How lost episodes of Dixon of Dock Green and Softly, Softly were returned to the archives
The Radio Times Treasure Hunt has uncovered more episodes thought lost for ever.
The Radio Times Treasure Hunt has received hundreds of responses since it was launched in October 2022. The majority have concerned radio programmes, most recently giving rise to the BBC's Hidden Treasures season covered by David Crawford last week, but now we have a television discovery to celebrate.
On Saturday 30 March, an episode of Dixon of Dock Green from March 1959, thought to be lost forever, will be screened on Talking Pictures TV, which has been running a series of repeats of the classic police drama that ran from 1955 to 1976 and starred Jack Warner as the avuncular PC George Dixon.
The episode Duffy Calls the Tune came to the attention of the RT Treasure Hunt from collector David Stead. "I knew that most episodes of Dixon of Dock Green didn't exist as the early ones went out live and only a few were recorded on film," explained David. "I wasn't sure how the 16mm film would look after it was digitised, but was delighted by the quality of the sound and picture. After being lost in the woods of Dock Green for so long, it's great that people will get to see the episode again!"
"I purchased the film some years ago from another collector who didn't appreciate the importance of it. I had planned to return it in 2022 for the BBC's 100th anniversary, in the name of my closest friend of almost 40 years, Martin Holder. He had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and it would have been his parting gift to the TV world, something he would be remembered for. Unfortunately, progression of his illness came too fast. That hit me hard and it wasn't until the middle of 2023 that I arranged the film's return to the BBC through the Radio Times Treasure Hunt."
David also returned a missing episode of the BBC series Softly Softly from 1968, entitled The Good Girl, and an episode from a comedy series called Them that was assumed to have been wiped without trace. Them was made in 1972 and is one of Johnny Speight's lesser-known creations, following two hapless 'gentlemen of the road' played by Cyril Cusack and James Booth. The humour, which is largely visual, is not what one expects from Speight, and has a guest part for Bond girl Maddy Smith.
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The episode was screened to an enthusiastic audience at the BFI's Missing Believed Wiped event last December at which Maddy gave her recollections, the main one being a good-looking young cameraman who she took a special liking to! The episode was originally screened in colour but only survives on black and white film – however a recent discovery in the RT photo archive gives us a glimpse of what the characters looked like in colour.
Meanwhile, our partners at The Radio Circle, who handle radio enquiries to the Treasure Hunt, have drawn up a list of the material which they have recovered and offered back to the BBC. There's more to come but, being mindful that Radio 4 extra welcome suggestions from listeners, we thought you'd like to see what's been found so far – you can find the full list here.
Its breadth is testimony to the interests and tastes of those making home recordings 40, 50 and 60 years ago; The Ken Dodd Show (1966), John Gielgud reading Lycidas (1972) and a talk for Sixth Forms on the influence of Brecht (1969) to name but three from the list of almost 400.
There is also an edition of Top of the Pops from 1961 featuring Helen Shapiro, Elvis and Danny Williams. Television sound often features in audio collections as this was how people captured TV programmes before home video came along. It helped a lot if you saw the programme when broadcast as then you could replay the pictures in your mind as you listened to the sound track.
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The Radio Circle is also on the lookout for recordings which are superior to those returned from other sources. A recent example is Wrinkles, a comedy by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor who later created the cult television sitcom Red Dwarf. The series, which starred Tom Mennard and Anthea Askey, was set in an old people's home and was originally aired in 1980 and 1981, but not retained by the BBC.
When the first series was re-broadcast over 40 years later, it was preceded by an 'archive quality' warning because the 'off air' recordings were less than perfect, prompting other collectors to offer something better. One of these was 94-year-old Tony Lee from Gravesend who was seeking a good home for his collection of over 2,000 cassettes.
"Working through them, we found all of Wrinkles series 1, and four editions of series 2 with very good sound quality," explained a delighted Steve Arnold from the Radio Circle. "It goes to show that finding a copy of a missing show isn't always the end of the story, we mark it as a reference copy and continue to look for improvements until the show is fully restored."
Our thanks to all those who have responded to the Treasure Hunt to date. We're hopeful that there are more lost gems just waiting to be unearthed, so if you have old recordings of tv or radio programmes from the 1980s or before, please contact us at Treasurehunt@radiotimes.com.
Check out more of our Radio coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.
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