MY
UKGameshows entry : http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/The_Masterspy
Dubious website: [removed for being a bit too dubious]
Dubious website: [removed for being a bit too dubious]
NJ
Neil Jones
Founding member
Well The Masterspy was apparently wiped in full and according to the Kaleidoscope database anything that does exist of it now comes from domestic recordings.
I did find reference to Bob Monkhouse with regards to either his presence or maybe appearance on this show or behind the scenes or maybe he was just visiting ATV but whether any of what remains of this show was in his archive I don't know.
I did find reference to Bob Monkhouse with regards to either his presence or maybe appearance on this show or behind the scenes or maybe he was just visiting ATV but whether any of what remains of this show was in his archive I don't know.
NJ
Neil Jones
Founding member
Celebrity Squares, the original version in the 1970s, only survives at all today because Bob Monkhouse recorded 40 odd episodes himself. ATV ultimately wiped the lot.
A lot of ATV's archive went to pot primarily because they weren't looking after it properly in the first place - that and what did get wiped. Of course not unique to ATV - it was common practice at other broadcasters too, including most other ITV regions and the BBC - but of course home video was another 10/15 years away and if you're stuck with a lot of programmes that you know you'll never make any more money from or even broadcast again, why pay for them to sit on a shelf? Let's wipe them and reuse the tapes - tape was expensive in the 1970s and it was cheaper to wipe and reuse rather than buy new tapes.
It's shameful now in hindsight but that's the mindset of the time - make it, air it, flog it and (eventually) wipe it, in a simplified nutshell. I dare say if the TV companies could have foreseen the possibility of people actually wanting to buy a full series of a TV show to watch over and over again in the privacy of their own home, we might have a full set of Doctor Who episodes today. But they didn't and we don't.
A lot of ATV's archive went to pot primarily because they weren't looking after it properly in the first place - that and what did get wiped. Of course not unique to ATV - it was common practice at other broadcasters too, including most other ITV regions and the BBC - but of course home video was another 10/15 years away and if you're stuck with a lot of programmes that you know you'll never make any more money from or even broadcast again, why pay for them to sit on a shelf? Let's wipe them and reuse the tapes - tape was expensive in the 1970s and it was cheaper to wipe and reuse rather than buy new tapes.
It's shameful now in hindsight but that's the mindset of the time - make it, air it, flog it and (eventually) wipe it, in a simplified nutshell. I dare say if the TV companies could have foreseen the possibility of people actually wanting to buy a full series of a TV show to watch over and over again in the privacy of their own home, we might have a full set of Doctor Who episodes today. But they didn't and we don't.