OT Up Pompeii BBC2 1990's repeats

[Westy 2]

How many episodes were repeated by BBC 2?

In my video collection, I've located 8 so far, but were any more shown?

Any news of a reissue on VHS/DVD ?

[Simon Mclean]

The episode 'Vestal Virgins' was left out, I seem to remember.

[Nick Gilbert]

I recorded 10 which, I think, were all that were shown

[Ian Beard]

BBC video titles and/or my own concoctions:

pilot; The Price Of Freedom - repeated in PILOT PARADISE

1/1; Vestal Virgins - not repeated, but on BBC tape
1/2; The Assassin - BBC2
1/3; A Case Of Identity - BBC2
1/4; A Trip To Britain - BBC2
1/5; An Actor's Life - BBC2
1/6; Spartacus - not repeated
1/7; The Love Potion - BBC2

2/1; The Legacy - BBC2
2/2; Roman Holiday - BBC2
2/3; Jamus Bondus - BBC2
2/4; No Sex Please - We're Roman - BBC2
2/5; The Engagement - BBC2
2/6; Exodus - not repeated, but on BBC tape

SP/1; Further Up Pompeii - UK Gold

The BBC releases added titles to the programmes over the open action - but also added an "e" to Jamus when there wasn't one in the original RT listings.

And that episode on the commercial release(s) has been cut to remove having to clear the Bond theme that plays when a door bell (?) is pulled/pushed whatever!

1/1 was sheduled both for TV50 in 1986 and the 1990s repeat run, but was replaced with a different episode on each occassion.

Basically, it's only the SPARTACUS episode that isn't common on the tape trading circuit.

[PS]

The dvd of A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM is only £5:99 at PLAY at the moment - in one of those spooky twists of fate, my copy arrived this morning!

[RWels]

Is any tape trader for this around perhaps at the moment?
The pre-rec tapes are becoming very rare and I could find only one with episodes Vestal virgins; love potion; james bondus.

[Stephen Doran]

Westy said:

How many episodes were repeated by BBC 2?

In my video collection, I've located 8 so far, but were any more shown?

Any news of a reissue on VHS/DVD ? two videos were released but deleted now,look on ebay they turn up from time to time

[Gary]

The next time these make an appearance in the shops they should look a lot better than before with the RSC,yes?

[RWels]

RSC? Probably a silly question but what are you talking about?

[Laurence Piper]

Reverse Standards Conversion: recently perfected process to convert NTSC video back to PAL without motion blur (most of the Pompeii eps are NTSC recoveries). See the recent Dr.Who Claws Of Axos DVD for the first results of this. Compared to what we had to suffer before, it's really great. I expect Pompeii has now been converted in this way, along with all the other recovered material (i.e. Doomwatch etc).

[RWels]

But unfortunately, not (re)released...

[Modular]

Gary said:

The next time these make an appearance in the shops they should look a lot better than before with the RSC,yes?

This is a poor assumption to make.

RSC would only be used if 2Entertain deem to episodes (when released) warrant some kind of restoration. Given the vast majority of material currently released is in an unrestored state, I currently doubt Up Pompeii would be any different.

Shows like Dad's Army and Dr Who have both had the 'royal treatment' because they are proven good sellers with a known customer market, and that justifies the additional expense of restoration work. Just look at the current 'vanilla releases' of Hancock and Steptoe & Son (both widely considered among the BBC's finest).

I remain unconvinced Frankie's shows will be thought of any differently, though we can always live in hope I guess.

[andrew martin]

The BBC used RSC to transfer all its NTSC quad holdings, not just DW. The only things so far not done are a couple of classic serials, "The Black Tulip" and "Resurrection" which have come back since the work was done.

[Andy Henderson]

That was quick - wasn't it just experimental not so long ago? (two years back).

[Modular]

Andy said:

That was quick - wasn't it just experimental not so long ago? (two years back).

I was thinking that meself!