18:00 – Sheepy’s opening music.
18:04 – Thames TV morning start-up music.
18:09 – Michael Bentine’s Potty Time S01E05 – Robin Hood – a British children’s TV show, written by and starring Michael Bentine, and directed and produced by Leon Thau for Thames Television. This week, Mr. Bentine and the Potties investigate the legend of Sherwood Forest. First broadcast on Mon 10th Dec 1973 by ITV.
18:21 – Shadows S02E03 – The Inheritance – a British supernatural television anthology series produced by Thames Television for ITV between 1975 and 1978. This week, a dying gamekeeper teaches his teenage grandson about an ancient pagan dance involving men wearing deer antlers. The grandson begins to see the dancers in his dreams. First broadcast on Wed 11th Aug 1976 by ITV.
18:45 – Clangers S01E05 – The Intruder – the famous Oliver Postgate / Peter Firmin stop-motion children’s television series about a family of mouse-like creatures who live on, and inside, a small moon-like planet. This week, a space probe from Earth lands on the Clangers’ planet. Visitors are always welcome… until they start eating the place. First broadcast on Sun 28th Dec 1969 at 5.55pm by BBC1.
18:55 – Star Trek (The Original Series) – S01E19 – Tomorrow Is Yesterday – This week, the Enterprise is thrown back in time to Earth during the 1960s by the effects of a high-gravity “black star”, and is picked up as a UFO on military radar. First broadcast in the USA on Thu 26th Jan 1967 by NBC. This was the first Star Trek episode to be written solely by a woman (Dorothy Fontana had previously written the teleplay for the episode “Charlie X” but the story was credited to Gene Roddenberry). This is the second of the four(?) episodes that Flouncer played out late one night at my suggestion.
19:45 – …And Mother Makes Three – S04E01 – Wedding Talk – More gentle middle-class Thames sitcom, starring Wendy Craig as the newly-widowed Sally Harrison, doing her best to bring up her two boisterous sons, Simon and Peter. This week, in the first of the fourth series, Auntie worries Sally when she talks about how her engagement ended, finding an available Saturday for the wedding proves to be difficult, and David causes panic when he says that he needs to talk about something. First broadcast on Wed 16th May 1973 by ITV.
20:10 – Special Branch – S01E07 – You Don’t Exist – Groundbreaking British police drama series following the exploits of the Special Branch of the Metropolitan Police: an elite group of officers tasked with protecting London from spies, terrorists, and subversives. This week, a girl lands at Heathrow from Rhodesia, but owing to Britian’s break of diplomatic relations, she has no valid passport. A young officer is supposed to mind her until she can be sent back, but takes her for a tour instead. First broadcast on Wed 29th Oct 1969 by ITV. A rather unusual and offbeat episode, this one. I rather liked it.
21:01 – A Very Peculiar Practice S01E06/07 – The Hit List – a surreal black-comedy drama set in the health centre of a British university, produced by the BBC. It was written by Andrew Davies and was inspired by his experiences as a lecturer at the University of Warwick, and it has been interpreted as a commentary on contemporary trends in education. This week, the Vice-Chancellor wants to close a women’s residence so it can be used by Japanese investors but first he needs to discredit the warden. First broadcast on Wed 26th Jun 1986 at 9.25pm by BBC2.
21:52 – The Beiderbecke Affair E06/06 – We Are on the Brink of a New Era, If Only… – A six-part drama by Alan Plater. Trevor Chaplin (James Bolam) teaches woodwork and likes to listen to jazz. Jill Swinburne (Barbara Flynn) teaches English and wants to help save the planet. A tale of “Black Economies”, council corruption and many strange characters all set to a background of Bix Beiderbecke. This week, in the last of the series, the election comes, and goes. More clandestine meetings. Files are exchanged. Houses are raided. A Forest is cut down to size. A pool-side meeting with the brothers. First broadcast on Sun 10th Feb 1985 by ITV.
22:43 – Snub TV S03E04 – This week the alternative music show features:
• The Heartthrobs: “She’s in a Trance”
• Massive aka Massive Attack: interview, “Daydreaming” (video extract), “Unfinished Sympathy” (video)
• Crime & The City Solution: “The Dolphins and the Sharks” (video)
• William Burroughs: “Thanksgiving Prayer” (video)
• Young Disciples: interview, “Step Right On” (video extract), “Apparently Nothin'” (video)
• The Godfathers: “Unreal World” (video)
• Coil: “Windowpane” (video)
From 1st generation off-air VHS > Panasonic HD recorder > DVD-R > MPEG Streamclip > MPEG4
Video compression: H.264, 352 x 288, deinterlaced
Audio compression: AAC, Stereo (L R), 48.000 kHz, 192 kbps
First broadcast on Mon 11th Feb 1991 at 6.55pm by BBC2.
The opening titles of this week’s episode are missing from the original capture.
23:12 – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Original Radio Series) – The Quandary Phase 2/4, Fit the Twentieth – In which Arthur makes a date and Ford makes a phone call. First broadcast on Tue 10th May 2005 at 6.30pm by BBC Radio 4.
23:39 – Callan – This Man Alone – Additional Interview Material – Eight days ago, Phil showed the Callan documentary “This Man Alone”. From the same DVD, with Phil’s blessing, here is the DVD extra “Additional Interview Material”, stuff which “didn’t fit into the final edit but was too good to lose”. There’s some great stuff in here, look out for Trevor Preston’s little revelation in particular.
00:06 – Closedown music.
00:11 – Closedown.