Nana BBC2 1968

[Peter Stirling]

Just read an interesting letter in the Daily Hell about the BBC series Nana and the lovely actress Katherine Schofield ,who
after seeing her in The Saint - death game- I was firmly convinced she was actually German.

In the memory I often confused this series Nana (bodice ripper about the French Revolution) with Frank Findlay's Casanova but apparently this series was much more of a trailblazer and had maybe the first full nude scenes on TV ?

Off course as ground breaking TV the BBC have lost it, but Lost Episodes gives a glimmer of hope in the fact that there are a couple of episodes survive on NTSC when the show got an airing on an obscure channel in the States in the mid 1970s.

I just wondered if a full deck has been found yet?

[davemachin]

I was wondering about the first tv nudity myself. Occasional scenes embarrassed me as a kid watching with my parents. There was Cyd Hayman in Manhunt in 1970 as one example, though that wasn't full frontal. There were frequently things on seventies tv but there probably were earlier examples. A mid sixties Granada documentary by Denis Mitchell (repeated in the eighties by C4) used a brief scene featuring a topless stripper in a club which claimed to be the first such thing. I can't remember the title but it was as part of a Mitchell season. I don't remember Nana myself so what part of 1968 was it shown, Peter? I guess it was an early colour production as it was BBC2? Can anyone remember earlier nudity?

Dave

[Paul Vanezis]

Jan 13, 2010 17:25:20 GMT @davemachin said:

I guess it was an early colour production as it was BBC2?

This was a 5 part series and the 625 colour VT masters of the first two were always in the BBC archive. The rest were lost until a few years ago when we recovered episodes 4 & 5 as NTSC quads in the old Lionheart archive (now BBC Worldwide Americas). I think they came back in 2002. And yes, it's an early BBC nude scene although whether the episode with the nudity survives is anyones guess.

Cheers,

Paul

[Peter Stirling]

Thanks Paul.

with the full set would be a big DVD seller I reckon?

[Stephen Doran]

First nude scene i recall was in 1967 Isobel Black in Make Way For Murder

[Simon Winters]

I have read somewhere that the first recognised full frontal nude on British TV was a Southern TV drama in the early seventies. Something arty.

Not sure of the programme title but it was definately How, or Out of Town.

[Simon Winters]

Sorry - meant to say not How or Out of Town. Pretty sure it wasn't Runaround either - although Mike Reid did almost achieve that fame on Eastenders.

[Deleted]

Jan 13, 2010 17:25:20 GMT @davemachin said:

A mid sixties Granada documentary by Denis Mitchell (repeated in the eighties by C4) used a brief scene featuring a topless stripper in a club which claimed to be the first such thing.

You're probably thinking of The Entertainers, made about 1964 and I seem to think was notable for being the first all-video production of it's kind, although it ironically now survives as a t/r.

[davemachin]

Thanks for providing the details, Paul. We had BBC2 in the sixties in black and white but I would have missed this one, being an 'adult' serial which my parents wouldn't tune in to with me in the room!

So the first proper nudity was before the seventies and are there any advances on 1968? Probably not. I can remember bits and pieces before the seventies that came on the screen without warning but were not the full monty! I remembered an early Python sketch from the first series in 1969 with a topless girl in a sweet shop. That was one.

Yes, The Entertainers was what I was thinking of, Laurence. Thanks. That Denis Mitchell season was very interesting and included another good one, The Dream Machine, which I would love to see on dvd.

Who made Make Way For Murder, Stephen? Was it a series or a play?

Dave

[Stephen Doran]

www.imdb.com/title/tt0416432/ correct title here

[davemachin]

Thanks Stephen. Who made it? BBC or ITA? I gather it was a serial rather than ongoing series. I don't remember it on myself but I would like to know if it still exists. I am partial to thrillers of any kind.

Dave

[Stephen Doran]

BBC

[davemachin]

Thanks Stephen. I tried looking this up in a friend's copy of an old Kaleidoscope drama guide book but it isn't mentioned at all.

Dave