Broaden Your Mind

[johnwilliams2007]

Hello,

I have managed to trace 10 seconds worth of missing material from the BBC comedy series 'Broaden Your Mind' (1968-69). This show starring Tim Brooke-Taylor & Graeme Garden (Bill Oddie joined as a writer in the 2nd series) was a precursor to the Goodies series.

I have been reliably informed that the snippet is from Broaden Your Mind show 1/4

The sequence shows Tim Brooke-Taylor seated in a room, a Graeme Garden voice-over poses the question "do you know where wasps go in the winter time?" TBT then stands up, & jumps around madly, scratching under his clothes for (unseen) wasps.

I traced this material to an ABC TV (Australia) from a staff goof/Xmas tape (circa 1972)

BYM was broadcast in Australia between 1971 - 1973 on ABC TV (including rpts)

Hopefully, it will make its way back to the UK soon.

Cheers,
John

ABC TV

[Deleted]

Thanks for the info! This is interesting as I looked at the surviving inserts a while back and thought that BTM would have been a series that stood up well today had it been kept. Any recovered material from this is always a bonus, however short. I know audios exist but it'd be good to see the vision as well.

[RWels]

Nov 3, 2009 13:45:10 GMT @laurencepiper said:

Thanks for the info! This is interesting as I looked at the surviving inserts a while back and thought that BTM would have been a series that stood up well today had it been kept. Any recovered material from this is always a bonus, however short. I know audios exist but it'd be good to see the vision as well.

The audio hadn't even been returned to the BBC until very recently, even though it had been known for some time.

[Charles Norton]

Any idea where the audio came from? I'm assuming we're talking about Off-Airs, but who made them?

[RWels]

Reel to reel from Australia where it was repeated in the early seventies?

[johnwilliams2007]

From what I've been told, a fan in Melbourne recorded the 'Broaden Your Mind' episodes reel to reel (therefore preserving them on audio), the same person also reviewed most (if not all) episodes in a fanzine called 'Laugh'. 'Broaden Your Mind' was broadcast on the ABC and given two runs (giving anyone interested in recording the episodes a second chance to record them)

[davemachin]

I can slightly remember this series being on BBC2 in 1969 although my parents had a default of watching the VHF channels in preference. It would be good to hear these recordings some day. Are they good quality, John?

[RWels]

Nov 10, 2009 12:23:26 GMT @davemachin said:

I can slightly remember this series being on BBC2 in 1969 although my parents had a default of watching the VHF channels in preference. It would be good to hear these recordings some day. Are they good quality, John?

Some of it I've heard, and quality was quite alright, age considered. The BBC has not been given the original reels but cassettes or cd copies of the cassettes, AFAIK.

[johnwilliams2007]

Hi Dave,

Unfortunately, I haven't heard the tapes thus far. It would be interesting to hear them. I wonder if the original reels still exist.

[RWels]

Nov 10, 2009 20:27:40 GMT johnwilliams2007 said:

Hi Dave,

Unfortunately, I haven't heard the tapes thus far. It would be interesting to hear them. I wonder if the original reels still exist.

As far as I know they still exist, but you'd have to ask Andrew Pixley?
I have heard the off air. The sound is really not bad, but what I heared went from off air from tv to a tape reel, and from the tape reel to cassette, and from cassette to computer. A direct pro transfer from the reel to reel tape to digital equipment would probably be at least 10% better (just my guess).

But let's be honest, it's audio only from a lost series. The BBC will take it but I can't blame them for not actively chasing the best source material available.
Others don't even bother for off air audio. There are for example audio tapes of At last the 1948 show, but the current owners don't care to have them back.

[davemachin]

I have the dvd release of 1948 Show but I hope they can get round to bringing the original episodes out eventually rather than just unrestored compilations. I know quite a few have been found or put together again so it's possible to make a nice release out of them.

Thanks everyone for the info on Broaden Your Mind.

Network do an excellent job of bringing out archive series but what other shows would people here like to see on dvd that are still unavailable? There are still a lot that could do with being released. (Perhaps this should be in a new thread on it's own?)

Dave

[RWels]

Oh yes, almost all of the audio exists and at least 75% of the video material if not more.
In fact, four of the original episodes circulate amongst python fans. And so does the BYM audio.