this tape: Noddy, Postman Pat, Astro Farm, and some deeply cursed stop-motion I still can’t identify.

Core memory: Hiding behind the sofa when the theme song started.
Daisy says: “The panda song was a bop, don’t knock it.”

🌸 Part 3: Thumbelina (Taped Off the Telly, Obviously)

This wasn’t a proper VHS. It was the kind you write on with marker pen — and someone spelt it Thumbalina. Legendary.
Adverts included: washing powder, a random lottery draw, and something deeply ’90s with a talking goose.

Core memory: Watching Thumbelina sing “Let Me Be Your Wings” and genuinely believing I could fly if I flapped hard enough.
Daisy says: “I liked the bird. The frog can rot.”

🧡 Part 4: Rugrats and the Power of the Orange Tape

This tape wasn’t just content — it was a flex. That bright orange plastic? Iconic.
Usually included Rugrats in Paris, a few regular episodes, and possibly an ad for Sunny D.

Core memory: Crying every single time Chuckie said, “I want a mommy…” and pretending I wasn’t.
Daisy says: “I’d follow Reptar into battle. Just saying.”

🎄 Part 5: WOW That’s What I Call Christmas

Not a tape about Christmas. A tape that became Christmas.
Someone (probably my mum) recorded a bunch of festive music videos and countdowns from TV. It was chaos. It was joy. It was culture.

Tracklist highlights:

S Club 7 – Perfect Christmas
Steps – Merry Xmas Everybody
A slightly depressing Westlife ballad
Shakin’ Stevens. Every. Single. Year.

Core memory: Dancing around the living room in your socks, accidentally unplugging the tree lights.
Daisy says: “That tape slapped harder than turkey dinner.”

😄 Part 6: Smile (BBC) – The Saturday Morning Acid Trip

This wasn’t a tape I made — this was one I wished I’d taped.
Smile aired on Saturday mornings and felt like a dream you couldn’t explain. Sketches. Slime. Shouting. Dev from Coronation Street being weird.
It made no sense. I loved it.

Core memory: Waking up too early, watching Smile, and feeling like the world had no rules.
Daisy says: “Whatever drugs that production team were on… I want in.”

Final Thoughts 💿

These tapes were my comfort before streaming, before Netflix, before YouTube even existed.
They were messy, loud, often terrifying — and I wouldn’t trade a single one.

Did you have tapes like these? What was on your weird compilation? Let me know — I promise not to judge (but Daisy might).