Doomwatch

[Daniel O'Brien]

Apologies if this has been covered before, but how many of the surviving 'Doomwatch' episodes are the original recordings? I watched 'Tomorrow, The Rat' on BBC4 and the picture and sound quality weren't great. Also, is most of series three missing because foreign sales were low and there were few copies made?

[emitron]

The Kaleidoscope database lists what is missing:

Series 1
16.02.70 Friday's Child (missing)
23.02.70 Burial At Sea (missing)
02.03.70 Tomorrow, The Rat (see below)
A copy exists which has been converted from the US NTSC system. The original 2" videotape master has been lost.
13.04.70 Spectre At The Feast (missing)
20.04.70 Train And De-Train (see below)
A copy exists which has been converted from the US NTSC system. The original 2" videotape master has been lost.
04.05.70 Hear No Evil (missing)
11.05.70 Survival Code (missing)

Series 2
14.12.70 You Killed Toby Wren (see below)
A copy exists which has been converted from the US NTSC system. The original 2" videotape master has been lost.
21.12.70 Invasion (see below)
A copy exists which has been converted from the US NTSC system. The original 2" videotape master has been lost.
04.01.71 The Islanders (see below)
A copy exists which has been converted from the US NTSC system. The original 2" videotape master has been lost.
11.01.71 No Room For Error (see below)
A copy exists which has been converted from the US NTSC system. The original 2" videotape master has been lost.
18.01.71 By The Pricking Of My Thumbs... (see below)
A copy exists which has been converted from the US NTSC system. The original 2" videotape master has been lost.
25.01.71 The Iron Doctor (see below)
A copy exists which has been converted from the US NTSC system. The original 2" videotape master has been lost.
01.02.71 Flight Into Yesterday (see below)
A copy exists which has been converted from the US NTSC system. The original 2" videotape master has been lost.
08.02.71 The Web Of Fear (see below)
A copy exists which has been converted from the US NTSC system. The original 2" videotape master has been lost.
15.02.71 In The Dark (see below)
A copy exists which has been converted from the US NTSC system. The original 2" videotape master has been lost.
22.02.71 The Human Time Bomb (see below)
A copy exists which has been converted from the US NTSC system. The original 2" videotape master has been lost.
01.03.71 The Inquest (see below)
A copy exists which has been converted from the US NTSC system. The original 2" videotape master has been lost.
15.03.71 The Logicians (see below)
A copy exists which has been converted from the US NTSC system. The original 2" videotape master has been lost.

Series 3
05.06.72 Fire And Brimstone (missing)
12.06.72 High Mountain (missing)
19.06.72 Say Knife, Fat Man (missing)
03.07.72 Without The Bomb (missing)
17.07.72 Deadly Dangerous Tomorrow (missing)
24.07.72 Enquiry (missing)
31.07.72 Flood (missing)
07.08.72 Cause Of Death (missing)
14.08.72 The Killer Dolphins (missing)

[casual observer]

Apparently was big in Canada, which explains the NTSC recoveries.

[Daniel O'Brien]

Thanks for the information. By my reckoning, the BBC retained just nine of the original 2" mastertapes. Thank heavens for Canadian TV, which also kept colour copies of some Pertwee 'Doctor Who' episodes. The trailer for the BBC4 documentary on 'Doomwatch' promised to explain its popularity in Canada. Either I wasn't concentrating or they edited that bit out.

[DaveBiddle]

Yes I must have missed its popularity in Canada explained to will have to give it another watch,also 'The plastic eaters' exists to which was the first episode.
Strange also that all of series 2 exists 'thanks to our canadian friends' but non of series 1 (bar 2 episodes) & 3 was it not shown there or was wiped there to like so many other things.

[DaveBiddle]

Just to clarify Im talking about ntsc format recoveries from Canada,I know that 3 episodes exist(1 unbroadcast) from series 3 were these uk versions? or ntsc format.
Also Im presuming series 1 was shown there due to recoveries on ntsc

[Andrew Martin]

All three existing series 3 episodes are from the original PAL masters (those masters are at the NFA, the BBC hold D3 transfers).

[lee jones]

Doomwatch? I knew nothing of this program as it was before my time, so to speak. At first I thought doomwatch must have been something like .... someone had been made to watch eastenders for a week non-stop, although I guess that'd be "gloom and doom" watch!



ljones

[Charles Roberts]

Hmmm, when I made jokes on this board I was attacked.