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Post by Nicholas Fitzpatrick on Sept 8, 2023 20:58:31 GMT
I assume the BBC had abandoned making film copies of videotaped programmes by 1975, which would rule out Fawlty Towers being exported as a 16mm print. David Stead previously reported here of once posessing a colour print of Fawlty Towers - missingepisodes.proboards.com/post/83634/thread |
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Post by John Wall on Sept 8, 2023 21:17:39 GMT
There’s nothing implausible about splicing film together. But why do that with a print, DW, that was subject to instructions from London? Why not? They were clearly allowed to chop out whatever bits their review boards deemed necessary, so it clearly want actually that big a deal what happened to the print once it had been sold to the major antipodean players. I really fail to see why this is such a big deal for you. If they spliced on the short for original transmission purposes, they could just as easily take it off again, if required to do so. You seem to be jumping through ever larger hoops in order to try to discredit what Neil is absolutely certain that he saw. I start with the entirely justified and well evidenced position that memory is extremely fallible and unless there’s a contemporary record should be treated with suspicion. This can easily be seen with the claims as to what some in SA were “absolutely certain” they saw on 16mm. What’s clear is that they saw bootleg TV programmes that had been mastered on film. However bootleg VT shows were almost certainly seen on cassettes when VCRs started proliferating a few years after TV started in 1976. There’s a memory of bootleg shows - on both 16mm and cassette - which have merged into bootleg shows on 16mm. |
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Post by John Wall on Sept 8, 2023 21:20:06 GMT
I assume the BBC had abandoned making film copies of videotaped programmes by 1975, which would rule out Fawlty Towers being exported as a 16mm print. David Stead previously reported here of once posessing a colour print of Fawlty Towers - missingepisodes.proboards.com/post/83634/threadYep, which seems to have been made for Australia but the Aussies decided to acquire things on 2” VT. |
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Post by Jon Preddle on Sept 8, 2023 21:48:55 GMT
Film copies of programmes were often supplied to British Embassies. While it's not known which embassies these would be, nor which programmes, this at least illustrates there were official channels through which film prints of BBC shows could be circulated to countries that didn't have a local TV service. The British Embassy in SA may have been supplied with fawlty Towers on film...
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Post by George D on Sept 8, 2023 21:59:17 GMT
My takeaway is that neil has a memory.
Do i believe neil believes it? Yes
Do i believe it's plausible? Yes
Is his memory fully accurate? That's beyond my paygrade.
Do i care? No.
Do i think it's important? No.
Because it's not going to help return any dr who . All related leads to this sharing have been fully investigated. Others are welcome to explore further if they desire.
if it's real, the likely sources have probably now disposed of it.. either the collector or nztv... just like all the other missing episodes we know existed and were viewed in the early 70s but are now sadly gone.
I'm comfortable letting neil enjoy his childhood memory of the fish that got away and glad he was one of the few of that actually got to enjoy Macra terror.
I'm also respectful of following up leads in any country including Australia
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Post by John Wall on Sept 8, 2023 22:25:58 GMT
Film copies of programmes were often supplied to British Embassies. While it's not known which embassies these would be, nor which programmes, this at least illustrates there were official channels through which film prints of BBC shows could be circulated to countries that didn't have a local TV service. The British Embassy in SA may have been supplied with fawlty Towers on film... Was this anything like the US bases in Europe which had American TV programmes available? |
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Post by Jon Preddle on Sept 9, 2023 1:01:35 GMT
Was this anything like the US bases in Europe which had American TV programmes available? Not really. The US AFRTS purchased programmes through usual processes. British Embassies, like the British Forces bases in Germany were considered to be part of the UK. It's possible some Embassies fell under the Non-Theatric category, which may have required some payment. |
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Post by John Wall on Sept 9, 2023 7:41:00 GMT
Was this anything like the US bases in Europe which had American TV programmes available? Not really. The US AFRTS purchased programmes through usual processes. British Embassies, like the British Forces bases in Germany were considered to be part of the UK. It's possible some Embassies fell under the Non-Theatric category, which may have required some payment. Some more information would be useful. 16mm projectors aren’t that large so it’s possible some might still be in embassy storerooms. |
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Post by Robbie Moubert on Sept 9, 2023 10:35:54 GMT
When I started working at the COI in 1983, one of my jobs was checking and cleaning 16mm prints that were sent to British Embassies. These were recent films that were either British-made or had a strong British involvement. Some of the films I remember were Star Wars, Gregory's Girl, Gandhi, Local Hero, Educating Rita and Clockwise. We didn't handle any TV programmes so, if they were sent, it was through other channels. It's possible it happened before my time but AFAIK it was feature films only.
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Post by John Wall on Sept 9, 2023 10:40:34 GMT
When I started working at the COI in 1983, one of my jobs was checking and cleaning 16mm prints that were sent to British Embassies. These were recent films that were either British-made or had a strong British involvement. Some of the films I remember were Star Wars, Gregory's Girl, Gandhi, Local Hero, Educating Rita and Clockwise. We didn't handle any TV programmes so, if they were sent, it was through other channels. It's possible it happened before my time but AFAIK it was feature films only. Do you know where they were sent? |
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Post by richardwoods on Sept 9, 2023 10:49:43 GMT
When I started working at the COI in 1983, one of my jobs was checking and cleaning 16mm prints that were sent to British Embassies. These were recent films that were either British-made or had a strong British involvement. Some of the films I remember were Star Wars, Gregory's Girl, Gandhi, Local Hero, Educating Rita and Clockwise. We didn't handle any TV programmes so, if they were sent, it was through other channels. It's possible it happened before my time but AFAIK it was feature films only. It’s funny isn’t it? Sometimes going over old thread stuff generates new direction of travel and this embassy film route is very interesting. |
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Post by richardwoods on Sept 9, 2023 10:56:32 GMT
I’m wondering if we have another bicycling route here?
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Post by John Wall on Sept 9, 2023 12:30:28 GMT
I’m wondering if we have another bicycling route here? I’m unsure. The diplomatic bag probably went between London and the various embassies, it’s difficult to see why there would need to be intra-embassy communication. |
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Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2023 12:31:23 GMT
I’m wondering if we have another bicycling route here? Who knows? Maybe there is a hidden bicycling routh here. Heck, there may be yet another bicycling print concerning Hong Kong and Singapore prints. |
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Post by Robbie Moubert on Sept 9, 2023 15:56:37 GMT
Do you know where they were sent? British embassies and High Commissions all over the world. |
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