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Post by Patrick Coles on Nov 8, 2013 16:06:02 GMT
As I recall the whole style of 'The Feast of Steven' differed notably from DMP, as it was much lighter, even a bit slapstick, unlike the DMP which is one of the darkest tales of Hartnell's era - the DMP went onto 'hold' for a week while the Xmas day episode went out with Hartnell 'toasting the viewers' and next episode it was back into the DMP as if the Xmas episode had not occurred !
back then both BBC & ITV used to have a 'Xmas with the stars' show with sketches from well known TV shows - comedy & drama - acting out a Xmas scenario (I remember Harry Worth's one well) while a ITV drama like 'Callan' even once crossed with a comedy 'Father Dear Father' - Edward Woodward & Russell Hunter (as 'Callan' & 'Lonely') turn up at the home of Patrick Glover (Patrick Cargill) & his two daughters by mistake...in a witty Xmas themed scenario of about 15 minutes...
Dr.Who's Xmas story; 'The Feast of Steven' was done a bit like that, to blend in with the festive tone...
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Post by Patrick Coles on Nov 7, 2013 17:53:45 GMT
who played 'Major Graham' ?
He was the younger M.I.5 chap who I think we learned was 'Col. Buchan's assistant' tho' in truth he really 'subbed' for Ronald Leigh Hunt's Col. Buchan as the chief guy in one series, they never appeared together as far as I'm aware
Did Ronald Leigh Hunt return for a later series...?
I recall one early member of the trio rode a motor bike (is that correct or am I muddling it up with 'Ace of Wands' or something...?)
It used to amuse me when Christopher Chittell was doing a very 'serious' intense dramatic scene as the devious 'Eric Pollard' in the soap Emmerdale....to think 'you used to be a Freewheeler Chris !'
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Post by Patrick Coles on Nov 7, 2013 17:27:07 GMT
While of course it's frustrating for fans who are DESPERATE for information, there are probably very good reasons for the 'silence' in the event any further missing episodes may have been recovered ...
One is because there may be factors we just don't know (and we may discover later on in due course as no doubt the full story WILL be told in time).
Factors such as possibly negotiating with any private collectors & persuading them that its worth their while to hand over any lone 'missing' episodes so they can be properly restored etc
plus there could well be technical issues too - maybe some episodes require MUCH restoration work...or might not even be salvagable - what would be the reaction if say a 'classic' much wanted tale WERE discovered in full...but was then found to be beyond restoration ?
there might be MORE lost episodes - both Dr.Who and other much wanted 'lost' TV shows too - that have still to be recovered...if so keeping a 'silence' might well make alot of sense UNTIL anything has been safely returned...
we have waited umpteen years in just vain hope, at least signs now are encouraging (not just re 'Doctor Who' but other missing shows), so I think it might be wiser to 'keep cool' over all this & not get carried away, we may well hopefully be pleasantly surprised before too long but getting all 'hot under the collar' and trading insults (as some on certain forums have been doing) helps nobody, and WON'T return a 'lost' episode any faster...will it ?
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Post by Patrick Coles on Nov 7, 2013 17:08:10 GMT
I can remember Katarina's 'death scene' from all those years ago, both she & her captor guy are jettisoned out into space when she opens the airlock
we see the pair of them 'floating' dead in space, it was done in slow motion with the pair of them staring, quite horrible actually especially for kids !
The death of Sara Kingdom (Jean Marsh) was rather eerily done too as she got older & older, then was a skeleton in uniform..
In an earlier episode (maybe 'Mission To The Unknown') an astronaught gets a needle from a Varga creature in him...next time he looks he has a row of growth on his arm...!
we see an earlier victim...a Varga creature...wearing spaceman's boots !
the entire 13 episode 'epic' was pretty scary for a supposed children's show and the 'Day of Armageddon' episode is pretty much just as I remember the entire story being, albeit a bit 'padded out' here & there
I remember 'Marco Polo' too - I recall how it dragged for me as a child over the seven weeks, so IF it has turned up (great) but do be prepared for a bit of a 'plodding' tale...
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Post by Patrick Coles on Nov 7, 2013 11:17:04 GMT
'Freewheelers' was great !
made on a small budget it was a fun adventure show for kids made with an adult show presentation & a good theme tune !
Tom Owen (Bill's son) was one of the original trio of young adventurers with another guy & a gal, later a young 'Chris Chittell' (yes the same 'Eric Pollard' from 'Emmerdale' !) was a later member of the team, as was Wendy 'Padders' Padbury ('Zoe' herself) too...
Ronald Leigh Hunt brought class to it as 'Col. Buchan' of M.I.5 (I think) with 'Major Graham' subbing for him in one series
Geoffrey Toone (later the villain in Dr.Who's 'Curse of Peladon' tale) was a superb ongoing foe as Nazi 'Von Gelp' (I think)- presumably still in hiding in the Solent area !!
I remember he had a bunch of henchmen (Michael Ripper was one I think) & a thicko guy named 'Boone' !
I remember one story involving the Great War wreck of the R.M.S. Lusitania !!
an imaginative kids adventure show from the days when ITV bothered with proper 'children's Television' (progress what progress ?)
this takes me back to schooldays....does much of the old 'Southern Television' made show survive ?
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Post by Patrick Coles on Nov 7, 2013 11:00:11 GMT
I understood there were also ongoing issues with The Late William Dozier's daughter, who has some say in matters, that were still unresolved.
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Post by Patrick Coles on Nov 6, 2013 10:48:31 GMT
Re Patrick Mower's early series; 'Haunted' - I can remember seeing a few episodes of this
It was screened quite late at night by ITV & it opened with a 'white figure' seen running against a woodland background....
Patrick Mower played a young lecturer guy who was interested in the paranormal in a student university setting
A couple of episodes spring to mind:
One featured Ronald Lacey (later of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' fame) as a disturbed young student guy named 'Tom Rowley' who wrote striking poems in the style of Thomas Chatterton, the guy was obsessed with the life of Chatterton who had committed suicide, and had a calendar with the 'Death of Chatterton' depicted....showing Chatterton laying dead on a bed with his window open..
Mower researches Thomas Chatterton's life...and discovers he sometimes used a 'pen name' of 'Tom Rowley' !
at the end the student guy is found dead too apparently having taken rat poison, Patrick Mower & a girl discover him, while she phones the Police Patrick Mower realises the rat poison tin is still unopened & notices that the guy is laying in an identical fashion on his bed to Chatterton in the calender picture...
after Mower leaves the bedroom the camera pans up to the window...it silently opens...
another episode featured a continually arguing couple - in rage the man tells his wife to 'drop dead' - and she does !!
after that he's shattered, has no interest in life and despite Patrick Mower & friends trying to help him, he sinks into depression & is desperate to contact his wife 'on the other side'
at the end he too is discovered dead in a chair, next to the portrait of his late wife on the wall....after they all depart to get the Police, we hear the sound of the now 'reunited' husband & wife...STILL arguing away !!
the couple were unable to live together without arguing over each & every little thing...yet it seems were unable to live life apart...
there were other episodes that featured actual "hauntings" that Mower investigated, but those two episodes are the ones that stand out in my memory.
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Post by Patrick Coles on Oct 31, 2013 18:51:30 GMT
The European released 'Tremeloes Greatest Hits' DVD featured alot of great complete vintage song performances, going from b/w performances on 'Beat Club' to later European TV shows - some featuring later Trems member Bob Benham replacing both Rick West and Alan Blaikley at various times...
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Post by Patrick Coles on Oct 31, 2013 18:43:49 GMT
Great to see that clip !
scant footage of The Fourmost seems to have survived as far as I am aware
'A Little Loving', plus 'Baby I Need Your Loving' (from 'Ready Steady Go') & their film performance in colour of; 'I Love You Too' ( from the Gerry and The Pacemakers 1965 film; 'Ferry Cross The Mersey') were all that I was aware of as surviving Fourmost performances....
none of their songs from the later BBC (?) show 'Score With The Scaffold' seem to have survived (??)
Nice tribute to The Late Mike Millward & The Late Brian O'Hara
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Post by Patrick Coles on Oct 15, 2013 9:19:29 GMT
One thing to bear in mind is that sometimes you can get a 'Officious' caretaker of an archive who gets FED UP being asked after items & gives 'stock negative' replies....
At my old job we had a guy like that - after he retired we found LOTS of material he'd denied existed in the store room....!!!
I've heard this also occurred at a major record company re their archive when true stereo master tapes were 'denied' being held...then were duly discovered later (plus some HAD been mis-filed too)
so it's always worth making a physical search of what is actually held (as Mr. Morris bothered to do re 'Doctor Who') and not just 'assume' what you are being told is 100% accurate...
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Post by Patrick Coles on Oct 14, 2013 11:08:53 GMT
yeah it was on 'Nationwide' , I think Wilfrid Brambell had quite a sad life in many ways - I saw a show about him that said how he was married years ago but his wife ran off with his best friend I think taking a child with her....
later of course he was known to be gay, at a time of persecution of celebs, and he had his problems re that part of his life, but as a character he was the complete opposite of old Albert being a smart dapper little figure who was very much into antiques I understand (I think he gets to 'play himself' somewhat when Albert wins big on the Premuim Bonds in the episode; 'The Bonds that Bind Us' where Albert then has a complete posh 'makeover'....and Arold initially fails to recognises his 'dirty old man' !)
Like Morecambe & Wise who kept their relationship purely to work (to prevent any possible falling out !) Harry and Wilfrid it appears were longtime professional colleagues and never 'friends' as such....tho' of course came to know each other well along with Galton and Simpson
I have always thought it was so very sad that for all his personal issues and problems, after making millions laugh for so long - and Steptoe is still on Gold channel in the UK - and having quite a varied acting career....when Wilfrid Brambell died there were apparently only SEVEN mourners at his funeral...and two of those were 'Steptoe' writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson
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Post by Patrick Coles on Oct 14, 2013 10:46:20 GMT
On a general point & probably sounding like a now to be dreaded 'Hoarder' (something cheapo modern TV shows are now trying hard to 'demonise' by showing clearly people with 'issues' as opposed to serious collectors - presumably for whatever possible 'agenda' reasons...?) but I'd say as far as possible keep as much older TV material as you can (I know 'space' is always the issue of course !)
But bearing in mind the recent elation over long lost 'Dr.Who' episodes & other finds you never can tell what later may be sought after...can you ?
on an old VHS tape I watched a while back I found at the end a clip of BBC News with the capzised ferry 'Herald of Free Enterprise' over on it's side...!
also long forgotten clips of 80's groups such as Del Amitri and The Bangles doing songs on some BBC show....it's surprising just what you might have taped years ago 'on the end of a tape' and long forgotten...
on the end of a few VHS tapes I have a few episodes of a pop show called; 'The Entertainers' (featuring Lindisfarne, Gilbert O'Sullivan, etc in 25 minute sets in front of a TV audience) I note these were made by Grampian TV must be circa 1979 or 1980 going by the songs they perform...
re old Video players etc - DON'T be too quick to 'junk em' - they possibly only need restoring to get them playable again....and there are those who specialise in various fields - we had an old valve GEC 'Wireless' set that used to sound terrific when I was a child...the sound valve went yonks ago so it sat in the attic for decades - then a guy I knew told me of a specialist in old wireless sets - this guy only got the thing GOING again....and it STILL had a terrific sound to it...! (none of ya 'modern rubbish' !)
so Never assume Never....(tho' the 'need the space' argument is of course a very valid one I know)
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Post by Patrick Coles on Oct 14, 2013 10:10:13 GMT
I wouldn't put too much stock in those 'later documentaries' - Galton & Simpson distanced themselves from a Channel Four 'docu' that tried to paint a very dark picture....
I know Wilfrid Brambell was in tears when interviewed immediately after Harry's shock death and broke down in a TV interview which I saw at the time...
MUCH was made about them returning home from Australia on DIFFERENT flights - shock horror !!!
....yet it transpired they had in fact booked differing flights home originally !
Yeah they had their 'issues' working together over such a long time, which is nothing unusual is it...?
while being thoroughly typecast as 'Arold' clearly got to Harry over time being originally an up and coming sixties dramatic actor (the hilarious episode; 'A Star is Born' was probably based on that angle) - but he took the 'Arold' role & stuck with it, even finally doing the coffee commercial with Wilfrid with the pair apparently having later come into money but each clearly still in their same 'Steptoe' characters, however Galton & Simpson seemed to think any 'issues' were nothing that the two actors couldn't cope with & didn't interfere with their working together (G & S ought to know)
however that doesn't make for interesting documentaries & later TV dramas like a good old fashioned utter "HATRED" of the sight of each other issue & "CURSE" of being Steptoe ...does it ?
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Post by Patrick Coles on Oct 2, 2013 14:44:54 GMT
as that photo/clip shows Patrick Troughton did indeed go for a ride on the 'Humanised' Daleks as they played trains in 'Evil of The Daleks', he even produced a whistle if I remember it correctly....
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Post by Patrick Coles on Sept 23, 2013 19:55:50 GMT
I know it's strictly out of place here as it is a music CD rather than 'missing episodes' but I thought Id just mention the new six CD set from EMI as a few 'missing' stereo masters are included, most notably that of 'F.B.I.' featured in true stereo on CD 1 which has been released overseas but not on a UK EMI CD before and sounds much better here than the far 'rougher' overseas version anyway.
Also with 2013 technology for the first time new true stereo mixes of 'Blue Shadows' and 'French Dressing' (both 1964) have been prepared and appear on this release on CD 3 - apparently due to technical and mechanical limitations during the sessions back then with these two numbers being recorded on the early EMI Mobile in Blackpool Jubilee Hall in August 1963 as opposed to at Abbey Road, these originally were only ever mixed to mono on producer Norrie Paramor's instructions back in 1964 even those takes included on the original stereo version of the album; 'Dance With The Shadows' and on later CDs.
further rarer stereo takes are those of 'Les Girls' - stereo single version - and 'Foot Tapper' stereo single version - in addition to the alternate 'Summer Holiday' album version (all 1963) plus the French version of 'Some Are Lonely' in addition to the UK version on the second album; 'Out of The Shadows' (1962)
YES it IS the complete with strings and horns true stereo version of their 1962 chart topping hit; 'Wonderful Land' featured this time - unlike on their '50 Golden Greats' 2 CD set when EMI mistakenly included the 'undubbed' stereo version.
'The Boys' appears here in true stereo, unlike on 'Greatest Hits' album , as does 'The Girls' (there's equality), 'Sweet Dreams', and even the jokey; 'What A Lovely Tune' 'B' side (all 1962), also the 1963 'Spanish' flavoured EP appears in full in stereo with even; 'Las Tres Carabelas' (The Three Galleons I think) included here in a true stereo version unlike on other earlier sets, while; 'Theme From The Boys' in a clearer stereo version brings The Shadows out from behind Norrie's strings & heavenly choir a bit more...!
This time EMI have correctly mastered the intro to the stereo; 'Theme For Young Lovers' (1964) as per the original Columbia hit single and stereo 'More Hits !' versions minus the 'double note' mis-mastered intro on the version included on '50 Golden Greats' !
The three 'Thunderbirds' EP Shadows tracks all appear in true stereo, while for the first time 'Lady Penelope' (1966) appears in a freshly mixed true stereo version, the stereo master tape having apparently been mis-filed at EMI when it was returned to them in 1968 and only recently found !
The Shadows first five studio albums plus the two 'Hits' compilations of 1963 and 1965 respectively plus all singles tracks, UK 'B' sides, Shadows tracks featured on Cliff's releases, and EP tracks all put in their original running order with the vast majority in true stereo where versions exist, plus 31 tracks in mono not thought to have been previously available on CD in the UK... comprise this six CD set of a total of 185 tracks, each given a 2013 remaster.
I thought I had pretty much everything from The Shadows, certainly of their halcyon years at EMI - indeed I have much of their later Polydor material too, tho' I feel they were never quite the same band after Aussie guitarist/vocalist John Farrar quit around 1976 to oversee Olivia Newton-John's career in the USA, and thereafter they became essentially a pop hits covers trio...(often, in my opinion, covering awful current 80's pop muzak hits.... !)
EMI do claim this is the 'complete' studio recordings 1959-66', which might strictly not be true however, as I have one or two 'alternate' versions from this period that are not included - there is an alternate mono version of the Greek flavoured; 'All Day' (1962), plus 'John's Rocker' (an early alternate take of; 'I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Arthur' 'B' side from 1964) and most significantly a very rare Acoustic guitar led mono alternate version of; 'Genie With The Light Brown Lamp' (1964) exists and was officially released overseas...
also there is an alternate take of 'Razzamatazz' (1966) plus an alternate original mono 'Benno-San' (1966) which had (I believe) a master tape fault in it that was on early mono copies of the 'Shadow Music' album - now the far rarer LP versions as very quickly the stereo version mixed down to mono was substituted by EMI on subsequent sixties mono copies...but perhaps this is a bit 'nit-picking' (tho' the overseas only rare acoustic mono version of 'Genie...' really ought to be included I feel)
While certainly a decent further collection taking their EMI years from 1967 up to 1980 could be complied too, including some of Hank Marvin's and John Rostill's solo tracks circa 1968-71, plus a couple of later solo Bruce Welch tracks if EMI see fit in the future....
Off hand I can think of about 140 Shadows (& a few solo related) EMI tracks from say the single' 'Maroc 7' (1967) up to the single version of; 'Riders in The Sky' (1980)
I know it's up to EMI, following their recent takeover, but it seems very odd seeing The Shadows on 'Parlophone' however.....!!!
So while strictly not applicable to a 'missing episodes' forum - apologies ! - tho' a few 'missing' stereo masters are included here, plus tracks getting their first release on CD in the UK - so the set claims - which might interest some Shadows fans and the six CD set is not that expensive, so I thought I'd bring it to forum members attention...hope that's o.k. ?
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