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Post by Ian Wegg on May 2, 2016 8:04:47 GMT
Just seen the Halifax TV ad again.Have to wonder how many people remember Top Cat. I thought it was an odd choice but I enjoyed the advert. If it's any indication, "Cats in 'Top Cat'" was one of the categories in the final round of Pointless last Tuesday. The contestants only came up with one answer "Benny", which scored 21. There was only one pointless answer and I suspect that's because nobody realised Fancy's real name is "Fancy Fancy". I didn't. ~iw
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Post by Ian Wegg on Apr 28, 2016 16:32:13 GMT
Much of the same story is told in the Viewing Notes booklet in the DVD set, which I read this morning (shamefully for the first time). The play fleshes out the detail including, as you mentioned, the relationship between Nimmo and Mervyn who it was said "detested" each other. That Apps, himself an actor, wrote the part of Noote for himself gave an inevitable comparison with Jimmy Perry and Frank Pike.
One slight difference was that in the dramatisation, Apps and Devaney are commissioned to write the first series as a result of the favourable reaction to Comedy Playhouse. However the booklet says that the BBC were so confident with The Bishop Rides Again that they commissioned six more episodes before it was even broadcast.
Either way, a lovely reminder of the era of television comedy when people like Frank Muir were in charge.
~iw
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Post by Ian Wegg on Apr 28, 2016 6:28:51 GMT
Thanks a lot Stevej, I'm listening to it now. The DVD set contains short biographies of Apps and Devaney which I found fascinating so it's good to hear the full story.
I bought the DVD's a couple of weeks ago specifically for the episode The Bishop Sees A Ghost. I was 9 years old when it was broadcast but still remembered it well. (The scene where Patrick Newell walks through a wall seemed spectacular at the time, I remember discussing with my friends at school the next day how on earth they did it!).
I'm 15 minutes into the programme since I started typing, the actor playing Robertson Hare is excellent!
~iw
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Post by Ian Wegg on Apr 23, 2016 17:07:26 GMT
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Post by Ian Wegg on Apr 18, 2016 19:54:27 GMT
Interestingly all three of the eBay listings that have appeared so far have been by different sellers, but the text of the descriptions have been identical.
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Post by Ian Wegg on Apr 15, 2016 16:54:13 GMT
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Post by Ian Wegg on Mar 21, 2016 17:03:14 GMT
Ian Wegg knows more than I on this subject, but there not a huge amount. I only know what I recorded! I have two off-air episodes on VHS, the final one from Dec 1981 Day By Yesterday and this almost complete edition: Day by Day Special from Cowdray Park (1979)
A one hour edition of the Southern Television local news magazine programme Day By Day. Broadcast to tie in with the coverage of the Gold Cup Polo Final.
Includes Face of the South competition with Lord Litchfield and an interview with Prince Charles. (The ad breaks include a commercial in which Ronnie Corbett promotes the virtues of TI companies Matrix and Churchill).
Presented by Fred Dinenage David Bobin
56 minutes 18th July 1979Either of those may be on YouTube. I don't know how many complete programmes exist as masters (if any) but I'm sure there are others here who do. ~iw
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Post by Ian Wegg on Mar 20, 2016 16:57:58 GMT
The programme that Fred presented, which included scenes of the empty Northam studios, was Southern's Golden Years, broadcast on 28 August 2008 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the launch of Southern. As Patrick said, there were also archive segments within Meridian Tonight during that anniversary period. To commemorate the closing of the Northam site in 2004, the book Dream Factory came with a DVD presented by Fred Dinenage and Jill Cochran, which was presented from in and around the studio. Available on YouTube: Dream Factory (2004)The two series of Southern Gold were much earlier (1993 and 1994). They showed archive material and had interviews with former Southern stars. It had Jack Hargreaves' final TV appearance (broadcast on the evening he passed away) as well as reuniting the Houseparty ladies. ~iw
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Post by Ian Wegg on Feb 24, 2016 12:21:56 GMT
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Post by Ian Wegg on Feb 7, 2016 10:25:58 GMT
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Post by Ian Wegg on Jan 7, 2016 21:00:43 GMT
At the Slapstick Festival 2016 in Bristol later this month is a session entitled " Bill Oddie's Saturday Banana". "Bill Oddie introduces highlights and extracts from popular slapstick children’s television programmes from the 1960s and early 70s. Bill hosted the popular children’s TV programme Saturday Banana in the late 70s whilst being one third of comedy legend trio The Goodies. Here Bill shares his memories of children’s television from this period in a fun packed family programme featuring highlights from Here Come The Double Deckers! (1971), The Banana Splits (1968-70), Batman (1966-68) and more." www.watershed.co.uk/whatson/7084/bill-oddies-saturday-bananaThere is no mention of there being any clips of Saturday Banana, new or otherwise. It will be worth going if Mr. Oddie even speaks of the programme, something he has previously been reluctant to do. ~iw
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Post by Ian Wegg on Nov 28, 2015 19:50:22 GMT
In the early sixties I edited OOT in B/W negative, the film only being reversed on telecine (there must have been nearly 100 programmes lost including Gone Fishing when Southern went to colour). The other series I was involved with was "Kites Country" . Oliver Kite master fly fisherman sadly died in 1968 at the age of 48. His films started as an insert on Day x Day but proved so popular that he was given his own 15min slot. He was always very careful not to film with cameraman Ted Channel in Jacks shooting area. I am sure if he had lived longer he would have become a national figure. Editing the negative must have been very difficult, I guess the only reason for doing it was to save costs? I totally agree about Ollie Kite, we were robbed of a great broadcaster and character. The New Forest shop has a DVD of a film he made at Fawley ( www.newforestcentre.org.uk ) but aside from that there's very little of his work available sadly. Another countryman who made Day By Day inserts was Norman Goodland, a wonderful broadcaster probably unknown outside of the Southern TV area. ~iw
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Post by Ian Wegg on Nov 25, 2015 18:07:40 GMT
It's documented somewhere but essentially all the episodes had complete audio recordings. Apparently it was the practice at Southern (I'm sure someone more qualified can confirm).
What this means is that Simon Baddeley has a large collection of 16mm film inserts, with dubbed sound effects, plus complete programme audio for OoT episodes going back to 1969. All that is missing are the studio recordings of Jack in the "shed".
~iw
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Post by Ian Wegg on Aug 12, 2015 17:42:31 GMT
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Post by Ian Wegg on Aug 10, 2015 11:30:29 GMT
It looks like this particular YouTube uploader amuses himself by taking snippets of existing material and overlaying his own titles or credits. For instance, the "1980 Tyne Tees end cap" (referenced in John's post above) is actually taken from a 1983 episode of "Songs of Praise". I know, it's from one of my own tapes! Judging by the names used it doesn't seem whoever did it is deliberately trying to fool anyone.
The superimposed titles on this supposed Southern video are clearly fake but I suspect the actual footage beneath is genuine. It would be interesting to know which programme it's really from.
~iw
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