One of the biggest changes compared to last year is the broadcasters. Having already waved goodbye to TWW a tad earlier, at the end of July 1968 ABC and Rediffusion were ushered out to form Thames Television and ATV also left London. In their places, Harlech entered Wales and the West, ATV took over the Midlands for seven days instead of five, and Granada similarly increased its days in the North West. With the North having been divided in two, Yorkshire came into, er, Yorkshire, and London was shared between Thames and the new London Weekend Television. I really love that the weekend split now begins on a Friday evening at 7pm. It seems appropriate as most people feel geared up for the weekend at that time. I’m sure LWT were keen on this too, as it meant they broadcast for three evenings a week instead of just two.

This week my ITV programmes are coming from ATV, Border, Thames and LWT.

17th June
The Miracle of Bali ‘Night’
BBC-2

I last watched David Attenborough in 1961. Since then he’s been to Australia and down the Zambezi river in Africa. But mostly, he’s been quite busy being the Controller of BBC-2 and this year becomes Director of Programmes at the BBC.

I don’t know much about Bali so was looking forward to this documentary. If you’re one of the lucky people watching in colour this evening, you’re in for a real treat. Tonight’s episode shows numerous rituals and ceremonies, many of which use magnificent costumes and decorations. You do have to be incredibly fortunate though as in 1968 only 75,000 colour television licences were sold. The price of both the sets and the licence must have put plenty off; a monochrome licence cost £6 [£105 in 2018, allowing for inflation] compared to £11 [£190] for a colour one.

We first see a funeral and though this might seem odd, we are told that it is a celebration in Bali. They are lavish and I was shocked to be told that corpses may lie in shallow graves for years while families save up for the funeral. We are also shown two young girls being put into a trance so that gods may come and possess them. Probably the strangest event is two men becoming possessed by pigs. This is only performed in some of the most remote villages. With straw and other materials tied to them, they shuffle around on hands and feet. Men in a trance like this can “possess superhuman strength” and this is demonstrated when it comes to undo the trance, with several men being needed to hold the ‘pigs’ down.

18th June
ATV Today
ATV

This short feature marks the two millionth Mini being rolled off the production line at the British Leyland factory at Longbridge in Birmingham. The Mini had revolutionised the small car market and sales galloped ahead as various stars from The Beatles to Twiggy were seen with them. Sir Alec Issigonis, who designed the Mini, is interviewed about his thinking behind the Mini as well as his thoughts for the future. He seems sceptical about a car smaller than the Mini but admits they are looking into it. The Italian Job was released a few weeks ago and the Mini is one of the stars . This must have had an impact as just two years later the original Mini would achieve its greatest ever sales at 318,475.

It Takes a Thief ‘The Galloping Skin Game’
Thames

Having never heard of this programme before, I decided to watch it based purely on its intriguing title. Robert Wagner plays Al, a former thief now employed by the government to put his skills to more positive uses. In this episode he’s been asked to make sure some important papers don’t get into the wrong hands. But as he finds himself dealing with a fellow criminal, he needs a cover so also steals a necklace.

The titles are wonderful. They are full of images of luxury like casinos, of Al smooching with women, foreign locations – it’s very James Bond and I’d even say our rebellious Al is slightly cooler than 007. Al is a likeable, witty character and I warmed to him right away. He has an uneasy relationship with his superior, who holds the threat of sending Al back to prison over his head and these comments filled in a nice bit of background for this new viewer.

Nick Grobbo is the fence Al finds himself crossing and he is played with utterly charming villainy by Ricardo Montalban, whose slight accent can be traced to his birthplace of Mexico. He has a beautiful voice and I could listen to him speak for hours. His henchman, Willy, is played by Richard Kiel, who must have conquered a line in such parts as this is a more refined role than that I saw him playing in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in 1968. He wears a suit and generally acts more dignified while Nick makes threats against Al’s body.

I really liked It Takes a Thief and upon looking him up, I’m delighted to discover that Montalban appears as Nick in another episode. I will definitely be watching another and hoping to discover a little more about Al’s past.

19th June
On the Buses
Border

I had seen an episode of LWT’s On the Buses before but I didn’t remember being too keen. I didn’t dislike it but I didn’t instantly love it either. I did, however, quite like this episode. There were a lot of characters to meet but as they could pretty much all be classed as Stan’s mother, aunt or something-in-law, I didn’t need to keep up with them.

It’s the visit of Stan’s aunt, accompanied by her enormous dog, that upsets the house’s sleeping arrangements, leading to Stan attempting to share a bed with his brother-in-law, Arthur. With his freezing feet, he is less than ideal company.

There are plenty of things that make this episode of its time. Auntie’s conversation with Stan’s mother stands out most though. Auntie is enquiring about Stan’s lack of a girlfriend and says, “He’s not gonna turn out like Uncle Herbert?” and when Stan’s mother explains this with a limp wrist it makes it quite clear. They never used to talk about this uncle – “But it’s alright now ’cause it’s legal.” But it isn’t alright, is it? Auntie could have asked, “Is he a bit…?” yet she wants reassurance that Stan isn’t. It’s ok perhaps, so long as it isn’t one of us. Their tones show that it isn’t. The fact that she won’t just come right out and say, “Is Stan by any chance one of those homosexuals?” shows that it really isn’t ok. But in all honesty, this is not what interests me about these programmes because it’s exactly what I expect from the period. Just like Arthur expecting the women to have his liver on the table when he gets in from work, I find it more remarkable that liver has definitely fallen out of favour as an evening meal.

21st June
Candid Caine: A Self Portrait of Michael Caine
LWT

Michael Caine is someone I associate with London’s swinging sixties. David Bailey’s photographs of him are the first thing that come to mind and they epitomise cool as far as I’m concerned. With rising stars like Caine, having a regional accent would no longer be seen as such a disadvantage for actors. His profile has grown considerably by 1969 due to the success of films like Zulu, Alfie and the Harry Palmer films. The timing of this documentary is unlikely to be a mere coincidence because, as referenced above, his latest film, The Italian Job, came out a few weeks ago.

The documentary follows Caine around, visiting some old haunts as well as seeing him just relax with some friends over a game of snooker. Part of it has a ‘look how far he’s come’ feel as we cut from the outside of his childhood terraced house to his current home, filled with artwork. He certainly conveys his appreciation of what he’s earned.

In between this, Caine chats about various topics and he’s happy to move beyond just himself and his films. He compares cockneys with African Americans and black people in Britain. It’s incredibly strange to him use the word ‘negroes’. Mostly, I cringe at how old-fashioned it sounds being spoken so casually. It’s impossible to date exactly when words became unacceptable and my only reference for this is Richard Burton’s diaries. In October 1968 he writes ‘Sammy Davis Jun. told me […] that it was no longer considered kosher or ‘in’ to call Negroes Negroes but blacks’.

Caine talks about how black people often have jobs like bus conductors or lavatory attendants and comments “Well, those are all the jobs that everybody’s father I knew did.” It was interesting as he compared the way both groups had been oppressed (by the Klu Klux Klan and the aristocracy respectively), told that this was the best they deserved, and was clearly something he felt strongly about.

22nd June
Department S ‘The Mysterious Man in the Flying Machine’
LWT

I had seen an episode of Department S spinoff Jason King, so was curious to see how this would compare. It’s far less over the top and camp than the later series, which I’d found great fun, though I enjoyed this too.

A man is shot on a plane that is revealed to be a mock-up, with tape-recorded sounds being played out. He escapes and Department S are called in to investigate. I found this episode intriguing and quite gripping but by the end I felt like I’d missed something as I wasn’t sure what the plot’s conclusion was supposed to be. Nonetheless, Peter Wyngarde alone is enough to bring me back for more.

What you could have won – missing and unavailable

Here are some of the listings that intrigued me but I was unable to watch this week.

UNKNOWN How – This children’s series shows you how to do all sorts of different things. For instance, this week you can learn how to lie on a bed of nails. I have dim memories of the revived version of this programme, titled How 2.

MISSING The Bruce Forsyth Show – Every episode from this year’s series is missing. Just billed as Bruce Forsyth in this week’s issue of TVTimes, I believe you can never have enough Brucie and would love to see some of his show. This week’s guest is Sid James, which is all the more enticing. In fact, I’m keen on all the guests this series as they include Ronnie Corbett, Cilla Black, Edward Woodward and Harry Secombe.

MISSING Opportunity Knocks! – It seems absurd that so little of this long-running talent show exists, especially as many later stars appeared on it. Hughie Greene is the presenter and his name has appeared several times in the schedules across the last few years so I would like to see some of his work.

MISSING The Gnomes of Dulwich – I’ve seen Terry Scott and Hugh Lloyd in an episode of Hugh and I Spy and enjoyed them. Several of their comedy programmes are missing so it would be great to see any more. This sitcom is written by Jimmy Perry, best known for penning Dad’s Army.

MISSING An Enemy of the State ‘Point of No Return’ – The BBC really got their use of this series before it was wiped. This is its first broadcast on BBC One after being transmitted on BBC Two three times previously. They were clearly sometimes struggling to make proper use of their newer channel as at one point the same episode was being shown on Saturday and Sunday nights each week. ‘Harry Sutton, about to fly to Russia to install one of his firm’s computers in a top-secret steel plant, is trapped into getting information for a man called Hendersort.’ As I like all things espionage-related, this series sounds fantastic.

The post Back in time for TV: 17-22 June 1969 appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

I extended this time travel trip to one week and one day so I could arrive early to catch an edition of my regional news.

18th May
ATV Today
ATV Midlands

Today the Midlands’ local news programme is taking us around Birmingham’s Wholesale Markets. It’s an early start for the reporter who begins in a local caff. It’s all toast, tea and fags. We see one old fellow taking a couple of jugs out and back across to the impressive Smithfield Market building. Inside, you can see the names of all the traders over their pitches. Interviewees play over footage of the going-ons of the markets. They really make Birmingham sound fantastic. Fish caught in Torquay the day before can be in Birmingham before the shops have opened in Torquay. In fact, fish come to Birmingham from various countries and the punters rate the quality. In a time before motorways became so widespread, this seems quite an impressive feat for the Midlands.

There’s also affection for the jovial atmosphere of the place, with one young man commenting, “I love working down here – it’s fantastic. I wouldn’t work anywhere else now.” The interviewees are a mixed bunch as some have local accents while others are much more RP. It’s great to hear them as though regional accents are becoming more common, the Midlands still feels underrepresented. It would have been nice to see what they all looked like but there isn’t the time on this short seven minute feature.

19th May
The Avengers ‘Room Without a View’
Rediffusion

The first half of series 5 has recently finished so Rediffusion has decided to repeat random episodes from series 4, although next week they will take a break for the Ice Skating World Professional Championships. While I had seen the odd episode, the True Entertainment channel’s decision to show ABC’s The Avengers from the beginning last year gave me the chance to become properly acquainted with the show. I grew fond of the charming, beautifully dressed Steed and the arse-kicking Cathy Gale. I’ve only seen as far as series 3 though, making this a step forward for me.

I hope 1960s’ audiences were able to appreciate the switch from videotape to film because for me it’s a huge difference compared to the earlier series. Not only is the picture better but the sound is clearer – I had had to strain, often struggling to hear some of the speech before.

The plot has people being kidnapped and brainwashed, believing they are somewhere in Manchuria. In fact, it’s a tape player and a couple of oriental guards through the back of a wardrobe in a London hotel. Steed plays the part of a food critic wonderfully, mentioning that a meal was ruined by the use of salted instead of unsalted butter. Mrs Peel is far too efficient a receptionist though and draws suspicion, resulting in her being gassed and waking up in ‘Manchuria’. When Steed discovers the false back to the wardrobe, he soon finds her cell but first must wrestle the two guards.

I described both the guards as ‘oriental’ because who knows what the one is supposed to be. 1960s’ television has shown me some dodgy make-up and blacked-up characters but this is the absolute champion. With a name like Romo Gorrara, the actor may not be of British heritage but he is definitely a white man and whatever they have done to his eyes does nothing to convince me otherwise. The production team were clearly struggling to find enough stuntmen because putting Gorrara next to Anthony Chinn, who is actually half-Chinese, makes it look all the more terrible.

20th May
George and the Dragon
ABC

I’ve seen ATV’s George before during my first visit to 1968. In this episode George and Dragon argue over the evening’s entertainment with George dismissing Dragon’s old fashioned records. Dragon protectively says they were her mother’s and she loves them. In a tussle, George tries to wrench them from her and they smash on the floor. There’s an audible intake of breath from the audience who were clearly as pained as this viewer. Dragon announces she’s leaving and we next see her at a bus station cafe.

A truck driver attempts to chat her up, only for each male member of the household to appear – George, Ralph the gardener, and their employer, John le Mesurier. The truck driver is astonished that she isn’t married to any of them and is increasingly impressed. As they convince Dragon to come home, he realises he doesn’t stand a chance so steps away and wishes her well.

21st May
I Spy ‘Bridge of Spies’
ABC

Unlike The Saint and other shows, I Spy doesn’t need to put a caption up at the beginning of the episode to tell us we’re in Venice because they’ve actually gone and filmed there it seems. The locations in this episode look fantastic. We are actually proper abroad! It’s so nice to spend some time out of a studio set for a change and they are such beautiful locations. The show really makes the most of them.

Kelly and Scott are a couple of agents playing at being tourists. Kelly is a tennis player, giving the pair reason to travel to various place but in this episode all their spy contacts keep dropping dead before they can speak to them. They struggle to figure out how the enemy is staying one step ahead. Well, maybe Kelly should have spent less time shagging tour guides who make deception plans with lines like, “I will combine high-level socialism with a low cut dress.”

I won’t skip mentioning the one thing that I Spy does, which is that Scott is black, played by Bill Cosby. It’s wonderful that it does go unremarked with no bearing on anything in the episode because the 1960s is not a great time to be black in the US. Only next month will the US Supreme Court will decide that state laws forbidding interracial marriage are invalid. Yet here he is in a starring role! Scott is very much Kelly’s equal and they’re genuine partners. They get on well and I enjoyed watching them together onscreen.

22nd May
Trumpton
BBC One

A lot of things about Trumpton seem familiar; the theme, the animation-style, Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grub. Yet I have no memories of watching Trumpton as a child and a crawl through BBC Genome says it was last repeated several years before my birth. In fact, the only source I can pinpoint for a definite contribution to my familiarity with any of Trumptonshire is Life on Mars. The BBC drama about a police officer trapped in the early 1970s promoted its second series with its lead characters of Sam Tyler and Gene Hunt in Trumptonshire form.

I thought Trumpton was terrific, something I hadn’t expected to find myself writing about a fairly simple young children’s programme. But it’s just so lovely. It reminds me of other children’s shows like Noddy, Postman Pat and Thomas the Tank Engine, which also exist in their own pleasant little towns. I want to get to know the townsfolk. I love that the carpenter is called Chippy. I love that the town has its own rag and bone man. This episode revolved around an old rocking horse that was going to be burned but the carpenter’s son rushed around to save it as he had hidden his savings inside. What a wonderful small drama for the day.

The Invaders ‘Moonshot’
ATV Midlands

Granada are also screening this show tonight, though they are a few episodes behind ATV Midlands. I’d been looking forward to The Invaders for some time as the TVTimes’ synopses always make it sound fantastic and several people had recommended the show to me. Aliens have invaded Earth but as they can shape shift to look like humans, hardly anyone knows about them. David Vincent saw them arrive though and attempts to thwart the threat, struggling to get people to believe him. In this episode, the invaders have infiltrated the space programme, replacing an astronaut with a copy. This was so tense, so exciting – it was just so brilliant. I will definitely be watching more.

24th May
The Baron ‘Countdown’
Granada

While I try to avoid repeating myself across the years, I’d been impressed enough with 1966’s episode of The Baron to want to come back for more, crossing the border into Granadaland after finding it in their schedule for this week. Both ATV London and ATV Midlands have finished their runs of The Baron, broadcasting the episodes in different orders after the first episode. For ATV London, this was the final episode, while ATV Midlands put it as the penultimate one. Granada have placed it as episode 22 out of 30. None of this actually matters as most episodes of ITC programmes stand completely independently and it’s rare to find any continuity woven in.

It was a strong start for me as the guest stars caption appeared with Edward Woodward and Philip Locke. Over the last couple of years I’ve become a big fan of Callan, the spy drama starring Woodward, and haven’t seen him in much else so I was looking forward to his appearance. This episode of The Baron was filmed shortly after he had finished an episode of Armchair Theatre, ‘A Magnum for Schneider’, that was also the pilot for Callan. Philip Locke’s name was also familiar to me, as he appears in the James Bond film Thunderball as a henchman who ‘got the point’ of a spear gun.

The Baron is on his way to meet a man called White who has some information for him. After he falls for the classic fake diversion trick, he’s trapped in a tunnel and gets kidnapped. In a marvellous twist on convention, it’s his female companion, Cordelia, who has to come to his rescue. Philip Locke as Compton poses as the Baron to go meet White but our hero turns up and smacks Compton, giving White the chance to make a run for it. Unfortunately White cops it anyway and the police tell the Baron that he had recently been working for Arkin Morley. The Baron knows Morley, who is a filmmaker as well as a fellow antique dealer. “Morley’s about the largest antique dealer in Europe, isn’t he?” says Codelia. “Yes and about the crookedest.” replies the Baron, which turns out to be a somewhat slanderous statement as the policeman says Morley has never been convicted of anything.

The Baron heads off to see Morley and I find it incredibly strange to hear Woodward (who’s taken 27 minutes to turn up) being so well-spoken. Throughout the episode, when he’s spouting particular venom, the refinement slips for a moment to reveal a much dirtier character beneath. Morley and Mannering exchange some banter and Morley gives away that this is all about a valuable sword, which previously fetched a quarter of a million dollars.

Everything starts to move a lot faster as the Baron and Cordelia head off to a house in search of the sword, but Morley and Compton have followed them. It feels like they have cheated a little by turning up with guns. They lock the Baron and Cordelia up for a bit. Yet it all goes terribly wrong for Morley after he asks Compton to shoot Mannering. Despite having a perfectly clean line of sight with his victim cornered, for reasons we will never know Compton decides to walk within a foot of the Baron, who takes the opportunity to knock the gun away. Morley legs it.

Steve Forrest has several inches on Edward Woodward and once the latter’s poorly-aimed bullets run out, it isn’t looking good. “I’m taking you in,” Mannering tells Morley, though I’m not entirely sure what for. Morley has committed unlawful imprisonment and attempted murder, but the Baron has no evidence of any of this. Also, the Baron knocked Compton about a fair bit before leaving his body on the floor underneath a large stone coffin lid so he could easily be up for manslaughter himself. I’d started to quite like Morley, who has far more witty lines than Mannering and had been a rather cool, cold villain. This last section of the episode has flown by and while I’m enjoying The Baron, I don’t find John Mannering a particularly compelling character – there just isn’t much to him. So far, it’s the plots and the guest cast that are bringing the quality to this show.

25th May
Danger Man ‘The Outcast’
ATV Midlands

I last saw Danger Man back in 1962 and like then this is a repeat from two years earlier. Though I have seen a number of the 25 minute episodes, this was my first of the later 50 minute ones. I’ve enjoyed the half-hour episodes because the action moves so quickly, yet there are some episodes where I’ve felt the plot would benefit from being drawn out. There is a new title sequence too but I really don’t like the music. The other change is that someone has stolen John Drake’s American accent. Maybe he had just spent too long away.

Drake heads off to Spain to befriend a sailor who has gone AWOL from Gibraltar. He is suspected of murdering a WREN who gave away signals intelligence. The sailor, Leo, is played by Bernard Bresslaw and oh gosh he’s just so lovely that I can’t believe he’s done it. Drake pretends to be a slightly dodgy character who is planning to leave for South America, that favourite lawless land so beloved by Nazis and criminals the world over at this time. To show just how awful he is, Drake stages a shooting so that Leo believes he’s murdered a guard. Leo is absolutely horrified but it works as Drake uses it as leverage to get Leo to confess. When Leo finds out who Drake really is, he confronts him with a gun. It soon becomes clear he won’t use it though and it’s rather a sad, pitiful ending.

What you could have won – missing and unavailable

Here are some of the listings that intrigued me but I was unable to watch this week.

MISSING Those Two Fellers – After several years of writing for other people, Dick Hills and Sid Green have their own series with different guest stars each week. Two comedians they have written plenty for over the last few years are Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, who are among the guests this week. Only one series was made and no complete episodes exist.

UNKNOWN Wheelbase – The world of motoring. This episode explores how to manage abroad with the limits of taking currency out of the country, which at the time was capped at £50. While not an insignificant sum, after travel and hotel costs, it probably didn’t leave holidaymakers with a great deal of spending money.

MISSING The Likely Lads ‘Friends and Neighbour’ – Although several episodes of The Likely Lads do exist, this repeat isn’t one of them, making it your last ever chance to see it. I first met Terry and Bob through the radio adaptations of the sequel series, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, before moving on to the same TV series. I’d love to get to know the earlier incarnations of the lads.

MISSING Armchair Thriller ‘The Snares of Death’ – The details given in TVTimes about this episode, starring Alfred Burke, are tantalising. An undertaker’s business is struggling and he ponders what can be done about it. He ‘thinks he has solved his troubles but the plan takes a macabre twist’. There are some colour promo photos with Burke posing over a coffin. His slightly offbeat expressions intrigue me even more.

The post Back in time for TV: 18-25 May 1967 appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

This week my ITV programmes are coming from ABC and Anglia.

5th May
The Fugitive ‘Landscape with Running Figures Part 1’
ABC

I loved 1965’s episode of The Fugitive so couldn’t wait to watch another one. The UK have now reached the third series and the title sequence is a little different. Unlike the previous episode I watched, Dr Richard Kimble is very much on his own for this one. The police get on to him after he accidentally signs out of his job using his real name. It might sound like a rookie mistake, but Kimble is presented as a man who is simply very tired. Working long, late shifts combined with the constant pressure from being on the run has exhausted him. He actually has few lines, yet David Janssen’s acting conveys a great deal.

Lieutenant Gerard is the guy tracking Kimble down and this time his wife is with him. She is incredibly fed up of either being left alone or accompanying Gerard as he moves around the country at the drop of a hat to follow up any leads on Kimble. This is understandable and I had a lot of sympathy for Mrs Gerard. She decides to sneak off and leave him, getting a bus out of town. After some hitchhiking, Kimble ends up on the same bus. When the bus crashes in the middle of nowhere, Mrs Gerard is injured and unconscious. Kimble ends up being the one reluctantly convinced to take her to the nearest town.

This was an interesting episode and I find Kimble such a compelling character. I would never have expected the series to look at the Lieutenant’s personal life. He could just have been a generic cop, but it’s wonderful for him to have more personality and a proper background.

6th May
The Man in Room 17 ‘The Catacombs’
Anglia

Rather confusingly, there are two men in what I presume is Room 17. It has been brought to their attention that a young disgraced academic, Alan Haynes, has returned to Istanbul, enlisted to help hunt for early Christian relics in the catacombs. They are suspicious of his motives and have someone disguised as a priest keep an eye on things. Haynes is actually trying to be a decent chap again, desperate to return to academia, but his girlfriend and his financier are planning to do him over.

Between all the action in Istanbul, we repeatedly cut back to the men in Room 17 so they can have some banter and direct the operation. They look like civil servants and one of them moans about how long it takes to get a line to the Middle East so I presume they are based in London. It seems bizarre to have your central characters office-based. They didn’t seem to do a lot and the story could probably have been reworked without them. Mostly, they just provide exposition. However, I never found their scenes dull and enjoyed the whole episode. I thought the character of Haynes was particularly well done and I would be intrigued to see how the men in Room 17 are used in other episodes.

7th May
Dr Who ‘Don’t Shoot the Pianist’
BBC-1

This is episode two of the story that has come to be known as ‘The Gunfighters’. While I’ve since discovered this is something of a ‘marmite’ story for fans, I remember loving ‘The Gunfighters’ when I first watched it so I was looking forward to it. The Doctor, Steven and Dodo find themselves in the Wild West. There is another doctor in town, Doc Holliday, and several people want him dead. However, they don’t know what he looks like and Doc Holliday takes the chance to let them mistake the Doctor for Doc Holliday.

There’s a lot of singing in this story and the episode begins with Steven and Dodo being forced to sing in the saloon. I am astounded Steven hasn’t already been shot for the shirt he’s wearing. It’s absolutely ghastly. The recurring song throughout is ‘The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon’ and many people have said how much it grates. I never watched the whole story arc in one go and I think that, one episode at a time, it isn’t really that bad. For a programme that usually lacks much incidental music, it makes a change.

If you can cope with ‘The Ballad…’, the only other thing to get over is that there isn’t a single genuine American accent among the cast. The cowboy impersonations are all of varying quality, with the best undoubtedly coming from Canadian Shane Rimmer, whose voice would be familiar to many viewers from Thunderbirds where he voiced Scott Tracey. There are dodgy accents aplenty in 1960s’ television. Half the fun sometimes is trying to guess whether someone is playing German or Russian, and it seems that anyone can put on a bit of make up to play a generic Arab. Just how convinced the contemporary audiences were, I can only guess. However, as I noticed during my time travel through earlier years, there were a lot of Westerns on telly and while the volume had decreased by 1966, they are still being shown regularly. A decent proportion of 1966’s viewers were used to hearing cowboys so knew what they should sound like.

I can look past this though because ‘The Gunfighters’ is not an entirely serious story. There’s more comedy written in than in most Dr Who stories and the plot is a lot of fun. It’s the best way to approach the story as while the viewers were used to seeing Westerns on telly and at the pictures, being surrounded by this many shoot-outs has never been the Doctor’s thing. The man himself sums this up in ‘Don’t Shoot the Pianist’ when he says, ‘People keep giving me guns and I do wish they wouldn’t!’.

8th May
The Baron ‘Epitaph for a Hero’
Anglia

I was curious about The Baron because, as with Man in a Suitcase, it was a single series ITC show that I knew nothing about and I have come to hold ITC to high standards. Another similarity turned out to be that both shows have an American lead. I still haven’t quite figured out who John Mannering is and I certainly haven’t worked out how he came by his nickname. In this episode, he goes to the funeral of a former army colleague, only to later discover he’s still alive. Mannering is forced into helping to commit a jewel theft.

Our hero seems to work for some sort of intelligence agency and had support from them throughout this episode, although that became something of a hindrance when one young lady got caught and she was used to blackmail him. Never mind – that’s what young ladies are generally there for in. It struck me as odd though as most of the ITC leads I have watched work alone and get minimal back-up; John Drake (Danger Man) , Simon Templar (The Saint), McGill (Man in a Suitcase) and Number Six (The Prisoner) usually have to get on with everything themselves. If they do employ assistance, it’s from one-off characters each episode. Yet this does seem to change later on. The Champions is a proper team affair, Marty (Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)) helps Jeff as much as a ghost can, and The Persuaders! brings together a wonderfully well-suited duo. Having more than one regular character does create a different dynamic and The Baron predates all three of these so I’d be curious to see more of how the series explores this.

Horizon ‘Man in Space’
BBC-2

Many children dream of becoming astronauts and the 1960s much have been an incredibly exciting time as humanity regularly completed many ‘firsts’ in space travel. Though technology has advanced considerably and there are no doubt many things done differently, I was still fascinated by this documentary. Have you ever wondered how astronauts rehydrate their food? How exactly do you pee in space? All this and more was answered when the BBC sent a journalist to interview astronauts in Texas.

9th May
Blue Peter
BBC-1

This episode is from January but aside from being wished a happy new year, I’m sure it makes little difference. As a young child, I found Blue Peter dull yet ended up finding it more interesting as I got older.

As the familiar music plays out, one of the presenters, Valerie, is demonstrating a Spirograph. For me, this is an incredibly commonplace toy. Surely everyone knows what they are? Yet the Spirograph only came out in 1965. Perhaps its appearance on Blue Peter helped as soon it was flying off the shelves (you can pick up original versions for pence on a well-known auction site) and, in 1967, it would be named Toy of the Year.

In the studio today is John Riding, who took the smallest ever boat across the Atlantic. The 12-foot boat is there too so we can see the scale. John tells Chris all about the journey, including shooting at various vicious mammals to keep them at bay.

The most unexpected part of the programme was a hand-drawn, narrated Black Beauty serial. Helpfully, Chris fills us in on the story so far, which was excellent for me because I had no previous knowledge of Black Beauty. This went on for what seemed like a while and was probably the longest segment in the programme, yet I really enjoyed it. It was also a good way of breaking up what seems to be a very studio-bound show.

We end today with a section on animals in need of adoption, with cute pictures included. There is an update on a cat, Holly, who was posted through a letterbox with ten shillings and a note attached, asking to find her a home. You can stop saying ‘aw!’ though as she’s got a new big family. However, there is now Shep, who has grown into a massive three-foot-tall dog. There is no covering up here, with Chris telling all those children watching that if lovely Shep doesn’t get a home, “I’m afraid he’ll have to be destroyed.”

11th May
Call My Bluff
BBC-2

This is a 1965 edition of the programme. What I like most about the format of Call My Bluff is that you can play along at home. The format is simple enough: one team give three definitions of a word and the opposing team have to guess which is correct. If they get it right, they get a point, if the other team successfully fool them, then they get one instead. It’s easy enough to pick up and was even easier for me because the modern series of Would I Lie To You? runs a similar format.

Among the more random things I liked from the show was the sound effect when the word generator whirred and the CRACK when it finished. I’m fairly certain the CRACK-type sound was later used in Dr. Who ‘The Mind Robber’ when a superhero from the future, the Karkus, appears.

The host, Robin Ray, introduced the team captains but I didn’t know him, either of them, nor any of their guests, but was delighted that upon looking them up there were a couple described as ‘raconteurs’. I liked Alan Melville best, finding his humour rather dry at times.

What you could have won – missing and unavailable

Here are some of the listings that intrigued me but I was unable to watch this week.

MISSING Marriage Lines ‘Home Market’. This sitcom has reached its fifth series by 1966. The original premise saw Richard Briers and Prunella Scales star as a newly married couple and while the first and third series both exist, outside of those only a single episode from the final fifth series exists.

MISSING Redcap ‘The Moneylenders’ – John Thaw stars as a military police investigator in this drama series. Most of it does actually exist and the few episodes I’ve seen have explored some interesting cases – it’s just my bad luck that this week’s episode is one of those that’s missing.

UNAVAILABLE The Eamonn Andrews Show – This is the oldest episode to exist with footage and a very short clip of the opening is available. This episode includes a celebration of ten years of ABC in the North. Eamonn Andrews’ name is frequently among the TV listings and I enjoyed his easy, relaxed style in the clip so it would be wonderful to see more of him.

UNAVAILABLE From Inner Space – Five men are on an isolated radar base and have been there for months. Julian Glover is among them. ‘Boredom turns them inwards and backwards’.

The post Back in time for TV: 5-11 May 1966 appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

My ITV programmes for 1963 are coming from ATV and ABC.
 

1st April
Fireball XL5 ‘Spy in Space’
ATV Midlands

We’ve moved on from Gerry Anderson’s earlier series, Four Feather Falls, and the puppets of Fireball XL5 do have moving eyes, even if they don’t blink. it makes a big difference as they’re considerably less frightening. Fireball XL5 follows Steve Zodiac, scientist Venus, the Professor and Robert the Robot as they travel through space, facing off against various villains. Since first discovering the series a few years ago, I have found it great fun. The various alien worlds and space stations provide plenty of opportunities for superb model work – including blowing them up. The theme tune is also brilliant.

2nd April
Crane
ATV Midlands

Crane is a cafe bar owner/smuggler based in Casablanca. This series is one of the huge victims of wiping and as a result I’m having to watch an episode from 1965 – one of only a couple to exist. Tonight should actually be the opening episode so we’ll just to have to hope and imagine it was as good as this one. It’s the only episode of anything from my time travels that I have actually seen before.

Crane is offered a job smuggling corn flour and is highly suspicious that he is being duped into smuggling drugs. The plot takes numerous turns and Crane can’t be sure who to trust. One person the audience is sure he shouldn’t trust is Peter Bowles, who plays one of the episode’s baddies. I have seen him play a couple of other dodgy characters in drama series and I think he does an excellent job at portraying charming, posh villainy. Crane also comes up against the local police chief, with whom he has an ongoing strained relationship. I suppose this is something of an occupational hazard for a smuggler.

Among the highlights of Crane is the location filming, which surprised me as it can’t have been cheap. Something as simple as footage of boats that are clearly in the water – not simply half-constructed in a studio – feels momentous compared to many other series. It really helps to give the series a sense of place.

3rd April
Coronation Street
ATV Midlands

It’s one year and one week since I last visited Wetherfield. The main event tonight is Christine breaking off her engagement with Frank Barlow. Last I knew, he was still married to Mrs Barlow but presumably she has passed away. I don’t know what drew Frank and Christine together but it doesn’t appear to be much as Frank talks of them giving it a go and hoping their love will grow. Not unreasonably, Christine wants to actually be in love on her wedding day, something that her uncle thinks is absurd. She should take what she’s got offered. Overall, it’s a moving episode as there are no slanging matches, no big fights. It’s just rather sad. To liven things up, the episode ends with Elsie getting a visit from the landlord’s man who gives her threats of the bailiffs if she doesn’t pay the rent. We’ve learned that the landlord has been neglecting numerous housing complaints in Coronation Street and presumably Elsie is withholding payment in protest. She’s a tough one though and the threats don’t scare her. She tells him to bring it on.

4th April
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour ‘Don’t Look Behind You’
ATV Midlands

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this programme and it seems that Hitchcock’s contribution is simply that of a presenter, with presentation bookending the programme. Some research shows he did direct a small number of episodes but really, he’s here for the undoubted prestige his name brings to the series. I don’t have all that much experience of anthology series but I find it intriguing to see what can be done with a single play. This one is a psychological thriller and there is a killer about. The tension built up during the episode and I was drawn in as more than one of the characters began acting suspiciously. It seems unfair to call this a play as it hardly seems theatre-like. There are numerous sets and some of them are huge.

5th April
Supercar ‘High Tension’
ATV Midlands

It’s puppet time again. Supercar is about a supercar and this week a villain decides to try to obtain it, demanding the vehicle as ransom for a kidnap. Said villain has the wonderful moniker of Master Spy. He is foiled as the good guys trick him because Supercar can be controlled remotely. I’m not quite as taken with this as some of the other puppet series but may still explore more.

7th April
Maverick ‘Triple Indemnity’
ATV London

I last watched Maverick back in 1960 and really liked the lead, Brett. But I was confused when I began this episode and there was no sign of him. Instead, our lead for this episode is Bart and the dialogue later revealed to me that he is Brett’s brother. It turns out they vary who appears in each episode and occasionally team up, which I would now love to see. I soon warmed to Bart too, who wins a game of cards but has his winnings stolen back by a guy who then tries to drive him out of the town he owns most of. Bart eventually teams up with the guy’s own mother to outwit him.

Space Patrol ‘The Swamps of Jupiter’
ABC

Tonight is the very first episode of this new puppet series. This isn’t actually a Gerry Anderson produced series and there are a couple of notable things that set it apart. There is a great lack of incidental music and the series doesn’t open with a distinctive theme. It’s all rather quiet with subtle drum beats and electronic noises, making the opening seem rather ominous. A voice-over explains what Space Patrol is; a combination of men from Earth, Mars and Venus, keeping space safe. We meet some characters and combined with the music I am quite freaked out for a while because, like our old friends from Four Feather Falls, they don’t blink or move their bloody eyes. It’s like going backwards. The sole exception to this is a brief appearance from one female Venusian, who bats her long lashes. The Venusians have high-pitched voices and I didn’t initially realise that one was a male – I just thought this Venusian had short hair.

The plot for this story sees a Space Patrol team sent off to try to contact some scientists on Jupiter, who ceased communications two months ago. This seems a considerably long time to wait before mounting a rescue mission, especially when we then discover it takes several weeks for a team to reach Jupiter from the Space Patrol station. The team consist of Captain Dart, an Earthling, Slim, a Venusian, and Husky, a Martian. On Jupiter, the Captain and Husky discover some invaders have killed all of the scientists. They are also slaughtering the local population, bird-like creatures called Loomi, for their furs, which contain properties that enable them to stay warm. It’s actually a pretty grim thought that someone would be wearing a fur that still contains the warmth of a dead animal. Overall, this is pretty heavy stuff for a children’s programme! To top it off, the two baddies this week come from Mars and in a blatant piece of racism, we discover that all Martians look virtually identical.

What you could have won – missing and unavailable

Here are some of the listings that intrigued me but I was unable to watch this week.

UNKNOWN Overkill: Part 1: The Balance of Fear – looking at nuclear weapons, including ‘the precarious balance of terror under which we all live, and at possible ways in which this balance could be upset’. I would be very interested in the tone of a programme that casually drops ‘ terror under which we all live’ into a description., especially as the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred only six months before.

UNKNOWN Sooty: Sooty in the Garden – I’ve had difficultly establishing the archival status of this particular episode and though it’s a mixed bag of which episodes of the show exist, there is a decent amount. I grew up with the later incarnation of the programme, Sooty & Co., which was presented by Matthew Corbett, son of the original writer and presenter, Harry Corbett. I’ve seen a Christmas episode of the original show and still find watching Sooty and Sweep great fun.

UNKNOWN Keep It Clean – I can’t find anything about this programme, which went out late on a Friday on ATV Midlands, yet the title has intrigued that one tiny mucky corner of my mind.

UNAVAILABLE Comedy Playhouse: A Clerical Error – Galton and Simpson, John Le Mesurier and Yootha Joyce. Yes please.

The post Back in time for TV: 1-7 April 1963 appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

1962

We have one of those lovely years where Sunday here is Sunday there etc. It’s nice when the days of the week match up.

This week all my ITV programmes are coming from ATV. I’ll be in the Midlands all week before finishing up in London for Saturday night. First though, I’ve been lucky/unfortunate enough to embark on a trip abroad.

18th March
Grand Prix Eurovision 1962
NTS (Nederlandse Televisie Stichting – Dutch Television Foundation)

I have never watched the Eurovision Song Contest. Modern talent contests hold little appeal for me and, even though the ESC seems different, the cries of ‘but Terry Wogan!’ and ‘it’s so bad it’s good’ have never managed to convince me. I’ve seen clips. It’s been enough.

The entire presentation was in French – CLT in Luxembourg were the hosts – although BBC viewers had commentary from David Jacobs. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the BBC and was stuck with the Dutch commentary. I was able to identify some words throughout the programme and take a good guess at others but most of it remained a complete mystery.

1962’s Eurovision was a much more static affair than its modern-day version. One of the acts decided to take a comedic turn and ran about the stage and among the orchestra, which proved a nightmare for the cameras, whose operators must have been grateful no one else wanted to do this. Every act was accompanied by an orchestra and a different conductor each time, so I presume they represent the country as well as the singers.

I’d hoped some of the artists might be familiar but even the UK’s entry of Ronnie Caroll with Ring-a-ding Girl didn’t ring any bells (sorry). I did get an interesting surprise when the German act appeared. I did a couple of years of German evening classes and I realised that our teacher had played us this song. This made it one of the only songs where I actually knew what half the lyrics meant.

While initially intrigued, my interest began to wane about 50 minutes in. There seemed to be a good 20 minutes afterwards that consisted solely of the voting results coming through, with a giant scoreboard getting updated. I was ready to fall asleep. To top it all, France won and I thought their song was rubbish.

19th March
Bonanza ‘Vengeance’
ATV Midlands

I managed to avoid the prolific Westerns during 1961 but knew it was inevitable I would encounter them again. This is the second season of Bonanza and I am really surprised to discover that the UK is only about five weeks behind the US run.

It was, well, Western-y. A fellow got shot so his brother decided to try and shoot the fellow who shot him, whose family decided they would probably have to shoot the brother. This seemed less action-driven, with plenty of high emotions and animated discussion.

I realised I had no idea when most Westerns are set and my general stab in the dark has been ‘before widespread US car ownership’. They all dress as cowboys and ride horses. As far as I’m concerned, a 20th-century cowboy probably doesn’t look that different to a 19th-century one.

20th March
Cannonball ‘Shock’
ATV Midlands

This late 1950s’ series is among several repeats this week. Two truckers are asked to give a lift to a guy who they quickly guess is related to the boss. Their passenger is also an alcoholic. They aren’t keen on him but when they encounter a traffic accident, it’s clear the alcoholic is also a doctor.

My medical knowledge is minimal yet I became sceptical about the programme’s realism when the doctor snapped a man’s rib, cut him open, reached a hand in and started pumping the heart. All of this is slightly out of shot, saving the production team the need to show any bloody improvised surgery and saving me from having to endure it. We are supposed to buy that the doctor managed to keep this manual heart-pumping up for over an hour until the ambulance arrived (for a fellow who he had initially pronounced dead) and then, inspired to believe in himself again, would be allowed to return to practicing medicine. Time to get firmly back to reality.

21st March
Coronation Street
ATV Midlands

I am an occasional viewer of Granada’s modern-day Coronation Street. Ever since the show’s 50th anniversary in 2010 when ITV repeated the first episode, I have wanted to see more of the show’s early years. Marvellously, a selection of episodes from each year of the show’s history has been released on DVD. Having watched Coronation Street‘s first few weeks from 1960, I am familiar with most of the characters from tonight’s episode.

Jack Walker has been faking an illness and his wife Annie, The Rovers’ landlady, has found him out. Ena Sharples (my favourite character) declares laundrettes are for lazy people but does then decide to go along to one with Minnie and Martha. I love the dialogue between them here and Coronation Street‘s humour is one of the main reasons I enjoy the programme. The three ladies agree to go to the pictures that evening but Ena never shows up and the other two are annoyed that she has stood them up. The final shot shows us Ena, collapsed on the floor.

British Actors’ Equity Association had been staging a strike since November while trying to negotiate better pay with the ITV companies. The result was an increasingly limited number of new programmes and existing ones, including Emergency – Ward 10 and The Avengers, had their production affected so started to drop out of the schedules. Several months in, the effects are evident in this week’s schedule, which contains numerous US imports and repeats.

However, Coronation Street fared rather well. Although some actors only had short-term contracts and therefore quickly disappeared from the programme, several of the regulars were on long-term contracts so remained onscreen throughout the strike. This did limit the storylines but a little over a year after it started, Coronation Street was consistently featuring in the top ten programmes each week.

22nd March
Midland Montage
ATV Midlands

As far as I can gather, this local programme consisted of various film clips that covered local stuff for local people. I was delighted to find that a clip from this day’s episode was available from the BFI. Our young interviewer begins by interviewing various Irish people, sat on a plane, about to head back home. There is a nurse who came over to train and others who miss family. We then go to see various English people being interviewed. The Irish people were asked how they found England, Birmingham and the English, so likewise the Brummies are asked what they think of the Irish.

You get the feeling the reporter is hoping for a bit of variety, quite possibly a touch of controversy. Unfortunately for him, there isn’t that much from the Irish, who speak positively or just don’t find that much to say.

Reporter: “How do you think Ireland differs from England?”

Irish lady: “Well not much really.”

There was one young lady whose contribution was presumably cut because after the following exchange:

Reporter: “Why are you going back?”

Young lady: “Because I hate it so much over here.”

Nothing is expanded it on and we move on. She did state that she had been living in Coventry so perhaps that was deemed sufficient explanation.

The Midlanders give more of a mixed response.

Man: “I’ve got three mates that are Irish. Alright if they don’t have too much beer.”

One young man with half a tub of Brylcreem in his hair reckons most of the Irish are alright but says:

“The thing I do object to is the way they come to this country to scrounge on us. But I wouldn’t, like, class them all as one. But there are a few that I think ought to be taken back to Ireland where they came from.”

A middle-aged fellow believes sending all the Irish home would be barmy.

“I think Birmingham would come to a standstill.”

Immigration is not a modern political phenomenon but in among the influx from Commonwealth countries like Jamaica, India, Pakistan and, later, Uganda around this time, I think the Irish sometimes get overlooked. The fact this film was made, and that it references another one, demonstrates that Irish immigration to England was considered an important issue. The English people interviewed certainly all have opinions about it and so would the viewers – few as they may be at 11.05 at night.

24th March
Danger Man ‘The Lonely Chair’
ATV London

I’ve seen a number of episodes from Danger Man‘s first series so it is nice to end the week on familiar turf. This episode was first broadcast in October 1960 so it appears it is now getting a late night repeat. Tonight John Drake is assisting a man whose daughter has been kidnapped. The man uses a wheelchair and Drake impersonates him when it is time to meet the kidnappers. Patrick Troughton makes a late appearance as the head villain, using what seems to be his standard foreign accent voice. It is suitably vague enough to possibly hail from a number of countries. I rather like these half-hour episodes because the plot moves so fast. There is no time for your attention to drift else you are likely to miss something.

What you could have won – missing and unavailable

There wasn’t much that grabbed me in the listings this week, although there was one programme that intrigued me.

UNKNOWN
Your Life in their Hands: Depression – ‘More than 5,000 suicides in Great Britain each year – Depression causes a large number of them. Can these tragedies be prevented?; Can depression be cured? From St. Thomas’s Hospital, London’.

Your Life in their Hands normally looked at surgery so this seems like a rather different type of episode. The ‘more than 5,000’ statistic is interesting as, in over fifty years, suicide statistics haven’t varied all that dramatically – in 2016 5,965 committed suicide. I know that suicide was not talked about as much so I was surprised to see this in the listings. This episode would certainly make good viewing, particularly as suicide had been decriminalised less than a year earlier.

Don’t suffer in silence. Talk to someone. Free resources are available via the NHS.

The post Back in time for TV: 18-24 March 1962 appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

I’ve been doing this for a couple of years now. Although I was already interested in a few programmes, an enormous influence on me delving into more was the blog TV Minus 50, run by @hellothisisivan. For over two years, TV Minus 50 followed this week’s TV, 50 years ago. It gave me a look at some shows I knew and piqued my interest in several others. I also always enjoyed Ivan’s commentary and since the blog has finished, I have often continued looking back at this week’s TV 50 years ago.

However, I’ve rarely actually watched it that very week. But now. Have spreadsheet. Will watch. For a month at least. I have kept track of my first week in 1968 here so let’s crank up the time machine…

Conveniently, 15 January is a Monday in 2018 and in 1968. We will keep the same days of the week until the end of February when it all falls apart because 1968 was a leap year and 2018 is not.

Monday 15 January

Lunchtime viewing on BBC One brings us Watch with Mother and today is Monday so it’s Andy Pandy. Filmed in the 1950s, Andy Pandy was repeated for years in the Watch with Mother strand. Like several other children’s programmes, by the time all the episodes had been shown the kids watching them had grown up and a new generation had appeared in front of the screen so they could be shown all over again.

These repeats had long since ceased by the time I first peered into the box in our living room. However, I am actually familiar with Andy Pandy because we were lent a Watch with Mother compilation video. Just how this managed to tear us away from Spider-Man or X-Men cartoons, I cannot say, but that video was watched repeatedly.

Unlike several other young children’s programmes from that era, Andy Pandy is lacking a DVD release. If they can manage it for Muffin the bleedin’ Mule and Torchy the Terrifying Battery Boy, dear old Andy certainly deserves one.

It means I am confined to what YouTube offers so today I found Andy Pandy in the garden, playing on his swing. ‘Do you have a swing in your garden?’ I do not but I do occasionally like to go on the one at the park. Teddy arrived and pushed Andy on the swing. Then the narrator didn’t know what Teddy was doing BUT I DID. He was marching because he wanted to do his marching song. Looby Lou appeared in her pram and though Andy and Teddy pushed her, she refused to move or do anything until they had both gone. She clearly wanted all our attention for herself. Soon it was time to go home. Looby Lou disappeared and Andy and Teddy climbed inside the picnic basket.

My revisit to Andy, Teddy and Looby Lou was wonderfully relaxing. There is something about the slow pace of children’s programming that I rather enjoy. The narrator is Maria Bird and I found her voice familiar and comforting. I don’t want to say it looked cheap but my god they got their money’s worth out of this with the years of repeats.

Early evening now and it’s a Hardy Boys’ serial, The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure. I had heard of The Hardy Boys’ books and was aware they were two young American detectives. This serial is from 1956 so it is safe to assume it’s another repeat. Today is part two of nine.

A young girl claims to have had a blanket thrown over her head and her purse stolen, though it is soon recovered after one of the lads finds it. Suspicion soon falls on a young boy, Perry, employed by Mr Applegate. We (but not the Hardys) find out the lad is on probation from reform school, which I’m guessing is a type of young offenders’ institution. With help from another of Mr Applegate’s employees, the Hardys search Perry’s room. They find some stolen items, including the Hardys’ wire cutters, and a hunt is mounted for Perry. Yet when one of the Hardys finds him hiding in a bush, Perry insists he has been set up. We will have to wait until next week to find out more.

I liked this and the child actors are not bad, though nine episodes seems a long time to drag the plot out. Hopefully, it will develop fast soon. The sets are clearly limited. We have had a garden and a lawnmower all inside a studio, which seems a lot more hassle than just filming in a garden. Maybe US series were as studio-bound as some British series.

Tuesday 16 January

In 1968, The Magic Roundabout is on BBC One most days at the moment. Both Andy Pandy and The Magic Roundabout have had modern CGI remakes and these seem to have won the draw for DVD releases over the originals. As with yesterday, this means picking out what YouTube has. Today, Dougal is a film director. I have vague memories of watching The Magic Roundabout as a young child but can clearly see why adults also enjoyed it. The narration from Eric Thompson is wonderful and I’m looking forward to more.

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons immediately creeped me out due to how realistic the puppets are compared to other Gerry Anderson series. Add in the fact they didn’t blink and I was unsettled from the off. I have the feeling Captain Scarlet is not his real name as he dresses in red and there is also a Captain Blue who wears blue. It feels an impersonal organisation.

I’m not all too sure how I feel about this show yet but I did like the new tank that had been developed. I was impressed with the realistic movement they had managed as the tank moved across a desert landscape, though this was interrupted when this tank managed to soar over an enormous drop without so much as a run-up.

Wednesday 17 January

As much as I enjoy children’s programming, I had been looking forward to my first prime-time programme of 1968: Man in a Suitcase. My time machine went a little awry and threw me a completely different episode. Never mind. Apart from it being an ITC show, I had no idea what I was going into. The first few minutes went well when esteemed actor Peter Vaughan showed up as a baddie. I knew he was a baddie because he was played by Peter Vaughan. He was also covertly transporting a World War II sea mine and this seemed a tad suspect.

Peter Vaughan’s character, Peters, teams up with another couple of blokes to kill a fellow called Masters, who has been blackmailing them. Masters’ wife, Lucinda, is helping them because she wants to leave Masters and go off with Peter Vaughan. Our man of the title, McGill has been employed by Masters as a private eye to try to spot any dodgy people hanging around. Masters tries to blackmail McGill too, refusing to pay him and commenting that he is an ex-CIA agent, which was a nice little bit of series explanation considering this show has been on for several months already. The plotters reckon McGill has already found out too much so decide he will have to be bumped off too.

This episode has a lot going for it. McGill has a fight with Masters’ henchman, Kirk, and manages to keep his cigarette hanging out of his mouth the entire time. That looked cool. Lucinda helps the gang capture McGill who later launches an escape attempt by tripping up and clobbering one of them, then diving out a window. Masters and Kirk turn up and Peters shoots Kirk. It all gets very tense as one of the gang, Harris, is having second thoughts about killing more than just Masters – the only bloke they originally planned on murdering. McGill divides them as he has worked out that Peters has never been blackmailed by Masters. McGill takes his chance to escape by running out the room and diving into the water. He keeps diving underneath to avoid the bullets being fired after him. Masters takes his boat but heads straight for the mine that has been planted.

This was so much fun. Fights, shoot-outs and tension are exactly what I like from my drama. Excitement and action like this are no less than what I have come to expect from ITC, whose output I have previously got to know well through The Saint, The Persuaders, The Prisoner, and, most recently for me, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). I can’t wait for next week’s episode.

Thursday 18 January

My second visit to Gerry Anderson this week is Four Feather Falls. I’ve watched an episode of this before and, as with Captain Scarlet, was put off by the puppets not blinking. The basis of Four Feather Falls is that there is a bloke called Two Gun Tex. He has two guns and four magic feathers in his hat. These enable him to fire the guns without touching them, and also enable him to understand his horse and dog. Very helpfully, the titles explain all of this each episode, as if it would otherwise be unreasonable for a puppet to be able to converse with his puppet animals.

I say this, yet I found myself questioning the realism of this show when two boys, Jake and Makooya meet up. Jake is wearing trousers and a long shirt. Makooya’s full name is Makooya the Little Indian Boy and Makooya is wearing little more than a loincloth. If it is warm enough for him to wear only that, why is Jake not in shorts and short sleeves?

Tex does not have a great deal of screen time in this episode. Instead, we follow Jake and Makooya who go into some caves and are trapped by a baddie when they find some treasure. The episode is only 15 minutes long and the plot fills its slot adequately. Kenneth Connor and Nicholas Parsons are both in the cast list but I clearly wasn’t paying enough attention to pick them up so will have to listen better next time.

Friday 19 January

I feel I know The Man from U.N.C.L.E. well but have actually only seen a few episodes, all from the first couple of series. As a result, finding Ilya Kuryakin with noticeably longer locks in this fourth series was a surprise. Napoleon Solo has not moved with fashion though so remains reassuringly familiar.

Tonight’s episode is a traditional race against time as Ilya is kidnapped, then locked in a gas chamber and Napoleon tries to reach him before the cyanide will. Mr Solo finds a random young lady on the way and together they duck and dive through buildings, rubble and passageways while being shot at by a man with a sniper and a big cat.

The sets in this are huge and we get to see the scale of it thanks to some high angle shots from the top of buildings. These tall blocks also mean the sniper has a perfect view for shooting Napoleon and the tension mounts as the minutes tick by.

Late on Friday night was The Untouchables, a US gangster series set in the 1920s. This sounded so exciting but it never quite grabbed me and I found it rather dull. Too much talking and too many characters – I could barely keep track of what was happening in the opening fifteen minutes.

Saturday 20 January

Teatime on Saturday evening could only mean Doctor Who, so I joined episode 5 of ‘The Enemy of the World’. This is one of the stories that were mostly missing until the rest of them were found a few years ago. I watched it when it was originally released but didn’t actually remember all that much about the plot. From what I gathered from this episode, a chunk of the population have been living underground after a nuclear explosion. Their leader, Salamander, tells them it is not safe to go on the surface so they live a miserable existence on meagre rations below ground. He is lying. The twist of this story is that the Doctor (Patrick Troughton) is the exact double of Salamander. Patrick Troughton is my favourite Doctor and he does a fantastic performance as Salamander, switching marvellously between the two roles.

Next up is George and the Dragon, starring Sid James, Peggy Mount and John Le Mesurier. I had previously come across an interview with Sid James in TV Times to coincide with a new series of George and the Dragon so was interested to see the sitcom. Sid plays George and Peggy Mount is Gabrielle Dragon, both in the employ of John Le Mesurier. I gathered that the Dragon was a housekeeper but I never quite figured out what George was meant to be doing. At the start of the episode, he is attempting to construct a DIY television set but the only channels he manages to pick up are the local taxi and air traffic control. There is an offer on new televisions though so the two of them spend a night trying to ensure they beat the other to the front of the queue for the next morning.

I was a little disappointed in The Monkees as I found it rather low on laughs. In tonight’s episode, the band are visiting the relative of one of them, who, as they arrive, is being fired on by local cowboys. The gang spend the episode defending the home and, er… I’m not entirely sure what else. The programme is clearly intended to be surreal. A couple of them visit a saloon and manage to fool the locals into thinking they are big bad fellas, despite the fact that most of their dialogue is complete nonsense. Maybe that was half the point. It certainly felt like a children’s show, perhaps reminding me slightly of The Goodies. However, I just didn’t ‘get’ this. I’m intrigued enough to give it another go though.

“I hear you have some men with prices on their heads?”

Sunday 21 January

It’s Sunday so there is bugger all decent on the box. Go to church, do your homework, it’s bath night.

Missing and unavailable

What I would like to have been watching if it wasn’t missing or lacking a release.

MISSING: All Our Yesterdays – This programme looks back at what was happening 25 years ago this week. For 1968, this makes it 1943 and the Second World War is reaching a turning point in favour of the Allies. This show always grabs my attention in the listings.

MISSING: Z Cars – Two episodes – parts 1 and 2 – were broadcast each week and I’ve often seen the cop drama praised.

UNAVAILABLE: A Man of Our Times – this stars George Cole, who would achieve success much later with Minder. His character in this seems to be expecting promotion but instead faces redundancy. I know little about this series and am intrigued.

MISSING: Softly, Softly – I got to see an episode of this Z Cars spin-off last year.

MISSING: Public Eye – I love Alfred Burke as private eye Frank Marker and this is the start of the programme’s third series. The first three series have a different tone to those that follow, which makes it all the more a crying shame that out of 41 episodes, only five survive.

In 1968 neither BBC One nor ITV had begun colour broadcasting but as the screenshots above show, some programmes were already being made in colour. It would never have occurred to me if someone else hadn’t suggested it but, strictly, to be watching 1968 telly properly, I should be watching everything in black and white. So, for the first week at least, I did. Due to switching from Granada to Anglia after a couple of weeks, I got to rewatch the episode of Man in a Suitcase and I appreciated the colour immensely. It had felt like dedication. It had also felt a tad obsessive. I enjoyed it.

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