Television of Yesteryear.

[Donald the Great]

Re: Television of Yesteryear.

A Ghost Story for Christmas adapted mainly stories by M.R. James, though Dickens classic The Signalman got a particularly fine treatment imo.

A Family at War I remember quite well. A distinctive and melancholic title tune with visuals of a bleak looking beach and a sand castle with a union flag planted atop and the tide coming in.

Going back to The Avengers, although I liked the series, I am perhaps in the minority who isn't particularly smitten by Diana Rigg as Emma Peel. Don't get me wrong, she's a darned good actress, but somehow she doesn't quite do it for me. Joanna Lumley as Purdey...now she does it for me.

A Fine Romance was okay, but I didn't think it was anything special.

A Kick up the eighties I remember but it tends to get muddled with other similar shows of the time in my memory.

I reckon Joanna is hotter today than back then.

[Donald the Great]

Re: Television of Yesteryear.

Ok next list:



Barlow At Large I seem to remember that Barlow and Barlow At Large was a follow on from "Softly, Softly" and was about a private detective who was played by Stratford Johns after leaving the force ...

As the name suggests, Barrier Reef was an Aussie adventure series from 1971-1972 which was based around a group of marine biologists researching the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland in their boat, 'New Endeavor'.


Beadle's About:
You work in a bed shop. One morning the door opens and in walks the largest family on the planet. They introduce themselves as the 'Golightlys' and proceed to hurl themselves on your top-end bed frames until you can hear them start to crack.


Beauty and the Beast was a TV series from 1987 in which the creator, Ron Koslow, adapts the classic fairytale in a modern environment.
Vincent was the 'beast' who lived in an underground world with other outcasts, and Catherine was the 'beauty' a District Attorney assistant.

BERGERAC:
As with all good leads in cop shows, Detective Sergeant Jim Bergerac was an almost broken man when we first met him. Recovering from a bad marriage break-up, alcoholism and a busted up leg (due to an argument with a boat and a wall) he had just returned to his homeland of Jersey after a little recuperation time in England.

Who recalls a story called Bernard & The Genie, starring Alan Cummins and Lenny Henry. It was written by Richard Curtis - the man behind many great British rom-coms.The ...

BEWITCHED:
Bewitched's Samantha Stephens (played by the beautiful Elizabeth Montgomery) was a modern day witch, who wriggled her nose every time she wanted to use a magic spell.

Billy Liar:
Picture a young male in the early sixties, just before the "Swinging Sixties". Boring job, boring home, boring life. His answer? Live in a total imaginary world where he can indulge his megalomania and control everything! Ideal?

[staffslad]

Re: Television of Yesteryear.

Barlow at Large, Softly Softly, Softly Softly Task Force and Z Cars all get a bit jumbled up with each other for me. They were good dramas and Z Cars was quite innovative in its time, but in the mid 70s The Sweeney blew them all away for most teenage boys.

Barrier Reef I think was shown on sundays here in the UK. I don't recall all that much about it plotwise.

Beadle's About was okay, but I preferred Game for a Laugh. Very sad that we lost Jeremy so young.

Bewitched was great. Elizabeth Montgomery was perfect as Samantha and the rest of the cast worked very well. It was a toss-up whether I'd go for Samantha or Jeannie of I Dream of Jeannie. I think Bewitched was a little more adult orientated than Jeannie,,,but that costume she wore...plus Barbara Eden's mini-skirts when Jeannie wore normal clothes, not that Samantha was averse to having her pins on display--it was the 60s after all.

Billy Liar the TV series moved the setting to the early 70s and it was one of my favourite sitcoms at the time.

Bernard and the Genie. I am not sure exactly but was this the one where Lenny Henry as the genie washes his hair in a toilet bowl? I just have a recollection of him lifting his head from the bowl and in slow motion shaking his head and the water spraying everywhere.

[Richard1978]

Re: Television of Yesteryear.

Deleted!

[Donald the Great]

Re: Television of Yesteryear.

Elizabeth Montgomery was another I had a teen crush on. Yes those pins with the short minis. She did not always wear a bra in the later episodes either.

Never got Barlow or Barlow At Large in Oz. We did have Bergerac tho.. and i enjoyed it. Never tire of John Nettles. Watched every one of his Midsomer Murders too.. twice in fact. I have often heard of Beadle at Large in the odd sitcom. Victor Meldrew has spoken his name in One Foot.

Barrier Reef was ok.. the plots were a touch thin and the model like actors got a bit on my nerves. Could not fault the spectacular location shoots in the Whitsunday Islands.

[staffslad]

Re: Television of Yesteryear.

Arthur of the Britons was an early 1970s ITV children's drama depicting a decidedly grimy and muddy landscape in post-Roman Britain. There were no gallant knights in armour, fairytale castles or glamorously dressed ladies here. Oliver Tobias played Arthur, and was ably supported by actors of the time like Brian Blessed, Rupert Davies and Jack Watson.

The Baron was a mid 1960s ITC adventure series starring Steve Forrest as an antiques dealer who worked on the side for British Intelligence. Sue Lloyd played his assistant. Like most ITC series it had a stonking theme tune.

[Donald the Great]

Re: Television of Yesteryear.

Arthur of the Britons was an early 1970s ITV children's drama depicting a decidedly grimy and muddy landscape in post-Roman Britain. There were no gallant knights in armour, fairytale castles or glamorously dressed ladies here. Oliver Tobias played Arthur, and was ably supported by actors of the time like Brian Blessed, Rupert Davies and Jack Watson.

The Baron was a mid 1960s ITC adventure series starring Steve Forrest as an antiques dealer who worked on the side for British Intelligence. Sue Lloyd played his assistant. Like most ITC series it had a stonking theme tune.

I usually steer clear of Uk shows with Yank leads. But I liked Steve Forrest so watched and quite enjoyed The Baron. Little like The Avengers.
Ok another list folks.

[Donald the Great]

Re: Television of Yesteryear.

Call My Bluff (UK) Call My Bluff was necessary viewing if you were an intellectual-type interested in learning the derivation of words now deemed superflouous in modern day society.I


Call To Glory ...


Callan Played by Edward Woodward, Callan was a British Top Agent working for the S.I.S who had a snout called Lonely. ...



Candid Camera (USA) Candid Camera is a long-running television series, created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially appeared on radio as Candid Microphone in the 1940s. After a series of theatrical film shorts, also titled Candid Microphone, Funt's concept came to television ...



Cannon Frank Cannon, private investigator, was played by William Conrad. At the end of every episode, he cooked a meal for his clients. The series was a Quinn Martin production. ...



Cannon and Ball Comedians Tommy Cannon and Bobby Ball burst on to British TV screens in 1978 on Bruce Forsyth's Big Night. The former welders from Oldham soon rose to fame and became big stars with their own TV show Cannon and Ball. ...

[staffslad]

Re: Television of Yesteryear.

On the subject of Steve Forrest, he starred in a mid-70s series called S.W.A.T. that some may remember.


Call My Bluff was very witty. Frank Muir and Patrick Campbell as team captains, later Arthur Marshall after Campbell's death. Robert Robinson was quizmaster--remember him from Ask the Family? A very simple concept but with Muir, Campbell and Marshall, the programme was always amusing.

Callan was very dour and downbeat. No glam locations and ladies for Callan to romance, apart from Hunter's secretary, who was as icily cold as her boss. Anthony Valentine played Toby Meers, Callan's slightly psychopathic junior. Meers was replaced by Cross, played by Patrick Mower after Valentine left the show.

Mower starred in a series around 1976/77 that was the BBC's answer to The Sweeney. It was called Target and came in for some strong criticism due to it being extremely violent. The second series toned down the violence, so it is series 1 that you really need to see.

Cannon. Yes, they didn't come any bigger than big Frank. I really liked this series. Due to William Conrad being so big there were not too many foot chases and extended fights, but Frank could certainly handle himself. I wish this series was shown more often.

Cannon and Ball. No, sorry, I didn't like this double act at all. I just found Bobby Ball to be deeply annoying with his brace pulling and catchphrase of "Rock on, Tommy." I must preferred Little and Large.

[tex]

Re: Television of Yesteryear.

Gotta agree with Staffs ref Cannon and ball, just annoying but so were little and large...TWO RONNIES! best double act ever.

[George 1978]

Re: Television of Yesteryear.

Call My Bluff was very witty. Frank Muir and Patrick Campbell as team captains, later Arthur Marshall after Campbell's death. Robert Robinson was quizmaster--remember him from Ask the Family? A very simple concept but with Muir, Campbell and Marshall, the programme was always amusing.

It's great that episodes of Call My Bluff are on YouTube because thanks to the Internet, one can now cheat and find out via Google the correct definition of the obscure words that are featured! And that concept works most of the time! I bet that in the days before the Internet the words featured were indeed really obscure, although either Robin Ray or Robert Robinson said that they were featured in the OED which I would assume would be slightly familiar to people if that was actually the case. And I bet that words like "chav" would have probably been featured back in Ray or Robinson's day as well.

Cannon and Ball. No, sorry, I didn't like this double act at all. I just found Bobby Ball to be deeply annoying with his brace pulling and catchphrase of "Rock on, Tommy." I must preferred Little and Large.

I grew up in an ITV household, hence a 1980s Saturday night diet of Russ Abbot, Ted Rogers, Jeremy Beadle, and yes, Cannon and Ball.

I was going to book tickets to see Cannon and Ball for my 40th birthday this year when they were appearing for a season on Thursday evenings at the Spa Theatre in Bridlington, but looking at the What's On pages of various theatre websites I actually saw something listed that was happening at one of the theatres in the south on that date which sounded a lot more interesting, and so I booked tickets for that instead. The thing is that at least Cannon and Ball are both still alive - if you think about so many double acts who are no longer with us, or one of them have now gone (usually the funny man rather than the straight man it always seems to be). Are Little and Large still performing? - or Hale and Pace for that matter?

[George 1978]

Re: Television of Yesteryear.

Call My Bluff was very witty.

It was amazing when it came to obscure words - where did the researchers get them all from?

One thing that I was going to say but forgotten previously, was the fact that in Nottingham City Centre, there is a street called Byard Lane. The word "Byard" was so obscure and forgotten over time that the word had actually made it onto an edition of a Bob Holness era Call My Bluff in the 1990s - the word was something to do with the saddle of a horse dating from the 18th century, and at long last I had found out what that word (for what the local street was named after) had meant!

[darren]

Re: Television of Yesteryear.

Two ronnies was great stuff some fantastic sketches like 4 candles or was it handles.lol

barker also in porridge and corbett in sorry 42 episodes between 81 and 88.

[George 1978]

Re: Television of Yesteryear.

The Two Ronnies Mastermind parody "Answering the Question Before Last" subject - I am sure that it was the inspiration for that terrible 1993 Carlton quiz show Lose a Million.

[tex]

Re: Television of Yesteryear.

the two ronnies mastermind parody "answering the question before last" subject - i am sure that it was the inspiration for that terrible 1993 carlton quiz show lose a million.

great sketch george, not heard of lose a million