BBC 4 - The Undiscovered Peter Cook

[thomascanning]

Just noticed this. I wonder if this will lead to more material being returned / released on the BBC (even if its just the Christmas Special for Christmas!).

www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2016/46/undiscovered-peter-cook 

Confirmed for BBC Four on 16 November at 10pm to 11pm

Following the death of Britain’s greatest satirist in 1995, Peter Cook’s widow Lin locked the door of his Hampstead house, and refused all access to the media. Until this year, when she invited her friend Victor Lewis-Smith and a BBC crew inside, to make a documentary about the man she knew and loved, with unprecedented access to Peter’s private recordings, diaries, letters, photographs, and much more.

The result is a fascinating and unique hour of television, that includes Peter performing hitherto unknown comedy sketches, rediscovered interviews, and long-lost footage of Peter performing with his comedy partner Dudley Moore, as well as with Peter Sellers and David Attenborough. There are multiple extracts from Peter’s home videos, as well as Lin’s first televised interview. A major find is The Dead Sea Tapes, an LP recorded by Peter and Dudley in 1963, but never released (due to concerns about blasphemy laws), and long thought lost. Also included are rediscovered classic sketches from Not Only But Also, reconstructed in the edit suite after mute film clips were retrieved from Australia, and reunited with the original audio tracks.

There is also unique footage from Peter’s memorial service, with contributions from Dudley, Barry Humphries, and David Frost. Fans of Peter’s work will be delighted by the rediscovered comedy gems (most of which have either never been broadcast, or have remained unseen since their initial transmission some fifty years ago), while Lin reveals the tender and loving private side of a man better known for his acerbic public persona.

Executive Producer: Victor Lewis-Smith
Producer: Catherine Royle
Associated Rediffusion

[Alan Hayes]

One to watch, record and preserve - definitely!

Thanks for the heads-up, Thomas.

[John Green]

Coo! The 'rediscovered interviews' could be interesting in themselves.

[RWels]

I agree with the "boldness" of that post. It was known for some time that there were mute clips and that audio had been found, but we had never seen it.
I've never heard that the film was found in Australia though. It always seemed to be simply filmed inserts from the original production.

[Sue Butcher]

Or perhaps something has been found in Australia, and the blurb writer's mixed it up with the mute film inserts? Anyway, I hope this programme is screened in Australia, it'd give me a reason to turn my TV set on for once.

[John Green]

Can't help but feel that Peter Cook would have felt that the programme would be have been wittily named if they'd drop the 'Peter Cook',and add the next word in the Shakespeare quote-or rather the first,but not the second syllable!

[RWels]

Nov 2, 2016 0:47:55 GMT John Green said:

Can't help but feel that Peter Cook would have felt that the programme would be have been wittily named if they'd drop the 'Peter Cook',and add the next word in the Shakespeare quote-or rather the first,but not the second syllable!

Oh, I didn't know he held a foreign noble title?

[John Green]

Today 10 p.m.!

[RWels]

Haven't had time yet to watch it front to back, but I think we didn't get to see the S1E5 previously mute sketches, right?
Pity; I had hoped for these:

• Canvassing Dracula
• Smoking
• Restaurant

[John Green]

Nov 17, 2016 10:23:47 GMT RWels said:

Haven't had time yet to watch it front to back, but I think we didn't get to see the S1E5 previously mute sketches, right?
Pity; I had hoped for these:

• Canvassing Dracula
• Smoking
• Restaurant

Got to hold something back for a DVD release!

[ajsmith]

Does anyone confirm what episode the 2 newly synched sketches they did show were from?

What episode was the sketch with Pete wearing an 'effeminate' outfit from?

Was the Pete and Dud sketch 'Pete and Dud on the Bus' from S1 E5 (I notice this site has this scene listed as missing unlike the other sketches listed as 'mute' from this episode).

[ajsmith]

Hmm just checked Roobarbs and the Harry Thompson Peter Cook Biography: turns out the tailor sketch per Thompsons' book is from the 2nd episode of the first series and has always existed, while the On the Bus Pete and Dud clip according to Richard Ward on Roobarbs 'comes from an Australian compilation reel from the 1960s (basically a preview of clips from shows that Australian TV could buy back then), and it's just that portion.'


Bit disingenuous to present either of these as mute film synched to off air audio! Why say that if the material wasn't sourced that way? Makes me wonder if synched up versions of Canvassing Dracula, Smoking and Restaurant were intended to be included at one point, but were held back, either for a future DVD release as said above, or cos they didn't come across well or were too poor quality technically.

[williammuirhead]

The NOBA clips were, in order of inclusion: 'Sir Arthur at the Tailor' (series one, episode three); 'Pete and Dud on the Bus' (series one, episode five); 'Boxer-cum-Painter' (series one, episode six); and, briefly, 'Tramponuns' (series one, episode four).

I was surprised to see the first of these presented in the context of a 'newly synched' sketch, as it has been extant in the BBC archive since at least the mid-nineties, along with the rest of Series One Episode Three. In fact, the first four episodes of NOBA were copied by producer/director Joe McGrath back in the sixties, which is why (along with the 2001 discovery of the Sellers ep in the US Libary of Congress) the first series is comparatively well represented.

The only genuinely new - or 'undiscovered' clip - is that final minute of 'Pete and Dud on the Bus'. To repeat a post I just put on the Kaleidoscope facebook page:

'Hoping someone can answer a new question raised by 'The Undiscovered Peter Cook' - does anyone know exactly what clips have been found in Australia from 'Not Only... But Also'? The doco featured extracts from 'Sit Arthur at the Tailor' (series one show three) - oddly, though framed in the context of rediscovered material, a sketch that's been held by the BBC since at least the early nineties - and 'Dud and Pete on the Bus' (series one show five), which wasn't previously known to exist even in part. I was expecting clips from the long-known mute film sequences from that episode ('Cigarette Advertising' and 'Canvassing Dracula'), newly joined to off-air soundtracks, so was thrilled to see part of not only a brand new sketch, but (on the basis of the published script) one of the greats. According to a poster on Roobarb's, this short section is all that was recovered from the sketch, from an ABC trailer reel - can anyone confirm, or advise of other extracts found?'

Any help from the posters here at missingepisodes.com?

[williammuirhead]

Sorry ajsmith, apparently we just posted basically the same message! My understanding is that the 'On the Bus' extract is genuinely newly rediscovered, even if the ABC trailer reel dates back to the 60's. The rest does seem a little disingenuous, although as I noted on the Kaleidoscope page: 'To be fair, I believe the 'Boxer-cum-Painter' clip was described in Lewis-Smith's voice-over as being untransmitted on televison since its original broadcast, which is accurate.'

[ajsmith]

Nov 19, 2016 9:02:59 GMT williammuirhead said:

The NOBA clips were, in order of inclusion: 'Sir Arthur at the Tailor' (series one, episode three); 'Pete and Dud on the Bus' (series one, episode five); 'Boxer-cum-Painter' (series one, episode six); and, briefly, 'Tramponuns' (series one, episode four).

I was surprised to see the first of these presented in the context of a 'newly synched' sketch, as it has been extant in the BBC archive since at least the mid-nineties, along with the rest of Series One Episode Three. In fact, the first four episodes of NOBA were copied by producer/director Joe McGrath back in the sixties, which is why (along with the 2001 discovery of the Sellers ep in the US Libary of Congress) the first series is comparatively well represented.

The only genuinely new - or 'undiscovered' clip - is that final minute of 'Pete and Dud on the Bus'. To repeat a post I just put on the Kaleidoscope facebook page:

'Hoping someone can answer a new question raised by 'The Undiscovered Peter Cook' - does anyone know exactly what clips have been found in Australia from 'Not Only... But Also'? The doco featured extracts from 'Sit Arthur at the Tailor' (series one show three) - oddly, though framed in the context of rediscovered material, a sketch that's been held by the BBC since at least the early nineties - and 'Dud and Pete on the Bus' (series one show five), which wasn't previously known to exist even in part. I was expecting clips from the long-known mute film sequences from that episode ('Cigarette Advertising' and 'Canvassing Dracula'), newly joined to off-air soundtracks, so was thrilled to see part of not only a brand new sketch, but (on the basis of the published script) one of the greats. According to a poster on Roobarb's, this short section is all that was recovered from the sketch, from an ABC trailer reel - can anyone confirm, or advise of other extracts found?'

Any help from the posters here at missingepisodes.com?

Thanks for the details. Thompsons book lists the tailor sketch as from episode 2 but I think that's cos he was counting the very first episode as the pilot.

Pity Joe McGrath stopped copying episodes after the first 4! (though thank goodness for what he did do) Wonder how he got the facilities to do that at the time?