Morecambe & Wise - BBC 8th October 70

[Paul Watkins]

Having watched the 4th series on DVD, the edition from the 4th October 1970 was not included. Neither was it shown back in the 90's on UKGOLD.
The edition features Paul Anka.
I can't remember ever seeing any clips either.
I'm assuming that this was not included on the DVD because the BBC don't have it.
Does anyone know if this still exists?

[Andrew Martin]

Thanks for pointing this out Paul - I think most people had assumed that apart from the 50s series and most of the 1968 series, all M&W's BBC shows existed - but you're right, this one doesn't. It was actually shown as a one-off (on 8th October 1970, not the 4th) at the start of a series of repeats on BBC1 - but it was a new show, recorded on 3rd October. Why it was subsequently wiped when all the rest of the M&W shows from 1969 on were kept is a mystery...

[Paul Watkins]

Cheers Andrew thanks for clearing that up.
Hopefully somebody taped it off the TV and we might see it again sometime, but i doubt it

[Andy Howells]

Seems odd that this would be wiped considering that getting Paul Anka as a guest would be a big pull back then. Hopefully it was taken home by a BBC employee or was misfiled (still waiting to be discovered!).

Such a shame that some of these shows are still missing!

Another factor which I've read in some of the M&W books is that Eric and Ern's early BBC shows were taken to be sold abroad (I think Ernie partly oversaw this after Eric's first Heart Attack). Did Morecambe and Wise get shown in other countries and is there a possibility these shows are still lurking in an archive somewhere abroad? Paul anka as a guest would certainly have given the show a big appeal in the States so maybe this show still exists out there?

[Paul Watkins]

Just a thought but has anybody thought of contacting Paul Anka or his management?. Some stars had copies made of their TV appearances.

[Peter Elliott]

May 10, 2008 16:49:55 GMT Paul Watkins said:

Just a thought but has anybody thought of contacting Paul Anka or his management?. Some stars had copies made of their TV appearances.

An interesting idea and it's worth bearing in mind that Paul Anka owns the copyrights and masters to all of his work as well, so it's possible he may had kept a video archive.

Having said that, if such a copy was made for him, then would there be a record of it in the BBC written archive? Given that the BBC kept tons of paperwork and the fact that there are records of when videotapes were wiped - destroyed or reused, then I would had thought that any copies made by request would had been logged.

This is all news to me btw... until today I believed that every BBC Morecambe and Wise show existed from 1969 onwards so to learn there is one missing show from 1970 is a genuine surprise.

[jonny]

May 10, 2008 15:05:55 GMT Andy Howells said:

Hopefully it was taken home by a BBC employee

thought they got a full body search when leaving the archive building!

[David Barron]

The BBC may have refused permission for Paul Anka to have a copy of the show, unless one of the engineers made a copy without going through bureaucratic means.

[Deleted]

This missing episode is a new one on me too! The common perception was that they all existed from series 2 (1969) onwards. Very sad that there's another - and unaccountable - loss.

[Paul Rumbol]

One of the BBC employees who covertly copied and saved material due for wiping was Nick Maingay. Has anybody a full listing of what he actually saved? My impression is that he was more a hard-rock music fan, so he disregarded the plethora of variety/light entertainment shows which passed his way at the time.

Does anyone know which years Maingay was employed by the BBC? I believe he was there in the late 60's / early 70's.