Just a thought - I wonder if Grae's AIDS education doco will be available there at some point...

It looks like it's still just factual stuff at the moment. But the press release from 2004 said that there was potential for further development of it. I assume that means making other stuff available...

BBC Creative Archive

On a similar vein...

Does anyone here know about the BBC Creative Archive?  It was discussed at a conference I was at last week, but I was a bit brain-dead by that stage, so need to go back and re-read my handouts before it makes proper sense (last week was not a good time to be trying to teach me anything).  The way it was described, it sounded like the BBC had decided since it was funded by the public and had a public service charter etc etc, lots of old BBC stuff was now available for free, to do with as you like as long as you don't make money doing it.

I'm not sure if this is already happening, or what sort of 'old stuff' that might entail, so I'll do a bit of homework and find out.  Unless anyone here knows already?

That would be The Court Jester I've wanted to see that movie for ages.

Speaking of hard to find comedy....

I've been looking for ages for any of Danny Kay's movies... they're no where to be found. I would really love to get my hands on the movie about the black fox (spoofing robin hood) where they have a classic poisoned chalice scene.....

anyone have the foggiest what i'm talking about 

'

QueenofKnerds : ' Anyway, it's a crying shame about At Last The 1948 Show. Was it ever showed in Aus? Or will I have to try and order it from the UK? Unfortunately the words "black and white entertainment" are pretty much blasphemy these days, so the DVDs shall be very hard to get ahold of either way.

The DVDs that were released in the UK and US were also released in Australia (here's a link for the set at EzyDVD, though they're available elsewhere:
http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/784306

There's a helpful review explaining what's on this set at http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=57897

'

QueenofKnerds : ' Just read this in the Sydney Morning Herald: "Australians soon will have the right to tape TV programs and copy a track from a CD onto their MP3 players under copyright lawws being proposed by the Attorney-General. "Many of us thought we already had the right to do this, but the practice of making a recording of someone else's song, movie or virtually any other form of commercial media is illegal in Australia - and will remain so until the news laws are introduced later this year." D'you suppose somebody's been listening in here? We've had the technology for how many decades? and now they make it legal? Anyway, it's a crying shame about At Last The 1948 Show. Was it ever showed in Aus? Or will I have to try and order it from the UK? Unfortunately the words "black and white entertainment" are pretty much blasphemy these days, so the DVDs shall be very hard to get ahold of either way.

As I said earlier, the new Australian copyright laws are STUPID!!! *ahem* They expect that if you do tape something off television, you are only allowed to watch it once, and then discard the tape/DVD. They're a whole lot of laws that nobody can enforce, unless we lived in a police state where police could barge into your house at any time, "excuse me Miss, we believe you're stockpiling shows recorded off television"... Pfft.

If they're going to change them, they need to do it properly, and actually think about it before they do it.

Just read this in the Sydney Morning Herald:

"Australians soon will have the right to tape TV programs and copy a track from a CD onto their MP3 players under copyright lawws being proposed by the Attorney-General.

"Many of us thought we already had the right to do this, but the practice of making a recording of someone else's song, movie or virtually any other form of commercial media is illegal in Australia - and will remain so until the news laws are introduced later this year."

D'you suppose somebody's been listening in here? We've had the technology for how many decades? and now they make it legal?

Anyway, it's a crying shame about At Last The 1948 Show. Was it ever showed in Aus? Or will I have to try and order it from the UK? Unfortunately the words "black and white entertainment" are pretty much blasphemy these days, so the DVDs shall be very hard to get ahold of either way.

I wholeheartedly agree.

Apologies for the double post.

I just stumbled across this letter which I thought those of you interested in copyright laws might like to read. It concerns the webmaster of a Python site uploading whole episodes of At Last the 1948 Show (before the DVDs were released) and the copyright owners requesting they be removed. The website is where I downloaded my own copies of 1948 Show, which I then clipped and uploaded onto YouTube.

Enough of my babbling:

I am, of course, annoyed that the clips have been requested to be taken down, but I can comply with this. It's a bit frustrating that clips from At Last the 1948 Show have been available at my website for over six years, and I am being asked to remove them now. I apologize in advance if I speak rudely at any point. My own feelings on the matter are unimportant, and I will gladly take the full 1948 Show episodes off of the site. As for the other points, I would like to make some points of my own, that may help you in future matters of this sort, dealing with fans on the internet who work hard to provide websites about rare and lost comedy. 1) The free internet is not your competition. I make no money whatsoever off of posting clips from these shows on my site. I actually spent 660 dollars per year of my own money making this information available to people who would not otherwise have this information available to them. I do this as a public service and I go broke doing it. 2) This is free advertising. Having information and clips available from these lost and forgotten shows does a huge financial service for the people who own the rights to them. It lets the general public know about these shows, which they would love, being fans of the people who created them, and want to see them. By all rights, the people who own the rights to these shows should be THANKING the people on the internet who take their own time and money to provide information about these shows, which is, in essence, free advertising for these shows directed specifically and with laser-like precision to the very people who would want to buy these shows on DVD if they were ever available. 3) These shows are not, at this moment, being sold by anyone. The very fact that you are bothering to shut a little website like me down is actually heartening, because it proves you actually do realize that these shows should be sold, and made available. Because they are commercially viable and would and will sell on VHS and DVD - fans of Monty Python, The Goodies, Marty Feldman, Denise Coffey, David Jason, Vivian Stanshall, Neil Innes and the Bonzo Dog Band would go crazy over them. That category actually includes a good enough chunk of the civilized world. 4) I and the people who visit my and other websites are your audience. We're the people who buy the DVDs. And we are constantly treated as if we don't matter. A few other people have posted their own thoughts on this matter .... let me just quote them a little bit .... "Your site has no banners or adverts so it's not like you're even making money from hosting these files ..." "we are comedy fans, we understand your legal viewpoint, but your copyright dealings are spoiling our enjoyment of lost and rare comedy that is not commercially available. We don't intend to dispute your claim, but we consider this bad form. Go after the people making money off it, and not the people who care for the product!" (NOTE: note the careful editing and rewriting of said quotes, but ah well.) 5) If every company who owned the legal rights to an entertainment property went around shutting down every website dedicated to them, there would be no such thing as the internet. Posting materials such as pictures, sounds and video clips is the entire heart of the internet. The internet is a highly personal thing for people, much like when people videotape their favorite programs for personal and pass them on to friends - a sharing of information that has held up in court. This is the information age, and the law has not quite caught up with what the internet is, so the law often tries to destroy the very lifeblood of the internet, which is the free sharing of information and media. The internet is not competition with television or films, but is more similar to books ... an enormous electronic library as well as an entertainment medium. The fact that Python productions doesn't go around shutting down Monty Python sites and saying "You can't post the script to the Black Knight sketch, that was written by Monty Python and is our legal property" is the reason that Monty Python remains so popular on the internet. The Monty Python team love that their material can be shared on the internet, and that such a fanbase remains for them. Now I myself am a filmmaker and comedian, and I run my own website as well as websites for the shows and films I love. I understand copyright and I tend to listen to what the actual writers and performers - the real artists - think about how their work should be written about and shared, rather than the opinions of those who own that original creative work. But that's just me. For the record, people can share and copy my video clips as much as they want. And, if I must ... 5) There is such a thing as fair use. When reviewing any tv show, film, etc., the reviewer is allowed to use short clips from that program in their review. I understand that I have gone beyond this by posting longer clips, but the intent of the site is to review, look over and provide information about rare and "lost" Monty Python related material that I think deserves a more complete look. I don't want to get pedantic about this, but it's easy to forget that anyone on the Internet has any rights whatsoever, even though we do - and I don't mind being thought of as having no rights, it's something I have had to deal with while running this site and something I accept entirely, but if we were to really follow the letter of the law, I should only be removing the long clips, and shorter clips would be something that we could and should discuss. A copyright notice to your company would in this case be inserted, and proper credit given where credit is due ..... along with any other terms or stipulations you as the copyright holder would ask.

Very interesting, and plenty of good points made. I whole-heartedly agree with all of it. Well said that man! 

Jess.