When skimming through the August television schedules of the past, it quickly becomes clear that it tended to be a pretty dead month. The new season in September was still weeks away, although its myriad delights would have begun to be trailed both on television and in the newspapers.
Few new dramas or comedies tended to be launched in August (you could almost guarantee that any which did were embarrassments or failures, quietly aired in a month where fewer people than usual were watching).
All of which preamble suggests that there’s not a great deal to get the pulse racing today – but since I’m keen to continue to sample this era of British television that’s not too much of a problem. Honest ….
BBC1 devotes a large chunk of its early evening schedule to Elvis on Tour (1972). Along with Laurel and Hardy on BBC2 that’s about all for me and Auntie today.
Since HTV was my local ITV network, I’m able to watch the Stingray crew investigate the mystery of the Loch Ness Monster (the local Scottish colour is an absolute hoot). Later there’s the delights of Coronation Street and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (which isn’t perfect, but a cast list which includes Anthony Hopkins, Derek Jacobi, David Suchet, Tim Piggott-Smith, Lesley-Anne Down, Robert Powell, John Gielgud and Nigel Hawthorne can’t be all bad).
Archive Television Musings 
The newspaper cutting doesn’t include the daytime programmes, although on BBC it was much the same as the other days, with King Rollo and Bric-a-Brac in the See-Saw slot.
The Monkees were back on BBC1. When the series was first shown on British television it was on BBC1, and the BBC had the rights for The Monkees for many years. In the late seventies ITV bought the rights and showed them on their Saturday morning shows, Mickey Dolenz and Davy Jones made guest appearance on Our Show. In the early eighties BBC had the rights again, and later they were shown on Channel 4.
It was around this time that I saw Stingray listed in TV Times and they said it was the first time ITV was showing it in colour. I also remember ITV repeated Thurnderbirds during the spring of 1982.
Cartoon Two was the first UK screening of the National Film Board of Canada film The Hometown which uses embroidery as its medium. National Film Board of Canada seem to be ignored on British tv these days.
The Bugs Bunny Cartoon was Slick Hare in which Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd meet Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and other film stars. I’m sure that was one of the films in the Cartoons Spoof Hollywood compilation that I mentioned yesterday.
I did see the film version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame with Anthony Hopkins, but I have a feeling Thames/LWT showed it on the Friday evening.
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The Tom and Jerry cartoon the previous day was Kitty Foiled in which Jerry’s ally is a canary. A clip from this cartoon was later used in Life With Tom.
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