BBC One's 3D Week (from 1993)

Poking around in the Genome project, I spotted this entry:



However I've gone through the entire following week for BBC One and BBC Two in Genome and apart from the mentioned David Bellamy episode, a Tomorrow's World special the following Friday and the above Doctor Who special (the first part aired as part of Children in Need 93, the second part during Noel's House Party the following evening), I can't find anything else that is marked as 3D. Were there any?

A portion of the Tomorrow's World programme is here:


Wiki suggests portions of the same episode of House Party had 3D elements in it too.

I think that was just about it - I have a vague memory of some 3D elements on Live & Kicking (or Blue Peter) also. Children in Need itself had some 3D including the aforementioned Dr Who special and I remember a very striking Pet Shop Boys performance.

I think 1995's Smell-o-vision covered a wider range of programmes.

Just Blue Peter (and even then one recorded insert, about lifeboats). Nothing on L&K, and House Party was just the Doctor Who finale (which legend has it was ordered by Edmondsto be cut down as it was taking up too much of his show. It is certainly two minutes shorter than part 1).

I recall someone writing into Points of View saying it hardly amounted to a "week" of programming...

I'm sure this was not the first time (and probably wouldn't be the last time either) the BBC announced a "week" of something only for it to be a bit of a damp squib when it came round.

Take That performed Babe on Top of the Pops in 3D as well. The whole point of it was to raise money for Children in Need, but they couldn't do loads and loads of 3D because it would have excluded those who didn't have the glasses (because they weren't free).

As the Tomorrow's World clip shows it was an odd way of doing 3D involving left and right movement. It meant it was viewable without glasses but limited the filming.

I seem to remember the EastEnders special having odd shots where a conversation between two characters was shown by the camera moving around them rather than the traditional way. Looked very odd.

It's been done a few times. ITV did some 3D stuff in the early 80s, based around some TVS science show. I'm not sure if that was a season of programmes or not.

Channel 4 used a different method of 3D a few years ago too

The Real World! I think that was first shown on TVS only, and then it was repeated on the network - with improved technology - along with a showing on the Sunday afternoon of the 3D film Fort Ti. I have the TV Times from that week, no glasses though.

And any opportunity to link to this again. In 1990 Going Live did a 3D special. Glasses were given away with Fast Forward and there was no particular reason for it, they just thought it would be a bit of fun, so they had various 3D sequences throughout the show including this brilliant Trevor and Simon sketch that made me cry with laughter at the time...



It's pretty obvious the sketch was a bit longer than they intended. But that's why it's so funny.

Yep - this was a 'fake 3D' system that used the Pulfrich effect, with one eye dimmed slightly by a darker lens, and constant motion with parallax. The eye converts the parallax into realistic 3D - but it isn't stereoscopic.


TVS made a couple of 3D shows I think - both in the Real World series, and a couple of 3D movies (House of Wax was one I think) were shown around the same time.

This used conventional red/green (I think) lenses - but they pushed the saturation of the source cameras, which were colour not B&W, to give a form of colour 3D (though it wasn't great) Personally I thought the B&W clips were often a bit more successful. Think the research cameras they were using were from Philips in Breda.



Yep - C4 used Blue/Yellow filters instead. They broadcast the 3D Colour Coronation stuff I think.

They broadcast a few things including a Derren Brown show. I recorded that and never got round to watching it even though I kept the glasses for years

And a countdown show of the 'Best 3D moments'. I think this was back in 2007/2008 kinda time? I remember that Sainsburys were providing the glasses, and I persuaded my dad to pick four pairs up, and suggested that we had a 'family round the telly' evening watching the countdown show. When the 3D 'adult' genre was demonstrated as part of the show, I was rather embarrassed to have suggested we watched the thing!

November 2009, a few weeks before 'Avatar' was released kickstarting the (new) trend for 3D movies.

It's 1995's Smellovision I remember the most - an episode of Blue Peter, Jim Davidson's Generation Game and a Vic & Bob comedy one-off. Probably House Party too?

Yes, House Party, and (i'm not sure if it was a separate programme or a segment) a Sherlock Holmes special and a Wildlife on One special called "A Nose Through Nature". I don't remember the Vic & Bob element though.