TCDE-Team: Created page with "{{Cargo_Reviews_Articles |Date=1995-04-01 |Book=British Television |BookAuthor=Tise Vahimagi |Reviewer=Christopher Roden |Topics=Television }} This review of the book ''"British Television", by Tise Vahimagi'' was written by Christopher Roden and published in the The Parish Magazine (No. 12, april 1995). This review praises British Television as a richly illustrated and valuable reference work that documents the history of B..."

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Created page with "{{Cargo_Reviews_Articles |Date=1995-04-01 |Book=British Television |BookAuthor=Tise Vahimagi |Reviewer=Christopher Roden |Topics=Television }} This review of the book ''"British Television", by Tise Vahimagi'' was written by Christopher Roden and published in the The Parish Magazine (No. 12, april 1995). This review praises British Television as a richly illustrated and valuable reference work that documents the history of B..."

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{{Cargo_Reviews_Articles
|Date=1995-04-01
|Book=British Television
|BookAuthor=Tise Vahimagi
|Reviewer=Christopher Roden
|Topics=Television
}}
This review of the book ''"British Television", by Tise Vahimagi'' was written by [[Christopher Roden]] and published in the [[The Parish Magazine (newsletter)|The Parish Magazine]] (No. 12, april 1995).

This review praises British Television as a richly illustrated and valuable reference work that documents the history of British TV and preserves traces of many otherwise lost productions. Despite frustrations over omissions and uneven detail, it is judged a fascinating volume, especially for readers interested in [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]] and [[Sherlock Holmes]] adaptations.

== Review ==
[[File:the-parish-magazine-n12-1995-04-p24.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[The Parish Magazine (newsletter)|The Parish Magazine]] (No. 12, april 1995, p. 24)]]

: [[File:oup-1994-british-television.jpg|100px]]
: '''British Television'''
: Compiled for the British Film Institute by Tise Vahimagi Oxford University Press, 1994; xii + 364pp;
: Hardback £25.00; ISBN: 0-19-812267
: Paperback £12.99; ISBN: 0-19-818336-4

'''Reviewed by Christopher Roden'''

This beautifully produced compilation attempts to do two things: firstly to offer an overview of British Television from its very beginnings in 1936 up to the early 1990s, and to provide descriptions of over one thousand programmes, with dates, notes of content, and production credits, and secondly to provide a unique record by means of still photographs, which in many cases are all that has survived where programmes were broadcast live, or where mindless wiping of tapes has taken place. It generally succeeds on both counts, although there are inevitable gaps details of programmes one can recall and wants to look up, only to find that for some reason that particular programme has not been included: unaccountably, the compiler has a mental block over anything written by R. F. Delderfield, whose work provided some classic television in the 1980s.

That, however, is a minor carp. With the aid of this volume, one can look back to 1967 and recall that BBC-2 broadcast thirteen episodes of fifty minutes each in a series titled '[[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (TV series 1967)|The Short Stories of Conan Doyle]]' (also known as 'Sir Arthur Conan Doyle' or 'Conan Doyle'). The first in the series was 'Lot 249' [sic], but the book lets itself down by not listing the titles of the remaining twelve episodes.

In 1968, BBC-2 broadcast 'Late Night Horror', a series of twenty-five minute fantasy tales, which included 'The Kiss of Blood', scripted by [[John Hawkesworth]] and apparently based on '[[The Case of Lady Sannox]]'.

Moving on to 1974, 'Orson Welles Great Mysteries' (Anglia TV) included '[[The Leather Funnel (TV episode 1973)|The Leather Funnel]]', though no transmission date or further production detail is given.

Yes, it becomes frustrating, but it does raise hopes that some of these programmes may still exist on videotape-somewhere!

The reference to Thames TV's 1971 series '[[The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes]]' inevitably causes the heart to flutter. Who could resist the thought of the late Donald Pleasence as William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki the ghost hunter in 'The Horse of the Invisible'? And, of course, the various adaptations of [[Sherlock Holmes|Holmes]] receive mention, too. Our hopes of seeing the [[Douglas Wilmer|Wilmer]] and [[Peter Cushing|Cushing]] series revived are expressed elsewhere in this issue, and they are given modest coverage; Granada's [[Sherlock Holmes (TV series 1984-1994)|Holmes]] is given a little more space, but the 1951 series with [[Alan Wheatley]], rightly or wrongly, merits only two lines.

British Television is a fascinating read and it is illuminating to see how television has developed in the sixty-or-so years covered by this volume. At the end of it, however, one is left wondering why, these days, so much money is spent producing one or two blockbusters each year, with the result that, for the most part, our screens are filled with unviewable dross. Would the average viewer really complain if some of the black-and-white classics from this volume were aired occasionally?

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