The Mausoleum Club Forum

Today is the 96th birthday of Prof Sir David Butler, who was on all BBC election night programmes from the very first in 1950 until 1979 (and made guest appearances on several since then).

Today is the 92nd birthday of Edward "Cravat" Barnes, co-creator of Blue Peter and controller of BBC Children's Television 1978-86.

The historical documentation does not support the suggestion that the government prevented the screening of The War Game . James Chapman looked into it when the BBC Written Archives Centre opened the papers and found that the BBC had already become extremely concerned about it long before the govern...

Clement Freud appears on a few series 3 episodes as well, but apart from that I can't spot anyone who might be a problem.

Clearance may be an issue, though.

And as one of Sir John Wilder's ineffectual opponents in 'The Power Game'.

He was splendid in 'Brazil'.

One of the Alan Bleasdale unofficial repertory company, with prominent roles in 'Boys from the Blackstuff' and 'G.B.H.', known to another generation for taking over from Ringo Starr as the narrator of Thomas the Tank Engine. In 1972 he appeared in Thirty Minute Theatre 'Under the Age' (written by E....

In 'Son of the Burkiss Way' (Burkiss Way series 3 episode 4), there is a sketch in which the Northern Line attempts to seize the throne of England. Part of the sketch involves reading out a succession of Northern Line stations, obviously concentrating on the oddly named ones - which get good laughs....

This is a bit off-topic but the film of Porridge did contribute something that had been lacking since the series started - a decent theme tune. Joe Brown's 'Free Inside' gets the emotional message just right. Really a pity it couldn't have been composed years earlier.

A great character actor, and wonderful voice. His performance in G.B.H. as Dr Jacobs, having to treat the hopeless hypochondriac Jim Nelson (Michael Palin), was a highlight for me.

Light the blue touch paper and retire to a safe distance.

Speaking of dubbing, a well known organisation which recovers classic television programmes has just uploaded an interesting piece from Thames TV 40 years ago to a well known video sharing website. In which the epilogue is read by the king of the dubbers Robert Rietty, as himself, in his usual voice...

One minor mistake in the piece - Sir Alec Douglas-Home wasn't in London when Kennedy's death was confirmed. He had left to stay with the Duke of Norfolk at Arundel Castle in Sussex but a message got to him to turn round. The actual Harry Worth episode 'The Musician' from 22 November 1963 is a recent...

Just spotted that Canadian actor Richard Easton died on 2 December. He was based in Britain during part of his career and played Brian Hammond in 'The Brothers', among other roles.

Gollywogs were totally within the political mainstream at the time of "Bless This House". And talking about Blyton, one guy pointed to a 1966 Guardian article criticizing her... but the Guardian wasn't mainstream in 1966. Wasn't it? One of only eight (nine if you count the Daily Worker) national da...

The Times has an obituary for the TV producer Irene Shubik, perhaps most notable for defecting from the BBC to ITV when her commission for 'Rumpole of the Bailey' was put on hold. Also responsible for sci-fi anthology series Out of This World, for Play for Today, and for getting The Jewel in the Cro...

In 'The Brothers' Glyn Owen was replaced by Patrick O'Connell playing Edward Hammond from the second series, when Glyn Owen rashly gambled that he could use the popularity of the first series to force the BBC to pay him more. Which meant Edward Hammond suddenly changed from a fairly gruff, short nor...

André Maranne (real name André Maillol), who cornered the market in parts for French character actors, is 93 and lives in Brighton. Possibly best known for the Gourmet Night episode of Fawlty Towers but appeared in many series including Emergency Ward 10, Doctor Who, The Troubleshooters, Yes Ministe...

It's a decent joke, but Thames would have kept its franchise had it submitted a better financial bid and not assumed that any challengers would be disqualified for failing to be good enough 'quality'.

In the 'Whodunnit' episode 'Nothing to declare' (11 August 1975), there's some remark drawing attention to the fact that one of the suspects was played by Edward Sinclair who was also the Verger in Dad's Army. But I also get the sense the BBC was a lot more sniffy about those known for appearance on...

It's worth reading OFCOM's report on broadcast complaints which appears usually fortnightly here: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/bulletins/broadcast-bulletins They have found against TPTV for offensive language in archive programmes which is no doubt why almost everything on the channel...

It also appears in the title sequence of the London Weekend series New Scotland Yard. I think not. The only tower blocks which appear in the title sequence of 'New Scotland Yard' (filmed from the Westway and freeze framed when the episode title appears) are the six on the Warwick and Brindley Estat...

Given the proximity to TV Centre it's been in a lot. It's in the title sequence of 'Rockliffe's Babies' and I think a few episodes as well.

If anyone's not seen it, there was a great thread on twitter from Ian Potter who happened to salvage a press file on Hardwicke House from the Central studios in Nottingham when they were being demolished:

https://twitter.com/ianzpotter/status/1 ... 3834445824

The splendid character actor Morris Perry who was in many a quality drama in the 1960s and 1970s, including a starring role in 'Special Branch', is 94.

Rumpole of the Bailey (effectively - Play for Today on BBC picked up for series by Thames). Arguably also After Henry and Second Thoughts - BBC Radio 4 series adapted for TV by ITV stations. Harry Worth moved from BBC to Thames and although the name of the show was changed, it was effectively the sa...

Brock wrote:Oh that's very sad news. I'm surprised there hasn't been an obituary on Radio 4 as I'm sure many listeners remember him well.

He was included in last week's edition of 'Last Word', the Radio 4 obituary programme: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0004635

It's Leslie Phillips's 95th birthday today. IMDB says his film career goes back to 1938 and his first TV role was 1948.

I reacted in completely the opposite way! The studio flubs (Richard Wattis being to blame for the majority) show a nice relaxed atmosphere of three excellent performers supporting each other (but only one having written the script). Jimmy Edwards comes across as a selfish fool who thought everyone h...

The Network release of 'Sykes' seems to have had most episodes remade from the studio recording tapes, and as a bonus there are outtakes presented as 'In the Studio' for most episodes.

The knee jerked today - the Mail on Sunday had a full page on how Doctor Who is the most PC series on television.