First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on June 4th 2023

This week, our regular visitor is my occasional co-presenter on VISION ON SOUND, SANDY McGREGOR, that connoisseur of the cleverer end of classic telly who I am always keen to welcome back to the show in order to elevate my usual choice of topics to chat about above the usual television fayre that I tend to squander my days watching so that I can talk to you about it.

As well as his love of the more “grown up” aspects of classic telly , SANDY is also a bit of a fan of lists, or at least the sort of lists compiled by the GUARDIAN of the “fifty favourite television moments” variety.

And it was because of one of those lists that he happened to spot that, as part of our ongoing occasional series of television anniversaries that ought to deserve a mention on the show, we’d somehow completely failed to notice that the American Television production company HOME BOX OFFICE (HBO) had marked fifty years of service towards the end of 2022.

Responsible as they are for such well recognised television gold as THE SOPRANOS, THE WIRE, SEX AND THE CITY, GAME OF THRONES, BOARDWALK EMPIRE, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, and the latter-day hit SUCCESSION, amongst a whole heap of other highly-regarded series, the success of HBO seems counter-intuitive when you consider its roots in the form of “pay-per-view” sporting events.

And yet, despite such a background, HBO has most definitely thrived, and so SANDY joined me to have a bit of an old natter as we rattled our way through the GUARDIAN’s list of THE FIFTY GREATEST HBO SERIES ever, as compiled by MICHAEL HOGAN and SAMMY GECSOYLER, a list so packed in quality television programmes that shows like WESTWORLD, JOHN ADAMS, and GENERATION KILL don’t even get a mention.

Honestly, this is a list of such rich pickings that it can even afford to omit series from its younger sister HBO MAX.

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.

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on May 28th 2023

Despite the slick operation we try to give you the impression that we are running here as we take our weekly deep dives into the world of archive television here on VISION ON SOUND, sometimes my regular co-host, WARREN CUMMINGS, and I agree to meet up and record our latest show with not much actually planned for what we’re going to talk about.

I nearly said “with little in mind” there, but regular listeners might have quite reasonably felt able to suggest that we rarely have much in mind on the shows we do, but, knowing that might be just too much of a temptation for all of you, I decided to think again.

TWO thoughts already this week? My! I must be spoiling you!

Anyway, this week I did actually have something of a plan in mind, but WARREN had other ideas, and our conversation set off down quite a different path from the one I expected, and, perhaps rather surprisingly, I think it makes for a strangely fascinating show despite ourselves.

Because, by simply prompting us with the name one of those fine character actors from back in the day that we often enjoy the work of here on VISION ON SOUND, we went on something of a journey which involved FOGGY, BLAMIRE and ENTWISTLE, a LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE trio that never happened, as well as touching upon the world of WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE LIKELY LADS?, CORONATION STREET, and DALLAS in a whistle-stop tour of popular television that made for a rather disparate set of travelling companions for us this week.

And whilst we don’t often get too philosophical or thoughtful when we get together to do these shows – WARREN and I both being people who have not very well hidden shallows where other people’s depths might be – we do have a rather interesting conversation about regional television, the use of regional accents, whether genuine or otherwise, and that tricky little matter of the portrayal of ethnic minorities in some of the old telly we watch, some of which you might perhaps find massively inappropriate for a couple of blokes like us to be chatting about, but which I hope you’ll at least find interesting if nothing else.

Incidentally, it sometimes happens that, because these chats catch us unawares (as it were), one or two of the facts and figures don’t quite spring as easily to mind as they might do if we were more professionally prepared.

“Professionally…!”

Anyway, this meant that I completely forgot the name of SAM in GETTING SAM HOME, as well as struggling with names such as DINO SHAFEEK and CARMEN MONROE which, whilst we usually get there in the end, sometimes fall out of mind in the cut and thrust of these recording sessions.

And, whilst we did finally get around to talking about what I had been originally going to suggest, that all featured in a separate and quite throat gravelling second recording that I’m now saving for another time.

So, with that blatant attempt to add a certain amount of intrigue and anticipation into our keen and eager audience, I’ll simply hop over to the controls and kick up those FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL time engines, click on the randomiser, and wonder where the hell we are going to end up. Hopefully it’s not SKARO, and, with my luck, it’s probably not going to be during a Parisian springtime, but we are likely to hop over those Pennines and find ourselves, at least obliquely, in and around Holmfirth with one or two of its better known inhabitants.

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.

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on May 21st 2023

Long time listeners to VISION ON SOUND will already be aware that PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI, our returning guest on this week’s edition, is a very avid fan of the TV detective series BERGERAC, and, whilst he has mentioned this from time-to-time on his appearances, we realised that we’d never had a sit down to just talk about that show.

So this week we decided to rectify that omission, and for the next hour we have a nice little chat about what it is about that particular cop show, mostly set on Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands, which he found appealing enough to ensure that he not only has the complete series on his shelves so that he can watch it whenever the mood catches him, but also that he has an emergency backup set of BERGERAC just in case the first goes wrong, and yet another set – albeit one featuring inferior edits of the programmes – stashed in another place in case the first two can’t be accessed.

Think of it as being a bit like prepping for archive TV enthusiasts.

The series BERGERAC was first made and broadcast by the BBC in 1981, and continued to make regular appearances in the schedules for more than a decade, finally signing off, nine series, and eighty-seven episodes later on Boxing Day, 1991, and seems slightly unusual nowadays for not being a detective series based around characters adapted from a series of novels.

BERGERAC was created by ROBERT BANKS STEWART, as is rather well known, as a replacement for his previous series SHOESTRING which came to a sudden abrupt end, and left the BBC looking around for a similar but different Detective series to fill its place in the schedules, and, BERGERAC must be considered to be a very successful solution to a rather interesting problem.

The series starred JOHN NETTLES as JIM BERGERAC, a detective with a troubled past, TERENCE ALEXANDER as his troublesome ex-father in law CHARLIE HUNGERFORD, and SEAN ARNOLD as his boss BARNEY CROZIER at the newly formed  “BUREAU DES ETRANGES” on the Channel Islands, alongside several glamorous women like CECILE PAOLI, CELIA IMRIE, LOUISE JAMESON, THERESE LIOTARD, DEBORAH GRANT and LISA GODDARD, who seemed to find Jim irresistibly attractive, sometimes for several seasons in lead and guest roles, alongside a whole host of exactly the sort of character actors that the likes of viewers like me enjoy spotting in these kinds of shows.

BERGERAC made the most of its picturesque JERSEY locations, and the vintage 1947 burgundy-coloured TRIUMPH ROADSTER Jim drove, to delight audiences across the 1980s, and PAUL has very fond memories of growing up watching this series, not least because of the childhood holidays he spent on the island.

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.

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on May 14th 2023

It’s long been known, at least in archive television circles anyway, that the charismatic Canadian television pioneering producer SYDNEY CECIL NEWMAN was enticed into working for ABC television in Britain in the late 1950s, and was responsible for such high profile dramas such as ARMCHAIR THRILLER, as well as creating the sixties phenomenon known as THE AVENGERS, before his successes led to him joining the BBC in 1962, which eventually led to the creation of the long-running, and much loved, TV cornerstone that is DOCTOR WHO, although that’s a long and oft-told story which we aren’t going to go into today.

However, before deciding to bring teatime science fiction stories to children on the BBC, SYDNEY NEWMAN did actually have a bit of a track record of trying some quite similar ideas over at ABC, at least when it came to bringing Science-Fiction stories to children.

In April 1960 he was the Producer on TARGET LUNA, a six-part science fiction adventure serial now sadly lost to time and, perhaps, videotape wiping policies, which involved those exciting possibilities offered up by the dawn of the space age in which children and hamsters could occasionally replace trained astronauts when British Rocket Groups were trying to send rockets to the moon.

The success of this serial led to the swift commissioning of three further serials which we now refer to as the PATHFINDERS IN SPACE trilogy to differentiate it from the later 1972 series about World War Two bombers.

PATHFINDERS IN SPACE, a six-part serial, largely recast and now including the chiseled good looks of GERALD FLOOD as Journalist CONWAY HENDERSON, was broadcast in September of that same year, with PATHFINDERS TO MARS following in December, and PATHFINDERS TO VENUS following in MARCH 1961, and proved to SYDNEY NEWMAN at least that Science-Fiction as an exciting storytelling device for family audiences was, on the whole, a pretty neat idea.

TV Historian MICHAEL HERBERT, who recently shared his insights into the life of MALCOLM HULKE on the show, got in touch with VISION ON SOUND and asked if I might like to discuss these series, along with a later set of adventure serials also featuring GERALD FLOOD CITY and SECRET BENEATH THE SEA, on the show, and, of course I was not going to say no to an offer like that now, was I?

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.

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on May 7th 2023

One of the things that bothers me about modern television is the way I feel it is often directed, written, and designed to deliberately manipulate the viewer into feeling a particular almost designated set of emotions, as if we can no longer be trusted to respond in the right way, and so our sympathies and reactions are manipulated to feel sympathy where the creators decide we ought to, instead of just telling a story and leaving the rest of us to decide whether or not, and how, to feel about the story unfolding in front of us.

What kind of a monster are you if you don’t feel THIS… or THIS…! or THIS!!! even when it is often the same old tropes and clichés that are being churned out, in often very predictable ways, but with the addition of a suitably mournful tune underscoring them to make sure that you all get the point.

And if a large enough chunk of the audience put down their boxes of tissues for long enough to head off and tell everyone in their social media circle just how emotionally draining they found the latest episode of today’s trendiest family drama, and announce to anyone who follows them that it is the best television programme ever, BAFTA awards and future series are almost certain to follow.

 Whilst cynical old heads sitting in the corner might be fully aware that, however original this latest series might claim to be, they’ve seen it all before, and often done far better, and without any of that sort of nonsense, this is often not a popular position to take when the tabloids are turning yet another mundane, predictable drama series into a “must-see” unmissable phenomenon.

And whilst Archive TV is sometimes denigrated for being far too linear, or far too predicable in the way it portrayed emotional responses, if it chose to show any at all, some of the smartest, classiest, and most harrowing dramas and sitcoms of yesteryear managed to create many memorable gut-punch moments mostly without needing to fall back on such heightened fast-cutting, enhanced melodramatic techniques.

 Anyway, with television’s handling of emotions in mind, WARREN CUMMINGS is back this week to discuss such matters, whether it’s a touch of DOCTOR WHO, CALLAN, M*A*S*H, or ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE, and I do hope that we can all stagger through the hour without finding it all rather too exhausting.

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.

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on April 30th 2023

A few weeks ago, I talked to PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI, about his memories of the Children’s TV he grew up with, and afterwards, STEVE HATCHER got in touch because he quite fancied talking about his own memories of such things which, as is the nature of these things, date from at least a decade earlier.

And so, not being one to ignore a good idea for a show when one is suggested, I arranged to talk to him, and we recorded today’s show which covers all sorts of TV including SUPERCAR, HEREWARD THE WAKE, THE THREE MUSKETEERS, TRITON, FREEWHEELERS, CATWEAZLE, TIMESLIP, ARTHUR OF THE BRITONS, and PARDON MY GENIE.

So I hope you’ll stick around for what is a warm, nostalgic hour wandering through STEVE’s memories of Children’s TV, some of which you may never have even heard of, and several of which might come as something of a surprise to you.

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.

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on April 23rd 2023

This week, WARREN CUMMINGS returns for a lightning journey through one of his favourite TV shows, BLAKE’S SEVEN, TERRY NATION’S classic space drama from the late 1970s and early 1980s, which featured a small and possibly foolhardy band of freedom-fighting heroic outcasts (or, if you prefer, terrorist maniacs) battling against the might of an oppressive regime known asTHE FEDERATION in a series that somehow seems to be getting more and more

THE FEDERATION had, of course, branded our heroes, BLAKE and his followers as criminals, and tried to brush them under the carpet but, of course, they had to fail at that otherwise there wouldn’t be a show, and for four hard-fought years, BLAKE, JENNA, AVON, VILA, GAN, and CALLY, with later additions or replacements TARRANT, DAYNA and SOOLIN used their acquired Spacecraft THE LIBERATOR and later SCORPIO, several super computers, ZEN, ORAC and SLAVE, to strike at the heart of THE FEDERATION, mostly as personified by the exotic SERVALAN and, at least for a couple of seasons, SPACE COMMANDER TRAVIS.

Fifty-two episodes were made across four series, until everything came to a head on the planet of GAUDA PRIME just before Christmas 1981, when this popular and fondly remembered series came to an unexpectedly dramatic conclusion.

Over the next hour we concentrate mostly – but not entirely - on the first season – and, in our enthusiasm, a couple of memory slips do creep in, but I hope you’ll enjoy our take on the show despite those.

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.

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on April 16th 2023

This week, I thought I’d try to make a more musical edition of the show and take a look at  - or a listen to - one or two of the many favourite TV theme tunes that we’ve discovered during all of those years of watching TV.

 I’ve been thinking about doing a more music-based show for quite some time, but it always comes down to me not wanting to be tempted to try out my DEEJAY voice and end up sounding just as ridiculous as you might expect me to.

 But with such a rich history of brilliant tunes being written and performed throughout television history, it does seem a rather overdue topic for VISION ON SOUND to tackle in its usual offbeat and perhaps unusual manner.

And of course, who is there better from the VISION ON SOUND pool of talent to pick out to take a musical journey through some terrific tunes than that forensic follower of feem toons, and magnifier of all things musical, PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI, who I’m welcoming back today.

PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, despite being originally covered by the radio licence for initial transmission, 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.

(2025 re-edit removes "Theme from Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)" and "The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe")

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on April 9th 2023

I often feel very lucky that, with such a lot of telly out there in the world to be viewed, VISION ON SOUND has several regular guests who are prepared to watch certain up-to-the-minute programmes so that I don’t have to, and I can concentrate on the older stuff, which is where we usually like to lurk in this show.

This also means that they can sift through some of the programmes I might otherwise have missed, and tell me whether it’s worth me emerging from the library stacks, and taking a look at some of the more recent gems, and seeing some of the possible future classics that television is making right now.

This week LISA PARKER really wanted to tell me all about RUSSELL T DAVIES’ five-part drama from 2021 called IT’S A SIN which tells the rather important story of a group of friends living under the shadow of the AIDS virus in the 1980s and 1990s.

SPOILER ALERT: Be aware that LISA does reveal a lot of the plot of this series and she herself recommends in this chat that, if you haven’t yet seen the show in the two years it’s been available, you might want to go and watch it now before returning to listen to her overview of it.

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.

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on April 2nd 2023

I’m delighted to say that this week our returning guest is the writer MICHAEL SEELY who got in touch to ask if he could return to the show and have a little chat about his favourite comedy series which is (or are) YES, MINISTER and its continuation as YES, PRIME MINISTER, a pair of linked series written by Anthony Jay and Jonathan Lynn which were first broadcast on the BBC between 1980 and 1988, and which starred PAUL EDDINGTON, NIGEL HAWTHORNE and DEREK

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.