{"id":48482,"date":"2024-03-26T08:00:58","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T07:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=2014575"},"modified":"2024-03-26T12:05:41","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T11:05:41","slug":"how-lost-episodes-of-dixon-of-dock-green-and-softly-softly-were-returned-to-the-archives","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/how-lost-episodes-of-dixon-of-dock-green-and-softly-softly-were-returned-to-the-archives\/","title":{"rendered":"How lost episodes of Dixon of Dock Green and Softly, Softly were returned to the archives"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Radio Times Treasure Hunt has uncovered more episodes thought lost forever. <\/p>

By Ralph Montagu\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 26 March 2024 at 07:00 AM<\/p>

\n\n

The Radio Times Treasure Hunt<\/strong> has received hundreds of responses<\/a> since it was launched in October 2022. The majority have concerned radio programmes, most recently giving rise to the BBC\u2019s Hidden Treasures season covered by David Crawford last week<\/a>, but now we have a television discovery to celebrate.<\/p>\n

On Saturday 30\u00a0March, an episode of\u00a0Dixon 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.<\/p>\n

The episode\u00a0Duffy\u00a0Calls the\u00a0Tune\u00a0came to the\u00a0attention of\u00a0the\u00a0RT Treasure Hunt<\/strong> from collector David Stead. \u201cI knew that most episodes of Dixon of Dock Green didn\u2019t exist as the early ones went out live and only a few were recorded on film,\u201d explained David. \u201cI wasn\u2019t 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\u2019s great that people will get to see the episode again!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI purchased the film some years ago from another collector who didn\u2019t appreciate the importance of it. I had planned to return it in 2022 for the BBC\u2019s 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\u2019t until the middle of 2023 that I arranged the film\u2019s return to the BBC through the Radio Times\u00a0Treasure Hunt<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

David also returned a missing episode of the BBC series\u00a0Softly Softly\u00a0from 1968,\u00a0entitled\u00a0The Good Girl,\u00a0and\u00a0an episode from a comedy series called\u00a0Them\u00a0that was assumed to have been\u00a0wiped without trace.\u00a0Them was made in 1972 and is one of Johnny Speight\u2019s lesser-known creations, following two hapless \u2018gentlemen of the road\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

The episode was screened to an enthusiastic audience at the BFI\u2019s 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 \u2013 however a recent discovery in the RT<\/strong> photo archive gives us a glimpse of what the characters looked like in colour.<\/p>\n

\"Them\"\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Them.<\/span><\/figcaption> BBC<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Meanwhile, our partners at The Radio Circle, who handle radio enquiries to the Treasure Hunt<\/strong>, have drawn up a list of the material which they have recovered and offered back to the BBC. There\u2019s more to come but, being mindful that Radio 4 extra welcome suggestions from listeners, we thought you\u2019d like to see what\u2019s been found so far \u2013\u00a0you can find the full list here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>

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\u202fDoug Naylor who later created the cult television sitcom Red Dwarf. The\u202fseries, which starred Tom Mennard and Anthea Askey, was set in an old people\u2019s home and was originally aired in 1980\u202fand 1981, but not retained by the BBC.<\/p>\n

When the\u202ffirst\u202fseries was re-broadcast over 40 years later, it was preceded by an \u2018archive quality\u2019 warning because the \u2018off air\u2019 recordings were less than perfect, prompting other collectors\u202fto 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking through them, we found all of Wrinkles series 1, and four editions of series 2 with very good sound quality,\u201d explained a delighted Steve Arnold from the Radio Circle. \u201cIt goes to show that finding a copy of a missing show isn\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our thanks to all those who have responded to the Treasure Hunt<\/strong> to date. We\u2019re 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n