The Good Life: Windbreak War

[Deleted]

I am a big fan of The Good Life. It seems to me that the last time the episode The Windbreak War was shown unedited was probably 1989. I seem to recall a breakdown when it was shown sometime in the early 1990's and ever since then part of the famous scene between Margo and Mr Bailey has been missing.

I have four recordings of this episode: from 1980 or 81, 1989, 1993 and 1999. The last two have these edits. If I remember, just under a minute is missing.

Would the BBC have been transmitting from the original 2 inch videotape as late as 1989?

I wrote and received a reply some years ago. They didn't seem very concerned. They said it had probably been edited to fit a time slot. As the BBC often promotes this scene as one of the most famous in BBC comedy history it seems strange that they would cut it to bits. And it does ruin the scene because, in the edited version Mr Bailey gets the last word.

I would really like to know what is the situation with this? Does the BBC only have this edited version on modern tape formats? 2 inch tapes are now at the National Film and TV Archives?

In theory, yes, the BBC may have a copy of this scene in another programme. But suppose they don't? Suppose there is a full version on 2 inch tape somewhere, deteriorating and unplayable in a year or two from now due to no more 2 inch machines being available. This is exactly how programmes get lost. No one seems to care about this.

[yorkshire]

Well, they copied them to digital to save them having to play it on a two inch videotape recorder for one reason (which I suppose were dropping dead like flies around 1989.) The other reason is that it would save them having to play it live through an analogue-digital converter. it would be much easier just to copy them to digital tape. If you look at the amount of programmes repeated on the BBC these days which were originally transmitted from Ampex 2" videotapes & they simply put the programme feed through an analogue-digital converter, then the Ampex videotape machines would be dead within a couple of years, paticularly as their recording heads are becoming scarce.

As for the missing bit from the Good Life episode you're on about, then maybe it's because the BBC think that it wouldn't make any difference to the public whatever episode they repeat or maybe they thought that a member of the public wouldn't notice. Don't forget, it was probably 1991-ish when it was copied to digibeta so the person who decided to edit that bit out of the digital transfer is probably no longer with the BBC & so it would be hard to track him/her down & even if you did track that person to where they are currently living, chances are they're not going to remember why they did such a small thing like that when it was around 15 years ago are they?

[Andrew Martin]

The BBC still hold the unedited versions of "The Good Life" on digital tape as well as the edited versions. The edited version of "Wind-Break War" was originated on D3 in 1993. The last unedited tx in 1989 was from a 1" dub of the 2" master - it was usual to transmit from 1" by then.

[A Pedant]

Even if the BBC didn't have a digital master of the episode, they'd no doubt be able to patch it in from one of the thousands of complete promo DVDs given away free with The Daily Mirror!

[Deleted]

Isn't it terrible that one the funniest moments in BBC comedy hasn't been shown in its original version for 17 years?

The editing destroys the scene. As I said, it gives the workman the last word instead of Margo.

[yorkshire]

Oh, well that answers the question doens't it. Every time they show this episode they just grab one of the two copies (edited & unedited) from the videotape shelf & by strange coincidence, they just happen to have grabbed the edited version since whenever you say the edited version was first shown.

[Deleted]

As I remember a breakdown at that point and then every subsequent showing that scene has been edited, that is why I wondered if part of the master tape had been damaged and lost. Possibly dubbed onto a second tape with the edits/repairs made and then that tape transferred to digital format when they did all the transfers.

I think many shows from the 70's have been cut so they fit a slightly shorter time slot these days. Have to fit in all the trailers after all :-)

I remember The Liver Birds being shown daytime in 1986 (November?) and there being repeated breakdowns. Which suggested to me that they were transmitting from the 2 inch tapes which were failing.

[Andrew Martin]

The original version of "Wind-Break War" was 29'51" long, and the unedited version is still that length.

I think "The Liver Birds" was shown from original 2" tapes in 86 - it's probable that the faults encountered in showing archive programmes was one of the reasons that prompted mass transfer of 2" tapes a few years later.