60s BBC Drama

[iankmclachlan]

I would have to say that my favourite type of programme is drama from the 1960s. But what I find surprising is that although there are many surviving Doctor Who episodes from this era (although not enough) some of the other BBC dramas from that time are no longer in the archives. Programmes like King of the River, Champion House and Mickey Dunne seem to have no surviving episodes. I wonder if any of them were sold abroad. I am delighted that my all time second favourite TV show - Adam Adamant Lives! has so many surviving episodes. But how did that happen? Vendetta - another favourite only has a few. And then into the 1970s what happened to all the episodes of Codename? I wonder if anyone can suggest why some of these drama series survived and so many didn't? Many thanks.

[Richard Marple]

The BBC's 1960s soaps are even worse off, with only a few episodes of Compact & none of United.

[Nick Cooper]

Jul 21, 2016 1:00:12 GMT iankmclachlan said:

I am delighted that my all time second favourite TV show - Adam Adamant Lives! has so many surviving episodes. But how did that happen?

In the case of the bulk of the first series episodes, its presumably because they were edited as and transmitted from 35mm telerecordings (although a couple are 16mm copies), which inevitably ended up in the Film Library. It's certainly noticable that the only episode of the first series transmitted from 2" VT - Ticket to Terror - is missing. In contrast the second series was almost entirely made on VT, with only a couple of 16mm telerecordings surviving, although the one episode made on 35mm is also missing.