Talking Pictures TV

[OceanBlue]

The TV Schedule section on Talking Pictures' website has been updated - one week added, covering the period of Monday 4th to Sunday 10th August.

Some of the programmes and films on the channel during this period:

The Cheaters:

- episode "The Safe Way", premiering on Thursday 7th August at 7.30 pm - 8 pm

Richard the Lionheart:

- episode "Queen in Danger", premiering on Sunday 9th August at 9.30 am - 10 am

Strange But True?:

- series 4 edition "Remote Viewing (David Morehouse)", premiering on Friday 8th August at 8.25 pm - 9 pm

Supercar:

- episode "Deep Seven", premiering on Saturday 9th August at 10 am - 10.30 am

Films:

- previously lost early-sixties drama Linda, premiering on Saturday 9th August at 3 pm - 4.15 pm

- mid-fiftes drama Autumn Leaves, premiering on Saturday 9th August at 9.05 pm - 11.15 pm

- previously lost late-forties comedy The Cure for Love, premiering on Sunday 10th August at 6 pm - 7.50 pm

- late-fifties crime film The Lineup, premiering on Sunday 10th August at 9.55 pm - 11.40 pm

From the Danziger Archives:

Documentaries:

- new documentary The Danziger Studios Story, premiering on Thursday 7th August at 6.15 pm - 7.20 pm

The Vise:

- episode "Death Pays No Dividends", premiering on Sunday 10th August at 4.30 pm - 5 pm.

[cutback73]

There has been a number of really interesting movies on Saturday and Sunday nights recently, from black and white thrillers to 60s/70s spy thrillers and dramas (I have The Andersen Tapes with Sean Connery still to watch).

Autumn Leaves was directed by Robert Aldrich and stars:
Joan Crawford
Cliff Robertson
Vera Miles

IMDB rating is 7.3 and with that line up I will definitely be recording it.

The Lineup was directed by Don Siegel and stars a young Eli Wallach as a hit man, with a higher rating on IMDB and a number of recognisable faces in supporting roles including Richard Jaeckal and the bank manager from Beverley Hillbillies. Another film I am really looking forward to.

(The Danziger documentary sounds interesting also).

[OceanBlue]

The TV Schedule section on Talking Pictures' website has been updated - one week added, covering the period of Monday 11th to Sunday 17th August.

Some of the TV programmes and films on the channel during this period:

The Cheaters: (from the Danziger Archives)

- episode "A Flash in the Sky", premiering on Thursday 14th August at 7.30 pm - 8 pm

Richard the Lionheart:

- episode "The Castle of Prince Otto", premiering on Saturday 16th August at 9.30 am - 10 am

Strange But True?:

- series 4 edition "The Falkirk Triangle/Beast of Durham - The Fishburn Puma", premiering on Friday 15th August at 8.25 pm - 9 pm

Supercar:

- episode "Hostage", premiering on Saturday 16th August at 10 am - 10.30 am

Films:

- late-fifties mystery Hidden Homicide, airing on Thursday 14th August at 1.30 pm - 3 pm (repeated on Saturday 16th August at 3 pm - 4.30 pm)

- late-fifties drama The Story of Esther Costello, airing on Thursday 14th August at 9.05 pm - 11.10 pm

Miscellaneous:

- Talking Pictures with Tyler Butterworth (an exclusive interview with the son of Peter Butterworth and Janet Brown), airing on Tuesday 12th August at 4.35 am - 5.25 am

- TPTV Remembers Terence Fisher ("Caroline Munro talks with author Tony Dalton about his friend Terence Fisher"), airing on Saturday 16th August at 5.30 pm - 6 pm.

[cutback73]

Another strong Saturday night film, this is based on the Frederick Forsyth book and is arguably Jon Voight's best film. Also starring Maximillian Schell and a number of German actors in the cast, it is a great thriller involving the search for a missing Nazi war criminal.

The book and film are not true stories but ODESSA (the body searching for war criminals) existed and the war criminal was being hunted in real life at the time.

Another film I will definitely be watching/recording.

[OceanBlue]

A new edition of preview show What's on Talking Pictures TV with Noel (episode 46) premieres on the channel next Monday morning (21st July) at 8.05 am - 8.15 am, repeated on:

Tuesday 22nd July at 12.40 pm - 12.50 pm
and Saturday 26th July at 8.15 am - 8.25 am.

[OceanBlue]

Talking Pictures had hinted before that sixties British detective series Sergeant Cork would be airing on the channel. In this past Sunday's TPTV email newsletter, it says that the series is coming to the channel "very soon". They added that there will be some special introductions from actor William Gaunt.

[cutback73]

Originally Posted by OceanBlue

Talking Pictures had hinted before that sixties British detective series Sergeant Cork would be airing on the channel. In this past Sunday's TPTV email newsletter, it says that the series is coming to the channel "very soon". They added that there will be some special introductions from actor William Gaunt.

Looking forward to this (no sign of it up to 24th August per the TPTV listings). All 66 episodes still exist and there was a Network dvd release of the whole series on 19 discs, which is still easily available.

I hope William Gaunt watched the episodes before recording his introductions, to help his recollections. It's great that he is involved.

We also.still have the black and white Z Cars episodes to come - last heard on this was the notice at the end of the final episode which said they would be "coming soon".

Hoping that "soon" for both means September.

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by cutback73

Looking forward to this (no sign of it up to 24th August per the TPTV listings). All 66 episodes still exist and there was a Network dvd release of the whole series on 19 discs, which is still easily available.

I hope William Gaunt watched the episodes before recording his introductions, to help his recollections. It's great that he is involved.

We also.still have the black and white Z Cars episodes to come - last heard on this was the notice at the end of the final episode which said they would be "coming soon".

Hoping that "soon" for both means September.

It's said that they (television in general) keep the best shows back for the start of autumn in September. I was going to ask if the surviving colour episodes of Z-Cars started being shown on the channel in September last year. I think you could be right about Sergeant Cork and the surviving black and white episodes of Z-Cars.

I noticed in the IMDb section for Z-Cars that as the surviving colour episodes were being shown, an IMDb user review was added for each episode. But what has also been added in places on the episode list is a screencap for 'lost' episodes.

[OceanBlue]

The TV Schedule section on Talking Pictures' website has been updated - one week added, covering the period of Monday 18th to Sunday 24th August.

Update: The TV Highlights section has been updated (covering the same period as above). The listings information below has been updated.

Some of the TV programmes and films on the channel during this period:

The Cheaters:

- episode "Single or Double Indemnity", premiering on Thursday 21st August at 7.30 pm - 8 pm

Richard the Lionheart:

- episode "The Vision Fades", premiering on Saturday 23rd August at 9.30 am - 10 am

Strange But True?:

- series 4 edition "John Raphael (Past Life)/Premonitions", premiering on Friday 22nd August at 8.25 pm - 9 pm

Supercar:

- episode "The Sunken Temple", premiering on Saturday 23rd August at 10 am - 10.30 am

Lost episode re-discovered:

- Glencannon episode "Balloon Story", premiering on Thursday 21st August at 7 pm - 7.30 pm

- Douglas Fairbanks Presents episode "A Life in the Snow", airing on Saturday 23rd August at 4.10 pm - 4.40 pm

Films:

- mid-sixties comedy Doctor in Clover, premiering on Sunday 24th August at 2.15 pm - 4.15 pm

- late-thirties adventure The Four Feathers, premiering on Sunday 24th August at 6 pm - 8.15 pm.

[Verisimilitude1984]

I’m enjoying Public Eye, if only for spotting places I’ve been to!

[OceanBlue]

During one of the letters sections on yesterday afternoon's new edition of The Footage Detectives, one letter read out was about/partly about a milk advert that Sir Roger Moore was in. There was an error though when it was read out (unless the picture shown was incorrect, it did show Sir Roger with a glass of milk, sitting next to Britt Ekland clearly on one of the interior sets for Scaramanga's island in The Man with the Golden Gun. But they mentioned Live and Let Die instead (the suit Moore was wearing is from the portion of the film where he is at Scaramanga's base).

Continuity error: I haven't seen early-sixties film Identity Unknown before (the film is from the Danziger Archives), but after the portion of yesterday's editiion where a continuity error was brought up (the back projection in a driving scene), I hope to see the film. And if it wasn't brought up I wouldn't have noticed the actress in the scene (the actress in this scene (Pauline Yates) later played Reggie Perrin's wife Elizabeth in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin).

[OceanBlue]

The TV Schedule and TV Highlights sections on Talking Pictures' website have been updated - one week added, covering the period of Monday 25th to Sunday 31st August.

Some of the TV programmes on the channel during this period:

The Cheaters:

- episode "Affair of the Heart", premiering on Thursday 28th August at 7.30 pm - 8 pm

Douglas Fairbanks Presents:

- episode "The Relative Truth", premiering on Wednesday 27th August at 5.55 pm - 6.25 pm

Richard the Lionheart:

- episode "The Fugitive", premiering on Saturday 30th August at 9.30 am - 10 am

Sergeant Cork:

- the series premiere "The Case of the Reluctant Widow", premiering on Sunday 31st August at 8 pm - 9.05 pm (preceded by Memories of Sergeant Cork (an introduction by actor William Gaunt) *the series will premiere on the channel every Sunday at 8 pm*

Strange But True?:

- series 4 edition "The Curse of Tutankhamun", premiering on Friday 29th August at 8.25 pm - 9 pm

Supercar: (airing as part of Saturday Morning Pictures)

- episode "The Lost City", premiering on Saturday 30th August at 10 am - 10.30 am.

[OceanBlue]

A new edition of preview show What's on Talking Pictures TV with Noel (episode 47) premieres on the channel next Monday morning (4th August) at 8.10 am - 8.20 am, repeated on:

Tuesday 5th August at 9 am - 9.10 am
Friday 8th August at 2.20 pm - 2.30 pm
Sunday 10th August at 10.25 am - 10.35 am
and Thursday 14th August at 5.10 am - 5.25 am.

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by CompleteCount

It might well be of interest that at 22.05 on Sunday 1st December, TPTV are playing The Wheeltappers & Shunter's Social Club from the very beginning. It's rather handy, as it improves upon the DVD release by having subtitles with it.

I've watched them all again over the last year or so, and they're pretty entertaining stuff, including the opportunity of seeing acts like The Krankies or Cannon & Ball in their prime, before their material became threadbare and pantomime-like. What's really odd is that most go in expecting the likes of Bernard Manning trotting out racist material from the outset, but this wasn't the case. It was a couple of series in before one particular guest came out with a very casually racist gag which opened the floodgates somewhat in its wake.

The person in question? None other than Marti Caine!

Is At the Wheeltappers a continuation series? It starts on Talking Pictures on Sunday 31st August at 9.10 pm - 9.45 pm (source: the TV Schedule and TV Highlights sections on Talking Pictures' website).

[CompleteCount]

Originally Posted by OceanBlue

Is At the Wheeltappers a continuation series? It starts on Talking Pictures on Sunday 31st August at 9.10 pm - 9.45 pm.

I suspect that this is an alternate title for the episodes near the end of the run, where they changed the format and went to a 30-minute slot rather than the usual 50 minute gap. With that came a single act rather than a selection of performers, which would fit with the title: "At the Wheeltappers". The final series really felt as though things were coming to a close, and that it was all being done to cut costs via a single performer. It was tired, and having certain novelty acts flail for longer than usual stretches the patience.

But... there were also a few oddities, such as an un-transmitted episode with Martin St James, which was probably abandoned due to the pushback against hypnotists appearing on UK TV shows at the time. Alongside that is a very strange item starring musical comedy act Terry Webster and Dictionary, referred to as a "recording block" rather than an episode, which seems to be the assembly footage and clocks in 77 mins. This also includes all the material from the (kept off-camera) warm-up man, whom comes out with material more coarse than usually found in the show. That he freely uses words like "crap" and others where the volume is dipped to cut it out more than hints that it wasn't for public consumption. He even says that the upcoming act is so funny "...you won't have to fake it".

These stragglers might have been refitted into new material and lumped together under the "At The Wheeltappers" banner.

[OceanBlue]

Rather than jump in and get something wrong or partly wrong, I'll ask a question: how much involvement did Jack Whittingham have in the creation of Thunderball and it's remake Never Say Never Again? It's either next Sunday afternoon's new edition of The Footage Detectives or a week on Sunday where he is the subject of one segment.

[CompleteCount]

Originally Posted by OceanBlue

Rather than jump in and get something wrong or partly wrong, I'll ask a question: how much involvement did Jack Whittingham have in the creation of Thunderball and it's remake Never Say Never Again

Jesus, you really dive right into the complicated ones!

One of the books about Fleming puts it like this: Fleming was disheartened by the lack of uptake on Bond as a movie series, and especially after the awful TV treatment of Casino Royale. He had a colossal piss-up with Kevin McClory to drown his sorrows, and during it, they brainstormed ideas for the ultimate 007 script, one which would have the studios clamouring for James Bond. The trouble was that once the hangovers set in the following morning, it was unclear as to who came up with what.

That one session came up with SPECTRE and the basic structure of the story. The screenplay was worked on over the next few years, and Whittingham was one of those whom took turns in fleshing things out. Whittingham and McClory subsequently sued Fleming for plagiarism, as he published the novel Thunderball using elements from the screenplay. It seem as though Whittingham mainly came up with the Petachi siblings, and the ultimate fate of the brother, along with possibly the theft of the nuclear weapon.

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by CompleteCount

Jesus, you really dive right into the complicated ones!

One of the books about Fleming puts it like this: Fleming was disheartened by the lack of uptake on Bond as a movie series, and especially after the awful TV treatment of Casino Royale. He had a colossal piss-up with Kevin McClory to drown his sorrows, and during it, they brainstormed ideas for the ultimate 007 script, one which would have the studios clamouring for James Bond. The trouble was that once the hangovers set in the following morning, it was unclear as to who came up with what.

That one session came up with SPECTRE and the basic structure of the story. The screenplay was worked on over the next few years, and Whittingham was one of those whom took turns in fleshing things out. Whittingham and McClory subsequently sued Fleming for plagiarism, as he published the novel Thunderball using elements from the screenplay. It seem as though Whittingham mainly came up with the Petachi siblings, and the ultimate fate of the brother, along with possibly the theft of the nuclear weapon.

I came up with the idea of asking about Jack Whittingham's involvement following looking at the latest addition to the TV Schedule and TV Highlights sections on Talking Pictures' website (*). It was the wording which I was curious about (I do like what the channel shows and am sort of a fan, but there are times when something is put in one of the newsletters or something is said on The Footage Detectives and the preview show that I question (The Vise being one of the queries). I knew from watching Thunderball and the remake that Jack Whittingham was involved, but not how much.

(*) Source of the following: TV Highlights week for Monday 25th to Sunday 31st August and the part about The Footage Detectives on the 31st:

"..as we're joined by '60s singer Sylvian, daughter of Jack Whittingham - the main behind Thunderball!"

"She's brought along some incredible reels, including her dad on location, secret Sean Connery footage,"

What caught my eye was "the man behind Thunderball", which I interpreted it as he was the only person who came up with all the ideas for the Thunderball script.

Think it was last year it was shown on The Footage Detectives, footage of the filming of the stunt in Thunderball when Bond is pursued by Count Lippe on the road (a motor racing track), who is pursued themselves by Fiona Vulpe on the motorcycle.

[OceanBlue]

The TV Schedule section on Talking Pictures' website has been updated - one week added, covering the period of Monday 1st to Sunday 7th September.

Some of the TV programmes on the channel during this period:

The Cheaters:

- episode "The Bite", premiering on Thursday 4th September at 7.30 pm - 8 pm

Douglas Fairbanks Presents:

- episode "Mark of the Scorpion", premiering on Sunday 7th September at 2 pm - 2.35 pm

A Good Read:

- Sherlock Holmes: short story A Scandal in Bohemia, premiering on Friday 5th September at 3.15 pm - 4.15 pm

Richard the Lionheart: (airing as part of Saturday Morning Pictures)

- episode "Knight Errant at Large", premiering on Saturday 6th September at 9.30 am - 10 am

Sergeant Cork:

- series 1 episode "The Case of the Girl Upstairs", premiering on Sunday 7th September at 8.05 pm - 9.10 pm (preceded at 8 pm by Memories of Making Sergeant Cork)

Star Treatment Show:

- the first edition of Southern Television's version of Opportunity Knocks, airing on Sunday 7th September at 11.30 pm - midnight

Strange But True?:

- series 4 edition "Lucid Dreams/Psychic Children", premiering on Friday 5th September at 8.25 pm - 9 pm

Supercar: (airing as part of Saturday Morning Pictures)

- episode "Trapped in the Depths", premiering on Saturday 6th September at 10 am - 10.30 am

Lost episode re-discovered:

- Glencannon episode "Crocodile Tears", premiering on Sunday 7th September at 10 am - 10.35 am.

[OceanBlue]

Early-sixties film Return of a Stranger (from the Danziger Archive) that premiered on Talking Pictures this past Saturday was one of the best films I've seen on the channel. It kept my interest throughout. The only criticism I have was with some of the music score in the first half (it didn't fit the tone of the story). Really liked how it was shot and framed.

In yesterday's weekly TPTV email newsletter, a film premiering next Sunday evening (10th August) was featured, The Cure for Love (directed by Robert Donat). What puzzled me was part of the paragraph:

"..this film is full of northern accents and was a huge hit north of The Midlands upon it's release."

Did the film perform better in cinemas in some England counties north of the Midlands?