Rediffusion TV Archive

[richardfitzgerald]

Oct 15, 2015 9:33:09 GMT Neil Hendry said:

Four great articles on how RTV was set up to start broadcasting in 1955, a '10 year' review of RTV in 1967 and some of the people behind the company:

'Just Start A 5-Day TV Service' They Said!

By Lloyd Williams, Assistant Controller of Programmes, Associated-Rediffusion

Reprinted from The Television Annual for 1957, published by Odhams:

--> www.transdiffusion.org/2004/01/01/williams

and:

That Was A Decade That Was

By James Green, who was a TV writer for the London Evening News in 1967

He first started writing about radio and television in 1951. In ‘Fusion 3’, under the headline ‘They Say’ Frank Comment from an Outsider’, he gave his opinions about the company and its programmes. In this piece for ‘Fusion 46’ (Easter 1967), nearly 10 years after that article, he took another look at Rediffusion to recall some of the people and programmes which stuck out in his memory:

--> www.transdiffusion.org/2004/01/01/decade

and:

Who's Who In Presentation

By Sam Simmonds, who recalls the people and life in the Presentation Department, 1961-68

--> www.transdiffusion.org/2005/10/30/arpres

and:

Captain Thomas Marcus Brownrigg - RTV General Manager

By David L. Wilde

--> www.transdiffusion.org/2006/03/01/neverbaffled

Neil - You've missed this transdiffusion article which seems to turn received wisdom on its head:

21 Years of ITV - and the Rediffusion star has a lot to celebrate

Rediffusion Television Limited is still going strong. And looking forward to the next 21 years

So were programmes still being offered for sale at that date or even later? To quote the end of this article:

One of the assets they held was a giant collection of film and early video programming. There was, at the time of this advert in 1976, thought to be no market for such black-and-white repeats. Nevertheless, Rediffusion Television Limited held on, ready and waiting for the chance to become a UK broadcaster again.

[my emphasis]

A quick check of Companies House suggests "Rediffusion Television Limited" underwent a name change in the early eighties to A-R television but the registered office was still at the Stratton House address until the mid-nineties with the company not being formally wound up until about 2000. Curiouser and curiouser......

Oh and that "memorable version" of A Midsummer Night's Dream with Benny Hill as Bottom is of course officially missing.

[Neil Hendry]

Oct 15, 2015 22:59:41 GMT richardfitzgerald said:

Neil - You've missed this transdiffusion article which seems to turn received wisdom on its head:

21 Years of ITV - and the Rediffusion star has a lot to celebrate

Good article Richard.

21 Years of ITV - and the Rediffusion star has a lot to celebrate

--> www.transdiffusion.org/2014/10/27/afterlife

The advert (attached below) seems to have just been PR, keeping their name in the public domain should a new ITV franchise opportunity arise. Thames TV was formed as a new company in 1968 - but RTV and ABC TV still existed as separate companies which also retained the rights to their original output.

Thames TV was not in fact created by a merger of the two companies - as is often written - but a new company created by the parent companies of RTV (i.e. BET) and ABC TV (i.e. ABPC).

Whilst RTV had been forced to give up their London weekday franchise and join forces with ABC to form Thames TV, they still existed as a broadcasting company in their own right - and perhaps still had aspirations to do more domestically.

Interesting to note that after RTV gave up their previous headquarters/studios at Television House, Kingsway to Thames TV, their new address in London was that of their parent company BET:

--> Stratton House, Piccadilly, London W1X 6AS

Rediffusion was also associated with television rentals in the 70's and early 80's:

--> www.rediffusion-television.co.uk/

RTV in the 70's

RTV was also still a broadcaster in 1976 - with their overseas radio and TV stations. 

For more background on their overseas radio and tv operations see:

--> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rediffusion

Some more information on their TV operations in Malta and Hong Kong below.

RTV Malta

I knew RTV ran a TV station in Hong Kong, but didn't realise they also operated one in Malta. The year before RTV celebrated their 21st anniversary in 1976, the station had been transferred to the Maltese government.

--> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rediffusion

On 29 September 1962 Rediffusion (Malta) Ltd. inaugurated a Television Service covering the Maltese islands.

and:

On 14 February 1975 the employees of the Rediffusion (Malta) Ltd staged a sit-in strike at the company's premises in Malta and they even started to run the company. On 30 July 1975 an agreement was reached between Rediffusion Group Of Companies and Mr.Dom Mintoff's Socialist government of Malta for the transfer of all Rediffusion's assets in Malta to the Maltese government.

RTV Hong Kong

--> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rediffusion_Television

"RTV was the first television station in Hong Kong, making it both the first British colony and the first predominantly Chinese city to have television.."

and:

"It later became a subscription cable television station on 29 May 1957..... thus becoming the first television station in a colony of the British Empire, as well as the first television station in a predominantly Chinese city. It initially offered a four-hour-per-day English language and Chinese language service."

Some good pictures/ overview of their Hong Kong operations here:

--> www.rediffusion.info/hk.html


RTV Assets/ Archive in the 70's

At the end of the article it mentions:

"One of the assets they held was a giant collection of film and early video programming. There was, at the time of this advert in 1976, thought to be no market for such black-and-white repeats. Nevertheless, Rediffusion Television Limited held on, ready and waiting for the chance to become a UK broadcaster again."

The first part of this quote could of course just be an error by the author - as it certainly seems to be at odds with the first-hand account by John Johnson - unless they had in fact held some programmes/ videotape material back from the BFI. But John Johnson was pretty clear that the RTV board were initially thinking of junking their archive and only agreed to Johnson salvaging it if it didn't cost them anything!

According to Johnson's account, he/ Global Television Services (GTS) moved the archive to the warehouse in Chiswick in 1968 and continued to make sales of RTV programmes overseas - which helped pay the rent for the storage. It seems in 1971, overseas sales were drying up and GTS was closed - which led to the discussions between Johnson and the BFI to take the surviving archive.

Which brings us back to the earlier discussion on this thread as to what happened to the material that didn't end up at the BFI? We have discussed theories but nothing is conclusive at this stage. There is evidence though that RTV material - not held by the BFI - was being stored in a warehouse as late as 1979/ 80. Whether the board of RTV had any knowledge of this is another question that needs an answer!

The second part of the quote backs the view that in 1976, RTV were perhaps trying to position themselves for a possible return to mainstream UK broadcasting.


RTV/ Associated-Rediffusion in the 80's/ 90's


BET was the major share-owner in Rediffusion and in 1982 purchased all of the shares to own the company outright. Incidentally, BET also owned Wembley Stadium and the Wembley Conference Centre at that time!

Their head office was Stratton House, Piccadilly, London - which explains why RTV also had the same address:

--> www.rediffusion.info/betownership.html

BET then sold the Rediffusion assets in the mid-80's - but it retained the registered company and name - Rediffusion Limited:

--> www.rediffusion-television.co.uk/

Rediffusion was broken up and it's various assets sold. By then the Rediffusion Group encompassed much more than just their TV operations. It was also involved in communications, computers, flight simulation and music.

The TV rental side went to Granada, property and networks went to the Maxwell Group and other divisions were sold off to private ownership.



BET retained the registered company Rediffusion Limited until 2004

Rediffusion Limited registered at Stratton House, Piccadilly, London - company dissolved on June 4th 2004

--> beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00530010


The company name 'Associated-Rediffusion' and it's adastral trademark was sold in the 90's. 

--> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associated-Rediffusion

"In the 1990s, the name "Associated-Rediffusion Television" and the adastral trademark were acquired by the British journalist Victor Lewis-Smith, and are now used by his own production company."

Attachments:

[Alan Turrell]

Although not missing nice to see this Associated Rediffusion show which has only just recently been uploaded Beat City - TV Show - Liverpool 1963 which centres around Liverpool and the Cavern Club.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl96IqlVSLk

[Neil Hendry]

More Peter Sellers (and Spike Milligan) - three Associated-Rediffusion series from 1956!

The Idiot Weeky, Price 2d and A Show Called Fred and Son Of Fred

--> www.tvcream.co.uk/?p=22239

Extract:

"IT WAS the moment that changed British TV comedy forever: 10pm, February 24th 1956, when Associated-Rediffusion, in all their independent majesty, let SPIKE MILLIGAN on the telly. THE IDIOT WEEKLY, PRICE 2D was the programme, with Spike and PETER SELLERS lording it as the editors of the eponymous screwball Edwardian periodical, the flimsiest of excuses for the pair and assorted co-stars to caper about in the most ramshackle fashion imaginable under the extremely loose direction of RICHARD LESTER.

It obviously struck a chord, or at least terrified few enough people, as the even more unhinged A SHOW CALLED FRED over where the Weekly left off in May. This time even the nebulous framing narrative was jettisoned, and the madness began as soon as the cameras went live. The programme typically began with Spike, dressed in rags, mooching around the Associated-Rediffusion studio corridors, accompanied by the Kenny Everett Video Show-style sparse but genuine crew laughter that punctuated the whole programme. This was followed by a bit of business with Sellers in trunks attempting to bash a Rank-style gong, and credits for “the well-known Thespian actors” KENNETH CONNOR, VALENTINE DYALL (usually clad in bow tie, dinner jacket and no shirt, or better yet long-johns and top hat) and GRAHAM STARK. Other contributors included JOHN ANTROBUS (dragged on screen just to point out he wrote the sketch currently under way), bearded sousaphone playing duo and all-round pre-Bonzos musical anarchists THE ALBERTS (always introduced as Peter and Hugh Jampton), PATTI LEWIS and the inevitable MAX GELDRAY. The suspiciously similar SON OF FRED carried on the tradition in September.

The whole thing, done entirely live with a few film inserts, was heroically shoddy, even by the primitive standards of the day. Backdrops wobbled and frayed at the edges, costumes were either half-complete or non-existent, and in the frequent pull-outs to take in backstage crew and lovely old EMI cameras, the floor was visibly covered in crap. Spike himself appeared surprisingly infrequently, mainly accompanying Sellers reading out viewers’ letters in front of a back projection of speeding cars and burning buildings, or sticking his head through random openings and making stupid noises. Which was, of course, all to the good."


Although 'done entirely live with a few film inserts', we know episodes exist from the second and third series - which could mean that some/ all of the first series, The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d, as well as the missing episodes of the other series were also telerecorded.

See also:

--> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Idiot_Weekly,_Price_2d
--> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Show_Called_Fred
--> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_of_Fred

Extract:

"Son of Fred was the successor series to The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d and A Show Called Fred. It was made by Associated-Rediffusion and broadcast only in the London area, Midlands and Northern England.

It was the third and final in a series of sketch comedy shows attempting to translate the humour of The Goon Show to television. Spike Milligan concentrated on writing and only made small walk on appearances, leaving the lead acting to Peter Sellers. The series was produced and directed by Richard Lester."



Missing or incomplete episodes for programme THE IDIOT WEEKLY, PRICE 2D.

24.02.56 Episode 1 (missing)
02.03.56 Episode 2 (missing)
09.03.56 Episode 3 (missing)
16.03.56 Episode 4 (missing)
23.03.56 Episode 5 (missing)
06.04.56 Episode 6 (missing)

All 6 episodes are missing.


Missing or incomplete episodes for programme A SHOW CALLED FRED.

09.05.56 Episode 2 with Irene Handl, Paul Carpenter, Katie Boyle - One or more sequences exist, but the complete programme is lost.
16.05.56 Episode 3 - One or more sequences exist, but the complete programme is lost.

Out of an original total of 5 episodes, none are missing, but 2 episodes are incomplete.



Missing or incomplete episodes for programme SON OF FRED.

24.09.56 with Valentine Dyall, Kenneth Connor, Graham Stark, Patti Lewis, Max Geldray (missing)
01.10.56 with Valentine Dyall, Kenneth Connor, Graham Stark, Patti Lewis, Max Geldray (missing)
08.10.56 with Valentine Dyall, Kenneth Connor, Graham Stark, Patti Lewis, Max Geldray (missing)
15.10.56 with Valentine Dyall, Kenneth Connor, Max Geldray, Graham Stark, Johnny Vyvyan (missing)
22.10.56 with Valentine Dyall, Kenneth Connor, Graham Stark, Patti Lewis, Max Geldray (missing)
29.10.56 with Valentine Dyall, Kenneth Connor, Graham Stark, Patti Lewis, Max Geldray (missing)
05.11.56 with Valentine Dyall, Kenneth Connor, Graham Stark, Patti Lewis, Max Geldray (missing)

Out of an original total of 8 episodes, 7 episodes are missing.




Maybe of interest too on the A-R/ Rediffusion London Shows and Series Thread.

Attachments:

[John Green]

Richard W,over at Roobarb,has viewed the newly-discovered No Hiding Place episode which is on the ITV at 60 box set.He posts:

The AR programmes are shown as licensed by Archbuild Ltd, but there's no further info on where the prints came from, except the opening night trailer (a joint AR/ ABC promo) which is from the BFI (NFTVA). The set is thankfully free of Studio Canal, Freemantle, ITV Ventures etc logos before each programme - just the original idents (where they exist). I've only had chance to skim through some of the programmes......

Stay tuned after the closing credits to the No Hiding Place ep (19/03/63), as Raymond Francis comes back on screen to announce this is the last programme in the current series. He says that out of 44 eps, 41 went out live, and they will be back in the summer.

[Alan Turrell]

Oct 22, 2015 22:37:10 GMT John Green said:

Richard W,over at Roobarb,has viewed the newly-discovered No Hiding Place episode which is on the ITV at 60 box set.He posts:

The AR programmes are shown as licensed by Archbuild Ltd, but there's no further info on where the prints came from, except the opening night trailer (a joint AR/ ABC promo) which is from the BFI (NFTVA). The set is thankfully free of Studio Canal, Freemantle, ITV Ventures etc logos before each programme - just the original idents (where they exist). I've only had chance to skim through some of the programmes......

Stay tuned after the closing credits to the No Hiding Place ep (19/03/63), as Raymond Francis comes back on screen to announce this is the last programme in the current series. He says that out of 44 eps, 41 went out live, and they will be back in the summer.

Nice one John that would make it the last episode of season 4 A Bird to Watch the Marbles (19/03/63).

[richardfitzgerald]

Oct 23, 2015 12:07:34 GMT Alan Turrell said:

Oct 22, 2015 22:37:10 GMT John Green said:

Richard W,over at Roobarb,has viewed the newly-discovered No Hiding Place episode which is on the ITV at 60 box set.He posts:

The AR programmes are shown as licensed by Archbuild Ltd, but there's no further info on where the prints came from, except the opening night trailer (a joint AR/ ABC promo) which is from the BFI (NFTVA). The set is thankfully free of Studio Canal, Freemantle, ITV Ventures etc logos before each programme - just the original idents (where they exist). I've only had chance to skim through some of the programmes......

Stay tuned after the closing credits to the No Hiding Place ep (19/03/63), as Raymond Francis comes back on screen to announce this is the last programme in the current series. He says that out of 44 eps, 41 went out live, and they will be back in the summer.

Nice one John that would make it the last episode of season 4 A Bird to Watch the Marbles (19/03/63).

That makes this a very interesting find indeed. Why? Because this must be at least a copy of the original Rediffusion archive master rather than say a sales print produced for export (as with the recovered Mystery/Murder Bag episode) as that would not have included such a specific message only relevant to UK viewers at the time of original broadcast. So if we could trace back where this copy came from - or indeed if it IS the master print - we might have another clue where the rest of the archive went. Do we know what else has been retrieved from the same source?

[John Green]

More on the No Hiding Place episode from Simon Coward,post 130 here: www.zetaminor.com/roobarb/showthread.php?48158-ITV-60-(Network)/page9

[richardfitzgerald]

Just restarting this thread with some results from a trawl of company records I've done but which are at some variance with the recollections of John Johnson listed earlier. The only company called Global Television Services that existed in the 1960s did not get wound up in 1971 - on indeed any other year - as it still trades today under the name Portman Entertainment, albeit after changes in ownership that presumably occurred sometime in the Eighties that absorbed it into the Portman Group. Indeed the accounts for the years 1971 to 1974 that I've seen show no evidence of a company winding down over the period when it was supposedly running out of Rediffusion sales contracts (turnover trebles by 74). In fact GTS wasn't even a subsidiary of Rediffusion at this time but controlled by a company called Surflex Holdings (which I can find no record of). Perhaps it was hived off by them in 68? What I do know is that Rediffusion Television were still booking programme sales in their company accounts for 1976, which I'll post up later. The mystery continues.......

[Neil Hendry]

Jan 6, 2016 16:44:29 GMT richardfitzgerald said:

Just restarting this thread with some results from a trawl of company records..........The mystery continues.......

Richard - The mystery certainly does continue! Thanks for posting your discoveries -  it certainly adds to the story here.

You reminded me of an earlier post that Peter Stirling made on this thread. He mentioned that Global Television Services (GTS) was marketing Star Maidens (1976) in the 70's.

That also conflicts with what John Johnson said about GTS being wound up in 1971, so I just did a bit more research:

Star Maidens

--> www.imdb.com/title/tt0074061/companycredits?ref_=tt_dt_co


Production Companies

Jost Graf von Hardenberg & Co. (in association with)
Portman Productions
Scottish Television Enterprises
Werbung im Rundfunk GmbH (WiR) (in association with)


Distributors

Amalgamated Global Television (1976) (World-wide) (all media)
Delta Music (2005) (UK) (DVD)
Hessen Fernsehen (1999) (Germany) (VHS)
Pixis Medien (2008) (Germany) (DVD)


As you will see, Portman Productions was one of the Production Companies and Amalgamated Global Television (AGT) was the world-wide distributor. However. the details from the Sydney Press Article (see link below) state that AGT was not formed until 1987, so the the distribution services in 1976 would have still been performed by Global Television Services.

Amalgamated Global Television (AGT)

--> www.imdb.com/company/co0004960/?ref_=ttco_co_1

imDb lists AGT's distribution credits from 1971 - the year that John Johnson mentioned in his account that GTS was 'wound-up' - and around the time he was in negotiations with the BFI took place to take some of the RTV archive. The programmes listed, include those produced by Portman Productions. 

However, this press article in the Sydney Morning Herald - from 1st February 1987 - states that AGT was formed in 1987. The company was created as a result of Channel 7 (Sydney) joining forces with Portman Productions/ Global Television Ltd. to form the television production company 'Amalgamated Portman Productions' based in Sydney and an international film and television distribution company, 'Amalgamated Global' in London.

--> Sydney Morning Herald Article

So references in iMDB for AGT in the 70's are probably incorrect - as the distribution company would still have been GTS. 

Ian Warren - Co-Founder Global Television Services Ltd. (GTS)

Some background on Ian Warren, one of the co-founders of Global Television Services Ltd. which later became a subsidiary in his new company - Portman Productions. His business partner and managing director of GTS in 1987, was Tom Donald. 

From Companies House:

Incorporated on 25 January 1960: GLOBAL TELEVISION SERVICES LIMITED 25 Jan 1960 - 21 Jan 1998
Name changed on 20th January 1998 to: PORTMAN ENTERTAINMENT LIMITED

Address: Portman Entertainment Ltd. Chiswick Green, 610 Chiswick High Road, London, W4 5RU


It also alludes to his strong links with Australia/ networking Australian programmes. It seems that GTS survived and continued marketing overseas for Portman Productions throughout the 70's - and beyond.


--> www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/6819374/Lives-Remembered.html

Oct 24 2009, "aged 96. Co-founder of film and television distributor Global TV, later Portman Productions. Started with British and Overseas Film Sales in 1933, touring France and then Germany, from which he took out a $250,000 bond for the father of a Jewish girlfriend, hidden in his toolbox during a border search. Commanded an Army/RAF air co-ordination unit at battle of Kohima. Major productions included Elephant Boy, based on a Kipling story, and the dramatic love story Praying Mantis and The Gravy Train, a send-up of Brussels bureaucrats starring Ian Richardson. Most successful venture was Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, which was so popular in America that on the steps of the White House President Johnson greeted Harold Holt, the Australian prime minister, with the words: "How's Skippy?" Warren claimed to have taken drugs only once, when offered a reefer by Louis Armstrong in the 1930s"

--> www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2009/dec/21/ian-warren-obituary

"....After the war, Ian returned to his job in film distribution, then moving into TV distribution. Most successful commercially was Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, which he sold to 130 countries. He also sold Jeremy Isaacs's magisterial 1973 series The World at War to Germany, where the harrowing episode on the Holocaust was screened uncut.

His great love, though, was TV production, which he went into later in his career. His film Praying Mantis (1982) was one of the first programmes to be commissioned by Isaacs for the newly established Channel 4."


So thanks to you Richard, we have some more leads to follow up!

[richardfitzgerald]

Thanks for the kind words Neil - just to confirm Ian Warren (to be precise I.R.A.R Warren) is listed as company director on the GTS accounts for 71-74 I have obtained so it definitely is the same company. Other listed directors are T.L Donald, D.N.R. Warren and a Miss Jean Thomson. The group's main activities are stated as "film and television production and distribution and manufacture of canopies for petrol stations" (!)

Interestingly the directors are listed as having investments in two other relevant companies, Scottish & Global Television Enterprises Ltd incorporated in England (haven't found a record of this yet) and G.T.S. Television Ltd incorporated in Canada.

Will send you a PM which may give you some useful contacts to pursue offline.

[Neil Hendry]

Jan 7, 2016 13:21:53 GMT richardfitzgerald said:

Thanks for the kind words Neil - just to confirm Ian Warren (to be precise I.R.A.R Warren) is listed as company director on the GTS accounts for 71-74 I have obtained so it definitely is the same company.....

Thanks Richard - the petrol station canopies anecdote made me smile

I think Tom Donald was Ian's co-founder of Global Television Services Ltd.

I've found a bit more information about Global Television Service's business in Canada from - of all places - a book called 'Aces High' which features stories of the top British and Commonwealth fighter pilots by Christopher Shores and Clive Williams. 

Anthony Charles Bartley

--> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Bartley
--> www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1316525/Squadron-Leader-Tony-Bartley.html

Anthony Bartley was a Squadron Leader in the RAF and had a very colourful life. The extracts attached below tell you more about his significant involvement in the second world war.  

After the war he married actress Deborah Kerr in 1947, studied film production at MGM, created the film production company European-American Productions Limited, wrote and directed films - including one starring Douglas Fairbanks! He then moved into television and film sales with CBS before moving back to the UK to become a director at CBS (UK) Limited - in the late 50s.

GTS Canada

Later he joined Associated-Rediffusion as Head of the International Division and was also appointed as a Director of Global Television Services Limited.  The timing of his move to A-R can only be estimated, but was probably in the early 60s - as GTS was incorporated in 1960,

In 1965, he moved to Canada to head up GTS's operations there - presumably Global Television Services Limited (Canada).

He later went to work to work for the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation as a Director, appointed by the Prime Minister! And these are just brief highlights of his life! 

Attachments:

[richardfitzgerald]

Another oddity I've found is that several years after Rediffusion lost
the franchise and well after their archive had supposedly been
transferred, the company accounts still showed revenue being generated
from those self-same programmes! Here's the relevant extracts that show transactions booked for 74 through 76 :

A-R revenue from sales 75-76.docx (101.97 KB)

To be sure, these are small amounts - certainly in comparison with the sales for Thames programming over the same period which run to about £1M per annum - but they're not trivial. So what where the shows, who were they being sold to and most importantly where were the masters being kept?

[Ken Griffin]

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.

[Neil Hendry]

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

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

Ken - thanks for the post and sharing your theory. 

Yes, I think that could certainly be part of the answer we are looking for here. I know that RTV had an archive at Wembley Studios and another one at Television House. John Johnson only ever mentioned clearing out the archive at Television House - which was then taken over by Thames TV as their headquarters.

Wembley Studios archive was never mentioned by John Johnson, so archive material could have remained there as you have suggested - after 1968 -and during the time that LWT rented them. LWT would have been an easy target for Global Television Services to market too and you have also mentioned that RTV programmes were screened on LWT in the early 70's - so your theory fits nicely.

Wembley Studios had advanced telerecording facilities, so I have considered the possibility that the tapes were copied there and the 16mm film transferred and archived at Television House. So were the tapes kept at Wembley and later transferred elsewhere? There is evidence (posted on this thread) that a large RTV tape archive was still being kept in a warehouse/ archive in London c.1979. This may be another connection/ theory worth exploring further.


Post with links to the evidence of an RTV tape archive in 1979, in an the article "Death of a Station" - Tony Rowlands - April 1994 - Reproduced From Image Technology Journal

--> missingepisodes.proboards.com/post/134750/thread


Peter Stirling mentioned the missing tapes issue as well in this post:

--> missingepisodes.proboards.com/post/134687/thread

Peter wrote:

"Several people in the past have mentioned a pantechnicon type truck turning up, taking away loads of stuff and no one not very sure of where, or what happened to it next.

It was certainly not a waste container.

Once again there appears to be not a single videotape ever come to the surface from RTV's last years (apart from LWT's several repeats of half hour story). You have major serials,light entertainment and the Star Performance series with notable American actors and made in colour (of which only two have surfaced in the US and one on film in the UK) ..Global supplied the film copies for international dist, ..but where have all the videotapes gone?

On the last hour of RTV a half hour story was shown, this has never been since, despite it having the collateral of being written by Leon Griffiths (Minder etc)"



So again, could the tapes have been kept at Wembley Studios? i.e GTS cleared out Television House which stored the 16mm film copies - used as a permanent archive and for overseas sales, which could explain why only film copies ended up at the BFI.

John Johnson mentioned that much of the material was taken from Television House in 1968 to a warehouse in Chiswick. Myself and Richard Fitzgerald have been carrying out some research on this and have found some interesting information - which may help to tell a bit more of the RTV story. We will update this thread when we have finished our enquiries.