Radio Times (7th - 13th July 1973)

Radio Times (7th - 13th July 1973)

We've been on this game long enough to know that there never really was a Golden Age Of Television. Spend a bit of time going though BBC Genome and you'll always be wading through hours of material that at best raises a shrug. But there were schedules to fill and the summer months were never the highlight of the year on BBC 1.

We have about three old copies of 'Radio Times' in our house. The one for 'The Five Doctors' is one, along with the one for 23rd Novmber 1988, which features 'The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe' on the cover.

But we've just added the edition for the week of 7th - 13th July 1973 to the collection, as it features the launch of an unusual series looking at 'Jack The Ripper'. Detectives Barlow and Watt (who first appeared in 'Z Cars : Four Of A Kind' way back in January 1962) look at the evidence of the Whitechapel murders of 1888 and bag Straford Johns and Frank Windsor a place onto the cover into the bargain.

Lisa and Warren are planning to look at various productions based on these events, so we thought it worth getting hold of this 'Radio Times' for research purposes. That's our excuse, anyway.

But going through that week on the BBC demonstrates just what how much filler material was being broadcast at the time. The things that really leapt out at us were few and far between and sometimes the adverts were more interesting than the programmes.

So here's a quick summary of the things we noticed...

Saturday is dominated by cricket, with England versus New Zealand at Headingley. There's no 'Doctor Who' as 'The Green Death' finished its run a couple of weeks ago, but younger viewers might be diverted by 'Trumpton : Mrs Cobbit And The Ice Cream Man' or 'Laurel And Hardy : Thicker Than Water'.

'Dad's Army : Keep Young And Beautiful' is at 6.30 pm and Bill Pertwee also pops up on 'Look - Mike Yarwood'. Over on BBC2 there's Episode 10 of 'The Ascent Of Man' followed by 'The Goodies : Superstar' which clearly shows they're trying to do something for everyone.

Sunday sees more cricket on BBC2 with Wimbledon 1973 in the afternoon on BBC1.

5.40pm sees David Maloney directing 'The Witch's Daughter'  and Martin Lisemore produces 'Emma' at 7.25pm. 'The Lotus Eaters' starts on BBC at 10.10pm with Ian Hendry and Wanda Ventham joined by guest star Mauice Denham. Following this 'M*A*S*H' is hidden away at 11pm, believe it or not.

Monday offers us Johnny Ball and Julie Stevens on 'Play School', while John Grant reads 'Littlenose The Hunter' on 'Jackanory'. Episode 6 of 'Man Dog' is also knocking around at 5.20pm. The evening is a bit of a wasteland unless 'A Royal Spectacular From Canada' or 'Panorama' tickles your fancy. 'The Two Ronnies' are on BBC2 at 9,25pm, which is the only thing I'd probably take an interest in.

Tuesday isn't much better, really. 'The Liver Birds' is fair enough, but 'Collector's World' smacks of desperation with a look at early 19th Century rubbish dumps. You're not even going to find any missing episodes there, are you?

Wednesday has 'Strong Music' in 'Pogles' Wood' and Ron Pickering encouraging kids to bellow 'We Are The Champions'. Terry Scott stars in 'Son Of The Bride' written by John Kane, which is swiftly followed by 'Sutherland's Law' boasting the talents of Iain Cuthbertson and Gareth Thomas. Graham Williams is Script Editor, by the way. There's a solar eclipse visible from Africa that attracts the attention of 'The Sky At Night', so that's interesting too.

'Blue Peter Flies The World' on Thursday with Val, John and Peter visiting Mexico. We'll draw a veil over 'The Black And White Minstrel Show' but hurrah for James Burke with 'The Burke Special' posing the question of what would you do if you were running the country. Answers on a postcard to the usual address, please.

Friday comes not a moment too soon wih 'Mary, Mungo And Midge' in which Midge joins 'The Letter' on a trip through the UK postal system. Regular readers of this blog might already be familiar with this episode, which proves that we are of some use, at least.

Kenny Everett introduces 'Top Of The Pops' followed by the infamous antics of 'Star Trek : Spock's Brain'. Charlie Cairoli and company jig about in 'The Blackpool Tower Circus' with Norman Barrett as one of the ringmasters. There's a bloke spinning 27 plates and some Football Dogs, if you like that sort of thing...

Finally, at 9.25pm on Friday we reach the thing we actually came here for! Written by Elwyn Jones and John Lloyd (not the one you're probably thinking of) and produced by Leonard Lewis, this will be an interesting beast to take a look at. Come back in a few months to see what we make of it...

Also in this issues are some letters complaining about the content of 'That's Life' and a voucher for 6p off Vanish Flykiller at your local Co-op.

Keen economists should also note that four bottles of Babycham will set you back a mere 32p and Spanish Table Wines are 44p a bottle.

Cheers!

(By Andrew Trowbridge)