Blue Peter: 70's editions: b&w f/rs - colour VT?

[Paul Cooksley]

Hi all

Just seeing the two Blue Peter clips on the recent 'Doctor Who' DVD release (Dalek War box set) got me thinking...

Obviously, the two editions featured are only a week apart, one edition being a 16mm black and white f/r, whilst the other is a copy from the original 2" Quad colour 625 VT.

Roughly speaking, does anyone know what kind of percentage of Blue Peter is held (from the 1970's) as b&w 16mm t/r's?

I guess that quite a large chunk of the seventies editions do fully exist in the first place?

I think a couple from the eighties actually exist as b/w film prints as well, don't they? One from Dec 1980 (?) that they featured an item about the restoration of (some years back now) and one, I am sure I read, from 1982???

If anyone can shed any light on these points, I be really interested to know!

Cheers

[Deleted]

I believe the Blue Peter archive is virtually complete from 1966 onwards though Christopher Trace's final edition is noticeably missing. It has been suggested the final Trace edition was wiped or destroyed out of spite since Trace had created a bit of an embarrassing situation a couple of years earlier, whereas I've wondered if that show might had been given to him as a parting gift. No doubt that shall continue to be debated for all eternity!

I am pretty sure I have read that b+w t/r's were being made of the show until 1985, maybe even later! As for the proportion of b+w t/r shows to colour VT, I haven't a clue. Very rare we see b+w t/r material in clip form from that era. I do remember going through pages of editions logged on Infax (when the Hell is that ever going to reappear?) since I was curious to find out when that show with Tony Hicks of The Hollies demonstrating a wireless guitar was broadcast since a b+w clip of that was featured in the BBC4 "When Roland Rat Met The Stranglers" documentary.

What I do recall was a 1971 edition, the show where they had to announce that Patch had died. They featured a bunch of clips in tribute and a clip of the Tony Hicks encounter from just months earlier (where Patch bit Hicks in the thigh!) was in b+w even then suggesting it was never recorded on colour VT.

[richardmarson]

Every edition of BLUE PETER throughout the 1970s exists.

Some of these are b/w 16mm telerecordings (although all the colour film inserts exist too). These telerecordings were made alongside the 2" PasBs, partly as they were then an easier format for viewing purposes. The last one was made in 1985 although by 1982 not every editions was film recorded.

In the early 70s, on a few occasions when there weren't enough VT channels available, the telerecording became the master (as with Tony Hicks edition).

Kaledidoscope's book BLUE PETER: INSIDE THE ARCHIVES contains details of every edition from 1958 - 2008, with complete archive holdings and spin-off shows too. That's the plug!!

[Dave Hall]

Nice to see your posting Richard, Hope you stick around, btw your Book is somewhere in my house, hidden away, till xmas for me!

[Paul Cooksley]

I think it's amazing (but fantastic!) that every since Blue Peter edition from the 70's still exists.

Bearing in mind other popular BBC programmes of the time that suffered badly archive wise in the early/mid seventies (I am thinking about TOTP for example), how on earth did Blue Peter manage to get every single edition archived? Was this anything to do with Biddy Baxter?

[richardmarson]

Thanks Dave, hope you enjoy it!

And yes Paul, it had everything to do with Biddy, who refused to allow BP material to be junked - there are some very funny memos in existence between the Engineering Dept (who in those days were in charge of the VT library) and Biddy, with the former trying to get her to relent and the latter tearing them off a strip for them even trying! If only Biddy had run Dr Who (or rather drama series) or LE.

[Steve Williams]

If Richard's still about I wonder if he could help dating the episode of Blue Peter referred to here - www.btinternet.com/~roger.beckwith/bh/tv/berwick.htm

"I remember about 1974, Studio G at Lime Grove was coaxed back into service having been in mothballs for ages. It was re-commissioned to broadcast Blue Peter, which had been kicked out of TVC by the World Cup. The studio, like TC5 had Mole booms with 4033's and had never been colourised. The show was live and included a display of entries to the Blue Peter Painting Competition. As I stood on by boom platform, I thought it sad that this colourful wall of pictures should go out in monochrome. Still, at least they were televised. As we neared the end of transmission, all of the studio monitors went black, a puff of smoke was said to have come from the apparatus room and the show ended in sound only. A triumph! The studio was never used again."

Now I know there's a number of Blue Peters from 1974 in black and white - they screened one at the event at BAFTA last year - but I can't find in the fantastic Inside The Archive book any episode that seems to match this description. There's certainly no note to say the picture went. Although there's a reference to the World Cup, to me the reference to the competition suggests it's from February 1974 when the Thursday show was in monochrome for a few weeks, presumably some sort of scheduling issue.

So the question is, when was it, and what actually went out on screen?

[Colin Anderton]

I'd like to know if the BBC coverage of the Apollo 9 launch still exists, as it was covered live during Blue Peter on March 3 1969?

Colin.

[Deleted]

Interesting. It's a pity Apollo 11 wasn't covered by Blue Peter in the same way as it might still exist! ;D

[Robert Belford]

If they wanted to edit together several clips, it may have been easier for them to do it all on film. Given that all the outside reports were edited on 16mm film in those days too.

They could have got the film lab to duplicate the sections of the telerecordings that they needed. Easier than booking time in VT on expensive machines that would be in great demand and hauling out a number of 2 inch tapes.

Nearly all viewers would have been watching in black and white in those days anyway.

I can remember the famous elephant clip sometimes appeared as a telerecording and other times was shown from videotape.

Oct 7, 2009 14:12:16 GMT @phillipgruber said:

What I do recall was a 1971 edition, the show where they had to announce that Patch had died. They featured a bunch of clips in tribute and a clip of the Tony Hicks encounter from just months earlier (where Patch bit Hicks in the thigh!) was in b+w even then suggesting it was never recorded on colour VT.