Space1999.Net Forum Archive
The Catacombs
Discussion about The Catacombs.
Yorkshire Broadcast History
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| Author | Post | ||
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| moonbasealpha_s1 17 Oct 2005 01:36:11 |
Your updates for the Catacombs for Oct 15, 2005 were interesting. I particularly enjoyed the Black Park segment. I thought the Yorkshire Broadcast History was interesting though, geeze, how could one possibly keep up with it?  Anyway, I noticed the times for broadcast would be something like 10 minutes past the hour or 40 minutes past the hour, not on the hour or at the half hour. Why is that? Is it a common practice in the UK? |
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| Huntsman 17 Oct 2005 02:59:27 |
Some things start at the top of the hour. Original episodes of Doctor Who were about 25 minutes, with, of course, no commercial interuption. The new Doctor Who(when the season begins)will probably air on Saturdays @ 7pm on BBC1. The new episodes are 45 minutes long. Then right at 7:45pm on BBC3, Doctor Who Confidential begins. Just a small example... |
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| Martin 17 Oct 2005 08:40:43 |
Most things start on the hour or half hour. but... In 1970s britain, an episode of Space 1999 with commercials only lasted 55 mins (there were less adverts than the US where it filled 1 hour). One popular slot for 1999 was the 635pm weekday slot - it immediately follows the early evening news, so while it may seem odd it was actually a very good slot. |
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| Rosalyn 24 Oct 2005 01:08:33 |
Hi there. To add to what Martin is saying, during the 1970's and 80's, the Independent Television network here in the UK was restricted in the amount of advertising that it could air during hours when children might be watching. Therefore programmes broadcast early in the mornings were often not allowed to contain commercials. This restriction was made by the then regulator, the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA). Typical times where you would not see commercials were before 10.30am on Saturdays and Sundays, and before 12.30pm on weekdays. Should a programme like SPACE:1999 be shown during these restricted hours, as it was on Yorkshire and a few others, its start time would very often be something like five past or ten past the hour, or at 40 minutes past as you have highlighted, normally followed by a networked programme. Programmes fully networked to all the ITV regions were the ones that would usually receive a more definite start time either on the hour, at half or quarter past, or at quarter to. Sadly, SPACE:1999 never achieved a full network broadcast during its original five year run on ITV, and often ended up being a filler to be thrown inbetween other programmes that were generally considered more important. |
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| Huntsman 24 Oct 2005 23:36:20 |
So were any commercials shown in between segments? Or did the whole program edited into a 50 minute movie? | ||
| Rosalyn 25 Oct 2005 00:52:19 |
Hi Huntsman. They ran the whole thing through in one go without interruption by commercials so it would last just under 50 minutes. I have a few old recordings of SPACE:1999 from Yorkshire and none are edited down. Ros |
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| Huntsman 25 Oct 2005 02:54:43 |
Interesting. I've often wondered how American shows were transmitted on various British stations... | ||
| Rosalyn 25 Oct 2005 18:19:21 |
It would depend on what station you were viewing. In 1970's Britain, most households only had three to choose from - BBC1, BBC2 or ITV. The BBC being state run would be without commercials although some strange ideas about 'house style' meant that certain US imported series were tailored to suit presumably to hide their commercial TV origins and style. Shows like the original STAR TREK, DALLAS, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. and even late 1980's repeats of THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN would appear with the opening titles right at the top of the programme instead of with a 'teaser' sequence irrespective of whether or not one was intended. A run of a series would often be made up of 'selected episodes' rather than complete seasons. As I am sure many a British fan will tell you, certain episodes of STAR TREK were deliberately dropped by the BBC having been considered unsuitable viewing. I can recall seeing an episode of STARSKY AND HUTCH and one of THE FANTASTIC JOURNEY, both that had been missed out by the BBC, on other stations more recently. Some shows were renamed completely: TOP CAT became BOSS CAT and LOIS AND CLARK: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN just became THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, both with new captions to fit. ITV on the other hand would be a better bet for US series as it would nearly always buy entire seasons, and would play them exactly as are with a maximum of two commercial interruptions an hour. However, the haphazard nature of ITV's regional scheduling meant that it would sometimes take a lot longer to see all of a series than the makers of it intended and not always in the correct order of continuity. Ros |
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| Huntsman 25 Oct 2005 20:40:49 |
It just amazes me that US shows like The A-Team and Buck Rogers were killing Doctor Who in the ratings during the 80s. Mind you, 80s Doctor Who wasn't the best of the series. But I'd gladly take the punishment of bad of serials from Doctor Who, like The Twin Dilemma and Paradise Towers, over ANY episiode of The A-Team. Dallas' viewership is more understandable... | ||
| Rosalyn 25 Oct 2005 22:38:43 |
If I remember correctly, here in the UK, DOCTOR WHO moved to midweek when Peter Davison took on the role in the 1980's and so was never in competition with things like THE A-TEAM or BUCK ROGERS, which were shown (certainly by my ITV region) on Saturday evenings. I went out most Saturdays during the 80's, and would fortunately miss the diet of mass fodder served up on TV during the evenings, much of which my parents used to happily sit through to my dismay. I only ever saw the pilot film of THE A-TEAM which I hated, so I never watched it ever again. I thought DALLAS was fun though, whenever I did get to see it. I can remember when SPACE: 1999 used to clash with DOCTOR WHO on Saturday evenings and before the days of VCR's. There was no contest in our house - SPACE won hands down! |
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| Huntsman 27 Oct 2005 17:15:42 |
Well, in the overall scheme of ratings, The A-Team's ratings were much higher than Doctor Who, especially during the Colin Baker era... | ||
| Rosalyn 27 Oct 2005 22:18:31 |
That is not surprising since people who like sci-fi programmes in truth, only represent a small fraction of the viewing public. |
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