WELCOME TO OLDTIMETV
If you're looking for that long lost gem from days gone by, whether it be a Movie, TV Comedy Show, Documentary, Music Show or even Radio Show get in touch we might just have it in our established TV, Radio and Movie archives. For more information contact The Doc at oldtimetvuk@aol.com

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SHOW UPDATES   

ABOUT OLDTIMETV 
Here at OLDTIMETV I restore, research and collect old time TV Shows, old movies, and old time radio shows with many of the shows being either very rare, lost, deleted or discontinued. With time permitting I also specialise in tracking down old TV shows and old Movies from the UK, the US, Canada and Australia. As a collector for over 50 years I have found TV rarities in house clearances, skips, old warehouses, charity and antique shops and have bought many hard to find unreleased titles from specialized collectors. In 2002 OLDTIMETV arrived on the internet being one of the first established UK sites to catalogue and list old time tv shows and old time radio shows. Also remember if asking for shows only to choose three or four titles at a time as all non commercial titles are made from scratch.

WITH REGARD IMAGES ON THE OLDTIMETV WEBSITE
Please note that all images on the oldtimetv website are either hand outs, in the public domain, belong to oldtimetv or we have a licence for the particular image. However if any image has slipped the net and belongs to another photographic company or photographer please let us know and we will adhere to remove it forthwith.

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THE DOC'S TOP 5 SHOWS FOR OCTOBER 2024

Face The Music (1972-79)

For music aficionados who enjoy the more classical type of the genre, here we have 45 surviving BBC episodes of the 70’s popular quiz show Face The Music.

A Slight Case Of….. (1965)

Roy Kinnear and Joe Melia star in this complete 6 part crime situation comedy. Inundated with star guests including Jon Pertwee, Kenneth Connor and Godfrey himself Arnold Ridley.

A Pin To See The Peepshow (1973)

A four part BBC 1973 murder mystery drama series starring Francesca Annis and Bernard Hepton. A young woman and her lover are charged with the murder of her husband.

John Hallifax – Gentleman (1974)

Orphan John Halifax is determined to make his fortune from humble beginnings. Complete teatime Drama of 5 episodes starring Robert Coleby and Gwen Taylor.

The Harry Secombe Show (1968-1973)

20 wonderful surviving shows from the Goon himself with a mixture of singing and comic sketch buffoonery.

 

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Take A Few Minutes Out To Listen To Our First Single
NEEDLE IN THE HAYSTACK ON THE HILL

Hi Gang

You all know me as the Doc, but long, long, long ago I used to be a songwriter with a catalogue of approximately 100 songs. Now my song writing partner, the group and I, after nearly 25 years, have decided to let our music loose on the general public just one more time.                                                                                                                               Please click the link above and have a listen.
We are Merlin Swann, Country, Folk, Singer Songwriter partnership who formed back in 1997. In 2000 we both went our own separate ways in the music industry. The song Needle In The Haystack On The Hill is a composition about bringing peace to the world but just when you think it might happen, another barbaric occurrence comes along to shatter our hopes and dreams once again. Hope you enjoy. Doc (Merlin)     

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THE OLDTIMETV & MOVIE CATALOGUE
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 JUST CLICK ON THE RELEVANT SECTION BELOW TO GET TO THE PAGE OF YOUR CHOICE 

   WELCOME TO OLDTIMETV LISTINGS

THE LISTINGS ON THE WEBSITE
The TV show listings at OLDTIMETV is a platform of reference and a catalogue of TV shows and movies to indicate what is available out there after countless years of research on our part. Every single title in the listings is alive, might only be one episode from a series but it has survived, might be a poor copy but it's heart still beats! 
Things have moved on and many sites are now doing something similar but with better website design, adding much more information, great pictures and video to boot as web making resources have come on in leaps and  bounds since 2002. As you can see OLDTIMETV still sticks to a very basic format, web design wise. The difference is, as many of our members know, I have been doing this a long time and I specialise in hunting down that long lost gem. So if you’re looking for a show you enjoyed as a child and never thought you'd see it again, get in touch and I might be able to help. But please remember I only deal with finding unreleased shows or shows that have been discontinued.  
PLEASE NOTE: No commercially released titles in the listings are for sale, a list of DVD commercially released outlets can be found at the bottom of this page. If it's in the shops go buy it there. 

TV AND MOVIES YOU THOUGHT YOU'D LOST?
If you have a TV show on old video tape you want salvaging maybe I can help and transfer it to DVD and clean it up. However please remember I am NOT a business this is my hobby so doing all this would be time permitting. It's something I've always enjoyed doing, and although the Video Cassette Machine first came out in 1956 it didn't really arrive in the UK until the 70's and when it did I taped anything and everything. Then one fine day in 1997 it arrived! The DVD recorder materialized on the UK market and I started having to transfer all those videos to DVD. Mamma Mia!!!

PLEASE NOTE: 
DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES ASK TO BUY ANYTHING THAT IS COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE IN THE LISTINGS. THESE SHOWS ARE LISTED FOR REFERENCE PURPOSES ONLY. A NUMBER OF COMMERCIAL OUTLETS SELLING COMMERCIAL TV SHOWS AND MOVIES CAN BE FOUND AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE. IF HOWEVER YOU ARE INTERESTED IN ANY OF THE SHOWS THAT HAVE NOT HAD A COMMERCIAL RELEASE OR ARE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN BY ALL MEANS GET IN TOUCH. 

THE CELEBRITIES
Over the last 20 years I have met some wonderful people, our Newsletter goes out to over 500 members from all over the world interested in old time tv, movies and radio. Many of these fans have been with me since the early days and are like family, it's been an honour to know each and every one of you. I  have also found rare TV and unreleased Movie material for many celebrities throughout the years. 
These include:
JOOLS HOLLAND (Celebrated Musician and TV Host) 
BRIAN BLESSED (Eminent Actor and Mountaineer) 
CILLA BLACK (Singing Legend) 
LULU (Singing Legend) 
JERRY LEWIS (Classic American Comedian and Movie Star) 
BURT BACHARACH (Legendary American Songwriter and Composer) 
GRAHAM McCANN (Unsurpassed Celebrity Biographer)  (Check out my interview with Graham below)
KEITH FLOYD (Supreme Chef and Restaurateur) 
HARRY HILL (Notable English Comedian)  
VICTORIA WOOD (Legendary Comedienne) 
GEOFFREY DURHAM (Renowned Magician)
WILLIAM GAMINARA (Highly Reputed Actor Silent Witness)  
BILLY BUTLER (Recognised DJ)
ERIC CLAPTON ( Famous Guitarist and Songwriter) 
JONATHAN ROSS (Illustrious TV Presenter), 
And many others. 
I have also found rare material for TV Companies both here in the UK and in the USA and was once told by a guy at the BBC, it's because of collectors like me the BBC started releasing many of the old time TV shows from the 60's, and playing all those old radio series again on BBC Radio 7. The BBC hadn't realised there still remained an audience out there for black and white material and old radio shows. Well there was! There is! And hopefully there always will be. Lets hope for more channels like Talking Pictures and Forces TV and radio stations like Radio Four Extra.
Enjoy looking round the website and if you have any questions, about TV shows, movies, actors, radio shows, anything regarding TV or Movies you can contact me here:  oldtimetvuk@aol.com

BUT BEFORE YOU DO......
THE CHARITIES
Over the years we have donated much needed money to numerous charities which deserve to be mentioned for the great work they have done. 
These include:
CANCER RESEARCH UK 
CANCER RESEARCH BREAST CANCER 
SHELTER UK 
RIK MAYALL HEADWAY THE BRAIN INJURY CHARITY 
FRANCIS HOUSE CHILDRENS HOSPICE MANCHESTER 
LEUKAEMIA & LYMPHOMA RESEARCH 
WILLOW WOOD HOSPICE TAMESIDE 
VIRGIN ATLANTIC FOUNDATION 
2004 TSUNAMI APPEAL 

TV SHOW, MOVIES AND RADIO SHOW DONATIONS 
HOSPITAL RADIO BROADGREEN 
HOSPITAL RADIO HALTON 
HOSPITAL RADIO COLCHESTER 
FRANCIS HOUSE CHILDRENS HOSPICE MANCHESTER 
BEAR ROAD CARE HOME FELTHAM 
RIK MAYALL WEEKEND CHARITY EVENTS FOR HEADWAY

PLEASE DONATE TO CANCER RESEARCH UK IT FEELS GREAT TO GIVE SOMETHING BACK. 
CLICK ON THE ICON ON THE RIGHT 

Cancer Research UK is also in it's 20th year so get your hands in your pockets and click the logo and it will take you to the site. It's one of the best causes out there. CANCER the one we have to beat!

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THE GRAHAM McCANN INTERVIEW
Unsurpassed Celebrity and TV Biographer.
Interviewed By The Doc.

Hi Gang

Here on OLDTIMETV's 20th anniversary we have an interview with the talented and acclaimed Historian and UK Celebrity biographer and author of 18 books on celebrities Graham McCann.

 

Q. Hi Graham. As a former Lecturer of social and political theory at Cambridge University which do you find easiest, teaching or writing celebrity biographies?

A. Teaching. That’s mainly because it’s my default position. My degrees are in political theory, I’ve always lectured on political theory, and I still do. So that’s my subject. When I’m not researching or writing something very specific on entertainment, I’m back keeping up to date on my academic subject. The other thing about teaching is it’s immediately and enduringly rewarding: you can see its impact very quickly and it also evolves over time. Maybe if I wasn’t allergic to social media it would be different, but when I write something it feels as though it disappears into a black hole – aside from the odd letter or email from a reader (which are always nice to receive) I often have next to no idea if anyone read it let alone liked it!

Q. Which of all the biographies you’ve written was the easiest and hardest to write?

A. To be honest, they all feel hard to write at the time, but, in retrospect, the Morecambe & Wise book was probably the easiest, in the sense that so many people were only too happy to talk to me about it, and back then I was too naïve to be intimidated by how ambitious, in my approach, I was actually being. There weren’t ‘serious’ books about TV entertainment shows when I started, so I was basically inventing a new genre as I went, but it’s nice to see it’s inspired quite a few others in the years that followed. The hardest to write (aside from Only Fools and Horses, which came in for some sabotage) was probably the Fawlty Towers book, for several reasons: first, publishers always think that the most entertaining books will be the ones on the shows that were most successful, but the reality is often the opposite, because usually the most successful shows were the most professional, disciplined and boringly business-like, which leaves you with hardly any behind-the-scenes crises or conflicts to cover – so you really have to work hard to find enough stories and insights to make an 80,000-word book engaging for the reader; second, there were only twelve episodes to discuss; third, thanks to nostalgia channels, box sets and streaming, those episodes are chronically fresh in some people’s minds, while other potential readers won’t have revisited them at all, so you’re damned if you dwell on them and you’re damned if you don’t. The easiest thing in the world is to go full-metal-nerd and write for the hardcore fans, but to write for a far broader and diverse audience, and still write well, is much, much harder than it might seem. 

Q. Although you’ve written about many classic comedians and actors who are no longer with us, you’ve also written biographies on stars who are still going today. The likes of David Jason, John Cleese, did you ever get to meet them or any of the co stars while writing Fawlty Towers, Only Fools & Horses and Still Open All Hours?

A. Yes, I’ve been fortunate to have been able to meet and talk at length with many of      them. Very rarely you’ll get the odd slightly awkward one – knighthoods don’t seem to do some people much good! – but generally they’re very generous with their time and are really helpful and supportive. Many actors, outside of scripts, have the memory of a gnat, and the sincerity of a politician, so one should never delude oneself that, because one got on well with one of them for a few meetings, one is now a ‘great, great, mate’ – they’ve probably forgotten who you are a couple of days later! But a few do keep in touch and share some fascinating stories, quite a few of them unprintable. Diana Rigg, Richard Briers, Eric Sykes, some very nice people. Jonathan Cecil often used to phone me up during the hour before he had his dinner, sip a glass of wine and tell wonderfully entertaining and indiscreet anecdotes, and Jimmy Perry, late in life, was another one – he’d say, ‘You can quote me, Graham, honestly. I’m NINETY, I just don’t care!’ I never will, though - he made some outrageous remarks! Eddie Braben and Barry Cryer used to call and tell the latest jokes they’d thought up, which was wonderful. It probably helps that,     coming from an academic background, I’m really not driven by any desire to ingratiate myself with a celebrity crowd – I just do the job and move on. I also have a strict rule that any interviewee gets to see how I’ve quoted them before publication, to ensure they are happy with the accuracy and the context. I think that helps them to trust you.

Q. Who is your favourite Movie Star, Movie comedian, favourite UK TV Star and favourite American  TV star ?

A. Favourite movie star: Cary Grant. As close to perfect as you can get in everything from sophisticated thrillers to physical comedies.Favourite movie comedian: probably Stan Laurel (it’s odd to think of him as under-rated, but he arguably still is – he was a genius), closely followed by Woody Allen, Peter Sellers, Jacques Tati and the Bob Hope of the 1930s and 40s. Favourite UK TV star: it would have to be Eric Morecambe, but these days Alison Steadman. Favourite American TV star: Phil Silvers in the distant past, and these days Julia Louis-Dreyfus or Larry David.

Q. If you could choose one person from the 20th Century you’d like to write abiography about who would it be, even if it’s already been done and why?

A. As absurd as it sounds, I still think, and will always think, that I was born to write a great book on The Beatles, and/or John Lennon, but these days I doubt the world needs any more books on either! If we’re keeping to the sphere of entertainment, I guess my choice would be Ken Dodd - because he was always, sort of, part of my life (my grandmother worked for his parents in Knotty Ash) and I thought he was a magnificent comedian, and, quite frankly, I think I could do him justice; or Quentin Crisp, because I knew him, he was incredibly encouraging when I started writing on entertainment, I thought he was a really interesting writer on movies, and I’d like to capture the full complexity of his life, character and career; and I’d love to write the biography of Beryl Vertue, who in my view was one of the great British women of the century and a bona fide legend of broadcasting. 

Q. What is your favourite TV show from the 50’s, 60’s 70’s and 80’s?

A. From the 50s: Bilko. From the 60s: it would have to be a tie between Steptoe and Son and Not Only…But Also. From the 70s: another tie between The Morecambe & Wise Show and Dad’s Army. From the 80s: Ever Decreasing Circles and Yes Minister.

Q. Tell us a bit about your website Comedy Chronicles?

A. It’s actually a fortnightly essay that the very nice people at the British Comedy Guide host, featuring stories about British comic history that are maybe not so well-known but are, I hope, quite interesting and entertaining (ranging from the time that Charlie Drake shut himself in a cupboard to why so many people wanted to punch Rex Harrison in the face). It was a bit of an accident, originally. Once I’d come to the reluctant conclusion that mainstream British publishers had lost interest in books on this kind of subject, I reflected on a few stories that I’d been told but had never found a place for in the books I’d already written, so, rather than keep them to myself, I thought I’d get them ‘out there,’ so to speak, in a blog. I estimated I’d probably do ten and then shut the blog down. That was the plan. After the first one, however, the owners of the British Comedy Guide got in touch and asked to take it over. Which was a nice surprise. I still genuinely doubted I’d have anything left to write about once I reached double figures, but it started in 2019 and, three years later, it’s still going, and I’ve got quite a few more pieces already written. There are enough articles by now to fill a couple of books – if only the history of comedy was still deemed sufficiently ‘commercial’! 

Q. If you were to ask oldtimetv to find an old US TV Show and an old UK TV show which you think is lost which shows would it be?

A. US TV show: Peter Stone’s 1967 pilot called Ghostbreakers, just because I like Peter Stone – he wrote Charade and also an overlooked gem called One of My Wives Is Missing – and I’ve always been curious to see this other effort that came and went and quickly disappeared. UK TV show: maybe the 1963 Hattie Jacques comic detective series Miss Adventure – I’ve seen parts of one episode but it would be fascinating to see the whole thing – or Terry-Thomas’s early TV shows, or (I don’t think it’s ‘lost’ so much as just lodged in the BBC’s archive) the full edition of the 1966 Late Night Line-Up that featured some tired and emotional comedians arguing in a very ‘luvvie’ way about their craft.

Q. Of all the celebrity biographies you’ve written, if you could meet just one of the actors you’ve written about dead or alive who would it be and why?

A. Probably Frankie Howerd, because he was such a fascinating character – very brave and yet full of fears, extremely intelligent but plagued by self-doubts, and of course exceptionally thoughtful about the art of comedy. I so wanted to get his biography just right that I scrapped     the first draft after 60,000 words and started all over again – an absolutely shattering thing to do, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, but I think the end result justified it. I’d started by writing against the clichéd view of him (a camp comic spouting catchphrases and saying ‘Ooooh’ a lot), which I gradually realised gave it too aggressive a tone. I re-started it by writing for my own view, which created a much more engaging feel. I just wish it hadn’t taken me 60,000 words to finally come to terms with it. Actually, now that I think about it, it was quite a ‘Frankie Howerd’ thing to do. I don’t know whether he would have approved, but I’m sure he would have sympathised!

Q. You’re on a desert island with a DVD player, TV and electricity you can choose one movie to take with you which movie do you take?

A. I’d need cheering up in that situation, so Bergman’s out. I think I’d go for Bringing Up Baby –  I have a particular passion for American screwball comedies, and this one, in my humble opinion, is the best of them all.

I'd just like to thank Graham for taking the time to do this interview. I've read all     but two of Graham's books and I can recommend each and every one, particularly Frankie Howerd and the Dads Army biographies, couldn't put those down.Thanks again.

If you want to check out any of Graham's books you can find them here on his   Amazon page, and Comedy Chronicles page just click on the names below.

GRAHAM McCANN

 

GRAHAM MCCANN'S COMEDY CHRONICLES

OLDTIMETV CELEBRITY GALLERY

HERE WE HAVE CELEBRITY CARICATURES BY AWARD WINNING ARTIST SUSAN RILEY

Yes my wonderful wife, and here are some of my particular favourites from her extensive celebrity art collection. Hope you enjoy. 

Victoria Wood

From the top we have, Victoria Wood Dame Edna Everage, Albert Steptoe and Captain Mainwaring from the Wonderful Dad's Army.

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