lucky nothing has been lost

G

gremlin

Dedicated Member
i was reading members opinions on how "pilot " programmes for so many had been rejected and subsequently lost so to speak....we must count ourselves lucky that we have every episode safe...even successful programmes have had their losses. For example "Doctor Who" where episodes were simply wiped or lost, or Dads' army where again the cost of video tape at production level was so high the originals were wiped and lost; thankfully copies of some of these have been found in skips and garden sheds , but still gaps remain.......everything produced regarding summer wine is out somewhere there, safe thank goodness :) :) :) :)
 
Had the series begun just a few years earlier, I think it would have been very likely some episodes may have got lost.

It does daft even then the BBC couldn't recognise the potential in repeats and oversea sales. No one could predict the cult status they would later achieve.

I would like to see the remaining three missing Dad's Army back where they belong. In the meantime, I can't understand why someone can't cobble together some tv programmes consisting of the radio versions, and the many photographs that there surprisingly are for those three episodes.

Would make a very good DVD extra.

In fact would make a very good DVD.

As regards to missing LOTSW, there is an unofficial episode that does elude us - Ernie's Pension Fund, which was a British Rail Corporate video.

Wouldn't mind a copy of that for Christmas.
 
There was also an attitude change about the nature of TV from the 70's onwards it would seem.

From the BBC.

"One of the reasons why TV programmes weren't recorded is that people really didn't think in that way. They didn't see television as a permanent medium. They saw it as something that was transmitted, went out live, and was finished. A bit like if you go to the theatre, you don't expect to see a recording of that theatre performance. There's quite a well-known book of television criticism written in the early 1960s called 'The Ephemeral Art', because that's how people viewed it: as something that went out and was gone."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/tv_archive.shtml?chapter=3
 
Very interesting statements from the BBC. Interesting to note how even now they would consider junking some episodes of long running gameshows, just keeping a few episodes as examples.

I don't know how they keep new recordings in their archives, but would have thought even the most awful shows should be kept in some form, even if just on a cheap blank dvd if that saves space and money.
 
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