Comment Re:Not lost (Score 1) 386
Actually, they may not.
One notorious example of lost BBC programs: Most of the Peter Cook/Dudley Moore series "Not Only... But Also..." (As in, "Not Only [Peter Cook] But Also [Dudley Moore]".) This was brilliant stuff, filmed segments as well as great improvisational theater, in the grand tradition of British comedy.
The NOBA stuff was about two or three years before Monty Python. Cook and Moore graduated from Beyond the Fringe (with Jonathan Miller and Alan Bennett) to do NOBA. Alan Bennett went on to become one of the most respected playrights of his generation. After NOBA, Moore went on to a career in Hollywood, while Cook (the more dominant personality of the two) went on to drink himself to death.
Anyway, most of the NOBA stuff was lost, after the BBC decided to unceremoniously ERASE THE TAPES FOR REUSE. When they found out (a few years after the end of the show's run) about the BBC's intentions, Cook and Moore begged, pled with the BBC to sell them the tapes, or at least give them copies, but the BBC replied that the tapes were their property to do with what they wished. So all of the original NOBA tapes were unceremoniously erased.
Some of it survives. They shot some stuff on film; most of these skits survive. Other stuff was copied during broadcast (I forget the term; essentially pointing a video camera at a TV monitor) by people unconnected with the BBC. Some of this stuff survives as "The Best Of (What's Left Of) Not Only/But Also." It's hilarious stuff, but it's sad to watch it and think that most of the show was lost to dreadful bureaucrats at the BBC.
For more info, check out http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/n/noton lybutalso_7774870.shtml
To their credit, the BBC owns up to its huge mistake in erasing these tapes, but it was more disasterous than they let on on this page. Virtually ALL the tapes were erased.
One notorious example of lost BBC programs: Most of the Peter Cook/Dudley Moore series "Not Only... But Also..." (As in, "Not Only [Peter Cook] But Also [Dudley Moore]".) This was brilliant stuff, filmed segments as well as great improvisational theater, in the grand tradition of British comedy.
The NOBA stuff was about two or three years before Monty Python. Cook and Moore graduated from Beyond the Fringe (with Jonathan Miller and Alan Bennett) to do NOBA. Alan Bennett went on to become one of the most respected playrights of his generation. After NOBA, Moore went on to a career in Hollywood, while Cook (the more dominant personality of the two) went on to drink himself to death.
Anyway, most of the NOBA stuff was lost, after the BBC decided to unceremoniously ERASE THE TAPES FOR REUSE. When they found out (a few years after the end of the show's run) about the BBC's intentions, Cook and Moore begged, pled with the BBC to sell them the tapes, or at least give them copies, but the BBC replied that the tapes were their property to do with what they wished. So all of the original NOBA tapes were unceremoniously erased.
Some of it survives. They shot some stuff on film; most of these skits survive. Other stuff was copied during broadcast (I forget the term; essentially pointing a video camera at a TV monitor) by people unconnected with the BBC. Some of this stuff survives as "The Best Of (What's Left Of) Not Only/But Also." It's hilarious stuff, but it's sad to watch it and think that most of the show was lost to dreadful bureaucrats at the BBC.
For more info, check out http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/n/noto
To their credit, the BBC owns up to its huge mistake in erasing these tapes, but it was more disasterous than they let on on this page. Virtually ALL the tapes were erased.
