An occasional look at what classic TV shows Talking Pictures (Sky 328 | Freeview 81 | Freesat 306 | Virgin 445) is going to be airing soon
It’s been a while since the last Talking Pictures rundown, but since I got as far as the end of August, we’ve only missed a couple of weeks of possible new shows, you’ll be glad to hear. In fact, we only missed a couple of episodes…
Callan
Starts: Wednesday, September 15, 4am (weekdays)
This was last on Talking Pictures in March 2019, so I don’t need to explain again how brilliant it is. But you do need to watch it if you’ve not seen it before – Talking Pictures is beginning tonight/tomorrow morning with a selection of the rarely seen black and white episodes.
Enemy at the Door
Airs: Sundays, 9pm
Sorry, this has already started, but it’s only two episodes in, with the third to air on Sunday, so you haven’t missed too much.
During the Second World War, the inhabitants of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands, try to cope with the German occupation.
Midnight is a Place
Starts: Saturday, September 26, 9am
Based on the Joan Aiken historical melodrama. Lucas Bell is lonely. To be an orphan at Midnight Court in 1842 is not pleasant.
Tatiana Silva to guest on TF1’s Joséphine ange gardien(Josephine – Guardian Angel)
International TV
Stanley Tucci to star in AMC (US)/Movistar+ (Spain)/MOD Pictures (Spain)’s La Fortuna (formerly El Tesoro del Cisne Negro (The Treasure of the Black Swan))
Spanish TV
Movistar+/Zeta Studios green light: 80s/90s rival radio journalists comedy Reyes de la Noche (Knights of the Night), with Javier Gutiérrez, Miki Esparbé and Itsaso Arana
UK TV
Network launches archive TV streaming platform NetworkOnAir
An occasional look at what classic TV shows Talking Pictures (Sky 328 | Freeview 81 | Freesat 306 | Virgin 445) is going to be airing soon
The week starting August 31 is packed with new shows. Well, they’ve all been on before, but you know what I mean.
The Brack Report
Starts: Monday, August 31, 6pm (weekdays)
So here’s remarkable. Literally the only information about this 1982 Thames TV show comes from Talking Pictures – there’s almost nothing on the Internet. Not Wikipedia. Not IMDb. Not the BFI.
Here’s what they say: “Scientist Paul Brack is working on a project at one of Britain’s nuclear power stations, which suddenly becomes the focus of a potential disaster.”
Stars: Donald Sumpter, Jenny Seagrove, Patricia Garwood, Neil Nisbet, Richard Hampton.
Hazell
Starts: Monday, August 31, 9pm (weekdays)
Nicholas Ball stars in his best-known role as a tough, charismatic private detective in this hit Thames series, first aired in the late 1970s and created by journalist and novelist Gordon Williams, and future England coach Terry Venables.
Hazell paid homage to classic film noir while boasting rounded characterisations, sparkling Cockney dialogue and highly credible action scenes, all set in the kind of seedy London locations that would be revisited in Minder – the series created by screenwriter Leon Griffiths following his work on Hazell. Other high-profile writers included Trevor Preston (The Sweeney) and author Richard Harris (A Touch of Frost).
Following the curtailment of his police career after an injury and subsequent slide into alcoholism, the newly reformed James Hazell sets himself up as a private eye. Utterly ruthless when he needs to be, Hazell is also blessed with a breezy charm, effortless style, robust sense of humour and the ability to think on his feet – vital when tackling blackmail, missing persons cases, organised crime and the drugs trade… or dour Scottish CID adversary ‘Choc’ Minty (Roddy McMillan).
Desmond McNamara stars as Hazell’s cousin and assistant Tel, with Barbara Young as landlady and sometime employer Dot – one of British TV’s first regular gay characters
Lytton’s Diary
Starts: Tuesday, September 1, 3am (weekdays)
London gossip columnist Neville Lytton exudes a sophisticated charm that masks a tenacious commitment to his job. All the while, Lytton struggles to keep his love life in order, write a novel, and fend off an old rival at the Daily Post.
Stars: Peter Bowles, Holly De Jong, Adam Norton, Harriet Keevil, Bernard Lloyd, Lewis Fiander, Bernard Archard, Anna Nygh, Jeffrey Segal
Danger UXB
Starts: Tuesday, September 1, 5am (weekdays)
Danger UXB chronicles the exploits of the fictional 97 Tunnelling Company, which has been made a bomb disposal unit, and specifically 347 Section of the company, to deal with the thousands of unexploded bombs (“UXBs”) in London during the Blitz.
As with all his fellow officers, Lieutenant Brian Ash must for the most part learn the techniques and procedures of disarming and destroying the UXBs through experience, repeatedly confronted with more cunning and deadlier technological advances in aerial bomb fuzing.
The series primarily features military storylines, though among them is a romantic thread featuring an inventor’s married daughter, Susan Mount, with whom Ash falls in love, and other human interest vignettes.
Stars: Anthony Andrews, Maurice Roëves, Ken Kitson, Kenneth Cranham, Judy Geeson
An occasional look at what classic TV shows Talking Pictures (Sky 328 | Freeview 81 | Freesat 306 | Virgin 445) is going to be airing soon
The week commencing August 24 gives us one new show from Talking Pictures, although it’s not the first time it’s been in the schedules.
Together
Starts: Monday, August 24, 2pm (weekdays)
Originally broadcast from 1980-1981, Together was a daytime soap opera made by Southern Television. Rutherford Court was a modern block of sheltered accommodation flats run by a housing association – where each home had its own share of dramas, tensions, happiness and heartbreak.
The warden in charge was played by Sheila Fay, her husband was the odd-job man about the place, played by John Burgess, and their teenage daughter, who had countless problems with her love life, was played by future Blue Peter presenter Sarah Greene. Other residents included a newly-wed couple who were having marital difficulties, with realistic scenes because the actors, Richard Everett and Gillian Bailey (who played Billie in Here Come the Double Deckers!), were married in real-life.
Two sisters shared another apartment, one enduring a messy divorce, a nervous breakdown and a battle with the bottle, providing ample gossip for the other characters, including a recently bereaved pensioner, a retired hospital matron and an ex-London cab driver with a roving eye, played by Victor Maddern.
The second series was broadcast live with a Cleo Laine recording for the theme tune. Made with the intention of targeting a daytime audience, the series soon had dedicated viewers. Ground-breaking at the time, the scripts tackled current issues such as marital problems, divorce, mental illness and relationships, paving the way for future TV dramas and soaps.
Regular Cast: Victor Maddern, Kathleen Byron, Hilda Fenemore, Margaretta Scott, John Burgess, Sarah Greene, Sheila Fay, Jonty Miller, Derek Harding, Richard Everett, Gillian Bailey, Paul Hastings, Sheila Gill, Christopher Burgess, Delena Kidd, Stephen Churchett, Carol Hawkins, Brian Jameson, Christine Pollon, John Malcolm, Wally Thomas, Gina Maher, Annie Leake, Ernest Hare, Raymond Francis.
An occasional look at what classic TV shows Talking Pictures (Sky 328 | Freeview 81 | Freesat 306 | Virgin 445) is going to be airing soon
The week commencing August 17 doesn’t bring a huge number of new shows to Talking Pictures, but crawling through the schedules, there’s some interesting ones.
It’s not the first time Lynda La Plante’s TV writing debut has been on, but if you’ve never seen it, it’s worth a watch.
Three armed robbers – Harry Rawlins, Terry Miller and Joe Perelli – are killed during an armed robbery. They are survived by their widows, Dolly Rawlins (Ann Mitchell), Shirley Miller (Fiona Hendley), and Linda Perelli (Maureen O’Farrell). With the police applying pressure and a rival gang intending to take over Harry Rawlins’ crime business, the widows turn to Dolly for leadership.
She uses Harry’s famous “ledgers”, a cache of books detailing all his robberies over the years, to find the details of the failed robbery, and, enlisting the help of a fourth woman, Bella O’Reilly (Eva Mottley), they resolve to pull off the raid themselves.
This show was a sequel to Murder Bag (1957–1958) and Crime Sheet (1959), all of which starred Raymond Francis as Detective Superintendent, later Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Lockhart. The new, longer one-hour format allowing for more story and character development, and while still largely studio-based, the series now included more pre-recorded film segments.
A decision was made to cancel the series in 1965, but there were so many protests from the public and the police that it started again for another two years, with 236 episodes made in total
Only one episode is airing, but it’s a doozy: 1963’s A Pocketful of Bones. It’s actually a previously missing episode that Talking Pictures discovered! How amazing is that?
Of course, it’s not the first time they’ve done that and you can watch Music For Murder on Tuesday, July 21 at 3am…
