g7uk » television

‘Television has become the enemy of creativity’

GS — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 23:28:00 +0000

Ken Loach made the keynote speech at the 54th BFI London Film Festival. He said television has become the ‘enemy of creativity’.

Mork and Mindy’s offensive landlord

GS — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:05:42 +0000

In 1978 I was a teenager and one afternoon switched on the local ITV channel — Tyne Tees — at about 5.15pm to watch the US sitcom Mork and Mindy. However I nearly fell off my chair when it turned out that the episode was all about their evil landlord who was called ‘Arnold Wanker’.

Although a Wikipedia page about the word claims that the show was severely edited by ITV when it was shown (and wrongly calls him ‘Oliver’), the word certainly wasn’t cut in the north-east. I can only imagine no one at Tyne Tees had viewed the episode before screening it!

Now like many dimly-remembered shows from years gone by it has turned up on YouTube.

More4 News presenter attacked live on air following G20 protests

GS — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 10:24:57 +0000

Last night as Alex Thomson presented More4 News live from the City, a man pushed his way in front of the camera.
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‘Cash-strapped BBC’ has probably never been better off

GS — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 02:00:33 +0000

The experience of uncovering the widely misreported crowd figures at the Manchester Pride parade has given me a healthy scepticism towards anything I read in the press.

A popular theme in the news these days is that the BBC is short of cash. But this is never put into a historical context. It seems that journalists are either too lazy or over-worked to look into it in any depth. So I decided to find out for myself…
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LGBT History Month: the 1960′s BBC TV series Robinson Crusoe, Lee Payant and Gordon Heath

GS — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 06:14:56 +0000

It’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans History Month.

If you grew up in Britain in the 1960′s or 1970′s then you probably remember the 13-part series Robinson Crusoe on BBC Television. This French production was shown many times between 1965 and the early 1980′s, often during school holidays.

Featuring handsome Robert Hoffman, most people remember the programme for the music, which was composed by Robert Mellin and Gian-Pero Reverberi, and for the distinctive dubbed English language narration. However most would be hard-pressed to name the actor who spoke those words and even fewer know of the love story behind the screen credit.

Classic Colgate toothpaste ad

GS — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 19:10:59 +0000

A marvellous Colgate toothpaste ad from the early 1980′s based on ‘Baggy Trousers’ by Madness.

And here’s a version for the US market with some of the same kids. But with every trace of Britishness and most of the Madness imagery removed it doesn’t quite ‘get it’ and ends up looking like a dog’s dinner.

TV drama filming, Stevenson Square, Manchester

GS — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:21:10 +0000

As I passed Stevenson Square on my way home, at 5.30pm, a film crew was shooting a drama for Granada TV in the Koffee Pot cafe.

All the fun of the fleapit

GS — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:16:10 +0000

The golden age of the low-budget British B-movie, at The Guardian.

Some of these used to pop up on ITV in the early hours a decade ago. Maybe we need a dedicated British B-movie TV channel?

Manchester television history disappears

GS — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 20:15:44 +0000

A small piece of Manchester’s television history disappeared in November when the transmission tower was removed from the roof of the Granada TV office building.

Most Haunted: Coronation Street

GS — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 03:59:06 +0000

On YouTube I found an episode of Most Haunted from 2005 in which they visit the studios and outdoor set of Coronation Street.

The studio is built on a former graveyard they claim. This is not the 1960′s Granada block but a studio that was constructed next to Lower Byrom Street in the late 1980′s.

It’s a good story, but a quick look through some photographs on the Manchester City Council local image library suggests it isn’t true.

The site of St. John’s Church now. Photo date: November 2008