Some old comedy documentaries on BBC iPlayer

[ozsat]

The following programmes are available in full on the BBC iPlayer within the BBC4 section on my TiVo. There didn't appear recently on the channel so appear to be extras:

Film Night - Carry On Special - 12 Apr 1970
Best of British - Barbara Windsor - 4 Nov 1998
Tuesday Documentary - The Ealing Comedies - 8 Sept 1970
Comic Roots - Kenneth Williams - 2 Sept 1983
Film Profile - Dirk Bogarde - 29 Aug 1961
Film Profile - Michael Balcom - 12 Sept 1961
Film Profile - Betty Box and Ralph Thomas - 9 Aug 1961
The Time of Your Life - Norman Wisdom - 17 Jun 1983
This is Your Life - Hattie Jacques - 12 Feb 1963

[Mark]

There's also some quiz shows, including a 1974 "What's My Line", a 1982 "Ask The Family", and a 1966 "Quiz Ball".

I used to love "Quiz Ball"...!

[stearn]

Web page here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/group/p02sp50w

[ozsat]

Found the full list here - BBC Four Collections

[thebeekeeper]

Another site alerted me to the Carry On Forever from 1970 2 or 3 weeks back and I had a difficult job getting Tivo to play this back to my dvd recorder in the correct ratio but got there in the end.
Lovely to see as are many of the others. Why aren't the BBC publicising these on the channels or have I missed the promos?

[Alice80]

Annoyingly, they don't all show up on the iplayer app on our smart TV, so I've been looking at all sorts of programmes in the hope that I can find them again - we did watch the Carry On one plus a couple of others, then they disappeared - online, they are under Collections on Four but on the TV, I can't seem to find them...

The one on Ealing Studios with Frank Muir was superb...

[thebeekeeper]

I never use the Iplayer app on our tv or the PS3. I assume the version on Tivo won't be limited but I'll check later. Hope it is as Tivo seems to be the only option if you want to easily transfer things on Iplayer to disc.

[ozsat]

The BT-TV iPlayer has the same selection

[thebeekeeper]

Checked Tivo and everything seems present and correct although if I hadn't been alerted to their presence I would be totally unaware they are there and these BBC Collections are not easy to find. The Ealing Films one only showed up when I did a search for the Tuesday Documentary.
Watched a few minutes of it and while I'm not a fan of many of the Ealing movies the documentary looks interesting and it seems too good to just leave it there without recording it to keep.
It would be lovely for BBC4 to show some of this kind of material. Some of the docos in the Collections go back to the 40s and 50s

[Alice80]

Hmm, I wonder if it will work on our Humax? I'll check it out..be nice to be able to keep them - mind you, I haven't worked out yet how to transfer what's on there and it's nearly full...

My dad was an extra in the 1959 version of The 39 Steps (in the cycling club scene - apparently the producers went to the Glasgow University students union and asked for the cycling club - offering a significant sum a day for extras...my dad said they formed the committee there and then, co-opting themselves as officers, then got the jobs...but had to borrow bikes for the filming) and I have it saved on there so one day I can take a picture of the one shot where my dad looks up as they pedal past the camera...

[Bob Richardson]

Theres some very good stuff available but it all refuses to run full-screen on my Windows 8 PC. Clicking on the full-screen icon causes the picture to bounce but doesn't enlarge the frame. Anyone else facing similar problems?

[Don Satchley]

You could use get_iplayer to get them all. Am I allowed to mention this software? Please delete if I am in error.

[Mark]

Theres some very good stuff available but it all refuses to run full-screen on my Windows 8 PC. Clicking on the full-screen icon causes the picture to bounce but doesn't enlarge the frame. Anyone else facing similar problems?

Works full screen okay for me, I have Windows 7.

[thebeekeeper]

Don't know if the quality is the same on all platforms but I hope that the one on Tivo would offer the best quality they could.
Once I got the ratio right it was simply a case of transferring to the hard drive recorder which then burns it to dvd.
I find it much easier than doing anything via the computer

[Ross]

I liked the Ealing Studios documentary but, blimey, some of those excerpts went on for ages. Not so bad if you like the film in question - although you'll probably have a much better copy on disc - but for me the scenes from Whiskey Galore, White Suit, and Kind Hearts were interminable.

Always nice to see Frank Muir, though. A rare treat these days.

[Darren Fricker]

Theres some very good stuff available but it all refuses to run full-screen on my Windows 8 PC. Clicking on the full-screen icon causes the picture to bounce but doesn't enlarge the frame. Anyone else facing similar problems?

Lowering the screen resolution on my PC monitor worked for me.

However, Win 8 doesn't always list all modes available - for that you need to go to Screen Resolution (right click on a blank area of your desktop) > Advanced Settings > Adapter > List All Modes.

To get back, I just use the slider on Screen Resolution.

[Ross]

They all play fine on my iPad and Apple TV.

[ican]

They play fine on my Humax Freesat iPlayer app though as already stated you have to do a manual search. Also found 11 Arena docs on the BBC Four menu page.