15 episodes

From the Archive is a British television blog that has an emphasis on British television preservation, restoration, archiving, and missing episodes of our favourite series. The podcast focuses on series generally from the 1950s to 1990s.
If you have feedback or questions you would like to have read on the podcast or general inquiries, please contact us at feedback@fromthearchive.co.uk. This podcast is a co-production between From the Archive: A British Television Blog and Kaleidoscope. Thank you for listening to it.

From the Archive: A British Television Podcast Greg Bakun

    • TV & Film
    • 4.9 • 8 Ratings

From the Archive is a British television blog that has an emphasis on British television preservation, restoration, archiving, and missing episodes of our favourite series. The podcast focuses on series generally from the 1950s to 1990s.
If you have feedback or questions you would like to have read on the podcast or general inquiries, please contact us at feedback@fromthearchive.co.uk. This podcast is a co-production between From the Archive: A British Television Blog and Kaleidoscope. Thank you for listening to it.

    From the Archive Ep 15: Blue Peter

    From the Archive Ep 15: Blue Peter

    Blue Peter was such a facet of BBC television for so many years. Although still on CBBC, the good ol’ days come from when it was on BBC1. We wanted to celebrate the golden era of Blue Peter and talk to some folks involved with the programme!
    Peter Purves was a presenter Blue Peter from 1967-1978. His love and knowledge of the program is immense. We decided not to talk about Doctor Who but focus on his time on Blue Peter, talk about the good times and also the times that were frustrating. In another interview with speak with Gethin Jones. Gethin had been a Blue Peter presenter from 2005-2007. These two gentlemen did the same role at very different times. Peter was a presenter during the glorious 70’s while Gethin was a presenter just as the series made a very serious change that would forever change the lineage of the program!
    What holds these two interviews together is Richard Marson. Richard had been working on the show for years with finally taking over the show in 2003. He knows Peter very well as well as Gethin, being that he hired Gethin! Richard is the one who interviews these brilliant men but also parts of Richard’s story is weaved into the narrative too. Listening to Gethin’s loves and respect to the legacy of Blue Peter is incredible just as it is heartbreaking to hear what happened to the show once Richard left.
    This episode has some downs but a lot of ups as we celebrate on of the greatest series the BBC ever made!
    If you have feedback or questions you would like to have read on the podcast or general inquiries, please contact us at feedback@fromthearchive.co.uk. We would love to hear from you! This podcast is a co-production between From the Archive: A British Television Blog and Kaleidoscope. Thank you for listening.

    • 2 hr 6 min
    14-From the Archive-Are You Being Served Special

    14-From the Archive-Are You Being Served Special

    Are You Being Served? is one of those great series and I wanted to have at least one episode that featured it. I interview Mike Berry, who played Mr. Spooner. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more in depth interview with him as we talk about all things from his early career starting out as a musician in the 1960s, modeling, Worzel Gummidge and of course Are You Being Served? I think it is a real fascinating look at the music business in the 1960s with how hits were made and hits were not made. He talks about knowing The Beatles and The Rolling Stones during those early days too.
    2021 is the 100th anniversary of Frank Thornton’s birth. I had the great opportunity to interview Frank’s daughter, Jane. Jane has been working with her son to catalogue and preserve Frank’s scrapbooks, notes and general archive he had kept from the time of his very first acting job until much later. You will hear some of the private comments he has written over the years about different things and it is really fun to see how Frank loved to use words. This is a very unique perspective on a much loved actor.

    • 2 hr 39 min
    From the Archive Ep. 13: The Box of Delights with Renny Rye

    From the Archive Ep. 13: The Box of Delights with Renny Rye

    For many of us, our festive viewing includes the groundbreaking 1984 BBC television adaptation of The Box Of Delights. This has enthralled viewers for 35 years. We have decided that we needed to celebrate this milestone by having a conversation with the director of this incredible serial, Renny Rye. Take a listen as we talk with Renny about his career and how he got connected with The Box of Delights. It’s a fun conversation that spans not only that series but some of his other work too.
    We are also happy to finally bring everyone the second part of our interview with Richard Marson. If you recall way back to Episode 10, we talked with Richard about the his documentary, Tales of Television Centre but this time we talk about what it actually was like to work within BBC Television Centre and how fun and how difficult it could be working there. This is a great conversation with some really smart analysis on how the BBC works.
    Sprinkled into the episode is some clips from the missing 1971 Boxing Day edition of The Golden Shot. Clips include Bob Monkhouse, Alfie Bass, Stephen Lewis, and a performance from Mary Hopkin.  These are some wonderful archive clips that haven’t been heard in nearly 50 years!
    If you have feedback or questions you would like to have read on the podcast or general inquiries, please contact us at feedback@fromthearchive.co.uk. We would love to hear from you! This podcast is a co-production between From the Archive: A British Television Blog and Kaleidoscope. Thank you for listening.

    • 2 hr 32 min
    From the Archive ep 12: DW Randolph Tapes and The Beatles

    From the Archive ep 12: DW Randolph Tapes and The Beatles

    It’s a pretty special episode of the podcast to have both Doctor Who and The Beatles in the same episode and generally talking about the same subject: off-air audio recordings from television broadcasts!
    Back in December of 2018, Kaleidoscope announced that they were given a number of off-air audio recordings of Doctor Who episodes from the 1960s. These were given to us by Robert Wyn and have since been dubbed “The Randolph Tapes” as the name Randolph appears on the tapes themselves. Mark Ayres kindly stepped in and had a listen and was impressed by the quality. We wanted to share the background and analysis of these recordings by talking to Doctor Who Researcher Robert Franks about what he thought of them. Of course, we include clips so you can hear them yourself plus some rarities from the tapes you may never have heard before unless you were watching at the time of broadcast.
    We move onto that unknown Liverpudlian group known as The Beatles. Of course we jest but we have a great conversation with author and Beatles expert Keith Badman about off-air audio recordings of missing television appearances by the Fab Four plus so much more. The idea of missing music programs (apart from Top of the Pops) sometimes gets overlooked in favour of other series but Keith’s knowledge of the subject is very intriguing! Plus, we are happy to include some very rare clips of The Beatles from the Kaleidoscope archives.
    If that wasn’t enough, how about a brand-new missing off-air audio discovery of a television broadcast featuring The Rolling Stones? You want to know what it is? Well, you’ll have to listen and let Neil Ingoe tell you!
    If you have feedback or questions you would like to have read on the podcast or general inquiries, please contact us at feedback@fromthearchive.co.uk. We would love to hear from you! This podcast is a co-production between From the Archive: A British Television Blog and Kaleidoscope. Thank you for listening.

    • 1 hr 47 min
    From the Archive Episode 11: Dad’s Army 50th Anniversary

    From the Archive Episode 11: Dad’s Army 50th Anniversary

    Permission to upload a new episode of the podcast Sir!
    We could litter the description of this episode with loads of famous Dad’s Army catchphrases but this series is so much more than that. Now, 50 years after its first broadcast, it is still entertaining people around the world with a very healthy following. We wanted to celebrate this series!
    First off, we wanted to talk with someone from the cast of the show and immediately Frank Williams came to mind! Frank perfectly played the role of the Vicar from Series 3 onwards. He graciously gave us his time to talk with him and he didn’t disappoint! He talked extensively about his time on Dad’s Army, The Army Game, writing and acting in general!
    In keeping with the archive theme to this podcast, we had wonderful conversation with Martin Geraghty. Martin worked on the animated Dad’s Army episode “A Stripe for Frazer” as well as on the animated Doctor Who stories “The Power of the Daleks” and “Shada”. We talk about all of it.
    Finally, you may hear some Dad’s Army rarities. We just wanted to sprinkle some stuff in the episode that maybe most of you have not heard before that might make this episode just a little extra special!
    If you have feedback or questions you would like to have read on the podcast or general inquiries, please contact us at feedback@fromthearchive.co.uk. We would love to hear from you! This podcast is a co-production between From the Archive: A British Television Blog and Kaleidoscope. Thank you for listening.

    • 1 hr 23 min
    From the Archive Episode 10: Tales of Television Centre & ITV Archives

    From the Archive Episode 10: Tales of Television Centre & ITV Archives

    BBC Television Centre has a place in many of hearts that adore British television. When news came about its closure, it upset many that the BBC would leave such an iconic location. A wonderful documentary was produced before it closed. Directed by Richard Marson, Tales of Television Centre, brought together a wide spectrum of people who worked most of their careers there to bring us some of the warmest memories of our “concrete donut”. We talk with Richard about the making of this documentary and what it was like making it, creating the tone of the piece and an insight on what the BBC wanted to name it just prior to transmission! This is the first of a few conversations with will have with Richard and this is a fun one to listen to about Television Centre!
    We also talk to Andrew Gavaghan who is the Archive Manager to the ITV archives. Conducted on location at the ITV Archive in Leeds in December of 2017, Andrew gives is an insight into the workings of the archives. It’s a great conversation!
    If you have feedback or questions you would like to have read on the podcast or general inquiries, please contact us at feedback@fromthearchive.co.uk. We would love to hear from you! This podcast is a co-production between From the Archive: A British Television Blog and Kaleidoscope. Thank you for listening.

    • 1 hr 11 min

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5
8 Ratings

8 Ratings

thejollyfatman ,

Passionate People

It always makes a difference when true passion lies behind creative endeavors- and Greg has all the passion. Well produced and never boring. Do yourself a favor and start it up

TikiWho ,

The best podcast on media preservation and restoration

Absolutely wonderful in-depth interviews with the people actively working to preserve and restore the cultural heritage that is British television and radio. The episode length may seem daunting, but the people are so engaging and the conversations so interesting that the episodes fly by.

Reuben Herfindahl ,

Great deep geeking out on the best TV ever made.

There are podcasts you can listen to as background music. This is not one of those. Great interviews, production and always a deep dive. If you love your British TV (and that includes anyone who spent too much time watching PBS in the 1980's), this is well worth the time to subscribe to. It's not snarky and is a positive look at a golden era made by someone who REALLY knows their stuff.

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