British Broadcast: A History of Lost Television (PART THREE)

[@rambletash]

Ah man. That gnome show actually sounds fun, in a stupid way, I'd love to see at least one episode.

[@PrinceAndrew100]

The Gnomes of Dulwich was one of the funniest shows I've ever seen in my life, and Im a big Monty Python fan.

[@DVDandFilmBloke]

I found a forum thread on Missing-Episodes from around 2014 relating to The Gnomes of Dulwich, it turns out that copies were made and sold overseas (most likely black and white tele recordings). Australia had allegedly screened it as late as 1978, it may have been also screened in New Zealand (although TVNZ no longer holds any BBC material), so maybe a tele recording of at least 1 episode might resurface but we don't know what happened to those prints. Honestly even if the series turns out to be crap it would be interesting to see it in motion based on the on set photos, especially episode 6 which hopefully still exists in some form. I think one of the reasons the show didn't last beyond a single series was because the budget must have been massive given the special props and make up, as well as the poor reviews from the time of it airing (with some calling it "childish" and "smutty") and maybe the viewing figures weren't enough to justify commissioning a second series (maybe that's why are the episodes went missing and there is very little information on it). Even if it was found I doubt it could be screened on mainstream TV today because (this is coming from an account of someone who read the scripts from Curious British Telly) while it's themes against racism and xenophobia are there, the fact is the plastic empire gnomes fit every dodgy Asian stereotype and the female gnomes would give the Carry On series a run for it's money. It was very much a product of it's time.

[@Roblambertbooks]

Excellent mini documentary, well made and narrated.

[@FiveLiver]

What happened to BBC shows in those days was a crime.

[@KaydeyRai]

There’s no way that the Gnomes of Dulwich could be anything but awful imo but I’ve always wanted to see it and I pray an episode is unearthed from somewhere someday

[@DVDandFilmBloke]

I have never heard of The Gnomes of Dulwich. Even though its probably crap (based on reviews at the time and the statements from someone who read the scripts. Although some reviews on IMDb are more uplifting given they were written by people who were young when it was first broadcast) it would be interesting to see it in motion (even just a clip). As far as I can tell it was one of the only things Jimmy Perry wrote on his own as most of his work was written with David Croft (Dad's Army, Hi-De-Hi, It Ain't Half Hot Mum). There is a rumour that a full audio recording of one of the episodes exists somewhere but it has not been publicly released. It was only rerun once on BBC 1 in 1970 before the tapes were wiped It was one of the first shows to use Colour Separation Overlay (blue screen) as the BBC had just installed blue screens in Television Centre (I'm surprised they didn't keep at least 1 episode given it has historical significance). The process would be used on later BBC programmes produced in colour, most notably Doctor Who during the Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker eras (CSO would be impossible with black and white given you would be working with shades of grey).

[@AstileDohertyProductions]

The best thing about making these videos is not only do I teach, but I also learn from sharply written comments like this

[@DVDandFilmBloke]

@@AstileDohertyProductions Thank you :). Archive television is one of my favourite subjects (I think it got me into Doctor Who strangely enough).

[@TheNightBadger]

These mini docs are great... but that 5 sec looped piece of music playing over and over and over is a mistake - it's so annoying! PS: On Marty Feldman's eyes, from Wiki: _"Feldman suffered from thyroid disease and developed Graves Opthalmopathy causing his eyes to protrude and become misaligned. A childhood injury, a car crash, a boating accident, and reconstructive eye surgery may also have contributed to his appearance."_