Hello Brian

In haste ...
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Blabs : 'Thanks for that reply, it is much appreciated.

Happy to help whenever I get chance.

I had noticed in watching the show's early episodes that most of them had two fake ads, or none (some in series 3, 4), but every so often an episode only had one ad (such as The Lost Tribe).

The ads - generally made on film - could be filmed for one episode and end up in another; additionally, some episodes were re-edited after the original broadcast because of the "Kitten Kong" re-recording. I believe a couple of adverts were also shot and not used.

In your research, did you ever discover whether those early episodes with only one ad ever had two and one somehow got lost (e.g. The Lost Tribe one), or whether they only intended to have one?

I've covered these in the Appendix as far as possible from the existing paperwork and scripts.

Hope that helps!

All the best

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for that reply, it is much appreciated.

I had noticed in watching the show's early episodes that most of them had two fake ads, or none (some in series 3, 4), but every so often an episode only had one ad (such as The Lost Tribe).

In your research, did you ever discover whether those early episodes with only one ad ever had two and one somehow got lost (e.g. The Lost Tribe one), or whether they only intended to have one?

As far as Aust is concerned, the Fairy Puff ad from Tower of London had always been cut and one of the ads was cut out from the 16 mm B/W film print of The Greenies (series 1) when shown here (until recently that is).  In both cases they are of course safe in the colour master.

As an aside (and this is tragically obscure), but I have always thought that the picture quality of The Lost Tribe, when shown in Australia from mid 1970's to 1993, was markedly better than any other episode of that series (and the others were pretty good), even when recorded to VHS.

I wondered if somehow Australia got an unusually good master by mistake (much the same way that Australia got some extended edits of various Pertwee Dr Who stories and one of the Dad's Amy episodes)?

Kind regards

Brian L

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Blabs : ' Some time not too long ago I recall that a B/W copy of the shredded/dreaded wheat advert was located. As I understand it, the ad was from The Lost Tribe.  My question is does anybody authoritatively know how a B/W copy of this ad came to be cut from an episode that has always been available in color?  Is the ad not in the colour master copy? Hopefully all will be revealed in Andrew Pixley's new book, but I was just wondering ...

I touch upon it briefly in the appendix of the book, but my thoughts and ruminations are as follows.  I believe that the sketch was filmed and included in an early edit of "The Lost Tribe", but I believe that the tape was re-edited prior to the BBC2 broadcast and the item removed; there is documentation indicating that the advert was on the master tape as broadcast, but it is not present in the existing episode (a copy from BBC Enterprises returned in 1977), which has a duration tallying with the paperwork of the time for the BBC2 airing.  It's also not uncommon for clearance forms to list material that has been cut prior to broadcast.

However, the b/w 16mm film recordings made for overseas issue by BBC Enterprises may have been taken from an earlier edit (as is the case with some of the "Monty Python's Flying Circus" films) prior to late cuts for the BBC domestric broadcast.  I believe that a similar cut occurs in the opening scene of "For Art's Sake" as I have seen paperwork relating to a censorship edit of material also missing from the domestic master tape, showing that the offending item was in place and viewed by the overseas censors.

Hope that helps.

All the best

Andrew

Some time not too long ago I recall that a B/W copy of the shredded/dreaded wheat advert was located.

As I understand it, the ad was from The Lost Tribe.  My question is does anybody authoritatively know how a B/W copy of this ad came to be cut from an episode that has always been available in color?  Is the ad not in the colour master copy?

Hopefully all will be revealed in Andrew Pixley's new book, but I was just wondering ...