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Post by Simon Winters on Jun 9, 2008 11:29:57 GMT
A big thank you once again to Kaleidoscope for a fantastic day on saturday.
I am delighted to hear that that they have located and transferred the final broadcasts of both ABC North and ABC Midlands - both broadcasts lost for almost 40 years.
I thought I would never live to watch this historic broadcast, but it was there for all to see in full at Kal on saturday. Amazing that the 2" tape was transferred in amazing speed in order to get the programme available for saturday - as it was only found last week!
The last night of ABC on pristine 2" videotape with continuity - for me this is the find of the decade.
Well done to everyone involved.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2008 12:19:09 GMT
This is very interesting news indeed, Simon! I'm very interested in this sort of thing so any more details? How long are the shows and who are the continuity announcers (are they in-vision? Presume so)? What is the content? It just goes to show that you never know what's out there...
I wonder if Rediffusion's final transmission is similarly waiting to be found out there somewhere?
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Post by Reg Long3 on Jun 9, 2008 12:56:37 GMT
This is very interesting news indeed, Simon! I'm very interested in this sort of thing so any more details? How long are the shows and who are the continuity announcers (are they in-vision? Presume so)? What is the content? It just goes to show that you never know what's out there... I wonder if Rediffusion's final transmission is similarly waiting to be found out there somewhere? your probably aware there is an audio of AR's final moments |
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Post by Simon Winters on Jun 9, 2008 13:13:11 GMT
Both versions are 20-25 minutes long, b/w videotape. They have the regular ABC front idents followed by a compilation sequence of famous ABC stars accompanied by cheesy sixties music.
Then you get a mixture of ABC programme clips interspersed with the ABC invision announcer in the regular continuity studio. There are lengthy clips from Oh Boy, but it's taken from one of the two surviving epidodes (damn!). There is a clip from an early Avengers episode, but I don't know if it is a missing one. Kal will be able to enlighten.
At the end of the North one you get Keith Martin invision doing the ABC weather, followed by David Hamilton invision saying that the 'first phase' in the development of ITV' has come to an end. He mentions the new programme companies for the North and Yorkshire and that the ABC efforts will live on under the banner of Thames. Then he says a final goodnight.
You then get an ABC still logo with 'Television' underneath the ident, then a long fade to black. No epilogue, national anthem etc.
David Hamilton is the invision presenter throughout, except for Keith Martin's invision weather bit.
The Midlands version has identical clips etc, except that the invision is Philip Elsmore and Sheila Kennedy throughout.
In terms of Rediffusion and ATV London, the final broadcasts certainly do exist in sound at least.
TWW's final night is fully in existence at the BFI as well.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2008 13:34:45 GMT
Many thanks for the detailed description, Simon. A fascinating historical document and very rare in ABC terms!
Yes, although the Rediffusion / ATV London final broadcasts do exist in audio, I was just dreaming off and wondering what if the vision was also out there somewhere...
It's discoveries like these ABC items that makes it all worthwhile for me. I only hope they get to be seen more widely, for those of us that couldn't make the Kal screening.
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Post by Bob Savage (robstar) on Jun 9, 2008 19:24:15 GMT
So where were these found then?
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Post by Simon Winters on Jun 10, 2008 11:25:37 GMT
Sheila Kennedy was given a 2" tape copy of the Midlands version by ABC the night she presented it. She lent the tape to be copied some weeks ago, as far as I understand.
It was then discovered that David Hamilton, who presented the North version, also had a 2" tape of his broadcast - given to him by ABC on the last night. He lent the 2" to Kal (only in the past 2 weeks or so!), and they got it transferred in fantastic time in order to show it on saturday.
Both programmes have been stored in the attics of these two respective announcers for the past 39 years and 11 months.
There are now so many ITV station opening and final broadcasts in existence - wouldn't it make a fantastic Network dvd? There is clearly a market for this - Channel 4 did a whole ITV opening nights compilation in the 1980s called 'Just For Openers'.
Is this a nutty idea, or would it sell to the world of tv buffs?
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Post by Reg Long3 on Jun 10, 2008 11:42:23 GMT
Sheila Kennedy was given a 2" tape copy of the Midlands version by ABC the night she presented it. She lent the tape to be copied some weeks ago, as far as I understand. It was then discovered that David Hamilton, who presented the North version, also had a 2" tape of his broadcast - given to him by ABC on the last night. He lent the 2" to Kal (only in the past 2 weeks or so!), and they got it transferred in fantastic time in order to show it on saturday. Both programmes have been stored in the attics of these two respective announcers for the past 39 years and 11 months. There are now so many ITV station opening and final broadcasts in existence - wouldn't it make a fantastic Network dvd? There is clearly a market for this - Channel 4 did a whole ITV opening nights compilation in the 1980s called 'Just For Openers'. Is this a nutty idea, or would it sell to the world of tv buffs? Great Idea Simonw ! also it might go well as bonus disc to get those who were not around then, interested? Nice to hear it came from Sheila- lovely presenter . |
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Post by timd on Jun 10, 2008 13:43:51 GMT
Oh my Gawd. I though this was a wind-up when I first read the subject heading. This is fantastic news. I second that proposal for a Network release, or a BFI release?
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Post by davidh on Jun 10, 2008 19:30:56 GMT
It's a real pity I couldn't attend that Kaleidoscope Event, since myself and at least three other people I know (who also couldn't be there) would willingly travel a significant distance just to see these recordings if given enough notice.
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Post by timd on Jun 13, 2008 18:23:57 GMT
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Post by Reg Long3 on Jun 13, 2008 22:47:48 GMT
sadly proof positive that the Never Mind The Quality ep - The Flower of Israel was wiped a week or so after transmission. Tommy Cooper's show lasted a little bit longer, but both gone forever. |
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Post by timd on Jun 13, 2008 23:44:52 GMT
sadly proof positive that the Never Mind The Quality ep - The Flower of Israel was wiped a week or so after transmission. Tommy Cooper's show lasted a little bit longer, but both gone forever. I'm not so sure that this is when those episodes were destroyed. As this tape was in use at Didsbury, it's possible that it was only a transmission copy. Possibly even recorded down the line from Teddington as there is an RX reference on the sheet? Although I believe that ABC had a car that frequently made the journey between Teddington, Birmingham and Didsbury dropping off and collecting tapes. It could have effectively been a working tape that happened to be in Didsbury on the 28th July. There's a mention of ATV in the MC column, which I'm guessing means it was transmitted from Alpha's facility on the 30/12/67. Of course this could also mean it had been bicycled to ATV at Foley Street for transmission on that date. All of this is guess work of course, but interesting to see some documentation showing the disposable nature of the television industry when tapes were very expensive. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2008 17:50:54 GMT
Just to add to the above thread, Chris Perry has confirmed to me that Kal hold Digibeta masters of both of those final ABC shows, so the 2" quads, having now been transferred, are of purely historical interest only. David is selling to raise money for charity. Chris also tells me that the ABC Midlands edition may possibly be screened at Kal's September event, in case anyone wishes to see it.
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Post by Reg Long3 on Jun 14, 2008 20:14:07 GMT
sadly proof positive that the Never Mind The Quality ep - The Flower of Israel was wiped a week or so after transmission. Tommy Cooper's show lasted a little bit longer, but both gone forever. I'm not so sure that this is when those episodes were destroyed. As this tape was in use at Didsbury, it's possible that it was only a transmission copy. Possibly even recorded down the line from Teddington as there is an RX reference on the sheet? Although I believe that ABC had a car that frequently made the journey between Teddington, Birmingham and Didsbury dropping off and collecting tapes. It could have effectively been a working tape that happened to be in Didsbury on the 28th July. There's a mention of ATV in the MC column, which I'm guessing means it was transmitted from Alpha's facility on the 30/12/67. Of course this could also mean it had been bicycled to ATV at Foley Street for transmission on that date. All of this is guess work of course, but interesting to see some documentation showing the disposable nature of the television industry when tapes were very expensive. Interesting thanks. Thinking about it after you said. Sitcoms and drama must have had a repeat run envisaged just to claw back production costs?, as well as late takers in the network itself? So maybe this tape was a 'general dogsbody' tape used for recording off air,down the line etc ( it even mentions 625 line tests) ? . |
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