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Post by Philip Hindley on Mar 22, 2009 13:13:19 GMT
Any further news on this discovery yet?
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Post by Charles Norton on Mar 28, 2009 21:04:30 GMT
The episode was recovered, along with five others, from the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society. They are now back with the BBC.
Charles Norton
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Post by adriane17 on Mar 29, 2009 7:37:10 GMT
I've been a member of the THAS for a few years now so the recording must have been returned/given to the BBC a while back otherwise it would have been mentioned in The Missing Page. I have heard that there are a number of off air recordings including The Horror Serial that are of such poor quality to be incapable of being cleaned up for broadcast or release.
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Post by Charles Norton on Mar 29, 2009 10:22:46 GMT
The Tony Hancock Appreciation Society were contacted around October last year. The six episodes (all from the show's fourth television series) were finally returned in November. The recordings come from various different sources and are of variable quality. Some are better than others. but none of them are too bad.
Charles Norton
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Post by adriane17 on Mar 29, 2009 11:28:20 GMT
In case anyone gets too excited they are audio only i.e. not telerecordings - would that they were!
It would be good if they could be cleaned up sufficiently for commercial release.
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Post by Charles Norton on Apr 4, 2009 9:48:04 GMT
"It would be good if they could be cleaned up sufficiently for commercial release. "
You'll have to wait and see, won't you?
Charles Norton
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Post by Andrew Doherty on Apr 4, 2009 11:45:11 GMT
In case anyone gets too excited they are audio only i.e. not telerecordings - would that they were! It would be good if they could be cleaned up sufficiently for commercial release. I think the computer technology already exists in a basic form to be able to visually reconstruct missing programmes such as the 'The Horror Serial'. The audio tape would be an extremely important component in such a reconstruction, since sound mapping is needed to give the visual references, i.e. spacing between characters within a setting. Now, visual components of the other, existing, episodes from the fourth series could be utilized (particularly from 'The TV Set That Failed') with whatever production stills are in existence from the missing episode. The computer programme(s) would, with the audio visual parameters 'fed in' along with adjustments, eventually produce a reproduction of the missing show. The adjustments, using CGI programming to produce the backgrounds based on the existing telerecordings and stills, would provide the sets and the main problem of head and mouth movements would, with similar effect, match the audio track. Well, there you have it. Something to be looked at in the future don’t you think? Not a project for the 'pedestrian' I would say. Yours, |
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Post by Paul Vazquez on Apr 5, 2009 8:33:03 GMT
Delurking after several years spent actively lurking.....
I might be wrong, but hadn't the episodes been held by THAS as low quality audio recordings for some years prior to their recent return to the BBC, who had previously been offered them but decided they were not of a useable quality? I remember them being on the THAS audio library lists quite a few years ago and they've been circulating as "fan copies" for quite a number of years too.
Again, I might be wrong, but my recollection is that the BBC did consider including them in the Hancock cd boxsets when they were being released, but concluded, as before, that they weren't able to bring them up to the standard required for inclusion?
Has something changed, are these new versions of the recordings from the original sources, or am I just plain wrong?
Please treat me gently - it's my first post.....!!!!
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Post by Charles Norton on Apr 5, 2009 9:02:07 GMT
The episodes have been in the archives of THAS for a number of years. I never claimed otherwise. However, no serious attempt has ever been made to get them back to the BBC before now.
The recordings are almost certainly better than those that have been passed round in fan circles. The BBC's copies are at least a few tape generations earlier (although not original masters).
As far as I am aware, BBC Audiobooks has never given any previous thought to releasing these tapes before now.
Charles Norton
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Post by Paul Vazquez on Apr 5, 2009 17:12:02 GMT
Hi Charles,
Thanks for the clarification - wasn't sure if I was getting confused!
I believe Enterprises/Worldwide were aware of at least some existing audio soundtracks of missing tv episodes at the time of the cd set releases.
I had a conversation at one of the Galton & Simpson NFT events during the release period of the cd sets with a lady who gave me the impression that she was one of the people behind them at the BBC, who asked me whether I liked the cd sets. I replied that they were very nice and I was liking them lots, but they're a bit on the expensive side, especially if they're trying to capture 'casual' buyers.
I also mentioned that'd it'd be very nice to see the existing soundtracks of the missing tv episodes feature in the releases. She replied that they were generally of too poor quality for commercial release and that the cd sets were really concentrating on the radio shows anyway.
Hopefully now that they've released all the radio shows, technology has moved on a bit and they may have better-sourced versions, things may change, as it'd be very nice indeed for them to see the light of day.
Best, Paul
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Post by Charles Norton on Apr 5, 2009 19:12:04 GMT
Well, I don't know who you were talking to. The current head of the classic comedy range is Steve Crickmer and before him it was Michael Stevens. Neither Steve nor myself were aware of any previous attempts to do anything with these tapes. I don't know about Michael, but he's never said anything about it.
However, you are right. As the number of episodes in the BBC's own archive runs out, these private recordings do become more interesting.
Charles Norton
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Post by adriane17 on Apr 5, 2009 20:23:36 GMT
If BBC Audio releases something like Unique Hancock - as nice as it is to have it on CD and at a budget price - I think we have a long wait if we are ever going to get this soundtrack and the rest...
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Post by Charles Norton on Apr 5, 2009 20:59:14 GMT
I don't think you'll have too long to wait.
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Post by Stuart Monk on Apr 5, 2009 22:27:49 GMT
I'd prefer that the tapes stay locked in the archives, rather than be forced to listen to anything comparable to the awful mess someone made of the 'New Secretary' episode in the 'Lost Hancocks' set.
Hard to believe that a multi-generation cassette copy I was given in the 90s sounds miles better!
Stuart
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Post by W Olding on Apr 5, 2009 23:22:46 GMT
I don't think you'll have too long to wait. Who gets the feeling, Charles knows something, we all now know? |
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