Rounding off my week in 1977 with a skim through Sunday’s schedules.
The Good Life is an obvious pick – tonight’s new episode is The Weaver’s Tale.
It never fails to give me a twinge of amusement when somebody comments on Twitter about how selfish Tom is – why has it taken them so many decades to work this out? Tonight’s episode is a perfect example of his working methods – Tom spends his and Barbara’s hard earned profit on a loom without consulting her. No surprises though that everything works out in the end.
London ITV has an afternoon repeat of The Protectors whilst the Midlands plumps for Space 1999. I think I’ll go for The Protectors (partly because Space 1999 has never really interested me and partly because The Protectors, although far from perfect, rarely outstayed its welcome at 25 minutes).
I’ll stick with ITV for a repeat of Edward VII and (from a variety of regional films) Two Way Stretch.
If I had access, then both Jubilee and She would be on my list. Maybe they’ll surface sometime in the future, fingers crossed …
Archive Television Musings 
Hi not connected with the above but have you reviewed Missing From Home?.The 6 part BBC Drama that was Douglas Camfield’s last tv work.It is on Youtube anyway if you don’t have a copy.Well worth watching.
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I would have seen Just William and then possibly The Good Life shortly before I went to bed. There’s something miraculous about Adam Dannatt’s performance in Just William, which always avoids cutesiness or comic mugging, making the viewer empathize with William rather than condescend towards the character.
Lots to see tonight, especially drama. I could make a good path through Just William, Jubilee, Esther Waters and She. Although I suspect that The Lively Arts documentary about Vienna at the turn of the century might well be superior to the Jubilee play, but I don’t know that I could face a three hour block of viewing from 8-11! I’m working on the principle that The Good Life is obviously going to get repeated, so is the thing that I least need to see on first transmission.
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I saw the coronation episode of Edward VII in late August 1994 as part of BBC2’s ATV night and would like to see the whole series.
I wasn’t very keen on the Adrian Dannatt version of Just William, and much preferred listing to Martin Jarvis’ readings on the radio or Jackanory, but we would have been watching the Sunday serial version of Nicholas Nickleny which I believe starred Nigel Havers in the title role.
I saw a couple of plays in Jubilee. I definitely saw the loom episode of The Good Life first time round. (If I had a loom I would put it by the window so I’d have a loom with a view.) And Roots was a cult programme in our house.
I only saw one programme in The Lively Arts series. Guess which one?
I didn’t watch Two Way Stretch that evening, but I have seen it a few times since. One day I requested it on the blackboard at the Prince Charles Cinema, and someone else suggested The Optimists of Nine Elms, which I’ve never seen.
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Next time you have a look back at one week you should do the week from Saturday to Friday, rather than Monday to Sunday, because that’s the period covered by the tv listings magazines.
Or you could have a look back a day that an important programme, or first episode of a long running programme was broadcast. For example a look back at the 23rd of November 1963.
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I bought the Protectors on DVD a long time back – it is a very dated series and a little tongue in the cheek for my liking, but thankfully it has some really interesting guest roles from top acting talent like John Thaw and Tom Bell (who plays a sadist killer in one episode). The show ended in 1974, but the 25 minute episode length was perhaps ideal material to pad out the TV schedules.
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