The Official Network Thread

[timeschange]

Originally Posted by grahams76

Will seasons 2-4 of The Sweeney ever come to blu-ray?

I'm sure they will but the restorations have been available - albeit only in dvd quality - since October 2014 when they sneaked out another complete series set.
I ordered it in a Network sale as I was impatient to watch beyond series 1. I finished the whole lot over a year ago.
The dvd set is barebones so interviews , intros , commentaries and 5.1 sound seem to be being saved for the Blurays.
Not sure of the reason for such a delay but I am certain they will appear at some point

[demented]

The lab told me that they had completed all the restorations for complete series of The Sweeney so it's over to Network to release them.


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[ravenus]

Originally Posted by Gerby

I found it to be a very interesting listen...might keep my german blu ray just for the commentary track but i'm definately picking up this release.

Is there any issue with the German blu-ray that is prompting you to pick up another release?

Edit: Oh wait, just saw the review, terrible video apparently

[Wireduck1]

Originally Posted by demented

The lab told me that they had completed all the restorations for complete series of The Sweeney so it's over to Network to release them.


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Come on Network 'Free the Sweeney'....And look at 'Minder' while you're at it please.

[duggie walker]

Is Network's delivery really slow these days? They dispatched some discs to me nearly a week ago and they're still not here (london). Should I be concerned?

[Blu MacReady]

Originally Posted by Wireduck1

Come on Network 'Free the Sweeney'....And look at 'Minder' while you're at it please.

as long as it's the Minder with Terry, not the nephew Ray....:shudder:

[malcy30]

Originally Posted by Wireduck1

Come on Network 'Free the Sweeney'....And look at 'Minder' while you're at it please.

They announced Minder as part of the deal with Freemantle was it a year ago now ? as have typically bought the Freemantle DVD boxset in the previous end year Amazon Black Friday sale. However since then they have only released a handful of Freemantle titles like the new World at War boxset.

Originally Posted by duggie walker

Is Network's delivery really slow these days? They dispatched some discs to me nearly a week ago and they're still not here (london). Should I be concerned?

Have read complaints elsewhere that in the last few weeks deliveries even in UK are now taking over a week to arrive. It may be that Sony DADC who do the fulfilment have switch to a cheaper mail service possibly the same one Zoom use as I find their deliveries now take 7 to 9 days !

[timeschange]

Originally Posted by Wireduck1

Come on Network 'Free the Sweeney'....And look at 'Minder' while you're at it please.

Network have a 10 year deal with Fremantle and much of it will consist of reissuing new versions of shows previously released.
Probably a hard sell to get people to buy Love Thy Neighbour a second time even with some extras included but material like Minder should appear on Bluray at some point although the exact schedule remains a mystery. It looks like this year they are going to try and get a good few ITC shows onto Bluray.
Once the best ones are out I can see The Sweeney and Minder appearing alongside each other but if sales of The Sweeney were poor enough to slow it down I do wonder what the fate of Minder would be as I think it must be less popular than The Sweeney and with so many seasons of it buying it on Bluray will be some commitment.

Originally Posted by duggie walker

Is Network's delivery really slow these days? They dispatched some discs to me nearly a week ago and they're still not here (london). Should I be concerned?

The Randall discs have taken 3-4 days. A larger package may have gone on a slower service.

[Wireduck1]

I'm not sure Minder was less popular than Sweeney? I don't know the stats, but personally I'd rate the George Cole series above the Sweeney, I absolutely loved the humour in Minder and would go bonkers for a set on blu ray.

[duggie walker]

11 days since Randall and Hopkirk was dispatched and it's still not here. Customer service told me this was "normal" and could take up to 28 days.

Slowest UK service ever.

[CinemaScope]

Another vote for Minder (not the last series sans Waterman of course), what an enjoyable program, all those Ford Cortina's, & all those (now) well known character actors looking just so young.

[newgen2005]

+1 for Minder.

[timeschange]

Originally Posted by duggie walker

11 days since Randall and Hopkirk was dispatched and it's still not here. Customer service told me this was "normal" and could take up to 28 days.

Slowest UK service ever.

If that is Volume 2 you're waiting for I'd be concerned.
However - it was once standard Network policy for items to be marked as shipped when the order was passed over to Sony. Saying it was despatched had zilch to do with it being in the post - but it was my understanding that policy had ended.
If it was genuinely posted 11 days ago its likely lost and of course 28 days is poppycock for standard Royal Mail letter post. Although RM do force a minimum 21 days before they will treat an item as lost.

[OceanBlue]

Was The Ruth Rendell Mysteries (both the Inspector Wexford and non-Inspector Wexford episodes) shot on film, and are the rights issues different in Germany, to in the UK? Some of the episodes from the TVS era have been released on DVD by the label Pidax.

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by Wireduck1

I'm not sure Minder was less popular than Sweeney? I don't know the stats, but personally I'd rate the George Cole series above the Sweeney, I absolutely loved the humour in Minder and would go bonkers for a set on blu ray.

Minder was one of those shows that was huge in the south of England but not so big in the north. I remember when I was working in the north and commuting back and forth from London back in the days of regional ITV that Minder would be rerun on Thursday evenings in the Thames region but once you passed the Watford Gap it was replaced by reruns of Auf Widersehn, Pet, which never got great ratings in the south but was huge in the north.

[timeschange]

Originally Posted by OceanBlue

Was The Ruth Rendell Mysteries (both the Inspector Wexford and non-Inspector Wexford episodes) shot on film, and are the rights issues different in Germany, to in the UK? Some of the episodes from the TVS era have been released on DVD by the label Pidax.

Anything connected to TVS is in the mire.
It will have been shot on 16mm like all those types of ITV shows but due to some incredible admin cockups around the purchase of TVS by owners of The Family Channel back in the 90's the majority of the archive is out of bounds.
Some TVS properties were involved in a deal with ITV which allowed for the shows to continue in production after TVS ended but I can't recall the specifics of how that was administered or whether it gave ITV access to the earlier TVS produced episodes. I don't think it did.
Again I don't recall the specifics but I believe there are other TVS productions that had a similar deal that are also available somewhere on video.
But a series like Cats Eyes which is 100% TVS from start to finish is totally out of bounds for the time being and might never be available

[rapta]

Two new titles for May: THE FALL (1969, Peter Whitehead) and TONITE LET'S ALL MAKE LOVE IN LONDON (1967, Peter Whitehead).

Never heard of either but both sound interesting. The former especially, but the latter too - it apparently features everyone from Michael Caine and Julie Christie to Vashti Bunyan and David Hockney.

[rapta]

Some pretty surprising titles for June - in a good way: THE NAKED CIVIL SERVANT (1975, Jack Gold) and MOULIN ROUGE (1928, E.A. Dupont).

Both quite exciting titles for Network, I'm sure you'd agree!

[grahams76]

The former isn't that surprising given John Hurt's recent death, but most welcome.

[oddbox83]

Originally Posted by rapta

Some pretty surprising titles for June - in a good way: THE NAKED CIVIL SERVANT (1975, Jack Gold) and MOULIN ROUGE (1928, E.A. Dupont).

Both quite exciting titles for Network, I'm sure you'd agree!

A lot of their film output doesn't interest me, but I'm having both of those. I love John Hurt and silents.