Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Podcast Round Up - Easy Guide to Listening Vol. 1

I have been getting a lot of people wondering where to listen to the From the Archive: A British Television Podcast. I thought I would put the first handful of episodes here in an easy to find list. 

First off, anyone could always subscribe to the podcast though iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/fromthearchives-podcast/id1182742747

or catch it through the RSS feed: http://fromthearchive.libsyn.com/rss

BUT here is direct links to the episodes:

Episode 1:

Introducing the new British television podcast, From the Archive! We celebrate all things British television with an emphasis of television preservation, locating missing material and restoration. Our first episode is the first part of an interview with Chris Perry, CEO of Kaleidoscope. We talk about Kaleidoscope’s inception but really focus on their role as a preservationists of British television plus their role in finding missing material. There is a lot of discussion about missing material plus so much more which is why it can’t be contained in one episode! We hope you enjoy! 




Episode 2:

Episode 2 of our podcast, From the Archive, picks up with the second part of our interview with Kaleidoscope CEO Chris Perry. In the previous episode, we talked at great lengths about missing episodes, television preservation and archives. This episode is no different! We talk a lot about the finds that Kaleidoscope announced this year including a streak of ABC/BBC material announced in October, we talk a little about the double-edge sword a prominent series like DOCTOR WHO does to the overall publicity of missing episodes and we talk a lot about the famous Bob Monkhouse archive. We have a lively and controversial discussion about TILL DEATH US DO PART that may go against the norm. There may be some language used in historical context on this program. The views and opinions of this conversation are those of people on the podcast and do not necessarily reflect those of Kaleidoscope or From the Archive. After the interview, there is reflection about 80 years of BBC television and some letters are read from the RADIO TIMES regarding the public taking to the new Doctor Patrick Troughton during the broadcast run of POWER OF THE DALEKS.


Episode 3:

We celebrate one of the most influential comedies that has ever come out of the BBC, HANCOCK’S HALF HOUR but even more so we celebrate Tony Hancock himself. This episode features the first of a two part interview with the Archivist of the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society, Tristan Brittain-Dissont. He brought some incredible audio to share over the course of the two episodes. This episode we hear a recently discovered crystal clear clip from THE HORROR SERIAL that has only previously existed as a very poor audio copy and an audio clip from the recently found soundtrack to THE ITALIAN MAID. Plus information of how it was found.

We then catch up with Chris Perry over the recently announced discoveries that have been announced by Kaleidoscope including some exclusive audio clips to the recently recovered Z CARS episode TRUTH OR DARE and a clip from MY PAL BOB. We also talk about Kaleidoscope’s new online research tool culminating in over 30 years of research into British television, TV Brain and how everyone can have access to this powerful database.


Episode 4:

We are very excited to present an EXTENDED LENGTH edition of this podcast. We have many rare clips included in it that we are proud to be able to present here. First and foremost, we continue our conversation with Tristan Brittain-Dissont. Tristan is the archivist for the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society. He brought a ton of wonderful and rare Tony Hancock audio clips that put some perspective not only on his career and his work habits but also the rise of the comedy writing legend duo Galton & Simpson. Some of the clips included are bits cut out of HANCOCK HALF HOUR radio episodes such as “Fred’s Pie Stall”, we have audio recorded by Tony himself that he used for learning his lines and we include a wonderfully long segment clocking in over 7 minutes from the rare radio series CALLING ALL FORCES that features Tony in this clip. There are some great clips from the series HAPPY GO LUCKY featured too.

Just as we were working on this episode, we got call from Tristan who told us more material of interest had been found and would we mind talking about them on this podcast? The answer was, of course, YES! So, we have a quick conversation with Martin Gibbons who is the Social Media Manager for the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society. He dazzled us with audio clips recorded from the original transmission of the first broadcast episode of THE BLACKPOOL SHOW from June 1966 where Tony does a little singing and then forgets the first act he is supposed to introduce! We share an audio clip from another recently found domestic audio recording of COMEDY PLAYHOUSE starring Harry H. Corbett. Perhaps the most baffling is the material discovered from off-air audio recordings of STEPTOE AND SON from 1963. This is really worth listening to and makes you wonder about the completeness of the versions released on DVD.

Finally we say farewell to Alan Simpson who has given many of us so many laughs over the years with his writing partner Ray Galton. We put together a little tribute to him using audio in his own words along with audio from Ray Galton and even Dennis Main Wilson. Equally exciting is we tie it all back to where their career started by playing a recording of the first joke they ever sold to the BBC. We are extremely proud to present this episode and we hope you enjoy it! It may not be able to all be heard in one sitting and it certainly needs listening to more than once! 


Episode 5:

We are pleased as punch in this episode of our podcast as we are able to have a conversation with Sue Malden! Sue was named the first BBC Archive Selector back in 1978 and her work revolutionised the way programs have been selected and kept in archives for not only the BBC but the UK and beyond. Our conversation goes a lot into the archive selection process she put together plus we talk about the work she is doing in the field now. Of course we touch on her project she initiated to track down what might have happened to episodes of lost BBC series. She eventually chose DOCTOR WHO but she talks about some of the other series she considered looking into first. It’s a not only a great conversation about archive television but it’s a great conversation about television archiving.

We next move onto a quick conversation with BBC South Producer Richard Latto who recently returned an episode of HUGH AND I called “The Girl on the Poster” from 1964. He talks about where the print has been and how this isn’t the first time the film collector who owns this print has helped out the BBC Archives. We talk with Oliver Crocker who wrote “All Memories Great & Small” from Miwk Publishing about the passing of Robert Hardy. He not only shares great memories of interviewing Robert Hardy for his book but also shares some personal audio of the two talking. Finally, we check in with Chris Perry who gives us all the information for the upcoming Kaleidoscope event on 2/9/17 at Birmingham City University. It’s going to be a fantastic event with great guests and rare material. We share all the information!


If you have feedback or questions you would like to have read on the podcast or general inquiries, please contact us at feedback@fromthearchive.co.uk. We would love to hear from you! This podcast is a co-production between From the Archive: A British Television Blog and Kaleidoscope. Thank you for listening.

Monday, July 3, 2017

DVD Review: Three Classic Charles Dickens BBC Productions


As a fan of British television, especially programs from the 1960s & 1970s, I have been keeping my eye on what Simply Media has been outputting especially over the last couple of years. I have seen programs such as Softly, Softly: Taskforce, Doomwatch, Hugh and I, and Dr. Finlay’s Casebook get a DVD release.  Pretty much all of the releases above, I would have never thought any of those would have received a release in a physical format. It’s great to be wrong about this sort of thing because Simply Media keeps putting out content that features some of the heyday of BBC production.

Monday, July 03 sees the release of the first set of Charles Dickens classics all produced by the BBC. Three separate titles have been released for the first time on DVD and it has been a treat to watch these: Our Mutual Friend (1958), Great Expectations (1967) & Dombey And Son (1969). I guess what I am really pleased about with this set of releases is that these programs were not released on a streaming services but that we are able to own the physical discs. These are really special productions.

I have never sought out anything Charles Dickens. I am not disinterested in his work at all and obviously I am well aware of A Christmas Carol. So I came to these with a very fresh perspective. I am not a big reader of Fiction. I generally turn my attention to the more factual when I do my reading. I tend to like my books as television adaptations. I am not sure if that makes me lazy or not. I am also a scholar (of sorts) of British television of the 1960s and 1970s. I am intrigued by how the programs were made, who produced them, who acted in them and how these programs were archived. I have no doubt in my mind that these are faithful adaptations of the programs.

Our Mutual Friend
2-DVD set  (Main Feature: 360 min)
Released by the Simply Media on July 3rd, 2017. SRP £19.99 (DVD) 
Subtitles, 1.33:1, Mono Black & White

This is a Region 2 DVD only available from the UK and in the PAL format.

To me, this is one of the most exciting release for a couple of reasons. Our Mutual Friend is the oldest production of the three that have been released this month and I use trepidation when I say that because there is some viewers out there that equate old with “not good”. Let me tell you that is not the case.

There is a thought that a lot of the output if BBC television in the 1950s were just plays that were televised and that changes when the likes of “The Quatermass serials” were produced or perhaps of people like Rudolph Cartier helmed productions. The reason I bring this up is to verify something like Our Mutual Friend is anything but a play on television.
Taking up 12 parts and broadcasting into 1959, this serial is tremendously thorough with its story. It takes us to many locations and the characters are well fleshed out. The Dickens characters often feel like caricatures to me; they are slightly over the top but filled with life. Their intentions becoming very obvious normally from when we first meet them. A lot of times, someone learns a lesson.

I think what surprised me the most about this serial (apart from that it all exists) are some of the cast who is in it. First and foremost, I was surprised by David McCallum who plays Eugene Wrayburn. He seems like a much more contemporary actor than someone who appears in a production from the 1950s. Amongst us British television fans, I am sure McCallum is mostly remembered for playing Steel in Sapphire & Steel in the 1970s or Illya Kuryakin in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. but is now seen on NCIS. He is now 83 years old and apparently is still going strong.

Other names that leaped out at me was Rachel Gurney from Upstairs Downstairs and Wilfrid Brambell who played Mr. Dolls. Brambell is well known for his iconic role as Albert Steptoe in Steptoe and Son. What I have found interesting in how many of these programs he turns up in during the 1950s. Just of ones that I have seen apart from this one, he is in the 1954 adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four and also in Quatermass II. Also seen in this is Barbara Lott, Melvyn Hayes and William Mervyn who I have always enjoyed in such series as Mr. Rose and All Gas & Gaiters.

The overall production for Our Mutual Friend is sleek yet simple. Things like the opening credits are very simple yet engaging. I think it can be said for all of these productions, I am easily engaged with what is happening. As a live production it is not all studio bound as there is a great amount of pre-filmed sequences to not only keep the story moving but to allow a greater breathe of scope to the production. It has been fun to see how BBC production changes throughout a span of 10 years with these releases.

Great Expectations
2-DVD set  (Main Feature: 250 min)
Released by the Simply Media on July 3rd, 2017. SRP £19.99 (DVD) 
Subtitles, 1.33:1, Mono Black & White

This is a Region 2 DVD only available from the UK and in the PAL format.

The story of the growth and development of Pip Pirrip adapted by Hugh Leonard. Produced in 1967, this to me, gives us a great example of how a series made in black & white really serves the production well rather than colour. This is a story that has some gritty moments. These are played out very well in this production. Just in the very beginning alone, Pip is accosted by escaped convict, Abel Magwitch. It is frightening and escape seems hopeless. Of course, there is Miss Havisham whose story is tragic on a number of different levels. In fact, being the softy that I am who doesn’t always like watching some of this grittiness, I came to this production with some trepidation. What I found was a production with innovation without being too slick. It’s still a BBC production of its time but there are a couple of things that really stood out for me.

Like I said, some of the grittiness and violence. Violence done to other people. The sets are gritty, even the ones that feature Miss Havisham. She is older and a wealthy spinster but time has stood still for her and everything around her has sort of died. Even the dress she wears shows that there once was a better life to it. In fact, the first scene to feature her is her just her speaking from the other side of the room with the camera slowly dollying up to her. It makes an impact right away that she is someone important. Then we meet her adopted daughter Estella played by the beautiful Francesca Annis. She is a cold young lady who can be extremely harsh as we see when her and the younger Pip meet for the first time. Speaking of gritty, the opening credits may be the most depressing and interesting that I have seen from the BBC. Once again, simple yet very memorable.

One of things I love about these programs especially when we get to the mid to late 1960s are the cast that make it into the production. Simply Media’s one sheet about these programs will point out the better known cast but I like to point out the cast that are not as well known but have made a major impact on television in general. As I mentioned Francesca Annis who has been in many things but one that has always leaped out to me was when she played Lillie. Neil McCarthy played Joe Gargery, Pips Brothr-In-Law. Neil has turned up in many great programs. Basically think of all the great programs of the 1960s into 1970s such as The Saint, The Avengers, Danger Man, Doctor Who, etc and he would have made an appearance. I have enjoyed everything I have ever seen him in. Other notables in this production is Peter Vaughn, Richard O’Sullivan, Hannah Gordon, Bernard Hepton, and Kevin Stoney. Honestly, this is an outstanding production. It is very well-realised.

Dombey And Son
2-DVD set  (Main Feature: 325 min)
Released by the Simply Media on July 3rd, 2017. SRP £19.99 (DVD) 
Subtitles, 1.33:1, Mono Black & White

This is a Region 2 DVD only available from the UK and in the PAL format.

Just like Great Expectations, this is adapted by Hugh Leonard in 1969. Paul Dombey is a wealthy owner of the shipping company called Dombey And Son whose dream is to have a son to continue his business. The story begins when his son is born, and Dombey's wife dies shortly after giving birth. Following the advice of Mrs Louisa Chick, his sister, Dombey employs a wet nurse named Mrs Richards (Toodle). Never reading the book, this serial did not go the way I expected to from the very beginning. Paul Dombey starts off as a successful business man but is extremely flawed by his stubbornness of only acknowledging one of his children; the son he wants to take over his business and refuses to acknowledge his daughter who wants his love. That is a major mistake for him. One of the stories here is the journey of Paul Dombey and his eventual redemption.

If you have not read the book or seen any version of this, I will not go any further into it. That being said, it is a very great serial that in terms of production takes us all over the place to create this world from a long time ago. Not as gritty as Great Expectations it does take us into some Victorian seedy places. Once again, the opening credits are really interesting as it looks like one thing from the first episode but reveals to mean something different by the time we get to the later episodes.

I think in all three productions in this grouping of releases have strong characters but some of the characters in Dombey And Son really are outstanding. Possibly my favourite is Captain Cuttle played by William Moore is a blusterous personality who has a hook for one hand. On the other end of the spectrum is Lucretia Tox played by Pat Coombs. Pat, in my opinion, is one of the most under appreciated actors of the 1960s and 1970s. She has appeared in so many programs such as Hancock’s Half Hour, Up Pompeii, Till Death Us Do Part and many more. She is outstanding in this and your attention immediately moves to her when she is on the screen. Also in this adaptation is John Carson, Gary Raymond, Clive Swift, Moris Fahri, and John Scott Martin. Of course Roland Pickering who plays young Master Paul Dombey looks as though he was born to play a child in a Charles Dickens production.

The one question that hit me immediately about these productions was going to be video quality. These productions are obviously older. I don’t know if any restoration work has been done to them. My guess is that there isn’t but that doesn’t mean these don’t look good, in fact I am very impressed with what I found.  Our Mutual Friend is a telerecording of a live broadcast. If you have ever seen the release of the Quatermass serials, these episodes are better looking than Quatermass II but maybe not quite as strong as Quatermass and the Pit. I am just using those as examples. These are extremely watchable and to be honest, looks better than I expected it to look. Great Expectations is a telerecording from the videotape masters that no longer exist. Any of us who enjoy this type of television from this period of time knows what this will look like. The picture is very strong and sound is very clear. I guess what surprised me the most was Dombey And Son. These are from the 625 videotaped masters. It’s so much easier to assume that videotape masters do not exist for BBC programs from the 1960s but they exist in this case. They look great. There are some tape drop outs which I can understand but from the standpoint of someone who has a deep appreciation for television of this era and one who is keenly interested in how things are archived, this is unique. I love it! To me, this has been the highlight of three discs not just for the video quality but also I like this story the best. (EDITED TO ADD: I was corrected on a forum and double checked on TV Brain that 3 of the episodes are from the original videotape but the rest are telerceordings.)

These are fantastic discs. I think they work on multiple levels. The stories are very well realised and compelling. I think I would prefer these adaptations to anything made in later years. I think they are more realistic and in some cases they are filmed in some of the locations that would either have been around at the time the stories were written or what Dickens had in mind. So many of these old locations are long gone now but they weren’t in the 1960s. Plus just as a side note, I think the covers for all three of these releases are really stylish and stand out!

The other level is one that I personally look at as someone who loves this type of television from the 1960s. I treasure the fact that these are being released. I fear that programs from this era will either be forgotten or just released as a streaming service at lesser quality. If you are a fan of Dickens work, these are a must for your collection. If you are a fan of drama made by the BBC in their heyday of producing outstanding television….this is also a must for your collection. These three discs (sold individually) are Highly Recommended.
Who knows…..seeing that Simply Media released these three Dickens BBC productions including the wonderful 1958 Our Mutual Friend, perhaps they may be coaxed into releasing a set of Rudolph Cartier plays including one I really want to see in good quality, It’s Midnight, Dr. Scweitzer!


My next DVD review for Simply Media will be The Prince of Denmark starring Ronnie Corbett and Rosemary Leach and I can’t wait to watch it!

Do you have feedback, article requests or want to talk about a program but do not want to leave a public comment? Feel free to drop me an e-mail at FTA13867@gmail.com

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Friday, June 30, 2017

TV Times Thursday: Coverage for LWT's Lillie

It’s time for this week’s “TV Times Thursday” where I take an article or something of interest from a past issue of the TV Times (TV listings of ITV programming) and post it here to share with you. This week we post coverage of the London Weekend Television production of Lillie. One article discussing Oscar Wilde (in the production he was played by Peter Egan) and the other article about Cheryl Campbell playing Sarah Bernhardt. This is from the 28/10/78 edition of TV Times. The episode running that week was episode 6 Let Them Say.




TV Times Thursday bonus: Ronnie Barker is a shill and a frightening one at that! Here’s an ad for Vernons Pool with Barker in drag. Enjoy!


If there is an article you remember and want to see from the TV Times, drop us a line at feedback@fromthearchive.co.uk or leave a comment below.

We switch back to Radio Times listings in July.



Saturday, June 24, 2017

TV Times Thursday: Michael Praed talks Robin of Sherwood

It’s time for this week’s “TV Times Thursday” where I take an article or something of interest from a past issue of the TV Times (TV listings of ITV programming) and post it here to share with you. This week we post an article about Michael Praed and how it has been going playing Robin in Robin of Sherwood. This article is published in the 26/05/84 edition of the TV Times and coincides with the final episode of Series 1, The King’s Fool.


If there is an article you remember and want to see from the TV Times, drop us a line at feedback@fromthearchive.co.uk or leave a comment below.




Sunday, June 18, 2017

A Ghost Story for Christmas in June


I could be wrong but I feel that between the US and the UK, the UK is much more interested in the telling of haunting Christmas stories; ones with ghosts with dire consequence. In the US it feels like we still just want warm stories of Christmas miracles or redemption plus lots of cute. Let me tell you right now which I prefer.

There is something really exciting about a good ghost story but one that takes place around Christmas is even more exciting. A while back I did an article about A Christmas Carol and there I did a look at the history of such stories. They certainly existed prior to Charles Dickens ever wrote the story but he made one of the most famous stories of the genre.

Then there is M.R. James. M.R. James was a writer who was known for writing some of the best ghost stories ever. Period. One of the hallmarks of what James wrote included characters that had antiquarian tendencies.  These are people who studied or was aficionados of things past. This is very true of the program I am writing about today. His stories were put into a number of collections over the years but a lot of these ghost stories were written as Christmas Eve entertainment that would be read out loud on that evening. The thought of it is really very cool. The BBC decided to take the idea a little further.

The Treasure of Abbot Thomas TX: 23/12/74

From 1971 to 1978, the BBC created a collection of these stories from M.R.James called A Ghost Story for Christmas. Other stories were done before and after this run but this is the main run of the series. Every year focused on a different story. Each story’s approach was different to the one the year before. The first one made in this series was The Stalls of Barchester in 1971. The Treasure of Abbot Thomas was the 4th entry in this series.

What I enjoyed about this story is how straight forward it is. The story starts off with a séance. To be honest, I would have thought this would have been a big part of the story but as it turns out this is just a prop to show some arrogance to one of the characters. Rev. Justin Somerton has a close friendship with the younger Lord Peter Dattering. Lord Dattering looks up to Rev. Sommerton and is his mentor. Lord Dattering invites Rev. Sommerton over to his mother’s house as he is sure that his mother has no respect for him. The hope is that Rev. Sommerton can show her what a good, intelligent person Lord Dattering can be.

Lady Dattering has been using the talent of a medium, Mrs Tyson, to hold séances to get a hold of Lady Dattering’s late husband. Most nights she has success but tonight will not be a good night for her because of Rev. Sommerton. Rev. Sommerton accomplishes two things with this visit. First, to bolster the reputation of his friend Lord Dattering to his own mother but also to show Lady Dattering that the séances are faked. This is obviously horrible for Lady Dattering but it is best that she knows. There is something else that both Rev. Sommerton and Lord Dattering are interested in more than séances.
The research that Rev. Somerton has put into the monastery has uncovered that the Abbot Thomas had a treasure hidden somewhere currently at the monastery and also the possibility that he dabbled in alchemy which is the attempt of turning ordinary metal into gold.

Rev. Somerton is intrigued to find this, not for the money but for the quest. What he doesn’t care about is the warning that the treasure is guarded and something bad will happen to him if he takes the treasure. The two get a lot of clues in Latin but the real break though comes when they find some hidden writing on a stain glass window in the monastery. This is leads them to the roof of the church.
From the top, they can see where the treasure could be located. One night, Rev. Somerton goes out there alone which leads him into underground catacombs on the monastery grounds. He paces himself off to make sure he gets to where he needs to go to get the treasure based on the clues he received. He gets to the right place and as he bursts the stone wall, a ton of black sludge and slime pours out plus someone is down there in the catacombs ready to attack him. He makes a hasty retreat to go back up to his room but something else happens. The black slime follows him to his room. It starts seeping under his doorway. It appears to do this nightly which makes the Rev never wanting to leave his room.

Once Lord Dattering is able to see Rev. Somerton, the Rev. begs Dattering to take the treasure back thinking that once the treasure is returned, he will be left alone and his health will return to normal. Lord Dattering returns the treasure and the two go to Lord Dattering’s mothers place where they await for a doctor to care for Rev. Somerton’s illness resulting from the ordeal in the catacombs. As we see a doctor make his way up the path, his friends leave him to the doctor but we find out it is the Abbot, himself from the dead, coming to collect him.

Rev. Somerton suffers from greed. Not greed of monetary value but of knowledge. He wants to solve the mystery of where this treasure is located. This is a great example of someone of the M.R. James books who is an antiquarian. He is interested in finding out what happened to it. It’s interesting, without knowing this story at all, I really thought Lord Dattering was the one who was extremely interested in the treasure for monetary gain. That wasn’t the case at all.

One of the things I really liked about this production was that it was short. What I mean by that is that it was a tight story that moved quickly. Shot on film, there is a lot of great touches to the production. One thing which stood out for me was every time a clue was revealed, we would get a glimpse of a presence that was foreshadowing what would happen to Rev. Somerton. When they figured out the hidden writing on the stain glass window, something shadowy flew by on the other side of the window. Later something attacked Somerton on the roof of the monastery.

Original Radio Times Listing
With the whole production on film, there is this sort of foreboding feel with the events that are taking place. I touch on this a little in my article for Count Dracula. It’s how there might be a sunny day but it still feels very ominous. Something nasty lurking in the background. It might just be the film stock used but it adds so much atmosphere to the production. What also adds a lot to the production is the location used for this. It is grand and very beautiful. The DVD for this set was put out by the BFI and includes a filmed introduction by the director, Lawrence Gordon Park, who said the church was unsure if they wanted the BBC back as the year before the production of Canterbury Tales was shot there and they shot all sorts of naughty things within the church and Park needed to assure them that wasn’t going to happen in this production.

Park’s direction of this production is very strong. Like I mentioned before, this script is very good and Park was really happy with the script as delivered. The music adds a great deal of atmosphere to everything. It was composed by Geoffrey Burgon who created a soundtrack that had a lot of eerie chanting to it. It is along the same lines of what he would go on to write for his soundtrack for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. He also did the music for the Doctor Who stories Terror of the Zygons and The Seeds of Doom.

As for the cast, Rev. Somerton was played by Michael Bryant. He was in another ghostly Christmas stories of sort as he played Peter Brock in The Stone Tape. Paul Lavers played Lord Peter Dattering. This appears, at least from IMDB, to be his first television role. It is curious to see Mrs. Tyson, the fake medium, was played by Sheila Dunn who was Douglas Camfield’s wife. I guess curious because I personally haven’t seen her in much else other than her appearances in Doctor Who. Her husband, in the production, was played by Frank Mills which puts a smile on my face. He would later play the character Fig Newton the private detective in Rumpole of the Bailey, which is always one of my favourite series. Finally, the Abbot was played by John Harrington. Those who have seen this, the scholar in the library that we would briefly see in some scenes is also the Abbot, right? It feels like great pains are made for us to catch a glimpse of him.

This production has many of my favourite elements in a production to evoke this kind of gloomy atmosphere in plain sight. I love the clerical setting of churches or monasteries, chanting music and just a ghost story. Although it is A Ghost Story for Christmas, there are no Christmas elements to the proceedings which I am quite alright with. What we end up with is very good production moves at a good pace and is a great story.

Have a great week!
 Do you have feedback, article requests or want to talk about a program but do not want to leave a public comment? Feel free to drop me an e-mail at FTA13867@gmail.com

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Thursday, June 15, 2017

TV Times Thursday: Guest Editor John Le Mesurier

It’s time for this week’s “TV Times Thursday” where I take an article or something of interest from a past issue of the TV Times (TV listings of ITV programming) and post it here to share with you. I thought this was rather fun. It is from 28-12-68. It is a weekly piece in TV Times called “It Makes Me Laugh” where they bring in weekly guest cartoon editors. This week’s editor was none other than John Le Mesurier. At this point his ATV series George and the Dragon ended in October but another series started earlier that year in July on the BBC for him called Dad's Army.


If there is an article you remember and want to see from the TV Times, drop us a line at feedback@fromthearchive.co.uk or leave a comment below.