ADAM HENLEY on BLAKE'S 7 series one

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on April 6th 2025.

A couple of months ago, a new voice joined us on VISION ON SOUND in the form of ADAM HENLEY, and he introduced himself by talking about both his personal television history and a little bit about THE WEST WING.

This went so well, that ADAM felt like making another appearance and, as he’d just finished watching the exciting new Blu-Ray release of the first series of BLAKE’S SEVEN, we thought we’d spend an hour having a bit of a chat about this iconic late 1970s BBC science-fiction series as it gets re-introduced to its long-standing fans and, perhaps a brand new generation eager to explore this fascinating dystopian drama.

BLAKE’S SEVEN was a science-fiction series created by TERRY NATION who had been one of the early writers on DOCTOR WHO, for which he created the iconic Daleks, and he had also created the post apocalyptic drama series SURVIVORS for the BBC a few years earlier, so this exploration of a rebellion against the forces of the evil Federation was definitely just the sort of bleak vision of the future that you might expect from him.

The series itself lasted for four series and fifty-two fifty minute episodes and ended on a shattering cliffhanger that definitely left its scars on a generation of television viewers just before Christmas 1981.

Its first season introduced BLAKE played by GARETH THOMAS and his loyal–ish gang of rebels and freedom-fighters as played by SALLY KNYVETTE as space pilot JENNA, MICHAEL KEATING as lock-picking wizard VILA, DAVID JACKSON as the man-mountain GAN, JAN CHAPPELL as the telepathic alien CALLY, and PAUL DARROW as the enigmatic AVON who would eventually take the leading role as the series progressed. They were helped enormously by the fact that they luckily managed to acquire the super starship LIBERATOR and its wise master computer ZEN, as voiced by PETER TUDDENHAM, and this was how the original SEVEN was made up.

Towards the end of the first series, and another devastating cliffhanger that helped give the show an astonishingly high profile at the time, another super computer ORAC was introduced, which changed the dynamic of the show in its second year.

The forces of the Federation were mostly represented by JACQUELINE PEARCE as SERVALAN, a powerful and ruthless woman prone to wearing astonishing gowns, and STEPHEN GREIF as TRAVIS, a hate-fuelled leather-clad cyborg with an eyepatch and a gun for a hand, and they crossed swords with BLAKE and his crew on several occasions during the second half of this series.

Fans of BLAKE’S SEVEN had been waiting a long time for it to get the Blu-Ray release that they felt it deserved, with many of its special effects updated from their somewhat low-budget and dated roots, and ADAM was one of the enthusiastic early adopters, and was very eager to share his enthusiasm with us today.

And here's a link to Adam's Marathon challenge, if you are able to contribute https://2025tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/adam-henley

PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

STEVE HATCHER on twenty years of "New Who" (part two)

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on March 30th 2025.

Last week, as you hopefully already will know, STEVE HATCHER joined me to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the revived version of DOCTOR WHO from CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON right through to the current incumbent NCUTI GATWA, and, whilst we had a long chat about the show, we did fail to address the copious notes that STEVE had made in preparation for that show, for which he had selected his one favourite episode - or story – from each of the DOCTORS from across those twenty years.

So it really only seemed fair to invite him back to discuss those stories, why he chose them, and make our little VISION ON SOUND celebration, or acknowledgement, into a two-part episode that hopefully brackets the anniversary week in a most satisfying way.

Also, please try not to worry. We’re not trying to make this show into yet another DOCTOR WHO themed production. There’s plenty of other archive telly just waiting to be talked about. It’s just that, well, the DOCTOR WHO community do have a lot to say, and sometimes that show does pass one of those significant milestones that we really can’t ignore, given that its longevity does mean that its name runs through popular TV archive history like letters through a stick of rock.

PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

STEVE HATCHER on twenty years of "New Who"

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on March 23rd 2025.

This week, perhaps rather astonishingly, March the 26th will bring with it the twentieth anniversary of DOCTOR WHO returning to our television screens in its shiny new incarnation after a rather lengthy break which found it pretty much adrift in the time continuum for over a decade and a half, despite the odd big night in to entertain us with.

During those “wilderness years” there had been several glimpses of the old Time Lord who simply refused to fade away, and the show had been managing to flourish in other formats, but it was only when RUSSELL T DAVIES presented his own uniquely updated take on the show, now featuring CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON in the lead role alongside BILLIE PIPER as ROSE TYLER, that the true potential of this once hugely neglected science fiction masterpiece was rediscovered, and became something of an unexpected television smash hit in the year 2005.

Since then the show has become something of a cornerstone of the television schedules, not least around Christmastime and continues to go in and out of fashion and divide its fans and enemies almost in equal measure, with several fine actors DAVID TENNANT, MATT SMITH, PETER CAPALDI, JODIE WHITTAKER, and NCUTI GATWA taking on the role across the last two decades.

This week we welcome back our old friend STEVE HATCHER who specifically asked if he could come back to talk about DOCTOR WHO for this anniversary, which prompted what I hope you will find an enjoyable meander around the many lives of the Time Lord and their fans.

PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

ANDREW-MARK THOMPSON on the voices behind the puppets.

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on March 16th 2025.

This week we welcome back our old friend ANDREW-MARK THOMPSON who’s making a much-postponed return to VISION ON SOUND.

ANDY is the one of our regular contributors to the show who I feel is our expert on all things to do with the GERRY ANDERSON productions of which he is an enormous fan, so, when DAVID GRAHAM, the much loved actor responsible for giving us the voices of PARKER and BRAINS in THUNDERBIRDS - as well as a whole host of other brilliant performances - died in September last year at the grand old age of ninety-nine, we had planned to get together and record a show in his honour, but various gremlins got into the works, so it never happened.

Instead we attempted to regroup in January and broaden our scope into a discussion about the many actors who performed in series such as FOUR FEATHER FALLS, FIREBALL XL5, THUNDERBIRDS, CAPTAIN SCARLET and, most particularly STINGRAY, so that’s what we attempted to do during the next hour, as we discuss, amongst others, the work of names such as RAY BARRETT, SHANE RIMMER, LOIS MAXWELL, and, of course the wonderful DAVID GRAHAM. You may not have known some of their faces, but their voices shaped a generation.

Now, obviously, those gremlins really don’t appreciate a tryer, and, despite our persistence, there were still some sound issues during this recording, for which I can only apologise, and which all seems somewhat ironic, given that we were simply trying to talk about voice performers, and the great joy they brought to people over the years.

Anyway, because we had such an enjoyable hour, I’ve done my best to salvage what I could, and I hope that you’ll find this fun conversation worth sticking with despite any of the slight sound issues that there may still be.

PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI returns to give me a little bit of encouragement.

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on March 9th 2025.

At the start of this year I will admit to feeling very fed up, and I spent a lot of time wondering about the future of VISION ON SOUND, and about whether it even had a future, to be honest, or whether the time had come to jack all of this nonsense in. I know that a lot of people get the January Blues and, this year, I was very much one of those people.

Happily, because a lot of the reason we turn up on the air each week is because very kind people offer to talk to me about television, and a lot of them had given me their time in December, most of the shows that you’ve been hearing so far this year were taken from that stockpile of interviews, opinions and conversations, that somehow kept us staggering on through those bleak, cold Sunday evenings at the darkest time of the year.

I only recorded one show in January and it was this week’s edition, in which I used PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI himself, as a sounding board, and therapist, to discuss some of the issues that I’d been having, and somehow, over the course of this hour, he managed to cheer me up and persuade me that talking about archive television really isn’t the terrible waste of time that I’d been beginning to suspect that it was.

I hope you enjoy the next hour, as I think it gave me just a little bit of hope that the things that I continue to persist in doing aren’t quite as useless as I sometimes think they are when the midwinter blues have me firmly in their grip.

PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

THE WAR GAMES in BLACK AND WHITE

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on March 2nd 2025.

Shortly before Christmas, prior to it being shown in a very different version, Michael Herbert roped in his pal BRENDAN NOBLE from THE SENSE SPHERE PODCAST to talk all about the epic ten-part 1969 DOCTOR WHO story THE WAR GAMES which was written by TERRANCE DICKS and the subject of the biography he’s written, MALCOLM HULKE.

PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

DR TOM MAY on PLAY FOR TODAY

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on February 23rd 2025.

This week I’m joined by another new voice for the show, DOCTOR TOM MAY from NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY who I was put in touch with because he’s written his PhD thesis all about the BBC’s long running drama series PLAY FOR TODAY which ran throughout the 1970s and well into the early eighties and presented an eclectic mix of so many iconic dramas many of which are still talked about in hushed and awed tones even today.

I was very kindly allowed access to read his thesis, and it really is a fascinating and highly detailed piece of work. DOCTOR TOM MAY has done the kind of astonishingly thorough in-depth research that TV archivists adore, and, luckily for us, he is planning on publishing a book based upon this fascinating topic, which should already have you eagerly anticipating being able to get hold of a copy.

PLAY FOR TODAY was such an iconic and eclectic series, written by perhaps the most well-known writers of that generation, directed by some of the giants of the art, and starring many of the most iconic actors of its time, that we can probably only touch upon it in the most general terms today, but I hope you’ll enjoy our efforts if you stick around for the next hour.

PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI on the part location plays in his TV enjoyment.

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on February 16th 2025.

This week PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI himself returns to talk about a subject that he himself suggested, which is all about the locations used on television series, and how much of an effect filming in real places has upon his own enjoyment of a programme.

So, whilst inevitably we touch upon several of his favourites such as DOCTOR WHO, BERGERAC, TREASURE HUNT, NEIGHBOURS and DARK SHADOWS, we also manage to venture into the more philosophical territory of the sense of reality, the proliferation of green screen technology, and the sheer delight of being able to say “been there!” when somewhere you’ve visited pops up on your TV screen, or the leaps of imagination that occur when a potted palm plant on a balcony comes to represent the entire exotic possibilities of venturing to foreign parts.

We also give some consideration to filming locations both artificially constructed, or completely genuine and wonder about the value they might add to the series we are watching, or the support they give to the performances of the actors, and, as ever, I’m very grateful to PAUL for taking ourtopic du jour and taking it off in some quite unexpected directions, which is, I suppose, what I hope we try to do in some of the better conversations we have here on VISION ON SOUND.

PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

WARREN CUMMINGS on our shared cultural TV heritage.

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on February 9th 2025.

This week we welcome back WARREN CUMMINGS for another of those television themed conversations that we like to have that can take us practically anywhere from the prompt I set us up with.

This week I’d been fretting somewhat about my cultural life in terms of what people laughingly call Britishness, and often try to test people on. Does the fact that I pay little attention to many of the shows that many other people enjoy and share their experiences of matter very much in the great scheme of things. Does my ignorance of all things STRICTLY, or ROYAL, or SOAP OPERA-Y, or TRAITORS, or OLYMPICCY, or FOOTBALLY mean that I might not pass the tests when the thought police come crashing through my door and demand that I prove my knowledge of our alleged shared cultural heritage?

Such things, perhaps unnecessarily, tend to bother me during the wee small hours, although thankfully I have come to realise that other shared phrases and responses “’AVE A BANANA!” tend to bind us together more than we think, and the advertising jingles of our youth might prove more uniting than we might often be aware of.

Listener beware – this edition of VISION ON SOUND might include something not entirely unlike singing. You have been warned!

PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

ADAM HENLEY talks about his TV history and THE WEST WING

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on February 2nd 2025.

This week we welcome a new voice to VISION ON SOUND, that of ADAM HENLEY, an archive television fan who I first met when he offered to help out with some of my technical support when I was recording our live show on stage at WHOOVERVILLE in Derby last September. He expressed an interest in taking part, and suggested we might talk about THE WEST WING for the show.

However, because he hadn’t been on the show before, I also wanted to talk a little bit about his own life as a fan of television, so, whilst we do get to THE WEST WING in the end, it’s on a journey that takes via LOGOPOLIS, the PYE TUBE CUBE. THE YOUNG ONES, EASTENDERS, BLACKADDER GOES FORTH, THE TIME MACHINE, and the films of POWELL AND PRESSBURGER to finally reach the Oval Office, which is certainly a very different route to the one taken by the current incumbent, and I hope that you’ll stick with us for the full term of this edition of the show, which is, luckily enough, only going to take up an hour of your time.

PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.