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.

This week my 1965 ITV programmes are coming from Westward and ATV Midlands.

28th April
The Fugitive ‘Somebody to Remember’
Westward

For reasons I forget, we watched the film version of The Fugitive in RE at school. Having spotted it in the schedules, I’d been intrigued what the television version would be like. I gathered from the synopses that they follow the same plot of a man falsely convicted of murdering his wife, escaping and going on the run, planning to try to catch the real killer and thus clear his name. I love shows that neatly explain their premise to viewers in the opening titles (The Prisoner being one of the best examples) and The Fugitive does just that, showing how Dr Richard Kimble escaped with a voice over filling in the rest.

In this episode, Kimble is working in a warehouse. His Greek boss discovers he is dying and, revealing that he has always known who Kimble really is, concocts a plan. They will trick the police, making them believe Kimble has escaped to Greece under his boss’s name. But really, Kimble will still be in the US and so he will have some time to get a few more steps ahead of the police. Unfortunately, someone else has also found out who Kimble is and the police are soon in town.

The episode is tense as the plan so very nearly works and it all builds to an exciting climax, with the police pursuing Kimble and his boss from the airport. Those opening titles ensure we have firm belief in Kimble’s innocence and I was willing him on to get away!

Stingray ‘A Nut For Marineville’
Westward

I haven’t seen ATV/ITC’s Stingray before and it must have some of the most thrilling opening titles of any television programme. A voice tells us to “Stand by for action!” and then something explodes out of the sea. Our characters and the Stingray ship are introduced and then we are told that “Anything can happen in the next half hour.” Anything? Like what? I don’t know but we’ve had a crash zoom, Stingray has just fired into the ocean, then leapt into the air, some planes have soared overhead and a giant fish has been blown up. I’m firmly convinced that anything really could happen.

Some baddie aliens have got a ship they believe is indestructible. I’m not sure what their long-term plan is but I’m just going to assume it’s to take over the Earth. That seems to be standard. The aliens’ design includes silver faces, high foreheads and what I can only describe as face fins – I love it. They also have some cracking evil dialogue. One admits of their plan, “Yes it’s crazy,” but then adds, in a lovely cheery tone, “Crazy enough to succeed!”

29th April
The Saint ‘Marcia’
Westward

With the third series recently finished, Westward are repeating the second series of ITC’s The Saint, which has numerous single word episode titles including, ‘Judith’, ‘Teresa’, ‘Iris’, ‘Luella’ and ‘Sophia’. Have you spotted the theme? Marcia herself doesn’t make an appearance in the episode. After having acid thrown in her face, the film actress committed suicide and now an unknown, Claire Avery, has been brought in to replace her in a film. Claire starts getting threatening letters, saying that unless she pays up, she’ll face the same fate as Marcia.

This isn’t the only Saint episode to be set in a film studio and I always think it must have made it easy for them to source props. Simon Templar himself features relatively little in this episode, with the focus given over to the rest of the cast much of the time. The only one I recognised among them was Johnny Briggs, who plays the third assistant director. By the time of this repeat he was a regular in No Hiding Place and in the next decade would join Coronation Street for a thirty year stint as Mike Baldwin.

Gideon’s Way ‘To Catch a Tiger’
ATV Midlands

Thanks to the magic of time travel, I’m able to watch Westward and ATV Midlands at the same time tonight. I’ve only seen one episode of ITC’s Gideon’s Way before and it didn’t particularly impress me but I head in open-minded.

A woman is killed after a car accident and uses her dying breath to say that John Borgman murdered his wife. Soon afterwards we see John Borgman sacking an employee, Samuels, who has been fiddling the books so he can afford to care for his sick wife. The old guy goes home, poisons his wife and shoots himself. Borgman has another wife now and a mistress in his secretary. His new wife is suspicious and convinced he’s having an affair. The married couple aren’t getting on well and Borgman is horrible to her throughout the episode. Gideon has looked into the first wife’s death and discovered she had an enormous amount of morphine in her. I become desperate for Borgman to be the killer, especially after he viciously calls his current wife a “fat, drunken slut”. He is (hooray!) and following a tense courtroom scene in which one of the coppers nearly cracks under the pressure of Borgman’s top solicitor, the evidence wins through.

Gideon’s Way reminds me a lot of No Hiding Place. This episode even has a similar opening to the No Hiding Place I watched in 1961 – there too a police investigation begins because someone has reported suspicions about a man murdering his wife. Both focus more on the guest cast than the recurring characters and while I enjoy this novelty, it does mean needing consistently good casting throughout the series. When there is a weaker episode in terms of casting or plotting, you don’t have the leads there to carry the episode and I worry that it would be hard to maintain that consistency. The other similarity is that they are both very slow. As much as I have enjoyed the episodes of No Hiding Place I’ve seen, there is no way I would use it or Gideon’s Way to introduce someone to 1960s’ television. Even for me, the pace is only just about still acceptable.

30th April
Burke’s Law ‘Who Killed Cop Robin?’
Westward

Captain Amos Burke is the ladies man of the Los Angeles Police Department. His vast personal wealth probably helps in this but he is also a rather suave fellow. We see little of this tonight though as he shows a more severe side while hunting down the killer of his old mentor. If my years of watching police shows have taught me anything, it’s that no one likes a cop killer and appropriately Burke takes no messing around from the suspects tonight. We get a fantastic fight in a warehouse so they can take full advantage of the potential of toppling boxes. They are a lot cheaper than smashed glass and furniture.

1st May
Dr Who ‘The Dimensions of Time’
BBC-1

This is episode two of the serial that has come to be known as ‘The Space Museum’. I don’t remember this story very well but once I’m watching, bits come back to me. The Doctor has dumped his granddaughter by now and picked up another young girl, Vicki. Along with Ian and Barbara, they land on a planet with a museum containing all sorts of things from other worlds. From the dialogue in this episode, we learn that the travellers have seen themselves as exhibits in this museum. They must find a way to change things and avoid that happening.

Despite the serious nature of this problem, the episode manages its lighter moments. The Doctor hides inside a Dalek casing, which is also a good reminder that the Daleks are not the machines but the aliens that usually inhabit them. The Doctor also tricks a machine designed to display images of his thoughts. The Doctor simply imagines ridiculous things instead.

One of the things I have come to love about Dr Who’s early years is its sheer ambition. They have a tiny studio space to work with but decide to present an entire museum. We’re over a year into the show now and this is the first story that actually uses time travel as part of the plot – it has always just been a way of getting somewhere before.

2nd May
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Westward

Electricity pulses and the camera pulls back to reveal a man strapped to a chair with electrodes on his head. He’s being brainwashed but we can’t be sure who by because they are simply a booming voice, insisting he pledge allegiance. It was such a gripping opening. The brainwashed man (David Hedison) is captain of a nuclear submarine and upon return to it, begins sabotaging the mission. He’s been told he’ll be watched because he’s not the only one onboard who has pledged allegiance to the organisation. This was so intriguing and the submarine sets are fantastic. I’m left still wondering who the mysterious villains really are.

3rd May
Tales of the Riverbank
BBC-1

This short programme from the Watch with Mother strand was wonderfully laid back and relaxing. It features real animals, with the story narrated by a voice over. Hammy, a hamster, is new in town and meets Roderick, a rat, who takes him on a boat trip. They also meet some ducks. I was impressed by the animal actions and, to enable me to sleep easy, will assume they were all treated well.

4th May
Association Football
BBC-1

Liverpool are playing Inter-Milan in semi-final of the European Cup, which was eventually replaced by the UEFA Champions League. While European football gets prime time live screenings in the present day, I feel sorry for 1965’s viewers who get a mere half hour of highlights. Liverpool won 3-1 in this home match, but would lose in the second leg and Inter-Milan eventually went on to be the tournament’s victors.

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 Public Eye ‘Have It on the House’ – ‘Hired to track down a military man who has duped a woman out of £700, Marker’s instinct tells him he’s being taken for a fool – but conning an expert can prove dangerous.’ I adore Frank Marker in Public Eye. He’s such a wonderful down-trodden character. This is the final episode of the programme’s first series.

MISSING The Bed-Sit Girl ‘The Last Half Inch’ – This Sheila Hancock sitcom follows a young woman dreaming of something more – oh aren’t we all? I don’t know of any earlier sitcoms with a woman as the main lead and every episode of this is missing.

MISSING Orlando ‘Humpty Dumpty’- Remember Crane from 1963? This is a spin-off starring Crane’s friend. While Crane’s survival rate of two episodes (out of 39) is poor, at four (out of 76) Orlando’s isn’t much better. Crane was shown later in the schedules but Orlando was specifically styled as a children’s serial and as a result gets an early evening slot.

The post Back in time for TV: 28 April-4 May 1965 appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

This week my ITV programmes are coming from Rediffusion and ATV London.

14th April
Meet the Wife ‘The Bed’
BBC Television

We start the week with a prime time repeat. First shown as part of Comedy Playhouse a few months ago, Meet the Wife has got a series. Thora and Fred are a middle aged couple who like to bicker but nonetheless love each other very much and Thora decides that after twenty five years of marriage, they need a new bed. I absolutely loved this programme. The two leads are marvellous and they need to be as, apart from scenes with a bed salesman, they are the sole speaking characters. I found the scenes in the bed shop interesting as both Thora and Fred are extremely reluctant to lie down on the beds in the middle of the shop. They both seem embarrassed by the idea. Fred in particular is initially perfectly willing to buy a bed without having tried it out. To me, testing a new, expensive mattress while in a shop seems completely reasonable yet the salesman has to coax them both into it.

From their conversation throughout the episode, we discover Fred is a plumber. He also likes a drink and a flutter. He had a big win recently and Thora believes he’s blown it all but later discovers he’s bought her a new dressing gown for their anniversary. No children are mentioned and they wouldn’t be the only married sitcom couple without any. I would like to see more of Thora and Fred.

16th April
Petticoat Junction
Rediffusion, London

This US sitcom was astoundingly twee. A family run a hotel near a small town. I am rather sceptical about how much trade they get. Herbie, who works in a nearby store, gets called up for his military service. The ladies from the hotel are encouraging but another local lad predicts he will be quite useless. He’s right. Herbie is let go because he just isn’t up to scratch. He’s ashamed so a plan is put in place to make it appear he’s been invalided out after committing some heroic deeds. It is all so sweet, old fashioned and nice, and frankly it makes me sick.

17th April
The Dick Van Dyke Show ‘One Angry Man’
BBC Television

I know Dick Van Dyke because I imagine it’s quite unusual to reach adulthood without seeing Mary Poppins or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang broadcast over a bank holiday. Dick did not feature too heavily in this episode, which was a shame because I would have liked to have seen more of him. Nonetheless, I was impressed with this comedy. The plot was secondary for me as the writing was strong enough. I’d certainly watch more episodes.

18th April
The Telegoons ‘The Underwater Mountain’
BBC Television

I should be watching ‘The Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler of Bexhill-on-Sea’ but technical difficulties mean I am instead watching last week’s episode. This is a television adaption of the highly successful radio series of The Goon Show. I have listened to several episodes of the radio series so the voices are all familiar to me, along with several of the characters, who are here presented in puppet form.

The Goon Show always conjures up images of magnificent worlds so seeing these absurd realities come to life, even in puppet-form, is fantastic. In this episode, Seagoon wants to climb a mountain that is taller than Mount Everest. After attempting to build one and then being unable to work out how to flip Mount Everest on its side, it is suggested there is already a mountain taller than Mount Everest. The only snag is it’s underwater. Seagoon sets off looking for it, asking for help along the way. “Hello, is Pearl in?” “No, I’m her mother.” “Of course! You must be Mother of Pearl!” The Telegoons was so much fun.

Dr. Who ‘The Velvet Web’
BBC Television

It feels like I have been in the 1960s for ages before Dr. Who has come along. I have seen all of 1960s’ Dr. Who because a few years ago I decided to watch them all in broadcast order. It’s an interesting way of watching a long-running show develop. Prior to this, I hadn’t seen many episodes from the show’s first few years and I haven’t revisited them since. This also makes it the first series I’ve encountered during my time travels that I actually know quite well already.

This is the second episode of a serial that has come to be known as ‘The Keys of Marinus’. The Doctor and his companions have been tasked with travelling to collect numerous keys, the exact purpose of which I forget. In this episode, they find themselves in a place where they are provided with the finest things, including food and clothes. While historian Barbara reclines and the Doctor’s granddaughter, Susan, orders a bespoke dress, my favourite former schoolteacher-turned-action-man Ian is suspicious. How can all this be free? There must be some true cost.

When they are sleeping, a woman comes around and places discs on their foreheads but Barbara’s falls off. When she wakes, the others have been devouring food and drink from beautiful cutlery. But when the camera becomes Barbara’s point of view, she can see that it’s actually all rubbish. The water is murky, the cups are old and battered, while Susan’s dress is rags.

I thought this fake world with a perception filter was a marvellous idea. It also gives the character of Barbara the opportunity to be centre stage. The episode ends with Susan moving on to the location for next week’s episode, ‘The Screaming Jungle’. I am quite happy to leave Susan there screaming because the character’s regular whining does my head in.

The Morecambe and Wise Show
ATV London

I tune in briefly to catch The Beatles performing on the show, both musically and comedically, though poor Ringo doesn’t get to join in on the latter. This was actually recorded by ATV back in December but anyone who was worried that the band were a passing fad could relax – they were number one in the charts both when the programme was recorded and when it was broadcast, with She Loves You and Can’t Buy Me Love respectively. Among the songs they performed on the show was I Want to Hold Your Hand, which is currently (just) in the top 50.

Aside from Christmas specials, I haven’t seen a lot of Morecambe and Wise and it has all been from later years. I was not aware they had been on television this early so it was a treat to see them both looking so young. It’s nice to know the ‘short, fat, hairy legs’ joke stretched back so far.

20th April
BBC Two

Tonight is the first night of broadcasting on the first new television channel for nine years: BBC Two. To say it was disappointing would be something of a catastrophic understatement. It was a disaster and I was treated to about ten minutes of it. What was ‘it’? An enormous electrical failure prevented any programmes being transmitted so viewers were left with a gentleman, Gerald Priestland, reading out the news. Occasionally he is interrupted by a telephone call but it all comes to nothing.

Among the interesting things to note is the large number two in the studio. I hope this was used as an ident because I think it’s beautiful. The first item on the news is that a bus conductress has made an apology and been reinstated, after previously being dismissed for “calling Pakistani passengers filthy wogs”. Well. The slur is bleeped out on the version I saw but it was an eye-opener into the reality of the age. The Scottish church are against commercial sport on Sundays, which made me wonder just when it became more common. The church reckon “serious thought and reading” are more suitable activities. Construction workers on the new Nottingham University building celebrated the near-completion with free beer before it was decided they were a little too “light-hearted” to continue work in the afternoon.

Finally, Gerald refers to BBC One and BBC Two as “channel one” and “channel two” and this seems strange and so very wrong.

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 This Is Your Life: Dominique Pire – I vaguely remember my parents watching the later incarnation of This Is Your Life, presented by Michael Aspel, but otherwise I’ve seen little. To help keep the episode’s ‘victim’ a secret, the series was broadcast live and as a result most of it is missing. This version is presented by Eamonn Andrews. It would soon take a five-year break before returning on ITV. A look over the people featured in the episodes that do exist reveals few names I know, but I’m even more intrigued by the odd military title. I had thought the show only featured celebrities but this revealed to me that other, perhaps less well-known, noteworthy figures were also included.

UNKNOWN The Budget/Budget Day – Allotted a decent chunk of the afternoon on both BBC and ITV, these live broadcasts are presumed missing. Yet it would be a fascinating insight into the state of the country as well as a look at 1964’s idea of instant analysis. Also, after over a decade in power, the Conservatives would lose the October 1964 General Election to Labour, so I’d be curious to see how, with hindsight, they made some wrong moves here.

UNKNOWN Top marks to Rediffusion for the scheduling triumph of Exploring the Universe – ‘When scientists reach the moon, they may discover the answer to man’s oldest puzzle – the creation of the universe’ followed by Last Programme ‘Why I Believe: The Existential View of Christianity’.

UNAVAILABLE The Villains – All three series of this Granada drama exist. Producer Harry Kershaw described the series: “Our stories will be slanted towards criminal lives rather than crimes. We are, in fact, interested in the part of a criminal’s day when he isn’t engaged in his particular profession.”

An episode from the second series, broadcast later in 1964, was the first Granada drama to be recorded entirely on location, on videotape. From the little I have found out, the series also seems to have emphasised regionalism in its episodes, fostered by writers like Peter Eckersley. He wrote this week’s episode and, along with several other writers of The Villains, also wrote for Coronation Street at the time – Eckersley wrote the episode I watched in 1963. He went on to briefly produce the series too before becoming Head of Drama at Granada. As far as I’m concerned, The Villains has outstanding credentials so I’m hoping it will get a release one day.

The post Back in time for TV: 14-20 April 1964 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.

The post Back in time for TV: 15-21 January 1968 appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.