Permission to wipe episodes?

[Brad Phipps]

Just been reading this article:

www.btinternet.com/~m.brown1/hot.htm

And this section in particular:

Sometime after August 1974, although I have never been able to trace exactly when, the master copies of these episodes disappeared from the archives. I do not know whether they were accidentally lost or misplaced, whether they were deliberately wiped due to the Equity clause, or if they were even stolen. It is unlikely that they were deliberately wiped as they required the signature of David Croft to do this, which he would not have given. Plus why would just two from the series be wiped if that were the case? Does not make sense. And since there was an overseas market they should not have been erased.

Can someone explain the bit in bold to me? Why would David Croft have the power to veto anything wiped? Or is it the case that all Dr Who producers signed everything away and people like David was the exception rather than the rule?

Also, Terry Gilliam was quoted as saving all four series of Monty Python's Flying Circus by purchasing the master tapes. Was it common for the BBC to allow this to happen? Surely there would be rights issues. Or was this just a fabrication by Terry? (he mentions he did this on the Almost the Truth documentary, which was damn good fyi).

[Richard Bignell]

He wouldn't have. The authorisation to wipe videotapes was given by the department Organiser, not producers.

[Brad Phipps]

That's what I thought. I heard a while ago that he wanted to retain as much as he could but I had no idea what avenues he would be permitted to go down.

[Richard Molesworth]

Regarding Monty Python, this is what Terry Jones (not Gilliam) said on the matter in a BBC Radio 4 documentary 'Long Live the Dead Parrot':

‘We were tipped off by a friend in the video department that they were about to wipe all the television shows – the first series of Python – and we sort of clandestinely smuggled the tapes out of the BBC and put them onto Philips VCR cassettes, which was the only domestic video available at the time. I had them in my cellar for a period of about six months, and we felt that that was going to be the only record of our television series left. And then what happened was that suddenly the BBC sold the shows in America, and so they didn’t wipe them. So we were saved by the bell, but it was a very close-run thing.’

So they didn't buy copies, just (cough, cough) 'borrowed' them.

Regards,


Richard

[Brad Phipps]

Thanks for the clarification.

So they smuggled them out and recorded them to VCR - how exactly? Did he have a quadraplex player in his cellar too...?

[dennywilson]

Mar 6, 2012 0:25:37 GMT Richard Molesworth said:

Regarding Monty Python, this is what Terry Jones (not Gilliam) said on the matter in a BBC Radio 4 documentary 'Long Live the Dead Parrot':

‘We were tipped off by a friend in the video department that they were about to wipe all the television shows – the first series of Python – and we sort of clandestinely smuggled the tapes out of the BBC and put them onto Philips VCR cassettes, which was the only domestic video available at the time. I had them in my cellar for a period of about six months, and we felt that that was going to be the only record of our television series left. And then what happened was that suddenly the BBC sold the shows in America, and so they didn’t wipe them. So we were saved by the bell, but it was a very close-run thing.’

So they didn't buy copies, just (cough, cough) 'borrowed' them.

Regards,


Richard

Wouldn't they still have has the FR?

[Brad Phipps]

If any were made. Was the US the first country outside the UK to purchase the series...?

Sounds unlikely.

[PAUL COTTON]

Interesting article, I wasn't aware that any episodes of 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum' had been wiped or gone missing. With regard to Dad's Army, Croft had always maintained that he had a veto on the wiping of mastertapes. Five episodes of series 2 were wiped, Croft thought this has happened when he was on holiday and could not block the decision. Three of these were recovered in 2001, as T/Rs on film. They had apparently been viewed by executives preparing the early 1970s Dad's Army film, and then were dumped in a film studio skip, from which they were rescued by a collector.

[Richard Bignell]

I would think it would be very much down to how the department Organiser chose to go about things. When the documentation to authorise the wiping of the master videotapes came across their desk, some may have chosen to consult with their respective producers before signing off, and this may have been the case with whoever was acting as the Organiser in the comedy department at the time. Certainly in drama, Barry Letts recalled never being consulted about the wiping of the old Doctor Who episodes - to quote him, "it just wasn't a factor in our lives."

[Richard Marple]

Mar 6, 2012 0:25:37 GMT Richard Molesworth said:

Regarding Monty Python, this is what Terry Jones (not Gilliam) said on the matter in a BBC Radio 4 documentary 'Long Live the Dead Parrot':

‘We were tipped off by a friend in the video department that they were about to wipe all the television shows – the first series of Python – and we sort of clandestinely smuggled the tapes out of the BBC and put them onto Philips VCR cassettes, which was the only domestic video available at the time. I had them in my cellar for a period of about six months, and we felt that that was going to be the only record of our television series left. And then what happened was that suddenly the BBC sold the shows in America, and so they didn’t wipe them. So we were saved by the bell, but it was a very close-run thing.’

So they didn't buy copies, just (cough, cough) 'borrowed' them.

Regards,


Richard

One of the books on the Pythons mentions them getting some BBC engineers to make copies after a tip-off.

Pete & Dud tried very hard to stop No Only But Also from being wiped, but failed.

[D. Frame]

I used to think that a Producer had the last say over the shows they oversaw . I thought that 60's doctor who producers just didn't see the reason to keep a cheap fast made saturday cereal . The reason is because i knew that Biddy Baxter was able to control the Blue Peter recordings , which after all was only a live childrens magazine .

[Steven Sigel]

Mar 6, 2012 18:55:16 GMT D. Frame said:

I used to think that a Producer had the last say over the shows they oversaw . I thought that 60's doctor who producers just didn't see the reason to keep a cheap fast made saturday cereal . The reason is because i knew that Biddy Baxter was able to control the Blue Peter recordings , which after all was only a live childrens magazine .

A cheap Saturday cereal? Would that be Froot Loops? Capt'n Crunch? or Apple Jacks?
(sorry, couldn't resist).

[Jaspal Cheema]

If I remember rightly from reading the Python diaries,the decision of the Pythons to buy the videotapes wasn't because they wanted to preserve the series it was BECAUSE the BBC were going to sell it America.The Pythons consulted with their lawyers who told them it was going to be more lucrative for them to buy the series and then sell it to America themselves,so the presevation was fuelled by GREED!!!( Graham Chapman would have loved that!!).All the Pythons stood firm against the BBC until they gave in.I don't think that at any point the BBC were going to wipe any part of the series.Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Richard Marple]

Part of the Pythons' fall out with the BBC was over a compilation made to test the water in America.

The BBC performed a few edits (mostly to the more dodgy lines) after assuring the Pythons they wouldn't do any edits without permission.

[Jaspal Cheema]

That's right.The Pythons had it in their contracts that the BBC weren't allowed to make any cuts to the episodes or show them with commercial breaks so they actually bought the master-tapes.The Pythons had all the rights to these outside the UK whilst the BBC kept the rights in the U.K.