Rediffusion TV Archive

[christian bews]

Jan 12, 2016 18:29:32 GMT Ken Griffin said:

I have a theory which might help join the dots together...

After losing its franchise, Rediffusion retained ownership of the Wembley Studios and rented it out to LWT until 1972. It appears to have almost immediately disposed of the property once LWT moved out.

I am wondering about whether Rediffusion's archive was stored in a portion of the Wembley Studios until the company sold up. Up until that point, this residual archive was marketed by Global Television. As part of the post-sale clear out, John Johnson was told to dispose of the archive as Global wound up its sales operations for Rediffusion. Most of the archive, including all the VT material, was dumped after the BFI refused to take it.

This would explain the sightings of Rediffusion VT material on LWT in the early 1970s and it fits with the broad timescale. In terms of the residual sales showing up, they are so small that I wonder whether they stem from This Week and Mountbatten, Rediffusion productions which were later marketed by Thames.

I know 'Mountbatten' was made by rediffusion & transmitted by Thames in 1969,but the same people did'the world at war' for Thames in 1973 & took almost 4 years to research & make did Thames suggest this ground-breaking highly-acclaimed series after they started in 1968 or was it originally thought up by rediffusion as a future programme plan if they won the franchise in 1967 but lost to Thames?

[Neil Hendry]

Some recent news on RTV finds below:

News Feed - Tim Disney - 1 August 2016

DISCOVERIES 50 - 58
As part of our work we're doing for Fountain Studios forthcoming celebration of Wembley studios that will mark the closure of this historic site later this year, I have been inspired to finally make an effort to get the Rediffusion haul from last year digitised and correctly identified. So, I've booked some time off work where I work with film and videotape all day to errrr work with more film and videotape all day! Obviously, it's a labour of love.

The final episode count is in. After only a visual inspection of the material on a set of rewinds, the following details appear to be correct. We'll be 100% certain once the material has been telecined over the next few weeks. However, it looks like the following has been recovered.

DISCOVERY 50. Badgers Bend (Episode 5) From either series 1 or 2. Both series have episode 5 missing, so that's a confirmed find. TX either 1/2/1963 or 29/10/1963.

DISCOVERY 51. Badgers Bend (Unidentified episode) Could be from series 2, won't be sure until it's digitised. TX as yet unknown. Possibly mute.

DISCOVERY 52. Uncle Charles - The Man and the Machine. This is a very interesting episode and incredible to think that out of a series of seven episodes, that were barely transmitted, we've recovered two of them in the last few years. As yet, there is no evidence that this episode was ever transmitted and is not likely to have been seen at all unless it had a late-night screening somewhere on the ITV network or by Rediffusion in London as a filler in its last few months on-air. The programmes were recorded in 1965, but not shown until 1967 and some repeated in Rediffusion's final few weeks. The series was barely seen outside London, some episodes were shown as fillers on Granada and STV / Grampian. Interestingly, this episode features a pop group made up entirely of robots singing on the set of Ready Steady Go! The first part of the programme is mute and missing the last few minutes up to the break. The other two parts have audio and are complete. No TX date. Recorded at Wembley on 9/4/1965 VTR No. W2796/815

DISCOVERY 53. No Hiding Place - Peggy. Approximately the first twenty of so minutes of this episode have been recovered. TX 27/8/1963. VTR No W2395/328

DISCOVERY 54. Boyd Q.C. - Hit and Run. (Complete) 4/3/1957

DISCOVERY 55. Boyd Q.C - The Old Flame (Complete) 31/5/1961 TR35/0I/ID/470

DISCOVERY 56. Boyd Q.C - (Unidentified) (First few minutes missing) This appears to be either The Samurai Killing - TX 17/2/1959 or Death On Tap TX 3/8/1961. This will be confirmed once transferred.

DISCOVERY 57. Postscript to Empire Britain in Transition - Intertel / Westinghouse / Rediffusion production. (The end is missing) TX 10/1/1962 (Exists at BFI)

DISCOVERY 58. HMS Paradise - Hail Lieutenant Hathaway and Farewell. End credits missing. This has been doing the rounds among collectors for a while, but the print has now been recovered. TX 29/10/1964.

There is also around 10,000 ft of news footage to sift through. Some appears to be American, but some is listed as ITN News. It is more than likely film reports, but I live in hope that there's an excruciatingly slim chance of finding a film recording of a bulletin. If there is, you'll hear about it here first.

[Neil Hendry]

Associated-Rediffusion TV archive held by Archbuild/ BFI to be made available online.

Associated-Rediffusion Broadcast Deal with One Media IP Group PLC
15th March 2016

onemediaip.com/news/?article=rediffusion-catalogue-to-get-rediffused

"One Media iP Group Plc is pleased to announce that it has entered into an exclusive digital exploitation agreement with the “Associated Rediffusion Television, Archive footage of 1954 to 1968” controlled by Archbuild Ltd. The distribution agreement includes thousands of hours of television footage, broadcast by Reddifusion from the 1950s through to the 1960s.

One Media’s CEO Michael Infante said of the agreement “This is a hugely exciting deal that will allow us to make this rare and historic archive available digitally for the first time. Many of the programs have not been seen for over 50 years but will prove to be of great historical importance as this archive reflects the development of independent television which revolutionised TV broadcast as we know it today."

Programs include TV classics such as: The Frost Program, This Week (over 500 hours of international current affairs from the era covering the post war changes across the world), Various Popular Quiz Shows from the period, Children's of Other Lands, Half Hour Story, Intertel, The Levin Interviews, Man of our Times, Peace Keepers, No Hiding Place (crime dramas), Play of the Week, Something to Say (interviews with the great leaders and celebrities of the time) Do Not Adjust your set, At last the 1948 Show, World of Crime series, Out of Step(Dan Farson) and over a hundred of 'one-off' documentaries from the time period including, the Ideal Home, The Queens Speech, Harrods a Shopping Guide, The Harlem Globetrotters, British Communism, The Derby in the 60's, The Budget 1962 and the British Academy Awards to just name a few selected titles. It is a vast historic collection of TV history memorabilia.

All of the footage is carefully curated and stored at the British Film Institute (BFI) archives and will be made available to One Media under the Archbuild deal and the trans-coding process from the original formats will be undertaken throughout the term of the deal to allow both audio and visual digital exploitation of the content. The content will be made available for exploitation via One Media's digital channels and chosen partners such as YouTube and via podcasting so that monetisation via the ad-funded model can be achieved. The Group operates over 22 digital YouTube Channels including the motoring show Men & Motors previously owned by ITV/Granada which achieves over 450,000 views a week. One Media has achieved over 1.3 billion views to its YouTube Channels to date and regards historic exclusively controlled content as being of special interest to YouTube viewers searching specific subject matter.

More detail will bemade available on the Groups web site as to the extent of the catalogue in due course."

[Alan Turrell]

This is brilliant news Neil thanks for posting can't wait for this.

[Neil Hendry]

The Story of Wembley Park Studios - Documentary on Youtube

Presented by Ray Turner, The Story of Wembley Park Studios tells the fascinating history of the film and television studios located at Wembley Park in North West London. Recorded throughout 2016 before the studios closure the film talks to those who were involved from the early days of independent television right through to modern day shows such as The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent.

--> www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8Gzgp3pe-Y&feature=youtu.be

Chris Perry and Tim Disney were responsible for researching, sourcing and clearing much of the archive footage, but the film itself was produced by James Smith at Fountain Studios who managed to put the whole project together whilst juggling his duties on the last series of The X-Factor, Tipping Point etc. He has launched a dedicated website and the full-length interviews online. It's another great archive TV related resource for the future.

To find out more information about the film and the studios please visit -->  wembleyparkstudios.co.uk

[mattlodder]

Oct 22, 2016 12:04:21 GMT Neil Hendry said:

Associated-Rediffusion TV archive held by Archbuild/ BFI to be made available online.

Associated-Rediffusion Broadcast Deal with One Media IP Group PLC
15th March 2016

onemediaip.com/news/?article=rediffusion-catalogue-to-get-rediffused

"One Media iP Group Plc is pleased to announce that it has entered into an exclusive digital exploitation agreement with the “Associated Rediffusion Television, Archive footage of 1954 to 1968” controlled by Archbuild Ltd. The distribution agreement includes thousands of hours of television footage, broadcast by Reddifusion from the 1950s through to the 1960s.

One Media’s CEO Michael Infante said of the agreement “This is a hugely exciting deal that will allow us to make this rare and historic archive available digitally for the first time. Many of the programs have not been seen for over 50 years but will prove to be of great historical importance as this archive reflects the development of independent television which revolutionised TV broadcast as we know it today."

Programs include TV classics such as: The Frost Program, This Week (over 500 hours of international current affairs from the era covering the post war changes across the world), Various Popular Quiz Shows from the period, Children's of Other Lands, Half Hour Story, Intertel, The Levin Interviews, Man of our Times, Peace Keepers, No Hiding Place (crime dramas), Play of the Week, Something to Say (interviews with the great leaders and celebrities of the time) Do Not Adjust your set, At last the 1948 Show, World of Crime series, Out of Step(Dan Farson) and over a hundred of 'one-off' documentaries from the time period including, the Ideal Home, The Queens Speech, Harrods a Shopping Guide, The Harlem Globetrotters, British Communism, The Derby in the 60's, The Budget 1962 and the British Academy Awards to just name a few selected titles. It is a vast historic collection of TV history memorabilia.

All of the footage is carefully curated and stored at the British Film Institute (BFI) archives and will be made available to One Media under the Archbuild deal and the trans-coding process from the original formats will be undertaken throughout the term of the deal to allow both audio and visual digital exploitation of the content. The content will be made available for exploitation via One Media's digital channels and chosen partners such as YouTube and via podcasting so that monetisation via the ad-funded model can be achieved. The Group operates over 22 digital YouTube Channels including the motoring show Men & Motors previously owned by ITV/Granada which achieves over 450,000 views a week. One Media has achieved over 1.3 billion views to its YouTube Channels to date and regards historic exclusively controlled content as being of special interest to YouTube viewers searching specific subject matter.

More detail will bemade available on the Groups web site as to the extent of the catalogue in due course."

Very late reply to this but... as this hasn't happened yet I'm guessing it's either dead or impending? Any idea which?

ETA: I wrote to Archbuild and heard back from David Osterley -- it's not happening, apparently!

[Neil Hendry]

Hi Matt,

That's what I heard too. One Media IP thought that everything had been digitalised. Spoiler alert: it's still on film!

[Peter Stirling]

Just a reminder too that the US appears to look after their copies, this has been restored
and technology artifacts of the time cleaned up.