callan/public eye lost episodes

[steve davies]

Hi folks,

I was wondering if anything had been done by the tv companies concerned to trace the missing episodes of these and other shows.
I do realize I may be putting myself in line for a shoeing on this.
But, as we all know, there are cases of people chasing up Dr. Who episodes from overseas stations, as so has the BBC.
But with many a fine programme missing in the ITV side of things. I just wondered if anyone on the other side of tv had done the same as the BBC.
Did these shows get sold abroad anywhere other than the UK?
Any info would be welcome, also any thoughts on this.

Steve

[Laurence Piper]

I wish the missing Callan / Public Eyes would turn up - there are a lot missing (particularly with regard to PE). I expect the usual channels have been checked but ITV are worse than the BBC in tracking down their own shows...

[William Martin]

is it a case of "someone elses responsibility"?

[Nosmo King]

A commercial enterprise won't spend time money on the search for "long forgotten", lost TV programmes which overall will never make any significant return financially, even if successfully found and will likely just sit on a shelf somewhere ... at least nowhere near enough to resource the hunt actively in the first place.

If they did make a big deal of such a search ... there would be hoards of Granada shareholders wanting to know why the money was being spent on such non-commercial activity.

Of course if the enthusiast does turn up lost programmes and there is some "value" in it ... they'll probably be happy to take it back .... 99% of missing ITV programmes are worth diddly squat in comparison with new programme production of course (as indeed financially are most lost BBC programmes ... but here we are talking public money, so the commercial consideration is not so great) ... though hopefully the BFI would take them in and in a few cases some thrid party like Network might release a DVD for some titles ...

[William Martin]

so it's a case of let sleeping dogs lie.

[Paul Reid]

william said:

so it's a case of let sleeping dogs lie.

Well I think it would optimistic in the extreme (or even naive depending on how you look at it!) to expect some high profile ITV sponsored project as regards finding missing programmes ...

No doubt the enthusiasts will continue the search (as with enthusiasts in any field) and we can but hope for (a) successful finds and (b) the chance to see material which is recovered either at events or even better as part of commercial DVD releases ...

[Deleted]

steve said:

Hi folks,
Did these shows get sold abroad anywhere other than the UK?

Public Eye was shown in Australia - and I think Callan was too.

Don't know whether it was shown in other countries...