Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Old TV programmes you liked but no one else remembers

Options
1…6263656768…70

Comments

  • Options
    #1922
    NewbridgeIR
    Registered Users Posts: 3,739 ✭✭✭NewbridgeIR


    odyssey06 wrote: »
    I've heard good things about Special Branch, almost like a domestic version of Sandbaggers.
    Any opinions on it?

    I rewatched the lot over the last 12 months. First viewing since mid 2000s.

    There are four series
    S1 1969 & S2 1970 with Derren Nesbitt, Morris Perry (both still alive) & Fulton McKay. All shot on videotape, a lot of B&W episodes in S1. Good plots, complex in parts - similar to Callan - with a few story arcs running throughout. Has a stagey feel to it.

    S3 1973 & S4 1974 was made by Euston Films and is a lot less studio bound. However looks quite grotty now. George Sewell and Patrick Mower star. The stories are good; some bitter writing - people get shafted, used like pawns - and there's the shadowy Ministry figures in the background. There's a bit more action in these, terrorists, more violence and easy see how it influenced The Sweeney.

    There's a huge contrast between S1/S2 and S3/S4 - they're like two different programmes. Certainly recommended.


  • Options
    #1923
    NewbridgeIR
    Registered Users Posts: 3,739 ✭✭✭NewbridgeIR


    CI5: The New Professionals

    I watched the original broadcasts in autumn 1999 on Sky One. There was a fair bit of publicity about it and it became obvious that episodes were being trimmed. So its reputation tanked and it was forgotten about for many years.

    Not a patch on the original but re-watching on DVD now and the stories are better than I remember and reasonably entertaining. It *looks* more modern than it actually is. Edward Woodward does a good job while Lexa Doig is a treat to watch.


  • Options
    #1924
    the purple tin
    Registered Users Posts: 10,943 ✭✭✭✭the purple tin


    I just found out there was a remake of Porridge a few years ago. Completely passed me by. Has anyone seen it?
    This was the time when BBC seemed to be doing remakes of old 70s sitcoms like Reggie Perrin and they all seemed to tank.


  • Options
    #1925
    Sardonicat
    Registered Users Posts: 12,378 ✭✭✭✭Sardonicat


    the purple tin wrote: »
    I just found out there was a remake of Porridge a few years ago. Completely passed me by. Has anyone seen it?
    This was the time when BBC seemed to be doing remakes of old 70s sitcoms like Reggie Perrin and they all seemed to tank.

    I've seen it. It's painful.


  • Options
    #1926
    odyssey06
    Registered Users Posts: 28,090 ✭✭✭✭odyssey06


    the purple tin wrote: »
    I just found out there was a remake of Porridge a few years ago. Completely passed me by. Has anyone seen it?
    This was the time when BBC seemed to be doing remakes of old 70s sitcoms like Reggie Perrin and they all seemed to tank.

    I must have actively avoided that one!
    I remember an ITV remake of Minder with Shane Richie as mediocre?

    The only ones I pay any attention to are the remade lost scripts.
    UK Gold did some Dad's Army ones with a good cast Kevin McNally as Captain Mainwaring and Robert Bathurst as Wilson that was decent enough.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dad%27s_Army_missing_episodes

    Kevin McNally also popped up in some 'Missing Hancocks' that I enjoyed, on TV and BBC Radio (not geoblocked).
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04ly39j

    "To follow knowledge like a sinking star..." (Tennyson's Ulysses)



  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #1927
    Sardonicat
    Registered Users Posts: 12,378 ✭✭✭✭Sardonicat


    The 'new' Porridge was an updated version. The lead character had some connectioni to Fletcher, if I recollect right. Grandson or some such.


  • Options
    #1928
    the purple tin
    Registered Users Posts: 10,943 ✭✭✭✭the purple tin


    Sardonicat wrote: »
    The 'new' Porridge was an updated version. The lead character had some connectioni to Fletcher, if I recollect right. Grandson or some such.
    There was a follow up called Going Straight which was very good.

    Fletch and Godber are released from Slade and try to get a job and keep out of trouble. Godber is going out with Fletch's daughter, it features a young Nicholas Lyndhurst as Fletch's son.


  • Options
    #1929
    Sardonicat
    Registered Users Posts: 12,378 ✭✭✭✭Sardonicat


    the purple tin wrote: »
    There was a follow up called Going Straight which was very good.

    Fletch and Godber are released from Slade and try to get a job and keep out of trouble. Godber is going out with Fletch's daughter, it features a young Nicholas Lyndhurst as Fletch's son.

    Porridge was great. Fletcher was such a brilliant character. It was gentle comedy, really.


  • Options
    #1930
    ShyMets
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,469 ✭✭✭ShyMets


    the purple tin wrote: »
    I just found out there was a remake of Porridge a few years ago. Completely passed me by. Has anyone seen it?
    This was the time when BBC seemed to be doing remakes of old 70s sitcoms like Reggie Perrin and they all seemed to tank.

    They tried a few remakes/updates, nearly all of which failed. The only success, I think, was Still Open All Hours, which is more a spin off to Open All Hours


  • Options
    #1931
    cml387
    Registered Users Posts: 8,377 ✭✭✭cml387


    So now again down memory lane.

    When RTE 2 was in its test stages they started broadcasting programs in the evening, listed as experimental transmissions, I guess to encourage people to retune their sets and get new aerials if required.

    One I remember was "Telford's Change", a series featuring Peter Barkworth as a downshifting bank manager.

    I'm not altogether sure if another wasn't "The Glittering Prizes".

    Does anyone remember other programmes shown in this startup phase? I'm pretty sure the Viv Nicholson docu-drama Spend Spend Spend was shown


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #1932
    George White
    Registered Users Posts: 1,285 ✭✭✭George White


    Anyone remember Skiboy?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23lnt0Sgg5o


  • Options
    #1933
    JimmyVik
    Registered Users Posts: 5,368 ✭✭✭JimmyVik


    I used to love The Invaders

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOLGrXOtuwQ

    and voyage to the bottom of the sea

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39u2y-wYgPQ


  • Options
    #1934
    odyssey06
    Registered Users Posts: 28,090 ✭✭✭✭odyssey06


    Bumping thread to mention that if you have ITV4, they are repeating the Napoleonic naval series Hornblower on Sunday mornings.

    "To follow knowledge like a sinking star..." (Tennyson's Ulysses)



  • Options
    #1935
    Hangdogroad
    Registered Users Posts: 4,920 ✭✭✭Hangdogroad


    The Brothers Lionheart, a Swedish fantasy film that was shown by BBC and RTE as a serial. I remember RTE showing it circa 1981_82 ish. The only bit I can recall with any clarity is in the final episode where the villain summons a dragon, shown in this clip. Only came across it again recently, it was one of those things that was driving me mad trying to identify.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1y5Viz2EsA


  • Options
    #1936
    Hangdogroad
    Registered Users Posts: 4,920 ✭✭✭Hangdogroad


    Two Aussie soaps that were shown on Sky 1 around 1991 to a lot of hype. E-Street, marketed as a kind of hipper, down with the kids Neighbours. All I remember about it was a storyline where one of the main female characters is raped and the dancey theme tune. Lasted two or three series.

    Chances, that was marketed as an "adult" soap. Sky hyped this aspect of it to high heaven. There was some mild soft core stuff , nothing to get excited about. It was the storylines that stick in the mind though. When it started the main focus was on a family who win the lottery. I got tired of it early on and randomly started watching it again during the second series. It was like a totally different show, there was all this bonkers stuff about aliens and cults. I think it ended suddenly without any resolution.


  • Options
    #1937
    Nigel Fairservice
    Registered Users, Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 2,181 Mod ✭✭✭✭Nigel Fairservice


    Hangdogroad wrote: »
    Two Aussie soaps that were shown on Sky 1 around 1991 to a lot of hype. E-Street, marketed as a kind of hipper, down with the kids Neighbours. All I remember about it was a storyline where one of the main female characters is raped and the dancey theme tune. Lasted two or three series.

    Chances, that was marketed as an "adult" soap. Sky hyped this aspect of it to high heaven. There was some mild soft core stuff , nothing to get excited about. It was the storylines that stick in the mind though. When it started the main focus was on a family who win the lottery. I got tired of it early on and randomly started watching it again during the second series. It was like a totally different show, there was all this bonkers stuff about aliens and cults. I think it ended suddenly without any resolution.

    I remember the Mr Bad storyline very well. I was a terrified of him at the time...the face paint. In my defence I was only 5 or 6 at the time!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3guncPfmoYI


  • Options
    #1938
    NewbridgeIR
    Registered Users Posts: 3,739 ✭✭✭NewbridgeIR


    E-Street was good; relived some of it on DVD a while back.


  • Options
    #1939
    trashcan
    Registered Users Posts: 3,916 ✭✭✭trashcan


    Hangdogroad wrote: »
    Two Aussie soaps .........


    Nothing good can come from watching Aussie soaps, ever. They make the English ones look like high art.


  • Options
    #1940
    ShyMets
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,469 ✭✭✭ShyMets


    trashcan wrote: »
    Nothing good can come from watching Aussie soaps, ever. They make the English ones look like high art.

    Well said. Sons & Daughters, anyone

    Come to think of it in the 80's RTE's early afternoon schedule seemed to be one dreadful Aussie soup after another. A Country Practice, Sons & Daughters, The Sullivans.

    I'm sure there was probably more


  • Options
    #1941
    NewbridgeIR
    Registered Users Posts: 3,739 ✭✭✭NewbridgeIR


    ShyMets wrote: »
    Well said. Sons & Daughters, anyone

    Come to think of it in the 80's RTE's early afternoon schedule seemed to be one dreadful Aussie soup after another. A Country Practice, Sons & Daughters, The Sullivans.

    I'm sure there was probably more

    The Sullivans is my favourite soap ever. However RTE showed just ONE episode per week. Australian TV is underrated IMHO. Number 96 from the 1970s is seriously entertaining.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #1942
    George White
    Registered Users Posts: 1,285 ✭✭✭George White


    Also, Number 96 is groundbreaking.

    The actress who says, "you really don't mind me not being a girl", Carlotta was/is an actual trans woman, the first trans character in a soap opera, and played by an actual transgender, something which US TV wouldn't do for another rouglhy twenty five to thirty years (depending if you count Karen Dior in Xena)


  • Options
    #1943
    odyssey06
    Registered Users Posts: 28,090 ✭✭✭✭odyssey06


    A Picture of Katherine Mansfield.
    A BBC miniseries from the 70s.

    The series adopted an unusual form - included dramatizations of Mansfield's life as well as adaptations of her short stories.
    (I have also listened to adaptations of her short stories on BBC radio 4)

    A bit stagey / literary production but a fine cast Vanessa Redgrave, Jeremy Brett, Annette Crosbie and the short stories have a dreamlike intense atmosphere. Or maybe it is like being at a turn of the century party half cut!

    * eps are on youtube

    "To follow knowledge like a sinking star..." (Tennyson's Ulysses)



  • Options
    #1944
    ShyMets
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,469 ✭✭✭ShyMets


    The Fall of Egales. BBC mini series made in the early/mid 70's charting the decline and fall of the Russian, German and Astrio Hungarian Empires.

    Stared my well known actors at the time and actors not so well known but who became famous. Considering the era the production values are good but its still somewhat stagey.

    But if you like your historical fiction well worth a look. All episodes on youtube


  • Options
    #1945
    Hangdogroad
    Registered Users Posts: 4,920 ✭✭✭Hangdogroad


    Nigel Fairservice wrote: »
    I remember the Mr Bad storyline very well. I was a terrified of him at the time...the face paint. In my defence I was only 5 or 6 at the time!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3guncPfmoYI

    I don't think I was still watching it at this point, I'd deffo remember that lol. I'm not a big soap watcher though you certainly wouldnt get this in Fair City.


  • Options
    #1946
    ShyMets
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,469 ✭✭✭ShyMets


    Another one for historical drama buffs is The Shadow of the Tower. Early 70's BBC mini series focusing on the reign of Henry VII.

    It's not bad but it does suffer slightly from the wobbly set syndrome and the acting is very, very stagey.

    Be warned. If you do watch it (all episodes on youtube) episode 4 focuses on events in Ireland. Be prepared for a few very dodgy Irish accents.


  • Options
    #1947
    ShyMets
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,469 ✭✭✭ShyMets


    NewbridgeIR wrote: »
    The Sullivans is my favourite soap ever. However RTE showed just ONE episode per week. Australian TV is underrated IMHO. Number 96 from the 1970s is seriously entertaining.

    Strange. I'm seem to remember it being on everyday. My memory must be playing tricks on me.

    I'll give it this much the opening titles and music very good


  • Options
    #1948
    cml387
    Registered Users Posts: 8,377 ✭✭✭cml387


    Australia has been the source for tv serials (esp children's TV) since the sixties:

    The Magic Boomerang
    Skippy
    The Adventures of the Seaspray

    all shown on RTE in the 5:30 slot on weekday afternoons in the sixties.


  • Options
    #1949
    NewbridgeIR
    Registered Users Posts: 3,739 ✭✭✭NewbridgeIR


    ShyMets wrote: »
    Strange. I'm seem to remember it being on everyday. My memory must be playing tricks on me.

    I'll give it this much the opening titles and music very good

    In Australia it was shown four or five times a week. Over there, it ran from November 1976 to March 1983 - a total of 1,114 episodes (22 minutes each)

    RTE started broadcasting it in October 1977 and showed one episode a week from the outset. If there was snooker or showjumping on it got bumped. Because it was so slow-moving, the television columns in the Irish Independent would regularly poke fun at it "running twice as long as World War II etc)" but completely missed the point that it was RTE's decision to drip feed it. I stopped watching it on RTE in the mid 1990s and they about three quarters of the way through it. They never finished the run.

    Since then it has come out in DVD (Australia -region 4) so have picked up all 23 volumes through Crawford's overseas shop in London.

    It was broadcast on UTV as well and they were a bit more generous with their frequency.

    A Country Practice was shown daily on RTE - much more sensible. But in Australia the episodes were 50 minutes each. In Ireland they were shown in a 30 minute slot, so each one was cut in half and broadcast over 2 days.


  • Options
    #1950
    odyssey06
    Registered Users Posts: 28,090 ✭✭✭✭odyssey06


    ShyMets wrote: »
    The Fall of Egales. BBC mini series made in the early/mid 70's charting the decline and fall of the Russian, German and Astrio Hungarian Empires.
    Stared my well known actors at the time and actors not so well known but who became famous. Considering the era the production values are good but its still somewhat stagey.
    But if you like your historical fiction well worth a look. All episodes on youtube

    There is something about those stagey / wobby set shows. They way they were filmed I find you are focused in and closer to the actors... in their faces almost. In a good way. Same for the classic sitcoms eg Rising Damp.
    As long as you can suspend disbelief re the wobbly sets!

    "To follow knowledge like a sinking star..." (Tennyson's Ulysses)



  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #1951
    salmocab
    Registered Users Posts: 11,291 ✭✭✭✭salmocab


    Just on Aussie TV I recently rewatched anzacs it’s on YouTube. Very enjoyable world war 1 drama following men from when they enlist to getting home through Gallipoli, France and Belgium. Also shows some of the political carry on both in Australia and England. 5 episodes each over an hour long so well fleshed out. Paul hogan plays one of the main characters.


Advertisement