Televisual Holy Grails

[Larry the Loafer]

There was a Paul Daniels Halloween special where it looked like he'd been squished and killed in a spiked chamber. That is around but later that night there was either a bit of continuity or an appearance by Paul reassuring viewers he was fine.

I'm adamant that part was featured on Channel 5's Greatest Magic Tricks or When... Goes Horribly Wrong or something along those lines. Thankfully, they're repeated quite often, so keep a look out.

[PD]

Sometime during the 2002 Jubilee coverage, David Dimbleby introducing EastEnders on a big screen behind him (I think the BBC One ident went out on the big screen too), with big cheers from the crowd infront of Buckingham Palace - someone please tell me I didn't imagine this!?

Well that sounds pretty magnificent. EastEnders came between MOTD and the Party at the Palace, so I guess it was a live trail and presentation having a bit of fun with it.

The TV Forum thread has some more details, including a How Did They Do That? style explanation.

Very nicely done, I can't think of any example like that since?

Wow! Thanks, it's exactly how I remembered it

[Steve Williams]

Well that sounds pretty magnificent. EastEnders came between MOTD and the Party at the Palace, so I guess it was a live trail and presentation having a bit of fun with it.

I always love those kinds of things. Actually that Jubilee weekend was tops for odd telly things, we had the newsflash interrupting the World Cup coverage for the fire at the Palace (which turned out to be a piddly electrical fire that was more or less put out with a glass of water), Trevor McDonald welcoming us to "this World Cup and Jubilee Bank Holiday" and because the World Cup matches were in the mornings, some brilliantly bonkers scheduling including SMTV on a Monday and This Morning at two o'clock in the afternoon.

Another sort of example of this, and another holy grail of mine, is from I think the 2000 Cup Final on ITV, where when they did the menu of what was coming up during the day, they included the news and the regional news, and there was a graphic with all the logos of all the ITV regions, I remember the Border logo being particularly prominent. I love that someone went to the effort of knocking that up for a few seconds on screen, would love to see it again.

And of course, no thread about televisual holy grials can be complete without the most obscure TV programme of all time with the most fascinating Radio Times billing - Buzzfax!
https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/se...22#at-9.30
I was too young to see this, which was only on once, but a friend of mine saw it and had such vivid memories of it, it was a Saturday morning programme introduced by a talking page of Ceefax, which sounds absolutely demented. Would love to know what it actually looked like, but it's clearly long been wiped, if it was ever recorded in the first place.

We are a bit spoiled these days in that in the past you would read about all kinds of old programmes and have to imagine what they might have been like because there was no chance you'd ever see them. I pored over books like The Guinness Book of Classic British TV and magazines like Comedy Review for their features about old telly and, looking back at them now, there are loads of errors in them, but we just took it for granted in those days because we'd never see the programmes they were talking about. Neither had the authors half the time probably, when we did the Saturday Night TV book nearly twenty years ago now, it was pre-YouTube and we had to go to the National Media Museum in Bradford to watch episodes of some of the programmes we wrote about, and others just relied on our memories.

[Tom]

And here is a clip of the newsflash that Steve mentioned:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tadHuE-7V5g

[Benriggers]

And of course, no thread about televisual holy grials can be complete without the most obscure TV programme of all time with the most fascinating Radio Times billing - Buzzfax!
https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/se...22#at-9.30
I was too young to see this, which was only on once, but a friend of mine saw it and had such vivid memories of it, it was a Saturday morning programme introduced by a talking page of Ceefax, which sounds absolutely demented. Would love to know what it actually looked like, but it's clearly long been wiped, if it was ever recorded in the first place.

Just curious, why was it only on once? Did the programme (though a great idea by the sounds of it) not work?

[Steve Williams]

Just curious, why was it only on once? Did the programme (though a great idea by the sounds of it) not work?

It was a pilot - or at least what we'd call it these days. If you look at the previous weeks in Genome, Saturday mornings were made up of all the same programmes that were on Buzzfax, so presumably this was a bit of an experiment to create a primitive Broom Cupboard-style set-up to link them all together when Swap Shop or Get Set For Summer weren't on.

Heaven knows how it appeared on screen but when Swap Shop wasn't on, Saturday mornings were a pretty dead slot in those days, and this was the era when you probably wouldn't have to jump through umpteen commissioning hoops to get an idea on screen, if someone came up with it they might often just go ahead and do it.

[madmusician]

Taken me a bit of time to reply to this one - what a lovely idea for a thread!

Like so many of us, my earliest TV memories are CBBC/CITV ones, but lots of that curiosity has been sated by various YouTube uploads over the years, so I've relived plenty of Studio A/Studio 9 CBBC continuity and early-00s Gas Street CITV continuity, enough to remember the general 'feel' of what you used to get on a weekday afternoon. Even big things that I remember like the 1997 CBBC move to Studio 9 is pretty well documented on YouTube.

There's the odd thing that I remember, like a birthday cards slot one morning (hosted by Josie D'Arby in my memory) when the sound didn't go out and they tried a couple of times but had to bail into the programmes. And I've no idea how accurate my memory is with that particular occasion (or, indeed, when it actually was within a period of about three years) - but most of the big stuff is there for me, when it comes to children's telly.

My own personal 'holy grails' are all related to Channel 4's cricket coverage. I'm a bit of an obsessive about it all (and it came at a really formative time for me - their seven years on air coincided with me being aged 7-13, so I was naturally going to remember it very fondly) and whilst I've got certain things recorded (most of which I've put up on YouTube), I wish that I had so much more.

I'd especially love to see an episode or two of the Saturday morning Cricket Roadshow once again - in my memory, it was a genuinely brilliant programme that hasn't been matched since (in terms of cricket coverage) - lively features, interesting interviews and pitching for the younger audience. I remember one in particular in 2002 that kept falling off air (at one point, it was off for so long that a filler was shown by pres), when they were opening a new cricket ground in South London that C4 had helped to fund (and you don't see Sky doing things like that these days). All a bit of a shame that the programme kept falling off air, but we did get to see Alex Tudor deliver the first ball on the new strip (which I do have footage of, but only for about 30 seconds!)

It's obviously all still in the archives, and bits of the highlights shows pop up on the ECB YouTube channel occasionally, but the long fills, the phone-ins at the lunch intervals, the Saturday morning Cricket Roadshow - they'll never pop up again, sadly, and very little seems to have been recorded or put up online.

I did have contact once with a C4 cricket fan account on Twitter (not long after I released an edited tribute to C4 cricket on YouTube) and they said that they had enquired about the archive, and it was available for purchase on a programme-by-programme basis (at a very expensive sum) and would I be interested in contributing to a purchase - sadly not for that cost!

Anyway, that's enough of that, and I know it's a bit of a niche interest, but for me it is all about the TV presentation from C4 cricket, rather than the action itself (which is easy enough to get hold of).

Shameless self-promotion further links, just in case anybody is remotely interested:

Said YouTube channel that has most of my recorded archive on it: https://www.youtube.com/user/madmusician91

An article I wrote about C4 cricket just before the 2019 World Cup Final: https://njfreestone.wordpress.com/2019/0...et-and-me/

[Robertclark125]

An odd telly event I remember, was when Terry Wogan, at the end of his chat show one evening, was talking, and the BBC1 globe was in the background, and he introduced Last of the Summer Wine. Only time I can recall it.

I also liked long intervals during ITV Schools on 4, and the regional opt outs on ITV Schools on 4, because of the glitch, and the long junction we got before the opt out programme.

[soupie]

An odd telly event I remember, was when Terry Wogan, at the end of his chat show one evening, was talking, and the BBC1 globe was in the background, and he introduced Last of the Summer Wine. Only time I can recall it.



I also liked long intervals during ITV Schools on 4, and the regional opt outs on ITV Schools on 4, because of the glitch, and the long junction we got before the opt out programme.

He introduces the famous episode of Dallas here where Bobby Ewing ‘died’ (before reappearing in the shower of course). But I’m sure many on here have seen this 

https://youtu.be/LsxTXETfEck

[TWO ident]

The same thing on all five channels. I don’t just mean all five channels reporting the same news from a studio (as would have happened for Diana and briefly did for Prince Philip last year) but actually showing pictures of the same live event. Channel 4 opted out of Diana’s funeral and Philip’s I think was only shown on BBC1, ITV and the news channels so this is an incredibly
rare occurrence. I can only definitely recall two occasions when this happened, all the more remarkable because they occurred back to back. On 6 July 2005 all five channels covered London winning the 2012 Olympic bid, with BBC 1 showing a N24 Special and BBC2 as part of the Daily Politics. On 7 July all channels carried Tony Blair’s reaction to the 7/7 attacks, with the BBC covering the same way again, ITN with live news on ITV and Channel 4 and Channel 5 I think at that time took Sky News. Logically, I think at the millennium all 5 channels would have been showing Big Ben at midnight (Genome shows BBC2 joined 1 for 15 minutes). I think all channels covered Brexit Day at midnight with a Newsnight Special on 2, ITV News and a Last Leg Special on 4. BBC One is a given but I can’t remember if 5 did anything. 9/11 was probably on all five at some point that horrible afternoon, as BBC2 I believe was covering the TUC conference which of course took a back seat so they’d probably have shown live pictures with the rest at some point, but my memory is hazy.

Tomorrow I believe is the first time a domestic football match will be shown on two terrestrial channels since 1988 so that in itself is a pretty big deal. The World Cup Final 1966 and a couple of subsequent FA Cup Finals were shown on all three existing channels (because only BBC2 could show 625-line/colour coverage)

---

Taken me a bit of time to reply to this one - what a lovely idea for a thread!

Like so many of us, my earliest TV memories are CBBC/CITV ones, but lots of that curiosity has been sated by various YouTube uploads over the years, so I've relived plenty of Studio A/Studio 9 CBBC continuity and early-00s Gas Street CITV continuity, enough to remember the general 'feel' of what you used to get on a weekday afternoon.  Even big things that I remember like the 1997 CBBC move to Studio 9 is pretty well documented on YouTube. 

There's the odd thing that I remember, like a birthday cards slot one morning (hosted by Josie D'Arby in my memory) when the sound didn't go out and they tried a couple of times but had to bail into the programmes.  And I've no idea how accurate my memory is with that particular occasion (or, indeed, when it actually was within a period of about three years) - but most of the big stuff is there for me, when it comes to children's telly.

My own personal 'holy grails' are all related to Channel 4's cricket coverage.  I'm a bit of an obsessive about it all (and it came at a really formative time for me - their seven years on air coincided with me being aged 7-13, so I was naturally going to remember it very fondly) and whilst I've got certain things recorded (most of which I've put up on YouTube), I wish that I had so much more.

I'd especially love to see an episode or two of the Saturday morning Cricket Roadshow once again - in my memory, it was a genuinely brilliant programme that hasn't been matched since (in terms of cricket coverage) - lively features, interesting interviews and pitching for the younger audience.  I remember one in particular in 2002 that kept falling off air (at one point, it was off for so long that a filler was shown by pres), when they were opening a new cricket ground in South London that C4 had helped to fund (and you don't see Sky doing things like that these days).  All a bit of a shame that the programme kept falling off air, but we did get to see Alex Tudor deliver the first ball on the new strip (which I do have footage of, but only for about 30 seconds!)

It's obviously all still in the archives, and bits of the highlights shows pop up on the ECB YouTube channel occasionally, but the long fills, the phone-ins at the lunch intervals, the Saturday morning Cricket Roadshow - they'll never pop up again, sadly, and very little seems to have been recorded or put up online.

I did have contact once with a C4 cricket fan account on Twitter (not long after I released an edited tribute to C4 cricket on YouTube) and they said that they had enquired about the archive, and it was available for purchase on a programme-by-programme basis (at a very expensive sum) and would I be interested in contributing to a purchase - sadly not for that cost!

Anyway, that's enough of that, and I know it's a bit of a niche interest, but for me it is all about the TV presentation from C4 cricket, rather than the action itself (which is easy enough to get hold of).

Shameless self-promotion further links, just in case anybody is remotely interested:

Said YouTube channel that has most of my recorded archive on it: https://www.youtube.com/user/madmusician91

An article I wrote about C4 cricket just before the 2019 World Cup Final: https://njfreestone.wordpress.com/2019/0...et-and-me/

The Channel 4 days really were fantastic. They also had the ‘Easter egg’ of the Film Four coverage during racing where the commentators for the most part would just do a highlights commentary, very little chit-chat in between.

There’s been great Ashes series since 2005 but none has captured the public imagination like that year. The way that series played out was almost magical, and the public interest was so intense. Even the Scots were talking about it! I reckon even now, the same series would not attract the public interest if it were on a channel like ITV4. Though less so than nearly 20 years ago, the main channels are still a powerful draw.

[Markymark]

Party Political Broadcasts simulcast on all three channels were common place in the 70s too.

Also, they were cross promoted as being so, which seems counterintuitive, but if you stop to think it made total sense!

The Holy Grail element is the occasion when Thames didn't opt out of the dirty feed quick enough and BBC continuity announcer Peter Brooke (?) went out on ITV as well. He sent an invoice to Thames as a bit of fun, and they paid it I gather?

[johnnyboy]

I remember the transfer to the Broom Cupboard too. I was 11 when it happened and it felt like such a big thing. I looked forward to the continuity as much as the programs. When Phil Schofield introduced the Friday afternoon film from the 70s, it felt like an event to me. I loved experimenting with graphics on my ZX Spectrum and I thought the BBC Micro-B-powered Children's BBC logo was amazing at the time.

Another holy grail moment for me was when Sankha Guha stole from an ATM live on air at the start of the first episode of Network 7 in 1987. That program, its vibe, its energy and its pres fascinate me to this day, especially the first series.

Lady Diana's death in 1997 and the chance to watch BBC World. It was 2-3 months before the start of News 24. I was off work that week and remember how BBC1 in particular kept interrupting its schedule, much like it did during Gulf War: Episode 1.

Andrew Neil stating "The Andrew Neil Show is going GLOBAL!" when his afternoon BBC2 program in 1995 was simulcast on the then new BBC World channel.

On the subject of BBC World, do you remember how we used to post links to the streaming version of the channel in secret to each other on the blue place? :-)

And TWO Ident's choice of Ashes 2005 - oh yes! And Euro 96 too.

[thegeek]

The same thing on all five channels. I don’t just mean all five channels reporting the same news from a studio (as would have happened for Diana and briefly did for Prince Philip last year) but actually showing pictures of the same live event. Channel 4 opted out of Diana’s funeral and Philip’s I think was only shown on BBC1, ITV and the news channels so this is an incredibly rare occurrence. 

There was the 2020 'Our Stories' campaign, which went out on pretty much every channel owned by the PSBs (though not synced up to the second). Blue thread on it here.

[TWO ident]

Party Political Broadcasts simulcast on all three channels were common place in the 70s too.

Also, they were cross promoted as being so, which seems counterintuitive, but if you stop to think it made total sense!

The Holy Grail element is the occasion when Thames didn't opt out of the dirty feed quick enough and BBC continuity announcer Peter Brooke (?) went out on ITV as well. He sent an invoice to Thames as a bit of fun, and they paid it I gather?

That’s interesting, how were they cross-promoted? And that would have really freaked me out seeing BBC continuity on ITV! Or was it only the voiceover?

[nwtv2003]

There were examples of the cross promotion on YouTube before now. Essentially it was the BBC1 clock and the announcer says, ‘the following programme is also being shown on BBC2 and ITV. This is BBC1, it’s nine o’clock’, before cutting to the broadcast itself.