Yet another random post...

[lost_spook]

...this time about things the BBC have in their archive and I wish would share with me. Well, everyone, obviously, but especially me. (Partly made because last time I did this, I discovered that against all the odds what I wanted was on YouTube.... This is not the same, however, as Things the BBC Once Had in Their Archive and have Since Wiped/

Comments

[justice_turtle]

Aw! I am not judging you for liking the BBC Shakespeare. :-) (I do think some of the beards and things are HILARIOUSLY BAD, and honestly I have been spoiled by all the bigger-budget-better-actors versions out there... but if they work for you, good! It would be terribly hard to see some of the lesser-known plays otherwise. And I completely understand not being able to handle the faster-paced stuff. o_O)

Also, more David Collings is always good (WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN ;P). Also:

'Mind, I think most DW fans do this. Er. We do, don't we??'

Well, I certainly do! :-) Also, people being referred to by numbers, as "Nine" etc, in any context. *g*

[lost_spook]

Yes, you are totally JUDGING me for not caring about the dodgy beards. I can tell. ;-D (Actually, there haven't been many yet, but then I haven't watched Henry IV, either part.) And better-budget, yes, not necessarily always better-actor versions. (I mean, Michael Hordern, Derek Jacobi, Patrick Stewart, Helen Mirren, Zoe Wanamaker, Annette Crosbie, Donald Sinden, John Cleese to pick a few off the top of my head - it's not exactly second-best casting). And, aww, thank you. Also, maybe I will do a review post sometime and confess that the only one I didn't like so much was the really well-regarded one that won all the BAFTAs! I have no taste. :lol:

ETA: Of those I have watched so far, which is actually only about 5. It just feels like more, because I have to go slow and I watched Julius Caesar twice.

And LOL. You noticed him. You are okay with David Collings until you notice him.... That was my fault. I'm sorry. Also you should totally watch the BBC Julius Caesar sometime did I mention that before? When you are up to

[wytchcroft]

you really must check out the Sophocles Oedipus plays with Tony Quayle and Juliet Stevenson and the King Lear with Olivier and Diana Rigg and a starry dozen or so others.

they're all up there too somewhere.

[lost_spook]

Yes, I'd seen that was on YouTube - I'm just not very good at watching stuff online at the moment. I have tried a few things, but generally I'm better off not, for the present.

But thank you for the recs! I shall note them - aargh, my to-watch list is going to last me for a good long time, I can see...

:-)

[persiflage_1]

Mind, I think most DW fans do this. Er. We do, don't we??

Hell yes!

[lost_spook]

Good! :-D

[persiflage_1]

It was seeing Peter Wingfield's character Methos (in Highlander) playing his alter ego Doc Adams that first put the idea into my head of him playing the Doctor. Mind, that was before he *gave up* acting - to become an actual doctor! *mind boggles and then breaks*

[scifi_mel]

Penelope Keith and Michael York as Beatrice and Benedick.

That sounds amazing! I know there was an 80s version of Twelth night with felicity kendall that I really want to see. But that is availble I've just not got around to buying the dvd yet.

[lost_spook]

I know. I mean, I don't know whether it would be any good, obviously but it would certainly be interesting to see! It apparently had Ian Richardson as the villain, Don John, as well.

I've seen that Twelfth Night, as we did it for A-Level - it's part of the BBC Shakespeare that I'm working my way through. I can't really remember anything now except Felicity Kendal, though. She made a good Viola.

[scifi_mel]

I'm sure it would be good! I can't imagine Penelope Keith being in anything bad! She'd make a fantastic Beatrice. Ian Richardson would also be perfect as Don John!

Aw, I will have to get a copy! Twelth Night is my favourite Shakepeare play and I love both Felicity kendal and Viola. But first I need to watch the King Lear my mum got me for Christmas...

[jjpor]

Oh I definitely do it, the doctor/Doctor thing, especially when it's McGann in Poirot! (Seriously, that particular Poirot is a thing of joy to me, and pretty much solely for that reason).

I'm always amazed how much television from that era is effectively "lost", even if it wasn't actually burninated. Not just fictional TV but all of those great BBC documentaries (not just the flagships with Attenborough etc involved, but things like Chronicle and Timewatch and so on). Most of them have probably been superseded by the march of science, but still...they do not make 'em like that any more.

[lost_spook]

I don't think I've seen it since it was first on, but it was MARVELLOUS. EVerytime Poirot said, "Doctor..." Well, clearly I don't need to tell you about the fannish glee that inevitably ensued.

The good thing is, I suppose, that, unless some of it is in a v bad state, they might even start releasing things in new ways at some point. I could see the BBC trying that in the future, provided nobody kills the internet. But, yes, they're just not really going to release old documentaries like that otherwise. Even if I want to see Ian Marter and David Collings as the Brothers Grimm!

[jjpor]

It's been on a couple of times recently, on the repeats channel. I don't even watch it all the way through any more, just long enough to hear a few "Doctors" and go "ahahahhah" or words to that effect.

We can only hope. Unless, as you say, somebody kills the internet which doesn't seem as unlikely now as it might have a year ago. Hmm. I am, by now, thanks to your efforts fairly well-versed on the Collings oeuvre, but the only non-Who thing I think of off the top of my head with Ian Marter in is one of the Brett Sherlock Holmes stories, where he had a small part as a policeman. I'm thinking it was The Musgrave Ritual (also features that chap out of London's Burning as well as the captain who foolishly decides to "apologise to Lord Vader personally" in The Empire Strikes Back). Must have been one of the last things he did before he passed away, because that was 1986 iirc. But he must have been in other things.

[lost_spook]

:-)

:lol: I am terrible flister to have, I know. What even more obscure thing will it be next, one dreads to think? Still, I haven't quite done with David Collings's IMBD yet..

[dimity_blue]

OMG, Penelope Keith and Michael York! That would be awesome to watch! I'm quite partial to the Robert Lindsay version, but I'm sure theirs would be good too.

The BBC need to stop hoarding all their goodies and just stick everything on DVD now. Well, and make the next series of Sherlock, of course. :oD

[lost_spook]

Ah, yes, I couldn't remember when I was writing it who it was they had in the 'proper' version. Robert Lindsay and Cherie Lunghi, I think? I haven't seen that one, but I'm going v slowly through some of the plays. I can't see why they couldn't have released it as a sort of bonus for the collection or something! It'd be lovely to see Penelope Keith doing something different & I can imagine Michael York being a good Benedick.

Heh, yes! Trouble is, some of the original source has degraded and things, I suppose. But, yes, hurry up, BBC!!