Syndicated to newspapers on 27 April 1968

MR. PAUL FOX was made Controller of Programmes of BBC-1 on June 18, 1967.

In his new post Mr. Fox has something like £15m. [£223m in today’s money allowing for inflation – Ed] to spend. He is responsible for putting out more TV programmes than any other organisation in the world, and he supervises the production of more hours of entertainment than Lew Grade, Sidney Bernstein, the Boulting Brothers, Darryl Zanurk, J. Arthur Rank and Sir Philip Warter all put together.

What qualifications has he for such a formidable task? He was editor of BBC’s Sportsview for six years, until 1961. He edited Panorama and was head of BBC Current Affairs. Thus, his background has largely been concentrated on sports and news.

When he was appointed, Mr. Fox modestly claimed that his personal influence on BBC-1’s programme schedules would not be much in evidence before sometime in 1968.

Philosophy

He has now had 10 months to assert himself, and I think it is fair to appraise the trends in programming he appears to have set in motion.

Such comments of Mr. Fox’s that I have seen reported would seem to show that the acquisition of viewers plays an exceedingly prominent part in his philosophy of broadcasting.

Soon after he took over he indicated that be would give the ITV a much tougher battle for viewers, and last December, be was concerned about the audience ratio of 60-40 which the commercial channel had in their favour on Sunday nights.

To correct this dire state of affairs, he offered the British public a peak-time fare which began with the Smothers Brothers followed by Dr. Finlay’s Casebook, and ended with a long, feature film.

Since the Smothers Brothers were a disastrous flop, it must be assumed that Mr. Fox’s much-hoped for switch of viewers did not take place.

There has been some more schedule juggling, and BBC-1 now offers us on Sunday night — to woo us away from Channel 9’s delectable treat of The Saint (a repeat), The Big Show (variety) and a feature film – The Andy Williams Show, The First Lady (a series about a female councillor) and a feature film.

The end result of this fierce competitiveness is that there are only a marginal difference in quality of programme between the two major channels and that any discriminating viewer will be driven to the nearest pub or book.

Not content with turning the week-end into a battlefield for ignorant insensitive and complacent scalps, Mr Fox has apparently turned his diligent drive tor viewers to the week-days as well.

It you eliminate the daily 24 Hours programme from BBC-1 (which has a rough equivalent on the commercial channel with the News at Ten), there is practically nothing to choose between BBC-1 and ITV as far as the aim, tone quality and spirit of their programmes is concerned.

Monday’s schedule offered us Z-Cars, The Dick Emery Show, Panorama, Professional Boxing, Dance Date. To-night you have The Virginian, Mum’s Boys, The Wednesday Play (a repeat) and the European Cup. On Friday it’s A Spoonful of Sugar, The Newcomers, Man from UNCLE, Comedy Playhouse, Miss England and Tennis.

Bland

There are 28 hours of peak-time viewing on BBC-1 every weeks (ie, 6-30 pm to 10-30 pm) and, excluding the news and 24 Hours, the proportion of time devoted to what I might loosely call “non-entertainment” programmes (ie, drama, ballet, opera, documentaries, discussions, music, art, social and political comment) is about four hours per week.

In other words, for its mass viewing audiences BBC-1 now feels that 80 pc of its prime time should be devoted to bland, innocuous, unconcerned, uninvolved, soporific, uninformative, desensitising programmes.

Its tendency to move serious programmes to off-peak hours — which has always been the policy of the commercial channel — shows that there will soon be no difference at all between BBC-1 and ITV.

Since Mr. Fox has taken over we have seen the disappearance of the satire snows, the end of controversial comedies like Till Death Us Do Part, more a conventional plays into The Wednesday Play slot and an annual schedule which boasts of 1,000 hours of sport, or almost 25 per cent of its total output.

What seems to be happening is that BBC-1, like commercial TV, is opting out of a responsible position in shaping the taste, values and aspirations of the British public and is contenting itself with playing the role of a national yo-yo.

Deterioration

Its hierarchy can probably rationalise this position by claiming that BBC-2 can offer the more discriminating and more sensitive viewer all the serious, cultural, non-entertainment programmes programmes they want.

One can even envisage that when BBC-2 becomes more popular — when it shares a larger proportion of the audience — it, too, will deem it necessary to cater for bigger and bigger audiences, like its rivals, and eventually succumb to the temptation to become just floss and froth on the fabric of our national life.

This deterioration in the impact and power of TV is just what those with vested interests in the status quo would like.

Politicians, establishment figures, groups opposed to change and reform, have watched with a baleful eye the increasing intrusion of TV in their domains of influence and power.

Nothing would please them better than the cutting back of this involvement of TV in the central issues of our time. And the best way to do it is, of course, to turn the medium into visual chewing gum; innocuous waffle; soporific pap unworthy of the attention of those seriously concerned with our affairs. This has almost been achieved in America.

But TV is, for good or ill, a medium more powerful than any that exists in society to-day. It becomes the duty of those who run it to refuse to have it converted into a national bubble-bath. They must claw, fight, scream and shout for the right to be responsible and involved.

Serious

The BBC — because it is a national institution financed by the people’s money — must always be at least as serious as a popular newspaper. There is not a popular newspaper in the land that does not devote at least 40 per cent its non-commercial space to a discussion of the serious, demanding and involved aspects of the day. And in prominent places like its front page!

If TV is used by governments and those in authority as a new opium for the masses; if it portrays a bland, reassuring, comforting picture of life; if it is not used properly as an outlet for all the doubts, arguments, controversies and fears that rage through our lives, then watch for the explosion when disillusion sets in.

Some of the violence and anger of Negro rioters in America has been attributed to the contrast between the miserable reality of their existence and the chummy, benevolent, affluent, fictitious picture of American life seen on the small screed.

Similarly, the German students have been rioting because they claim that not only the Springer Press, but TV as well has provided the people with a false illusion of what is going on about them.

Mr. Paul Fox and Lord Hill, who joined the BBC as its chairman, have responsibilities towards the British public which, at the moment, they show few signs of either understanding or grasping.

The post A sad, sad look at the sad, sad decline of BBC-1 appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

This week my ITV programmes are coming from Rediffusion, ATV Midlands and Granada.

4th June
Custer ‘Under Fire’
Rediffusion

It’s quite something to get through life without realising that the man’s name was not General Custard, but I was most grateful that I found out before I ever had to say it out loud. This follows Custer and his men just after the American Civil War. We left most of the Western series behind a while ago but while this is similar and has the stereotypical Indians as the bad guys, it’s military theme does make it stand out from other series.

Custer is to be lured to an Indian called Crazy Horse in exchange for land with gold on it. There is also a large gun that Crazy Horse wants destroyed so that his men won’t be mown down when they attack. A couple of Custer’s men are kidnapped and it all builds to a huge climax of everyone fighting it out. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this compared to some of the other Westerns and may well go back for more.

5th June
Mission: Impossible ‘Fakeout’
Rediffusion

The titles for this show are fantastic. That theme tune is great and a fuse is burning down across the screen, always almost running out before we cut to another clip. It perfectly suits the show.

Our team consists of two men and a woman and their mission this week is to get a drug dealer out of his current country and into one that the US has an extradition treaty with. Lloyd Bridges plays Poltroni and I really enjoyed him as this up-himself, nasty man. If you didn’t know he was the villain of the piece already, you would want him to be.

Dan, Cinnamon and Barney work well as a team, with each having their task to take care of, though it’s clear that Dan is the leader of the group. They use that trusty foil that had fooled our hero in The Baron; the fake diversion signs. They eventually manage to get Poltroni over the border entirely voluntarily before he is immediately arrested.

No – That’s Me Over Here!
Rediffusion

This is the only episode from the first two series of No – That’s Me Over Here! that still exists so I feel rather lucky that it’s fallen during the week of my visit to 1968. The Two Ronnies was some of the first comedy I discovered through UK Gold so I feel I know this programme’s lead, Ronnie Corbett, rather well. I’ve never been particularly enamoured with his later sitcom, Sorry! (did Corbett have a thing for sitcom titles ending in exclamation marks?!), but I actually quite liked his NTMOH! character.

There’s a ‘don’t mention the war’ feel about this episode as Ronnie has invited his boss, Mr Robinson, over, hoping to win some work brownie points, only to discover his wife has also invited her German teacher. Ronnie tells Mr Robinson that Jurgen is Austrian and spends the evening trying to steer the topic away from Germany.

The ingrained culture of smoking is demonstrated when Mr Robinson offers round his cigarettes and despite the fact that Mrs Corbett doesn’t smoke, Mr Robinson and Jurgen don’t hesitate to light up. Ronnie can’t make up his mind whether or not he does want one.

“What a terrible habit this is!” remarks Mr Robinson. “Yes,” Mrs Corbett politely agrees. “I was going to give it up at one stage but I’ve been smoking solidly ever since ’19.” And that’s that. Mr Robinson has been a committed smoker for nearly fifty years so he may as well keep at it. The Royal College of Physicians released their Smoking and Health report in 1962, showing the link between smoking and lung cancer, as well as other diseases. Despite this, Mr Robinson was typical as changes were slow and in the late 1960s over 50% of men and 40% of women smoked. I love old cigarette adverts and though by 1968 they had been banned from television, TVTimes still features several in print each week. Smoking is such a regular thing at this time and I’ve become very used to seeing it. If programmes ever leave it out, it tends to feel conspicuous by its absence.

Ronnie Corbett’s character is also called Ronnie Corbett. Characters having the same name as the actors is a trait that seems to persist in sitcoms. Tony Hancock springs to mind, Fred and Thora from Meet the Wife back in 1964, Hugh and Terry in Hugh and I/Hugh and I Spy, and Sid in Bless this House. More modern shows are not exempt with Lee in Not Going Out and Miranda in, er, Miranda. I find it a little strange and I wonder if performers who considered themselves actors first, rather than comedians, became more reluctant to use their own names for characters.

While I enjoyed NTMOH!, there aren’t many big laughs. I certainly wouldn’t call it a lost gem but it is nice to see some pre-1970s’ Ronnie Corbett in a substantial role.

6th June
Pogles’ Wood
BBC One

It’s time for another visit to Watch with Mother. I had been wondering for some time what a Pogle was so was delighted to discover they are in fact little people that live in the woods and live off the land. Mr Pogle does not give the best first impression, dragging his wife out of bed, demanding his breakfast. He brings home a bean that grows a magic plant that can make bean plants appear. It all began to feel a tad surreal when the plant started playing the violin while Mr and Mrs Pogle danced around the garden. I enjoyed this little story a lot and quite fancy going back for some more. As the credits rolled, I clocked the name of Oliver Postgate, who would go on to create The Clangers and Bagpuss.

Midlands News
ATV Midlands

David Ennals is being interviewed about immigration issues. At the time, Ennals was Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department and on a tour of various areas. While his constituency was Dover, he had been born and brought up in the West Midlands. The Commonwealth Immigrants Act had been passed in March, after many in Britain had panicked about immigration levels when lots of Kenyan Asians began fleeing persecution. At one point, all Commonwealth subjects had the right to come to Britain. Ennals talks reasonably about integration and his comments on equal opportunities make him sound very modern.

7th June
Nice Time
Granada

This should be the very first episode of Nice Time but the missing episode gods have not been kind this week so instead I’m watching one from later in the year. The feature in TVTimes had intrigued me, billing the show as a mixture of all sorts of random bits, which is exactly what it turned out to be.

Each section is very short so my attention was always satisfied. Among the things featured was a saw orchestra, Richard Burton’s brother, a woman playing a tune on bicycle spokes, an interview with a window cleaner about the saucy things he’d encountered, spot the real vicar, and a dodgem car race featuring Stirling Moss.

Members of the public were asked what they saw in a naked woman/man. The blokes were fairly open about what they saw, with some giving very specific descriptions and one answering simply, “Everything.” Some of the women were more coy, turning away from the interviewer, blushing. Others had no hesitation in answering, “Sex” or “His John Willy!”. The TVTimes tells us that Nice Time ‘sets out simply to entertain’ and, greatly helped by host Kenny Everett, who I wasn’t all that familiar with, I think it achieves that perfectly.

8th June
Dee Time
BBC One

Only two complete editions of Dee Time exist so I’m watching one from a little later in the year. I immensely enjoyed this chat show hosted by Simon Dee (real name Cyril Nicholas Henty-Dodd). It was very laid back and cool. It was such a sharp contrast to the Henry Moore interview I watched back in 1960.

I’ve been listening to the Top 20 for the weeks of my time travelling and have been surprised by just how much of it I have not enjoyed. Apart from a handful of artists, a lot of it all sounds the same to me. Yet by 1967 things seem to have turned a corner and in 1968 there is more stuff to my taste appearing. From this edition I thought The Equals (currently at no. 20 with Baby Come Back) were brilliant. It suits the youthful style of the show that they sound more modern. We’ve lost much of that sound from earlier years – as far as I’m concerned it’s time for Adam Faith and Cliff to move over so we can say hello to the likes of The Equals and The Rolling Stones.

Neither of the guests’ names were familiar to me but the face of Lionel Jeffries was. He was there to promote his latest film, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He talked about the success of other musical films of recent years like Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, hoping Chitty could also do well. It all seemed slightly sad with the knowledge that the heyday of musicals at the box office were numbered. Yet I loved Chitty as a kid so enjoyed hearing Lionel’s experience of filming it. His children were in the studio and I was amazed when I looked him up that though he plays a grandfather in Chitty, he was only 42 at the time.

The show’s coolness continues into the end credits as Simon Dee exits the studios and drives off in an open top E-Type Jaguar, a young lady sat beside him.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. ‘The Hong Kong Shilling Affair’
BBC One

Most of the episodes of U.N.C.L.E. that I’ve seen have been from this first season so I’ve no problem with us remaining stuck in black and white – the rest of the population still is too. This is the second time this episode has been shown and, bizarrely, it’s scheduled for another repeat next month as well.

Napoleon and Illya are after a rare shilling, as are this week’s baddies. Among them is Richard Kiel, best known for playing Jaws, the man with steel teeth, in two 1970s’ James Bond films. As he would then, he’s playing a henchman, doing the dirty work for the episode’s main villain, Cleveland. Keil’s huge height (over seven foot) dwarfs everyone around him and his imposing physique was deemed sufficient enough menace that he has no conversations in either of the Bond films he appears in. As a result, I was delighted to get to hear him actually speak in this episode and my enjoyment never ceased throughout it. Being portrayed as not just big but powerful too, I winced when, having trapped him in a net, Kiel’s character, Merry, picks up Napoleon and thwacks him against a wall.

Unable to get hold of the shilling, Cleveland decides to auction off a trussed up Napoleon Solo on the basis that, “Each and every one of us in this room is sufficiently skilled, I venture to suggest, in the arts that are necessary to make him talk freely. So, I offer you one body ready for interrogation. Shall we begin the bidding at one hundred thousand dollars?” I thought that was a neat idea and it also tells us just what a bunch of scoundrels all these finely dressed people really are. Cleveland is a villain who’s been to charm school and sometimes I think I prefer these well-turned out baddies. Real rapscallions don’t all look like complete rogues after all.

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 The Best of Twice a Fortnight Show – This comedy compilation of the Twice a Fortnight Show has credits including Graeme Green, Bill Oddie, Eric Idle and Barry Cryer.

UNKNOWN Professional Wrestling – You can find two lots of wrestling on this week – the first on Saturday as part of World of Sport and the second late on Wednesday night. As a kid I watched the odd bit of WWF/WWE but I have never seen British wrestling. I know it was immensely popular on television at this time so am curious to see some.

UNAVAILABLE Hunter ‘The Kauffmann File’ – John Hunter was apparently Australia’s answer to James Bond. In the last two years we’ve seen The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Mission: Impossible, I Spy, and the revived Danger Man who were all arguably ushered in as part of the 1960s’ spy bandwagon. The titles depict drinking, action and women, saying of John Hunter, ‘He is part commando, part detective, part spy.’ I’ve not seen much Australian television and while this programme seems more low budget than others, I would still love to see this take on the spy genre.

The post Back in time for TV: 4-8 June 1968 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.

Come with me to the headquarters of a secret organisation known as U.N.C.L.E., short for United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. Provided our credentials are found to be in order we are allowed to pass through an innocent-looking tailor’s shop in a New York street.

We find ourselves now in the midst of one of the world’s most powerful and well-organised forces, used in the fight against injustice done to individuals or countries.

The main force of evil opposed to U.N.C.L.E. is the crime syndicate called thrush whose aims stretch to world domination.

In the world of U.N.C.L.E. we find ourselves in a complex, computerised, well-guarded society headed by a friendly Englishman called Mr Waverly who is responsible for the movements of his various agents’ missions against thrush. Looking like an amiable uncle himself, Mr Waverly has at his disposal the most scientific weapons ever invented and a well-drilled team of international agents, who are called upon to infiltrate every country in the world in pursuit of justice and to protect the interests of the free world.

Two of his most respected agents are Napoleon Solo and Iliya Kuryakin.

Solo is a dashing, sophisticated figure, with an easy-going charm that hides a ruthless dedication to U.N.C.L.E. He lives in a small apartment in a new luxury building in New York—a bachelor apartment which reflects a nautical flavour, its decor stemming from Solo’s love of the sea and from his service days in the Royal Canadian Navy.

He tends to view all men as equals, unless their behaviour proves them otherwise. He is attracted to beautiful women, and this he finds to his advantage, particularly when they are agents of thrush. Solo is more than capable of taking care of himself. He is calm, quick-thinking, ingenious, coldly calculating even when the odds are heavily against him.

Olya Kuryakin, of Russian descent, is clever, physically adept, a good man to rely on. He is a lone wolf, introverted, not at all gregarious. Like other U.N.C.L.E. agents, he has worked behind the Iron Curtain, sometimes with and sometimes without the knowledge and consent of the authorities. Iliya lives in the same apartment block as Solo, and, like Solo, can be cold andcalculating in a nasty situation which may become a matter of life and death.

The world of U.N.C.L.E. is fictitious, although it may have some counterpart in real-life secret organisations. It was created for a TV series and it has proved tremendously popular on both sides of the Atlantic.

Say its makers: “It is designed for those who want to take off for sixty minutes of unadulterated adventure.”

It is a series designed to follow the trend of today, a trend sparked off by the success of the James Bond films.

In the key roles of Solo and Kuryakin, Robert Vaughn and David McCallum have stepped into parts which have made them two of the most exciting personalities on television.

First, take a closer look at Robert Vaughn, the invincible Napoleon Solo, who says, “In some ways Solo is very much like myself, except that I’m no hero. I sometimes think he is just out to get himself killed. Not me! I have too much to live for. But like Solo I enjoy the good things of life—good clothes, fast cars, gourmet cooking, and wines.”

Before U.N.C.L.E. came into his life, Robert Vaughn had already proved himself a first-rate actor and had once been nominated for an Academy Award.

He was born in New York into a show-business family. His mother, Marcella Gaudel, was an established star on Broadway; Walter Vaughn, his father, was a prominent radio actor.

Raised in Minneapolis by his grandparents, Robert at first did not want to follow in his parents’ footsteps by entering show-business himself. Instead, he enrolled with the University of Minnesota’s School of Journalism. But it soon became evident that he was, after all, going to be a “chip off the old block” when he became more

interested in the university’s drama department. Acting took a hold on him and he starred in productions of “Hamlet”, “Death Takes a Holiday” and “Knickerbocker Holiday”, among others. Any thoughts of a career in journalism were finally forgotten when he was awarded a prize in a radio acting contest in 1951. The following year he entered the Los Angeles City College as a drama student and starred in “Mister Roberts”. During his summer holidays he worked as a resident director and leading actor with a theatre company in Albuquerque.

After graduating, in 1956, with a B.A. in drama, he became a professional actor and appeared in a production of “End As a Man” in Los Angeles. Soon after, he was signed to a film contract, which unfortunately proved short-lived. Then he went into the Army. After his military service was completed he returned to his acting career by signing with Columbia Pictures and appearing in No Time to be Young, followed by an important part in The Young Philadelphians for Warner.

His performance in this gained him his Oscar nomination. His career then started to go up in leaps and bounds as offer followed offer. He made countless TV appearances in dramas and did several films, including The Magnificent Seven with Yul Brynner, a film which first brought him fan mail from England.

It was as Napoleon Solo that he hit the popularity jackpot.

Off the screen he leads a life comparatively quiet for a star in his position. He expresses a keen interest in the American political scene and once said that he would love to take an active part in it.

About his role of Solo he says, “I enjoy being U.N.C.L.E.’s agent number one. It’s a fine series to work on, but pretty strenuous. Those guys who write the scripts certainly make us work for our money by getting us into all kinds of bizarre situations. I’m playing Solo with tongue in cheek. The situations might seem madcap and dangerous at times—perhaps even outlandish—but it’s all quite plausible. We use normal persons in the stories, so that the average fan can imagine himself being caught up in international intrigue.”

The success of David McCallum in the part of Iliya Kuryakin has been quite phenomenal. His weekly fan mail, which arrives at the M.G.M. studios in Hollywood, bears this out. It comes in lorry-loads.

He was born in Glasgow, September 19, 1934, the son of a leading violinist, David McCallum. His mother Dorothy was a concert cellist. His parents had expressed a wish that he would take up the oboe, but David sought a career in the theatre and went about it by getting a job when he was 14 as an electrician’s assistant in a theatre.

He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art between 1949 and 1951, and after leaving he found himself with the job of property-master with the Glyndebourne Opera Company. Then he was called up for National Service and served in Ghana for ten months as a lieutenant. In 1953 he resumed his theatrical career by acting with various repertory companies. In 1956 he was placed under contract to the Rank Organisation and appeared in such films as The Secret Place, and A Night To Remember. In Robbery Under Arms he found himself working with actress Jill Ireland, a young actress he had wanted to meet since seeing her picture in the paper.

She became his wife soon after they first met.

After making several other British films, he finally went to Hollywood to appear in the role of Judas in The Greatest Story Ever Told. While he was in the States he received several TV offers and made appearances on “Perry Mason” and “The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters”. Then along came “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” offer.

It was some weeks before the show really caught on with American viewers, but since then it has become one of the top attractions on TV.

Away from the cameras, David spends all his free time with his wife and three sons, Paul, Jason and Valentine, in a house built into the side of a hill with a magnificent view of the valley and the sea.

There appears to be no professional rivalry between David and Robert when they are working on the set together.

“I’ve never seen two guys so dedicated,” commented one of the technicians.

“It’s a happy show,” said another. “If it were otherwise it would not be successful.”

That just about completes our dossier on two U.N.C.L.E. agents. Let’s hope too much has not been revealed to any thrush agent who may be reading this.

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