Repeats, repeats, repeats

[Guest]

So! BBC2 is to become a 'graveyard' channel, occupied mainly by repeats.

This is a potentially great idea, I think: but let's not have an endless diet of the usual suspects (and, please, let's have no 'classic' comedies, all of which do the rounds on UK Gold and most of which are just not funny any more, anyway); instead, how about exhuming some of those things that made a splash in their day, but which haven't been seen since?

The 1970 dramatisation of Sartre's Roads To Freedom - which seemed to make a huge impression on all who saw it - would be the most obvious candidate, to my mind.

Then how about a repeat of all the extant David Mercer plays in the archive (the world NEEDS to know that he's miles better than Dennis Potter)?

And if the channel really wants to fulfil its original remit, it could re-screen all of the BBC Shakespeare (though it may need to do so selectively, as some of those productions just weren't very good).

[mercia]

I'd like to see a repeat of Therese Raquin with Kate Nelligan and Mona Washbourne ............ or was that ITV ............?

[Mandryka]

I'd like to see a repeat of Therese Raquin with Kate Nelligan and Mona Washbourne ............ or was that ITV ............?

No: BBC2, spring 1980. It was a good 'un, as I recall.

[aeolium]

Then how about a repeat of all the extant David Mercer plays in the archive (the world NEEDS to know that he's miles better than Dennis Potter)?

Yes, I agree about Mercer, Mandryka. I particularly liked The Cellar and the Almond Tree. There are also the Beckett TV plays in the 1960s and 1970s, some good Stoppard ones such as Professional Foul and The Dog It Was That Died, and some of the earlier Pinter productions, e.g. The Lover with the superb Alan Badel and Vivien Merchant. Also worth seeing again is the Lefanu ghost story Schalcken the Painter written and directed by Lesley Megahey. This was one of a number of excellent ghost story adaptations that the BBC did usually around Christmas during the 1970s, including some M R James stories (The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral the best imo) and Dickens' The Signalman.

[Stillhomewardbound]

You're unlikely to see any of these fine dramas in a hurry. Firstly, none of today's executives will have a clue what you're talking about. Second, the casts (or their estates) would be due repeat fees not far off their original fees; and thirdly, the master tapes may not be in best broadcast condition and may be in need of remastering which would be an additional cost.

There, that's cheered you all up!

[Stillhomewardbound]

"Professional Foul"

Gosh, that was very good - with Peter Barkworth

"The Dog It Was That Died"

I only know this as a radio play. Marvellous Stoppard fare with Dinsdale Landen and John LeMesurier.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dog_It_Was_That_Died

[Nick Armstrong]

I like the idea of some high grade repeats of classic serials, and what about concerts and operas

Would beat some of the new rubbish that gets screened.

I agree about steering clear of endless 'classic comedy' which is amply catered for on GOLD, Dave and others


EDIT: Just read shb's reality check (message 6) ... back to earth with a bump!

[aeolium]

"Professional Foul"

Gosh, that was very good - with Peter Barkworth

"The Dog It Was That Died"

I only know this as a radio play. Marvellous Stoppard fare with Dinsdale Landen and John LeMesurier.

TDIWTD was written as a radio play, but was then produced for TV with IIRC most of the same cast. I still prefer the radio version and have a copy of it. Charles Gray was wonderful but the whole cast was on top form.

Shb, is that really the case about repeat fees being not far off original fees? How do they manage to pay for those endless repeats of Dad's Army and Only Fools and Horses? Actors ought to negotiate contracts which increase the chance of some repeat fees rather than making them prohibitively expensive, surely?

[Stunsworth]

The 1970 dramatisation of Sartre's Roads To Freedom - which seemed to make a huge impression on all who saw it - would be the most obvious candidate, to my mind.

It certainly made an impression on me. There was a serialisation of Zola's Germinal at around the same time.

There was a recent showing of 3 episodes at the British Film Institute, and according to the director the BBC still have all the episodes. Details here...

http://www.britmovie.co.uk/forums/british-television/107231-roads-freedom-bbc-1970-13-x-50min-episodes.html

[Stillhomewardbound]

Shb, is that really the case about repeat fees being not far off original fees? How do they manage to pay for those endless repeats of Dad's Army and Only Fools and Horses? Actors ought to negotiate contracts which increase the chance of some repeat fees rather than making them prohibitively expensive, surely?

My memory is hazy but Dad might do a drama and he'd get the full fee again if it was repeated within a year, going down to half the original fee over the next two years. Something like that. There was a difference also if it appeared in its original slot, or as an afternoon transmission

Coming up the to mid 80s onwards though 'buy-outs', as with film fees, became more common in television.

The repeats system arose out of negotiations between Equity and the broadcasters and in an environment where performance fees were far from generous.

There was no such provision for the techies, but then they were all salaried and pensioned employees with secure contracts.

Lest anyone think actors were being greedy, that was seldom the case. After all a novelist doesn't expect a one-off payment and not to get royalties on their sales.

To put this debate in further perpective, repeat fees on older dramas would really not be excessive, rather that they would cost 'something' as opposed to the 'nothing' that tv execs would prefer.

Here's quite an informed Independent article, albeit from 1996:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/actors-take-up-arms-over-the-tv-gold-rush-1338823.html

[Mandryka]

My memory is hazy but Dad might do a drama and he'd get the full fee again if it was repeated within a year, going down to half the original fee over the next two years. Something like that. There was a difference also if it appeared in its original slot, or as an afternoon transmission

Coming up the to mid 80s onwards though 'buy-outs', as with film fees, became more common in television.

The repeats system arose out of negotiations between Equity and the broadcasters and in an environment where performance fees were far from generous.

There was no such provision for the techies, but then they were all salaried and pensioned employees with secure contracts.

Lest anyone think actors were being greedy, that was seldom the case. After all a novelist doesn't expect a one-off payment and not to get royalties on their sales.

To put this debate in further perpective, repeat fees on older dramas would really not be excessive, rather that they would cost 'something' as opposed to the 'nothing' that tv execs would prefer.

Here's quite an informed Independent article, albeit from 1996:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/ac...h-1338823.html

I heard that an agreement had been reached at the turn of the last century by which Equity had accepted some sort of reduced rate for repeats? I know this gave the BBC the impetus to re-show the first two series of Blake's 7, but there was not the expected glut of classic programmes - probably because at that point in time, the beeb was chasing an 18-30 viewership.

I don't think any actor would necessarily expect to get a fortune from a repeat of something they made 30-40 years ago; but some money would be nice - and the increased visibility might be nicer.

In the case of RTF, some of the principals - notably, Michael Bryant and Daniel Massey - are long deceased: would their estates be entitled to payment?

[Ferretfancy]

Most of the dramas referred to so far would have been mastered on 2" Ampex videotapes.I doubt if the last surviving Ampex in VT is still useable, and in any case a large proportion of the originals were wiped in the mid eighties to free up space. Comedy series have sometimes survived the purges because they have been repeated frequently since their first transmission, but even they have not escaped the axe. How many Hancock's have survived ?
There's a fond belief that the BBC has lovingly preserved years and years of material, but it just isn't so.

[aeolium]

I'm sure quite a number of the dramas I referred to in my earlier message are still available (or were until quite recently) as I have seen them within the last 10 years. The Badel/Merchant Pinter play was shown as part of a Pinter retrospective when he died. The Signalman and M R James ghost stories have been revived in the last few years, and a lot of the 70s serials are on DVD. I'm not sure about Mercer plays and The Road to Freedom but it's possible that more material has survived than we might have expected.

Re the Independent article about repeat fees, it must be in the interests of the actors that repeats are shown and that they receive some payment each time, as authors receive royalties on books sold and lent out from libraries. That should be a part of their income, rather than just relying on new work. It is incomprehensible that obstacles should be put in place of releasing the rich material that is in the TV and sound archive.

[Stunsworth]

Most of the dramas referred to so far would have been mastered on 2" Ampex videotapes.I doubt if the last surviving Ampex in VT is still useable...

I'd hope that if the BFI were able to show 3 consecutive episodes of the Satre, and the BBC have all the other episodes, that they could be rescued. Well, I can wish. As mentioned in my earlier link the series was supposed to have been wiped, but wasn't.

Of course you're right, most of the others have been lost for ever.

[Stillhomewardbound]

<<some of the principals - notably, Michael Bryant and Daniel Massey - are long deceased: would their estates be entitled to payment?>>

Yes, and as far as I know, for 50 years after their demise. Dad's agents through his career were Plunkett Greene, Leading Artists (Julian Belfrage) and Joy Jameson and each still receive royalties for this and that.

Usually it's the likes of 73p for a sale of a 'Crown Court' to Mobassa, but hey 73p is 73p!