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! 

Direct Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/fromthearchive/From_the_Archive_Ep.1-Chris_Perry_Pt_1.mp3

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.

Direct Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/fromthearchive/From_the_Archive_Ep.2-Chris_Perry_Pt_2.mp3

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.

Direct Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/fromthearchive/From_the_Archive_Ep.3-Tristan_Birttain-Dissont_Pt_1.mp3

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! 

Direct Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/fromthearchive/04-From_the_Archive-Tristan_Brittain-Dissont_Pt_2.mp3

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!

Direct Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/fromthearchive/05-From_the_Archive-Sue_Malden.mp3

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.

The East Cheam Repertory Company Presents: Hancock's Forty-Three Minutes

One of the greatest television series that you may have never seen is a series from the 1950s into early 1960s called Hancock’s Half Hour. This series starred comedian Tony Hancock and was a great series which highlighted a couple of things that were not done at the time in BBC comedy but is now very familiar to us. The series which was written by Galton & Simpson would later bring us the great series Steptoe and Son but here they took Tony Hancock and turned him into a character of the series. Tony Hancock did not play any specific character that had its own name, the character’s name was Tony Hancock. In this fictitious world, Tony Hancock often worked for the BBC, just like the real Tony Hancock. This Tony Hancock sometimes had his own radio series called Hancock’s Half Hour, just like the real Tony Hancock. In fact, all the main characters kept their names. In the TV version that was really just Tony Hancock and Sid James. In the series, Hancock may have the same profession of the real Hancock but that’s where it ended. In the TV/radio series, Hancock was talentless; the real one was extremely talented. Sid James was basically a minor criminal and a con man in the series, constantly trying to get Hancock to enter into one of his dodgy schemes.

Watching Tony Hancock and Sid James on Hancock’s Half Hour is simply sublime. I dare anyone to watch 3 episodes and not be taken by the charm and wit of not only the superb scripts but the chemistry between Hancock and James. It is so good. A personal favourite of mine is from Series 5, The Economy Drive. These two performers are at the height of their success in the series. It’s a shame these episodes are not re-ran more as they are so much fun to watch. In 1957 there was going to be a Christmas themed episode that would air of Hancock’s Half Hour. When I originally watched this a couple of years ago for the first time, I figured I would be in for a treat as I have been enjoying the series but never got around to this particular episode. Seeing that it was 43 minutes opposed to the usual 30, I was really looking forward to seeing what trouble Hancock would get into and what sort of scheme Sid James was planning. Sadly, I would be disappointed when I watched Hancock’s Forty-Three Minutes and I had not seen that episode since. Now, the time had come where this episode was picked for my holiday viewing. Now being more familiar with the series, would my views on this yuletide edition change?

Hancock’s Forty-Three Minutes TX: 23/12/57

A lot of comedy utilizing comedians done in the UK at the time of this series was variety shows. In some ways it wasn’t too far off from Vaudeville. I personally am not a big fan of that type of program and prefer something with some continuity that is more along the lines of a sitcom such as Hancock’s Half Hour. Unfortunately, Hancock’s Forty-Three minutes is a variety show with a lot of different acts. The premise of the special still fits into what the core of the series is about. Hancock is doing a broadcast for the BBC from Television Theatre and has stupidly left the booking of the acts to his “business manager” Sid James. As Hancock is on stage, since the special has already started, Sid comes out to let Hancock know that not only does he not have any acts but there is no money left. Sid has basically used the money to buy drinks down the pub. After some banter back and forth Sid let’s Hancock know that he did gets some acts and to start with there are some dancing girls!

Suddenly a chorus line of large overweight women come out dressed as dancing girls can-canning across the stage. Hancock is shocked by what he sees and tried to stop them by putting all his weight behind them. Cue the fat jokes! Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a fat joke like anyone else but this is Galton and Simpson writing this episode. They are some of the best scriptwriters ever. It seems a little too lowbrow humour for me. We will see the dancers back a couple of more times and each time with the same level of quality jokes. What does make me smile though is that there are a couple of times when Hancock makes some kind of fat joke about them that one of them is visibly smiling and is about to laugh. That makes it a little bit better for me.

What else could follow up a fat joke other than a trained monkey in a suit doing tricks on stage,  Now, at this stage if you are a big fan of Hancock’s Half Hour and is reading this, please know that I know what Galton & Simpson were trying to do with this episode. Hancock does not want a program at the level we are getting but these are the types of acts that Sid is hiring. Hancock would see a Vaudeville type program below him yet this would be all that Sid knows. This is a knock on those types of programs with a couple of other things thrown in. This is another example of how nothing ever works for poor Hancock. I do get it. I just don’t enjoy it. To my point at the beginning of the paragraph, I am not a fan of animals doing tricks. That’s just me. The audience on the show enjoyed it; hell even the chimp appears to enjoy it.

Now, there are some funny parts to it. Such as prior to the chimp and his owner on stage, Hancock and two other people (including Mario Fabrizi from The Army Game) juggle with each other which ends with all of them basically throwing stuff at each other which nearly erupts into a fight between them. Max Geldray did a couple of songs with his harmonica. Max was a regular on The Goon Show. We get a fun segment where Sid brings out a paper tearer who leads Hancock to think the man will tear the paper and make new designs out of it. In actuality, the paper tearer just takes pieces of paper and tears them up. Then we get the Keynotes.

The Keynotes were a group of musicians that played with Vera Lynn on her program. They make an appearance on this program as one of the big acts. They sing 2 songs, “Wake Up Little Suzy” and “Gypsy in my Soul”. The good news is that they are talented. The bad news is that they are so cheesy. With every camera angle change, The Keynotes do this sweeping head movement to go to the next camera angle. There is about 4 people doing this and it is hilarious. It isn’t a simple head movement change but more the heads move in an exaggerated way in unison. They went to the Lawrence Welk School of Choreography for sure. I am also aware that this is how performances were done back then; that doesn’t make it any better.

We end this extravaganza with a retelling of The Three Musketeers with special guest John Gregson. It’s the usual sort of thing. The scene is planned out well but different things interrupt the flow of the scene so “hilarious” mistakes are made. For example, John Gregson is “late” to the performance and the part where he should enter the scene in a dramatic fashion is multiple different scenarios so they redo that part multiple times by opening the door where Gregson should be waiting. One of the times it’s the chimp. I am not saying this isn’t funny, it’s just by the time we get to it I am no longer into it. I am bored by the whole thing at this point which frustrates me. I love Hancock’s Half Hour and I love older television. I just think this is a poor effort for the series.

It is interesting with John Gregson in the episode. He is a name that I am not familiar with and I needed to look him up. In some ways, he may be a casualty of the era. I know a ton of British actors but his name was unfamiliar to me and this was even after looking up his credits to see what he has done. This is not to impugn the success and credit of this actor but he is a rare one that I have not heard of before. As I mentioned before this episode had Mario Fabrizi, Max Geldray, John Vere and also Dennis Chinnery who many people will recognize from Doctor Who Genesis of the Daleks and The Twin Dilemma. Chinnery appeared in quite a few Hancock Half Hour episodes and always plays the “straight” man which he does very well. Someone else who plays that role well in this series even though he was not in this episode is Hugh Lloyd. Fantastic stuff!

Although I didn’t think much about this episode, I did treat myself to three episodes of the radio series which were Christmas related:

Hancock’s Happy Christmas TX: 23/12/56

The radio episodes are different from the TV episodes as Hancock not only has Sid James but also has Hattie Jacques (a personal favourite of mine) as Hancock’s secretary Ms. Pugh, Bill Kerr and also Kenneth Williams who plays all sorts of characters in the most brilliant way. In this episode Hancock is very bah-humbug about Christmas but ends up being lumbered with some children at an orphanage to give them a great Christmas. This is not a warm and fuzzy Christmas where Hancock warms to them. In fact the kids end up blackmailing everyone into giving them more presents. The children really make this episode and it is a delight.

Bill and Father Christmas TX: 25/12/58

Bill still believes in Father Christmas even though he is in his 30s. Hancock has to dress up every year as Father Christmas to keep the charade going. Bill finds out only to mentally revert to his 8 year old self due to the huge disappointment. The doctor who is checking out Bill’s condition tells Hancock, Sid, and Ms. Pugh to play along with Bill as if they were his old friends in Australia to help him break out of this. Bill associates Sid and Ms. Pugh with friends he had back home but of course he associates Hancock with a kid he never liked. Warren Mitchell guest stars in this episode.

The Christmas Club TX: 22/12/59

Hancock keeps putting a bit of money away every week with the pub so he can have a nice payout in time for Christmas. This will afford him a nice extravagant Christmas meal. The payout is over £50 which is a huge amount back then. What a shame that Sid accidently gives the envelope with the cash in it to the Police rather than the money they were asking for to give to their charity to help people with nothing. Now Hancock and Sid are the ones who have nothing at Christmas.

Even though the TV and radio series have the same name, there is a lot that distinguishes them from each other. They are both brilliant for their own reasons.  Unlike later TV series such as Dad’s Army and Steptoe and Son that remade the TV episodes in radio episodes, all of the radio Hancock Half Hour episodes are completely different than the TV versions. They are not the same. The only thing they have in common apart from Hancock and Sid James is that they are hilarious. If you haven’t seen the series or listened to the radio series, try and seek it out. Especially the radio series, I think is timeless. It’s a great series especially if you are having a down day. You may want to know that the BBC is an equal opportunity wiper. Both TV and radio episodes of Hancock’s Half Hour are missing. Though to be fair, though some episodes are legitimately missing, I do not know if some were just never recorded because of telerecording technology for the TV series. The show was broadcast live.

Sad News……

Even though it was known he was ill, it still greatly saddens me that Gerry Anderson passed away this week at the age of 83. He had been suffering with mixed dementia. Gerry was responsible for a whole style of filmmaking called Supermarionation. I fell in love first with The Thunderbirds and then anything I could get a hold of that he had his hand in making. The outpouring of sadness from people I have been reading on forums is very nice to see. It is also nice to see that so many people who had met him tell of what a warm and approachable person he was. Very soon, I plan to do a write up about him as I will watch an episode from each of the series that I have of his in my collection. That will be that day sorted and it will be a lot of fun to watch.

Next week: I will write about a series that I have watched and loved for a very, very long time yet has never come up for this blog. I will take a look at 2 episodes of the very classic series Fawlty Towers: Waldorf Salad and The Kipper and the Corpse as I take a master-class in comedy from the great John Cleese!

Have a great week and see you next year!

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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