[HN Gopher] Scotch on the Rocks: TV drama locked away for 50 years
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       Scotch on the Rocks: TV drama locked away for 50 years
        
       Author : edward
       Score  : 23 points
       Date   : 2023-11-30 11:11 UTC (11 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.bbc.co.uk)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.bbc.co.uk)
        
       | ars wrote:
       | They end with "2 out of 5 of the episodes are lost". So even
       | ignoring the rest of the article, they couldn't realistically
       | show it anyway.
        
         | akdor1154 wrote:
         | It's maybe possible that the article itself is intended as a
         | subtle callout to try and find the tapes - here's hoping, I'd
         | love to watch it.
        
           | dingusdew wrote:
           | Really unlikely, as VHS and Betamax wouldn't be created until
           | several years later (1976 and 1975, respectively), and any
           | tapes still in existence would be in formats that likely have
           | no players anymore.
           | 
           | They MIGHT be lucky if it they find tapes in the same VCR
           | tape format as the BBC's "Out of the Trees" from 1975. It was
           | a sketch comedy show from Monthy Python's Graham Chapman and
           | at-the-time-writer-for-Dr.-Who Douglas Adams, who would go on
           | to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy fame.
           | 
           | A copy was recently restored and put on Youtube after a tape
           | in the VCR format was discovered. It was a home taping made
           | by Graham Chapman himself, and the only existing copy of a
           | recording. A multi-year effort was made to rebuild a player
           | for the tape from scratch, with the final results put on
           | Youtube.
           | 
           | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saxhV4gzm5c
           | 
           | So, it's potentially possible, the the real issue is that
           | during the early years of the BBC they generally re-used the
           | tapes they had and would record over previously used tapes,
           | which is why so much of BBC history is lost from that period.
           | Famously _lots_ of early Dr. Who episodes are lost to
           | time(lords).
        
           | fweimer wrote:
           | Not so subtle: "If anyone still retains a copy of the missing
           | two episodes, the BBC archive would be very happy to hear
           | from them."
        
       | earthboundkid wrote:
       | Filming this seems like a really dumb idea? I mean, maybe the
       | Troubles weren't as bad yet as they would get in the 80s, but
       | still seems like broadcasting this would have been very likely to
       | ignite more conflict in Ireland and even copycat violence in
       | Scotland. It would be like making a movie where R Anon marches on
       | the White House to assassinate imposter President John Bidden and
       | not expecting it to cause some crazy person to use it as a
       | blueprint. It's just irresponsible. As a book? Okay, maybe, sure,
       | you can explore dangerous ideas in a book. But making a BBC movie
       | is really inviting disaster.
        
       | at_a_remove wrote:
       | People decry (and I am one of them) that the copyright system in
       | the United States hasn't done a good job of preserving our
       | cultural heritage, but it seems the issue is larger than that.
       | The BBC hasn't done a fantastic job, either. They lose things, or
       | erase them, or simply never broadcast them again.
        
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       (page generated 2023-11-30 23:01 UTC)