SF4-EVER
Nov 08, 2001, 04:52 AM
LONDON, Nov 8 (Reuters) - A national appeal by the state-owned British Broadcasting Corp. has turned up more than 100 lost TV and radio programs, including episodes of WWII sitcom ``Dad's Army'' and an audio recording of the the Beatles on a chart show.
``We've had a great response to the 'Treasure Hunt' appeal and some fantastic material has turned up,'' the BBC's head of information, Paul Fiander, said on Thursday.
``We always knew it was out there and this has brought back a gratifying number of programs to the BBC,'' Fiander told the BBC's website (http:/news.bbc.co.uk).
The BBC launched the ``Treasure Hunt'' appeal in May after a missing episode of cult series ``The Likely Lads'' was found, and they pledged to try to find other programming that was either wiped from the archives or never officially recorded.
Since then, two missing episodes of ``Dad's Army'' turned up in a heap of 19 rusting film cans, delivered by an octogenarian who heard the appeal. The original collector had pulled them from a skip at Elstree Studios and given them to his friend for safe keeping when there was no space in his house.
Other recovered gems included a 1962 Benny Hill Show and an episode of ``Not Only...But Also,'' the cult comedy series written by and starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.
A rediscovered audio recording of The Beatles appearing on Juke Box Jury in 1963 features the Fab Four giving their opinion as to whether they thought new singles by artists of the time, including Elvis Presley, would be hits.
Other recovered radio programs include the first episode of the panel game, ``I'm sorry, I haven't a clue,'' from 1972, and a 1931 adaptation of ``A Christmas Carol,'' the earliest complete BBC drama in existence.
The BBC archives now boast more than 20 radio dramas from the 1960s, as well as 40 recorded editions of the ``Music While You Work'' program, which broadcast live music from 1940 to 1966 but had never been officially recorded.
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Author of "Move Over Ms. L." and the sequel "To Thine Own Self Be True,"
hosted at www.rooftopsessions.com (http://www.rooftopsessions.com)
``We've had a great response to the 'Treasure Hunt' appeal and some fantastic material has turned up,'' the BBC's head of information, Paul Fiander, said on Thursday.
``We always knew it was out there and this has brought back a gratifying number of programs to the BBC,'' Fiander told the BBC's website (http:/news.bbc.co.uk).
The BBC launched the ``Treasure Hunt'' appeal in May after a missing episode of cult series ``The Likely Lads'' was found, and they pledged to try to find other programming that was either wiped from the archives or never officially recorded.
Since then, two missing episodes of ``Dad's Army'' turned up in a heap of 19 rusting film cans, delivered by an octogenarian who heard the appeal. The original collector had pulled them from a skip at Elstree Studios and given them to his friend for safe keeping when there was no space in his house.
Other recovered gems included a 1962 Benny Hill Show and an episode of ``Not Only...But Also,'' the cult comedy series written by and starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.
A rediscovered audio recording of The Beatles appearing on Juke Box Jury in 1963 features the Fab Four giving their opinion as to whether they thought new singles by artists of the time, including Elvis Presley, would be hits.
Other recovered radio programs include the first episode of the panel game, ``I'm sorry, I haven't a clue,'' from 1972, and a 1931 adaptation of ``A Christmas Carol,'' the earliest complete BBC drama in existence.
The BBC archives now boast more than 20 radio dramas from the 1960s, as well as 40 recorded editions of the ``Music While You Work'' program, which broadcast live music from 1940 to 1966 but had never been officially recorded.
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Author of "Move Over Ms. L." and the sequel "To Thine Own Self Be True,"
hosted at www.rooftopsessions.com (http://www.rooftopsessions.com)