Fun Missing Television

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
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Doctor Who has it's own dedicated "Missing Episode" thread elsewhere, but this thread is dedicated to all lost television, that we may one day hope to see returned......


 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Just announced fully today.....

The following three finds.......



DISCOVERY 254:

Adam Adamant Lives - The Basardi Affair

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tx: 21/1/1967 BBC1
The Basardi Affair
Written by Ian Stuart Black
Adam Adamant Gerald Harper
Georgina Jones Juliet Harmer
William E. Simms Jack May
The Face Peter Ducrow
with Zia Mohyeddin, Kate O'Mara, Suzanne Mockler, William Kendall, Salmann Peer, Joe Cornelius, Roy Stewart, Douglas Kirk, Elroy Josephs, Sumantha and Sumanda
Theme music by Hal Shaper
Theme music by David Lee
Theme music by Kathy Kirby
Produced by Verity Lambert
Script consultant Tony Williamson
Directed by Henri Safran
A BBC production for BBC 1.
Originally transmitted 21.01.1967
For the full insight into its audio-only recovery and plans to create an animated version, listen to Greg Bakun's latest Podcast (pinned post at the top of this page).


DISCOVERY 255:

Val Parnell's Saturday Spectacular

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ATV tx: 1/12/1956
The Johnnie Ray Show
with Johnnie Ray, Charlie Cairoli and Paul, Joan Regan, The Amandis, The George Carden Dancers, Vic Lewis and his Orchestra and Dennis Ringrowe and his Orchestra
Designed by Charles Carroll
Produced by Albert Locke
Directed by Albert Locke
An ITP production for ABC/ATV.
Originally transmitted 01.12.1956
ITV believe this is the earliest telerecording ever made by ATV. Only programmes made by ITV on film survive from earlier. It's experimental in nature and quite poor in places. ITV's own records state that it was never recorded.
16mm print.


DISCOVERY 256:

Moonstrike - Message Received

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BBC tx: 7/3/1963
Message Received
Written by Robert Barr
with Clive Russell, Peter Tory, Trevor Bannister, Michael Culver, John Murray Scott, Robert Sansom, Gary Hope, Ian Dewar, Harry Littlewood, Jane Merrow, Michael Williams, Murray Hayne, Chris Castor, Maralyn Scriven, Royston Tickner, Raymond Adamson, Dennis Handby, Douglas Harris, Michael Napier-Brown, Martin King, Tony Wall and Ivor Spencer
Created by Robert Barr
Music by Dudley Simpson
Produced by Gerard Glaister
Directed by Eric Tayler
A BBC production.
Originally transmitted 07.03.1963
16mm print.

DISCOVERY 257:

Moonstrike - Five Hours to Kill
BBC tx: 14/3/1963
Five Hours to Kill
Written by Robert Barr
with Carole Ann Ford, Michael Culver, Michael Mellinger, John Warner, Francis Crowdy, Brian Peck, George Roubicek, Patrick Wymark, Edmund Bailey, Patrick Connor, Donald Douglas, John Chandos, Olive Milbourne, Jerold Wells, Michael Stanton, Eric Twilley, Phil Arthurs, Paul Blomley, Peter Rocca, James Darwin and J. Cooksey
Created by Robert Barr
Music by Dudley Simpson
Produced by Gerard Glaister
Directed by Richard Stevens
A BBC production.
Originally transmitted 14.03.1963
16mm print.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
ron-goodwin-moonstrike-uk-7-single-very-good_4751039.jpg


The Theme tune of MOONSTRIKE.....


Moonstrike was a BBC TV drama from 1963 - one-off thrillers about the covert activities of Allied agents and resistance operatives in occupied Europe during the Second World War. I remember very little about it (I was 11) but the wonderful haunting theme music performed by the Ron Goodwin Orchestra stuck in my mind. I recently tracked it down. The images are poor quality, but enjoy the music!

 
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michaellevenson

Member: Rank 8
Top of my list of non Dr Who wanna see missing stuff has got to be Series 1 and2 of Ace Of Wands. Also B+W Callan episodes, and there's six episodes of Eric Chappell ( Rising Damp) comedy The Squirrels that I'd like to see.
Also Doomwatch, the final episode of series One is missing where Toby (Robert Powell) dies and most of series 3 is gone.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Moonstrike is a British television series produced by the BBC in 1963.

The series was an anthology programme: a collection of self-contained stories about acts of resistance in occupied Europe during the Second World War. Producer Gerard Glaister drew upon his own wartime experiences, having served as a pilot in the RAF.

Most of the music for the series was provided by composer Dudley Simpson, and was some of his first work in the field of composing 'incidental music'.

THE 27 EPISODES MADE:

Home by Four
A Clear Field
Message Received
Five Hours to Kill
Return to Danger
A Safe House
Danger by Appointment
Unwelcome Ghost
Round Trip
No Joy
A Sunday Morning
Death Sentence
The Expert
Four to Go
Last Act
A Girl Friend
The Biggest Bandit
The Escape
Rush Job
He Who Tells
A Matter of Trust
The Factory
The Canary
Try Out
The Bells are Silent
No Heroics
The Last Mission


24 were wiped, leaving only three - and I don't know which three - existing....

Until now! :emoji_alien:
 
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Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Doomwatch, I have yet to watch. But my late Dad used to live not far from John Paul and went round to do some building work or something for him. Said he was a really nice guy. A gent.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
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TX :
21st February 1963
Director : James MacTaggart
Script : Robert Barr

Publicity : Moonstrike - A new series of programmes about wartime secret agents and the men who flew them to their assignments: In September 1940, during the Second World War, with Britain still reeling from the collapse of France, her principal ally, and under imminent threat of invasion, Winston Churchill spoke over the radio to the French people. In this speech he said: "Those Frenchmen who are in so-called unoccupied France may see their way from time to time for useful action. I will not go into details". No details. But in these words Churchill gave the first hint that he did not expect the peoples of Europe to accept subjugation, and that Britain - however embattled she herself might be - was prepared to give active support to those who elected to resist the Germans. Moonstrike, the series which begins tonight, tells the story of how this support was organised, and of the men and women whose dangerous task it was to deliver it.

These all belonged to one of three groups: the secret agents themselves, the Resistance groups, and the squadrons which flew in agents and supplies under the noses of the enemy. For this last group, headquarters was a bleak airfield called Tempsford, whose derelict buildings can still be seen near Bedford. There were two of these special duties squadrons: Number 138, which was charged with parachuting agents and supplies into all parts of occupied Europe, and which used multi-engined aircraft; and Number 161, flying Hudsons and the agile little Lysanders, whose function was actually to land and pick up agents. Tempsford and Tangmere, which was also used for this work, were two of the most closely guarded airfields in the country, and the secret of what went on there was successfully kept until the end of the war. The crews which flew their moonlight missions from these airfields kept themselves a race apart, even from their fellow airmen engaged in more orthodox forms of warfare. They would answer all questions on their activities with some muttered vagueness about "radar" or "beam-bending".

Behind the men who flew the "Joe-jobs" was the special operations executive - referred to as S.O.E - which controlled the agents, or "Joes". Robert Barr, the author of Moonstrike, has worked closely from the outset with former members of the special duties squadrons and of S.O.E. Throughout the series, the incidents described will be ones that actually happened, though the characters involved have naturally been fictionalised. Furthermore, Barr and producer Gerard Glaister were determined that this authenticity should extend to the treatment and atmosphere of every programme. "We intend to get right away from the conventional war-film formula," sais Glaister. "There are plenty of heroes and heroines in this story, but there will be no mock-heroics of the `wizard-prang' variety". Later on in the series emphasis will fall mainly on parachuting operations and on the work of the S.O.E agents themselves. But the first programme will deal more particularly with the least-known aspect of the whole operation - the exploits of the Lynsander pilots. Tonight's story is a reconstruction of a typical Lysander operation, and demonstrates the particular kind of skill and courage required from the young men whose task was to fly their tiny machines into enemy-held Europe by moonlight, usually to pick up agents in danger of arrest. (Radio Times, February 14, 1963 - Article by Michael Williams).

Notes :
Episodes were transmitted 8:25pm to 9:15pm on BBC 1.

A Clear Field
TX :
28th February 1963
Director : Terence Dudley
Script : Robert Barr

Publicity : Moonstrike: "Andre is well again … Andre is well again …". A BBC announcer reads the cryptic message at the end of a news bulletin beamed to wartime Europe, and somewhere in France three men slip out of a village occupied by German troops. Their destination: a field some miles away, just big enough for a plane to land by moonlight. In tonight's second story in the new Moonstrike series, the three Frenchmen have a rendezvous with a black Lynsander flown by Flight-Lieutenant Brannagan. He is a pilot who has been well trained to look out for obstacles when landing in enemy territory; but not the kind of obstacle he meets this time, which alerts every German in the district. Written by Robert Barr, author of many drama-documentaries, the stories in Moonstrike are all based on actual wartime incidents. Many of the men who carried out these special operations have helped Barr in his research. The character of Flight-Lieutenant Glynne, for example, who figures largely in the early episodes, is based on an ex-Air Force pilot who is now an executive with a London insurance company. Among the other men whose exploits will be re-told in the series is one who is now an engineer and another who still flies over France - but as a BEA airliner captain. Authenticity is the essence of Moonstrike. This is how it happened in the secret war. These were the often lonely, always dangerous adventures of the pilots and agents who by their courage helped to build the Resistance movement which was to "set Europe ablaze". (Radio Times, February 21, 1963).

Synopsis : Flight-Lieutenant Brannagan has been trained to look for obstacles when landing in enemy territory - but not obstacles like this.

Message Received
TX :
21st February 1963
Director : James MacTaggart
Script : Robert Barr

Publicity :
Planning A Moonstrike: This series, which tells the amazing story of the Resistance fighters of the Second World War and of the airmen who kept them in action, tonight reconstructs an incident which was enacted more than once. A lone Halifax flies into France, its passenger, a secret agent, is going out to reinforce a Maquis group. From a field below, a toch-light signal pricks the darkness. But the coded flashes look suspicious, and the pilot must decide on the instant what he should do. If he decides to turn back, a vital operation may be ruined. If he goes on with the parachute drop, he may be sending a man to his death. (Radio Times, February 28, 1963).

Synopsis :
A wrong code signal flashes for Squadron Leader Mackie. Is it a mistake or a trap?

Five Hours To Kill
TX :
14th March 1963
Director : Richard Stevens
Script : Robert Barr

Publicity :
Five Hours To Kill: Moonstrike tonight continues the story of the "Lysander boys" of Number 161 Squadron who hedge-hopped occupied France to pick up Allied agents on the run. In particular it deals with the hazards which faced such fugitives in their efforts to reach the rendezvous - always a make-shift landing strip on some remote field - within the very narrow time-limits demanded by this kind of operation. It also brings out the agonising climate in which the agents had to exist. Theirs was a world of constant deceit and protracted cat-and-mouse manoeuvring which was liable to any moment to change into violence and sudden death. (Radio Times, March 7, 1963).

Synopsis : An agent is arrested and held for questioning - but the plane is already on its way to pick him up.

Return To Danger
TX :
21st March 1963
Director : James MacTaggart
Script : Robert Barr
Synopsis : It is only after a successful pick-up that Flight Lieutenant Glynne's troubles begin.

A Safe House
TX :
28th March 1963
Director : Terence Dudley
Script : Robert Barr

Publicity :
Moonstrike: With tonight's episode, emphasis in the Moonstrike series shifts from the men whose task was to deliver agents and supplies from occupied France to the agents themselves. And the change of emphasis brings with it an acute change of atmosphere for, while the world of the Special Duties aircrews was tense enough, it was by wartime standards almost a normal mone. They returned from operations to familiar Service talk, familiar food, familiar beds. But for the agents this was merely a world through which they were hustled with maximum speed on their way to places where home was always some temporary hiding-place known optimistically as a "safe house". Tonight's story is called simply "A Safe House". It tells how a girl agent of Special Operations Executive takes on the personality of a timid little French widow in order to carry out a vital mission - to set up a resistance organisation in a small northern French town where no such organisation had existed before. After being landed by parachute "Irene" finds herself abruptly plunged into the atmosphere which all agents had to accept: one in which the people's instinct for patriotic action had to be balanced against the risks which resisting involved. She has to recruit among these people a force which will stand up to the Germans - and she has to do it alone. (Radio Times, March 21, 1963).

Synopsis : There is danger in recruiting a new resistance group - and for a woman it may be doubly dangerous.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Danger By Appointment

TX : 4th April 1963
Director : Eric Tayler
Script : Allan Prior

Publicity : Moonstrike: The sharpest weapon in the armoury of the war-time French Resistance was sabotage. Just one well-placed charge of explosives - and a vital factory could be put more surely out of action than if it had been the target of a large-scale and costly bombing raid. Danger By Appointment, tonight's story in the Moonstrike series, shows how one such coup was planned, and the consequences for those concerned. (Radio Times, March 28, 1963).

Unwelcome Guest

TX : 11th April 1963
Director : Roger Jenkins
Script : Robert Barr

Publicity : Moonstrike: The secret war which was waged in enemy-occupied Europe during the Second World War was never conducted according to Queensberry Rules. Agents in the field could expect no quarter when captured, and in their turn they had to be prepared to be similarly ruthless when the circumstances demanded. And they had to be suspicious all the time. Tonight's Moonstrike story, called "Unwelcome Guest", is a study in suspicion. The injured agent suspects a peasant family which is harbouring him; and they distrust the agent. So the presence of a fellow-countryman in the neighbourhood might well be a welcome opportunity for the agent to relax and drop his guard for an instant - but that is just what he must never, never do … (Radio Times, April 4, 1963).

Synopsis : An injured agent is taken to a lonely farm and a new set of troubles begin.

Round Trip

TX : 18th April 1963
Director : Richard Stevens
Script : Allan Prior
Synopsis : A "lucky" escape lands an agent in prison. When he is released can he be trusted?

No Joy

TX : 25th April 1963
Director : Terence Dudley
Script : Robert Barr

Publicity : Moonstrike: The despatch of an underground agent into occupied Europe was usually followed by a coded message from a secret transmitter announcing his safe arrival. But sometimes, as in tonight's Moonstrike story, "No Joy", the parachute drop was followed only by silence, and this meant real trouble. For while he might merely have damaged his radio on landing he might equally have been killed on arrival, or have killed himself to avoid capture. Worst of all, he might have fallen alive into the hands of the Gestapo - and talked. If this happened it could mean disaster for a whole organisation. (Radio Times, April 18, 1963).
Synopsis : When an agent disappears without trace, the safety of others is in jeopardy.

A Sunday Morning

TX : 2nd May 1963
Director : David Goddard
Script : Robert Barr

Publicity : Moonstrike: The classic tactic of guerilla forces is the hit-and-rund raid, not the set-piece battle. So the French Resistance fighters of the second world war dealt mostly in pin-pricks; a bridge blown here, a truck ambushed there. But sometimes the lightly armed maquisards would be forced to stand and fight against overwhelming odds. One such occasion was the real-life tragedy of the Vercors plateau, when the Germans brought an entire air-supported division against a maquis of the South, and a similar battle provides the starting point for "A Sunday Morning". (Radio Times, April 25, 1963).
Synopsis : In the quiet of a Sunday morning the plan went well - and then terror struck.

Death Sentence

TX : 9th May 1963
Director : Roger Jenkins
Script : Allan Prior
Synopsis : When a member of the resistance turns traitor desperate action is taken.

The Expert

TX : 16th May 1963
Director : David Benedictus
Script : Allan Prior

Synopsis : The Resistance in Lille require an expert, but when he arrives they regard him with suspicion.

Four To Go

TX : 23rd May 1963
Director : Michael Hayes
Script : Robert Barr

Synopsis :
When the Gestapo make arrests in Paris the survivors set out to reach the "safe house" set up by Irene in Potiers some months before.

Last Act

TX : 30th May 1963
Director : Christopher Barry
Script : Allan Prior

Synopsis : When a Resistance vehicle carrying explosives is stopped at a control post one of the German guards insists on making a thorough search.

A Girl Friend

TX : 6th June 1963
Director : Prudence Fitzgerald
Script : Terence Dudley

Synopsis : A lone agent abandoned in France could do no worse than find himself a girl friend - but how much worse?

The Biggest Bandit

TX : 13th June 1963
Director : David Goddard
Script : Robert Barr

Synopsis : Anatole is known to the Germans as "the biggest bandit of the lot". When his radio operator is arrested he plans an audacious rescue.

The Escape

TX : 20th June 1963
Director : David Benedictus
Script : Allan Prior

Publicity : Moonstrike: A pile of coke is not the softest of landings for a British agent (played by Francis Matthews in tonight's story) when he tries to escape from the hospital where he is being held prisoner by the police. The young man is in prison through his own foolishness, but now that the Germans are likely to invade this part of "unoccupied" France it is important that he escapes. Are the two French agents (Patrick Magee and Diane Aubrey) justified in risking their lives for the sake of a usless agent? (Radio Times, June 13, 1963).

Synopsis : An agent lands up in prison through a deliberate act of his own. Is it wise to attempt a rescue?

Rush Job

TX : 27th June 1963
Director : Sheelagh Rees
Script : Michael Williams

Synopsis : A daring sabotage plan depends on the loyalty of Efienne, the local schoolmastedr. But is he to be trusted?

He Who Tells

TX : 4th July 1963
Director : Prudence Fitzgerald
Script : Allan Prior

A Matter Of Trust

TX : 11th July 1963
Director : Waris Hussein
Script : John O'Toole

Synopsis : The loyalty of a gypsie girl is put severely to the test.

The Factory

TX : 18th July 1963
Director : Robin Midgley
Script : Robert Barr

Synopsis : When unexpected information from the Resistance suggests that an important factory is being built in the tiny village, two agents are sent to deal with it. Tony Britton plays the part of a British agent, and Liane Aukin a courier in the French Resistance, in tonight's drama.

The Canary

TX : 25th July 1963
Director : David Benedictus
Script : Allan Prior

Synopsis : The Gestapo arrives to "clean up" a Resistance group.

Try Out

TX : 1st August 1963
Director : Leonard Chase
Script : Shaun Sutton

Synopsis : When a Marquis leader is asked for help he makes a hard and dangerous bargain with the agent.

The Bells Are Silent

TX : 8th August 1963
Director : Bill Hays
Script : John O'Toole

Synopsis : An agent returns to his home village but wonders if old friends can still be trusted. With Tony Tanner (Louis) and Kathleen Michael (Sister Theresa).

No Heroics

TX : 15th August 1963
Director : David Goddard
Script : Maurice Buckmaster

Synopsis : Marie has failed in her tests at the special forces training school, but other qualities make her a successful agent.

The Last Mission

TX : 22nd August 1963
Director : David Goddard
Script : Robert Barr

Synopsis : Janette is sent on her last mission and learns that it is the prelude to invasion. Janette, who has just parachuted into France, faces a tricky moment of suspicion with her reception committee, Andre and Lucien. With Penelope Horner (Janette), Paul Harris (Andre) and Derek Smee (Lucien).
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
A variation on the themes explored in Spycatcher, a prelude to Colditz and fourteen years before Secret Army, Moonstrike was an ambitious twenty-seven part period drama series which concerned itself with covert Alliedoperations against German forces during the Second World War. Devised and created by the prolific Robert Barr, and produced by Gerard Glaister (and later David Goddard), the series primarily concerned itself with the Special Operations Executive (otherwise known as the S.O.E) and their operations to insert or retrieve agents into and out of occupied European territories in a variety of daring and often dangerous means.


The programme did not feature a regular cast, with each individual episode portraying the efforts of a different Resistance branch assisting Allied forces in their efforts to defeat Germanactivities - something of a rare enterprise when one considers the nature of the recurring cast involved on Colditzand Secret Army. The episodes were fast-paced and filled with suspense, chiefly aided by strong script contributions from Robert Barr (a relative master of the spy-turn in the 1950sand 1960s), Allan Prior (a regular collaborator with Gerard Glaister on a variety of projects) and John O'Toole to name but three.


Moonlight operations with the life-or-death gambit for officers prepared to risk all or nothing on dangerous missions against the Germans made for tantalising viewing, and the programme made for a regular prime-time commitment for BBC audiences (whilst not a ratings block-busterm the series retained healthy figures throughout its duration).


Notable directorial contributions from James MacTaggart, Terence Dudley, Michael Hayes, Christopher Barryand Waris Husseinunderline the pedigree of this series, which is a highly-regarded addition to an elite group of spy-thriller serials which the BBChave produced over the years. Regrettably, the series was neither exported nor commercially released. Only three episodes of Moonstrike exist - A Girl Friend (6/6/63), The Biggest Bandit(13/6/63) and The Factory (18/7/63).



The series was devised and created by Robert Barr. Gerard Glaister (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19) and David Goddard (Parts 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27).
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
I like the MOONSTRIKE theme tune too! :emoji_alien:

Reminds me of this album and all those wartime themes.....

Which takes me back!


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michaellevenson

Member: Rank 8
Doomwatch, I have yet to watch. But my late Dad used to live not far from John Paul and went round to do some building work or something for him. Said he was a really nice guy. A gent.
Doomwatch really is something that you should beg borrow steal, or buy to see. It's amazing series of Sci fi brilliance created by Cybermen creators Kit Pedlar and Gerry Davis.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
It is one that I am definitely going to catch up with, sooner rather than later. I saw the movie of it as a kid, but that has little connection with the parent show, I believe.


 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Another find announced today......

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DISCOVERY 258:

In Vision - Monty Python Special

BBC2, tx: 6/12/1974
Monty Python
Presenter William Hardcastle
with Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin
Editor Will Wyatt
Produced by Peter Foges
A BBC production for BBC 2.
Originally transmitted 06.12.1974

20 mins from a 30 min programme recovered from a Phillips 1500 cassette held by the University of Ulster
Thanks to Ken Griffin for this recent discovery.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
I wish I had started this thread earlier now.

We missed the first 253 disoveries! :emoji_crying_cat_face:


However, these are some of the notable finds that they have made in the past......


 

ant-mac

Member: Rank 9
Of the TV series listed, the following are the ones that interest me most…

ADAM ADAMANT LIVES

A FOR ANDROMEDA

APOLLO 11 (BBC)

ARMCHAIR THEATRE

THE AVENGERS

CALLAN

DADS' ARMY

DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SET

DOOMWATCH

HOW TO BE AN ALIEN

OUT OF THE UNKNOWN

OUT OF THIS WORLD

POLICE SURGEON

THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT

TARGET: LUNA

SOFTLY SOFTLY

SHERLOCK HOLMES

TALES OF MYSTERY

TIMESLIP

Z-CARS
 
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