What's On These Scotch VHS Tapes?

It's not often I buy VHS tapes off Ebay, or indeed anywhere, as more often than not you're on a hiding to nothing. However, I couldn't resist these four Scotch tapes which recently popped up on Ebay. It's a classic case design, one which is almost certainly in my top three of all time, and also the earliest VHS tape I remember knocking about our house in the mid-1980s. Including postage, they cost £10.00 and they were just about worth it in terms of harvesting footage. But what exactly did I find?

Thameside TV: The Broadcasts of London's First Pirate TV Station

In the last year or so, I've written fairly extensively about Pirate TV in the UK. First, there was my interview with one of the founders of NeTWork 21, next up was my article on the history of Pirate TV in the UK and, finally, there was a brief look at some of the channels in my piece on lesser known TV stations. Footage of these channels is, understandably, scarce - aside from NeTWork 21's content - and this was particularly frustrating when it came to researching them. I was especially irked by the lack of footage from Thameside TV, London's first pirate TV station who took to the illicit airwaves in 1984. But it turns out most of their content was already online.

Lost Morecambe and Wise Episodes From First Ever Series On BBC Are Restored

A series of previously lost episodes of The Morecambe and Wise Show are to be released on DVD for the very first time by BBC Studios.

The episodes, from The Morecambe and Wise Show's first series for the BBC, are part of the Morecambe and Wise: The Lost Tapes DVD release that will be available at retail from 6th June and to pre-order now at www.amazon.co.uk

The Morecambe and Wise Show was first broadcast on BBC Two in Autumn 1968. It was one of the earliest British comedy series to be shown in colour and the first series included guest stars such as Bruce Forsyth and Matt Monro. That very first series was never archived as was standard practice at the time and all eight episodes of series one were disposed of in the 1970s, to make space in the BBC's archives for newer shows.

Following years of archive research and restoration, film copies have been found for four of the eight episodes of the first series, with audio-only recordings having also been located for the other four. All eight episodes are now being released on DVD together with a previously lost one-off Morecambe and Wise special from October 1970.