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Post by Leighton on Jul 29, 2003 18:31:48 GMT
I understand ITV wiped loads of these as they never repeated them? Is this true, if not do they still have Jon Pertwee as Dr Who being done by Eamomn?
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Post by David Brunt on Jul 29, 2003 18:53:49 GMT
The Pertwee episode is wiped, though the soundtrack still exists.
About half of the episodes are missing from 1969-77, including many well known names.
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Post by Leighton on Jul 30, 2003 17:36:29 GMT
Do you know when the Pertwee show was broadcast?
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Post by David Brunt on Jul 30, 2003 19:58:57 GMT
14th April 1971.
Three weeks after Clive Dunn, two after Peter Noone, the week after Monica Dickens and the week before Lionel Jeffries. Only one of which survives (Jeffries).
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Post by Mark Boulton on Aug 3, 2003 14:47:08 GMT
This is quite a surprise. This is ONE show that I really thought would get special treatment.
It's not very often you can get a star's friends, family and colleagues to keep a secret for months on end, then all come together, and for them all to share in your life's story, and to have it all televised.
And from an historical point of view AND business point of view, you'd think that once these "potted histories" of famous names have been made, that they would have great potential to be re-used, even if only in part, in any documentaries involving those people in the future?
I always thought that, like the Big Red Book, it was one show which was intended to be an indelible record of the event.
Obviously not.
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Post by john g on Aug 6, 2003 18:35:11 GMT
just a question here. Could the fact that some of them are missing be because some were done live?
The reason i ask is. i remember on one occasion Eamonn approached the doctors author Richard Gordon and he refused and ran away leaving everyone bewildered. The show then cut to an obviously pre recorded edition, which if my memory serves me correctly was Victor 'dick Green dock' Maddern.
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Post by Ian Beard on Aug 6, 2003 22:30:28 GMT
I "think" it was a pre-recorded edition featuring that main-stay of British films Sam Kydd. The existing early editions of THIS IS YOUR LIFE, (both BBC and Thames), are "virtually" unclearable for re-broadcast: most, if not all, of the guests paying tribute would have given their involvement for a "no-fee/once-only" broadcast. BBC2 had to jump thru hoops back in '91 for a short season of repeats of the BBC shows - and that was curtailed three editions early 'cos Thames brought it back to ITV earlier than planned.
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Post by Ian Beard on Aug 6, 2003 22:33:08 GMT
I think that even from the start in the 50s every edition was recorded in some way, even though it was a live programme: the first edition still survives, and at the end of the first couple of series there was a compilation programme of previous "hits".
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Post by Des on Aug 7, 2003 8:23:22 GMT
this is your life is yet another perfect example of a show with obvious long-term value (even at the time they were made). despite this many were junked. it's another example of blinkered short term thinking by archivists.
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Post by David Brunt on Aug 7, 2003 11:23:47 GMT
They had archival interest, but I question their "long-term" repeat value.
They were (and are) incredibly difficult to get clearances for repeats, even as short clips. Once shown they are very seldom ever seen again.
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Post by Helen Ellis on Aug 9, 2003 19:44:04 GMT
Hi - I've found a website that lists most of the subjects of 'TIYL' from November 1969 to April 1993. www.geocities.com/Hollywood/5144/thislife.htmlBut does anyone know of any websites that list the subjects pre-1969? (And also post-1993?) Also, does anyone know if the 'This Is Your Life' on Peter Finch from December 1961 still exists? Thanks
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Post by David Brunt on Aug 9, 2003 19:47:56 GMT
The Charlie Drake show survives from that month, but not Peter Finch.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2003 7:45:02 GMT
this is your life is yet another perfect example of a show with obvious long-term value (even at the time they were made). despite this many were junked. it's another example of blinkered short term thinking by archivists. You assume - incorrectly - that TV is there as a archive for posterity. It isn't - it's there to entertain in the short term, and make money by sales in the short to medium term. I doubt anyone making the show, indeed most series, ever think anyone will be interested 10, 20, 30 and now even 40-50 years down the line. If stuff isn't going to be sold, then it gets junked PDQ. Some slip through the net. Some producers (Biddy Baxter of 'Blue Peter' for instance) request shows to be kept. But these were a rarity rather than the norm. If you're going to make an assumption, at least try and get the facts half right...
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Post by Des on Aug 10, 2003 9:56:29 GMT
well i'm talking about all archives, not just bbc or itv. this includes the national film archive. who were supposedly there to save things for posterity. this was an area they let us down badly in the past. also with the bbc they do have a public service remit and part of that should be to keep an archive for posterity. thats a part of public service. in fact the subject was so controversial there was a big debate on this in the 1970s and led to the bbc being at least a bit more accountable as far as archives are concerned. if all in the world is reduced just to profit motive, then we'd have never had quality television at all. no Steptoe, no Dennis Potter, no Python, no Play For Today, no nothing in fact. i remember this debate going on here before. as much as it seems to stick in the throat of some people, the bbc and nfa do have a responsibility to preserve programmes that are made (with our money after all) so the audience can enjoy them again. its been said before here by others more articulate than me but its so depressing that for on a site devoted to missing tv no one seems to belive in preservation as a concept.
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Post by Andy Henderson on Aug 10, 2003 10:26:53 GMT
Des, the NFA 'saved' (for example) the first b/w edition plus the first colour edition! They had a very limited budget by grant and saved a wide range of material. The fact that it isn't just 'cult' material refelects the care in selection.
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