How do you view? 1949-1953 Does anything remain?

[RWels]

Does anything remain of this show that starred Terry-Thomas?

I wouldn't have expected it to have been recorded at all, but maybe filmed inserts?

[markdixon]

“How Do You View?” has been mentioned a few times before on this forum and it appears that no footage survives from the series.

Apparently, “How Do You View?” was the first comedy series shown on British TV. It appears to have been a visually inventive, often surreal sketch show. It was probably a big influence on the early TV work of Spike Milligan and Michael Bentine. 

The series was broadcast live, but it’s possible that it used some film inserts. In his book “Bounder! The Biography of Terry-Thomas”, Graham McCann refers to a “home movie” section of the show in which Terry-Thomas mocked various cinema styles.

I hope that some scripts or telesnaps have survived, because these would give us a better idea about the content and style of the show. I’ve seen a couple of photographs from the 1951 series and these show that some of the sketches featured quite unusual costumes and studio sets. For example, there’s a photo showing some of the cast playing space travellers in a sketch set on the surface of a planet.

[RWels]

Thanks - who knows! Sadly it was too early even for tape reel recorders to be on the market, so we can forget about audio tapes too.