Betamax Finds on Substack

The noble art of trawling through ancient video tapes - part archaeology, part masochism - often turns up fragments rather than complete relics. Betamax tapes throws up all manner of interesting nuggets from the past, but many of them tend to be incomplete. The problem is that the original tape owner's main treasure was usually something like a Bond film, but they may have left the tape running afterwards - hence why I'm eternally being handed the opening minutes of the evening's news before the recording stops.

For those of us in the analogue underworld, this is teeth-grinding stuff. We crave complete programmes, neatly boxed time capsules complete with adverts and in-vision continuity from a friendly face in a makeshift studio. Nonetheless, these glimpses of ephemeral television are still of interest. That's why I regularly upload little snippets to YouTube and, just recently, I've been featuring showcasing them over on the Curious British Telly Substack. So, just a quick reminder to head over there and, for example, check out an extended clip of Bruce Forsyth presenting Hollywood or Bust in 1984.

Bursts of Gaelic Madness: Mag is Mog and Bzzz

I've seen some curious feats of British television in my time, but I'm not sure anything will beat the fever dream which is Darth Vader infused with the spirit of Sutekh from Pyramids of Mars fed through the shoestring budget of BBC Scotland in the early 1980s. But I've double and treble checked, this was no fever dream. It was broadcast and, to make matters even more confounding, it was performed entirely in Scottish Gaelic.

Teetime and Claudia

I never thought I’d get to watch enough of Teetime and Claudia to write an article on it. Aside from one episode which was on YouTube - and half an episode I managed to dig up - it looked as though further footage would remain out of reach. The BFI didn’t hold any copies and, given the lack of people who recognised it, it was unlikely anyone was going to come forwards with a set of episodes. But fortune favours the patient and, finally, someone uploaded several episodes to YouTube a couple of years ago.

VHS and Betamax Tapes Appeal

When I first started digging through video tapes in 2016, the chances of securing collections of 1980s recordings via Ebay, Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace or kind donations were pretty decent. However, in the last few years, these avenues seem to have been less productive. Ebay, generally seems to be packed full of tapes from the 1990s or later when it comes to VHS, and the Betamax tapes seem to be the same ones picked up and then sold on by fellow tape archaeologists.

However, I'm convinced that there are still piles of old video tapes sat in cupboards and lofts which haven't been played since 1987. The 1980s may be a dim and distant memory, but this doesn't mean we need to forget the ephemeral beauty of the television from that era. So, if you're happy to donate a pile of video tapes or know someone who is, then please get in touch with me and we can breathe new, digital life into these recordings

GameZone: Your Ultimate Destination for Online Gaming Excellence

GameZone: Your Ultimate Destination for Online Gaming Excellence

In the ever-expanding world of online gaming, finding a platform that offers both excitement and fairness can be a challenge. Enter GameZone, the premier destination for gamers looking to test their skills, challenge real players, and experience the thrill of competition. Whether you're a casual player seeking fun or a competitive gamer aiming to dominate the leaderboards, GameZone has something for everyone.

Teletext: Without it your set's not with it

Teletext has always had a peculiar hold over me - a pixelated siren call from a bygone era of cathode-ray wonder. In those dim, pre-internet days, it was a digital portal into a wider world of up to the minute news, even if the loading times were sluggish and the content limited to blocky bursts of primary colours. However, it was revolutionary compared to the static, permanence of a newspaper. Eventually, I'd end up writing an article about The Birth of Teletext, so my curiosity around Teletext remains strong. Hence, this explains why I bought a promotional leaflet about Teletext from the early 1980s.

Shades (1982)

If you were a fan of post-apocalyptic nuclear fiction in the first half of the 1980s, you were absolutely spoiled. From The Day After through to Threads and onto When the Wind Blows, it felt as though a full-scale attack of harrowing nuclear dramas were raining down from the heavens. And it was a reflection of a much wider public consciousness, one which was being drip fed a diet of fear through a very real nuclear arms race and the harsh reality of Protect & Survive.

No one truly knew what the future held. Would we be reduced to eating a diet of rats and radioactive sheep as imagined in Threads? Hopefully not. But when the bomb dropped, we did know one thing: we were going to be eating a diet of rats and radioactive sheep. Perhaps, though, there would be an alternative. Maybe the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) would work, and nuclear weapons would be no more. Or, as suggested by Stephen Lowe’s Shades, we’d simply learn to forget about the whole thing.

Tongits: The Thrilling Filipino Card Game You Need to Try!

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The Critics View of The Day of the Triffids

The Day of the Triffids is one of the finest examples of British science fiction on television. The performances are less acted and more inhabited, the atmosphere coiled tighter than a rationed gas ring, and the effects - well, let’s call them charmingly shoddy. It’s ridiculous to suggest it’s anything less than a stone-cold classic.

And, 40 years on from its original broadcast, Douglas Livingstone’s adaptation of John Wyndham’s magnum opus remains a talking point. The BBC’s 1981 version, we won’t discuss 2009’s attempt which sunk without a trace, was rewarded with a Blu-Ray release in 2020 and prompted much discussion, even if a lot of that was due to criticism of the restoration.

But back in 1981, a full 30 years on from the publishing date of the original novel, what did the critics make of the BBC’s latest science fiction offering? The Day of the Triffids was part of the BBC’s £33 million drama lineup for 1981 and, as ever, would be under scrutiny from the viewers and the press. There was also the Star Wars issue. Ever since Star Wars had redefined special effects in 1977, anything less than a stellar visual spectacle would be ridiculed, regardless of the budgetary constraints.

So, did the critics hold back? Was there a chance, much like today’s fans of vintage post-apocalyptic dystopian science fiction, they would appreciate the craft and aesthetics of a story which, in 1981, reflected the public’s paranoia of an apocalyptic event? Well, some did. Others, less so.