TV Shows / Films That Nobody Else Seems to Remember?!

[Steamport Southport]

9 minutes ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

 

Well, er.... ''now they know how many.....'' 

 

Another one from the dim and distant past - ''In Search Of...'' with Leaonard Nimoy, a series about UFOs, Bigfoot etc, usually on at tea time, just before the evening news. Which brings me to another tea time favourite 'Magpie' with Susan Stranks and Jenny Hanley.... .

 

Of course, if you were posh you watched 'Blue Peter' over on the Beeb....!

 

Or watched both as they were on different days.... 

 

44806 is still Magpie to me as Blue Peter is still 532.

[Andy Kirkham]

25 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Or watched both as they were on different days.... 

 

44806 is still Magpie to me as Blue Peter is still 532.

 

To me D829 is Magpie, as seen here https://www.westernlocomotiveresearchsociety.com/warships-the-d829-magpie-story

[Steamport Southport]

40 minutes ago, Andy Kirkham said:

 

To me D829 is Magpie, as seen here https://www.westernlocomotiveresearchsociety.com/warships-the-d829-magpie-story

 

Nothing to do with the TV programme though.

 

44806 was named as part of the TV programme as they thought Blue Peter's got one why haven't we....

 

I wonder what happened to the nameplates. I'm pretty sure it still had them when it left Southport.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/taffytank/12661618393

[Andy Kirkham]

17 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Nothing to do with the TV programme though.

 

 

 

If you follow the link you'll see that the TV programme was connected with D829. Unfortunately they linked up with a loco having limited life expectancy, so 44806 was their second attempt.

[62613]

3 hours ago, Darius43 said:

Is it enough to fill the Albert Hall?

I always thought it was a different sort of hole.

 

[heavymetalwagons]

I remember an animated series of shorts from the 70s/80s possibly from Europe about aliens on a planet and how they messed it up ie pollution etc. It was meant to be about us. Can't find it anywhere. 

Anyone help? 

On a separate note it seems a shame they only repeat the same shows dad's army, only fools and horses etc when there's loads they could show Hancocks half hour, hitchhiker's guide, etc 

[K14]

On 28/09/2020 at 00:20, PatB said:

Then there are all the one-off dramas and plays that (mainly) the BBC were rather good at. One in particular that I remember greatly enjoying was an adaptation of a sci-fi short story by someone quite prominent (though I forget who) about the world telephone system becoming sentient and making something of a nuisance of itself. It was titled Crossed Line or Wrong Number or something equally telephonic, and struck an excellent balance between creepiness and wittiness. 

 

Sounds like "Dial F For Frankenstein" by Arthur C Clarke

[PatB]

16 minutes ago, K14 said:

 

Sounds like "Dial F For Frankenstein" by Arthur C Clarke

Could well be. I know it was one of the "classic" sci-fi writers, and very much from an early 1960s perspective. The TV adaptation I remember was set in the contemporary early 1980s Britain and was, IIRC, considerably altered and padded, although following the original concept of a sentient telephone network. I enjoyed it and would love to see it again.

[John Harris]

On 29/09/2020 at 09:51, Metr0Land said:

Dear Ladies with Hinge and Brackett

 

My late grandparents, bless 'em, didn't realise it was two blokes!

 

jch

[John Harris]

10 hours ago, heavymetalwagons said:

I remember an animated series of shorts from the 70s/80s possibly from Europe about aliens on a planet and how they messed it up ie pollution etc. It was meant to be about us. Can't find it anywhere. 

Anyone help? 

On a separate note it seems a shame they only repeat the same shows dad's army, only fools and horses etc when there's loads they could show Hancocks half hour, hitchhiker's guide, etc 

 

I suspect the lack of repeats of some shows are for a combination of reasons,

 

• Complete series are not always available, the BBC famously recycled video tapes (look at the internet, there are forums galore about missing episodes).  While people moan, at the time repeats were reasonably thought to be unlikely and the tapes were very expensive to 'waste' as long-term storage.  Several old Doctor Whos are being recreated from soundtracks, recorded by amateurs, coupled with animated visuals and released on DVD.
• Some of these old shows would create too many complaints, there are whole swaths of "Top of the Pops" that can't be re-shown because Saville is in them.
• To be blunt, the visuals are bit crap to be transmitted on modern HD or potentially 4K or 8K channels.  The BBC and ITV had to re-build the sets for the soaps when the HD transmissions started, you could see the lack of detail on sets made for 625 lines.
• The channels can make more money selling the DVDs.

jch

[Steamport Southport]

The problem with Hancock's Half Hour is there is only about half of them still in existence and they are quite poor quality telerecordings.

 

Fine if you are a fan, but I doubt you would get many of the general public wanting to watch.

 

One of the better quality ones is The Blood Donor. Could you see people tuning in on a Saturday night to watch it? I can't and I'm a fan.

 

Don't get too comfortable Part Two isn't on there!

 

 

Edited September 30, 2020 by Steamport Southport

[Hroth]

As noted above, surviving series from the 50s and early 60s are rare, with missing episodes and are of poor quality.  There might be room for a "retrospective" on BBC4 or one of the digital channels that go in for that sort of thing.  Other problems arise from performers who are "non-persons" nowadays, and with difficulties with intellectual rights over part of the content.

 

Another major problem is over the entire tenor of the content, with behaviour and dialogue that is impossible to broadcast nowadays, even with the most heavily caveated introduction before being shown.  I would like to table, as examples of this, "Love Thy Neighbour" and "The Black and White Minstrel Show".

[Steamport Southport]

Even Lenny Henry has said that he didn't think The Black & White Minstrel Show was racist.

 

How did he make his name? By impersonations. Would this be deemed racist for doing white characters? Or should we just think it's funny or clever.

 

I bet many don't remember him doing a George Formby impression. 

 

 

[Hroth]

27 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

Even Lenny Henry has said that he didn't think The Black & White Minstrel Show was racist.

 

How did he make his name? By impersonations. Would this be deemed racist for doing white characters? Or should we just think it's funny or clever.

 

The people who complain about "blackface", cultural appropriation and racism in general wouldn't bat an eyelid. Others would be silent for fear of their complaints being labelled "hate speech".  I think the rest would think it was a comedian being a comedian.

 

 

[Andy Kirkham]

I have a very hazy memory from roughly 1965 about a comedy series (almost certainly American) about two families (or two branches of one family) who lived in New York and London respectively.

If it is how I remember it then all interaction between the two parties would have been by telephone, which must have limited the dramatic possibilities.

Does it ring a bell with anyone?

[Steamport Southport]

I think I do. Possibly still repeated into the 1970s. If it's the one I'm thinking of the daughter or son marries an American and most of the comedy is about cultural differences.

 

I've definitely got an image of a Jewish New York woman similar to Joan Rivers.

 

 

Not the same programme but the basic idea of jokes about the two cultures was also used in Two's Company and The Two Of Us. Where they had Donald Sinden or Peter Cook being the English butler.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two's_Company_(TV_series)

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Two_of_Us_(1981_TV_series)

 

 

Edited October 1, 2020 by Steamport Southport

[exmoordave]

Back in the mists of time, there was a childrens' TV series, filmed in black & white - and broadcast LIVE!! it was called "Romano the Peasant Boy". Yes it was as exciting as it sounds..... In one episode a very rain-soaked Romano is supposed to be standing on a windswept beach looking out to sea for his father's boat sailing back through the storm. It was at this point that a stage hand accidentally wandered into shot with a hosepipe that was 'raining' onto Romano! It must have been a few seconds before anyone noticed and the guy looked round into the camera before scooting away as fast as his little legs could carry him. Ah, memories are made of moments like this.........

[Sophia NSE]

I remember kids TV in school holidays which was usually Scooby Doo, an episode of the Monkees, Why Don't You and let down shockingly at the end by either an episode of Benji or the Littlest Hobo. No wonder I turned out to be a cat person.

And from the Stephen J. Cannell stable was Hunter, which was kind of Dirty Harry lite with humour, and Renegade, which was about a cop who testified against bad cops and had to go on the run as a bounty hunter. Several episodes featured Cannell himself as the agent tasked to capture our hero. Needless to say it was on late at night after Nationwide League Extra and no one other than me, some stoners, and a small group of insomniacs ever watched it!

[Northmoor]

Back in the very early 90s there was a short series, I think on BBC2 and called The Works?  This was a graphics-heavy programme, each perhaps only about 15 minutes long in which real engineers explained how things worked.  I remember one called Waiting to Work, which described how to make things like fire extinguishers and how they may never get used but HAVE to work when required.  

What was the BBC series called which looked at transport design icons?  I think there was only one series of six but it covered things like the Mini, Routemaster Bus etc.

[laurenceb]

56 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

 

What was the BBC series called which looked at transport design icons?  I think there was only one series of six but it covered things like the Mini, Routemaster Bus etc.

Transport of delight?

[PatB]

1 hour ago, Northmoor said:

Back in the very early 90s there was a short series, I think on BBC2 and called The Works?  This was a graphics-heavy programme, each perhaps only about 15 minutes long in which real engineers explained how things worked.  I remember one called Waiting to Work, which described how to make things like fire extinguishers and how they may never get used but HAVE to work when required.  

What was the BBC series called which looked at transport design icons?  I think there was only one series of six but it covered things like the Mini, Routemaster Bus etc.

I am reminded that, even as a former professional engineer, much of my understanding of industrial production processes remains rooted in clips from Playschool's "Through the Windows" segment from 50 years ago. The production of  mattresses, cutlery, fish fingers and Dinky(?) Routemasters are four that spring immediately to mind. 

[Steamport Southport]

They still have those type of segments on kids TV. Don't know the programmes but my nephew used to avidly watch them on CBeebies.

 

What kids don't have is programmes meant to scare them. I remember half the kids at school were terrified of Hartley Hare.  

 

[PatB]

1 hour ago, Steamport Southport said:

They still have those type of segments on kids TV. Don't know the programmes but my nephew used to avidly watch them on CBeebies.

 

What kids don't have is programmes meant to scare them. I remember half the kids at school were terrified of Hartley Hare.  

 

I don't know about kids, but I'm 53 and that pic will be fuelling my nightmares for a while. 

[Steamport Southport]

He doesn't look in good condition there. Seems to have lost his fur.

 

This was 1970s ITVs programming for pre school kids. 

 

 

 

[Steamport Southport]

As an aside the actor is Jonathan Kydd who does voice overs for railway videos.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Kydd_(actor)