Hartnell panto interviews?

[ajsmith]

Received my copy of NATEOTL3 yesterday -a brilliant package, thanks to all involved.
Now, I'm sure this has already been investigated by the NATEOTL team, but I thought I should ask it just to make sure. The fascinating article (not least because it features new text Hartnell interview content!) on William Hartnell's 66-67 panto run makes reference to 2 television interviews Hartnell did during the panto - one on "BBC new programme Look East" shown on Dec 27th, and a second on "BBC regional news programme Points West" shown on 17th January.
Now the obvious question is, "is there any snowflake in a volcano's chance that either of these two interviews still exists?". One of the holy grails of Who archive material is a filmed (even an audio recording!) of a Hartnell interview so if there was any hope either of these surviving it would be wonderful. I appreicate it's very unlikely though.

[John Wall]

If it's mentioned in NATEOTL then it's almost certainly been checked.

It may be worth looking in local newspapers to see if there was any coverage, pictures, interviews, adverts, etc. The local library probably has a set on microfilm.

[John Green]

I find that local papers also tend to do puff pieces in Aug.-Sept. with the panto celebs outside the theatre showing off the sumptuous costumes you can see on stage if you just BOOK NOW.
I'm sure the panto would have had at least one or two sly references to Who,at the very least.I don't suppose there's a script? Amazingly,one turned up of a school pagent George Orwell had written,so anything's possible!

[John Wall]

Local papers have declined over the years. Go back to the 60s and they would have been much more substantial with more staff. My local paid for paper recently went from two editions each week to one and the staff could well fit into a telephone box - not the TARDIS ! There is potentially material to be found but you need dates and then the time to go and scroll through reels of microfilm. My local library has the local paper on microfilm back to when it started in the late 19th century.

[John Green]

We still have a six-days-a-week paper and very good The Evening Sentinel is,too.
They've just had a piece on how exciting the kiddie extras found it to perform on the local panto;a winding-uo piece similar,I suppose to Hartnell's Points West appearance on 17th Jan.The start and end dates for the show will be known,so it shouldn't be too much of a trawl to find Billy stuff in the local paper.About all you'd miss would be the cast visiting a Children's hospital.
I seem to recall a pamphlet,and certainly a book on the Beatles and Christmas,think the pamphlet was all about their pantos.What choice there was in the 60s! Who certainly had its festive moments including The Feast of Steven.Tell me there wasn't actually a song called "All I want for Christmas is a Dalek".
Since Hartnell's unique selling point was that he was 'TV's Doctor Who' I'm guessing that there'd be some reference to the show,even if it was a quick snatch of the theme tune.

[John Wall]

If any appearance dates for people like Hartnell, Troughton or Pertwee are known I'd expect to find something in the local paper. I recall Jon Pertwee at some big event on the Goose Fair Site in Nottingham in the early 70s - must have been about 73/74 - and this must surely have featured in the Evening Post. If any photographic archives survive from that long ago they could be worth investigating - but they've probably been dumped.

[John Green]

There's actually an exhibition on at the moment about press photos.It's called Painted Photographs,and is on at the Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool.Worth having a look online,if nothing else.It shows the way that picture editors would white out portions they didn't need.So,yes,if the original press photos from local papers still exist they could be mighty interesting.At the very least,there'll be the ones that were published at the time.

[George D]

I didnt see the article, but in america many papers are on microfilm at some libraries. If this was done in a small town, then perhaps that town has a local paper and the paper, as well as the town library, might be a place to start an investigation.

[Richard Bignell]

Jan 22, 2012 11:01:00 GMT John Wall said:

If it's mentioned in NATEOTL then it's almost certainly been checked.

It may be worth looking in local newspapers to see if there was any coverage, pictures, interviews, adverts, etc. The local library probably has a set on microfilm.

Yes, already done. ;D

Much of the content of the Puss in Boots article came from the press coverage that was given to the pantomime.

[ajsmith]

Yes, thanks for everyone's replies about researching the panto but I'm sure there's no need and the team behind NATEOTL have already done that exhaustively - the fruits of which are in the article (which comes highly recommended - really the fact it actually has new text interviews with Hartnell is amazing enough)

I was really just asking about the filmed interviews because the article didn't explictly state they didnt' exist anymore, and I thought it worth confirming for sure with Richard. (even though I really knew the chances or survival were almost nothing)

[John Green]

Point taken.
While I don't go in for genealogy,I think if I was related to,say,William Hartnell,I'd have done a lot of searching.I know his grand-daughter (?) did a biography years ago,but I've never read it.I spent so long queuing to buy it in the shop that I gave up and left it there.Obviously,that book couldn't cover everything in a long career.

[Martin Dunne]

If only all biographies were as good as Who's There? The life and career of William Hartnell by Jessica Carney.

[ajsmith]

I've never read his granddaughter's biog either, although there was one mildly scandalous fact from it pertaining to the panto that repeated in the NATEOTL article! I was shocked anyway.