video projects
As promised recently I made a Q and A video. Thank you for all your interesting questions, I’ve answered as many as I could.
It covers everything from how I started the channel, to what are the sitcoms everyone should see!
Thanks again for all your great questions.
The BBC Written Archive is an essential research resource for all types of writers and content creators.
The BBC Written Archive contains documents relating to radio and tv shows and the operation of the BBC in its over 100 year history. They have now decided to close access to the archive to all but media professionals and researchers, meaning creators and writers like myself will no longer be able to use their resources.
If you think they should change their mind, please contact them.
email: Heritage@bbc.co.uk
or write to: BBC Written Archives Centre,
Peppard Road,
Caversham Park,
Reading,
RG4 8TZ
A vital research resource that many of us have used, the BBC Written Archives, is proposing to seriously restrict access to materials.
Over a year ago the BBC Written Archives Centre, posted a notice on their website that while they conducted an audit, that only “material that have previously been opened for external research” would be available. This was entirely reasonable, to avoid problems auditing items in the Archive. However, this has become their new policy – except for professionals: (writers, press, other media, etc.
The notice on their website states:
From March 2025 we’re unable to answer any personal interest enquiries, supply copies of documents, or undertake any research on behalf of external users.
For external users who meet our access criteria below, we can only offer access to materials that have previously been opened for external research.
This means we are unable to review files for release on demand in response to enquiries.
Going forward we will release archive content in a more structured way.
The “access criteria” only includes:
There are thousands of independent “non-professional” (but very professional in content and delivery) bloggers, video makers (like me) and other writers that have brought the history of the BBC in it’s many iterations to the public, that will no longer have any access to the BBC Archive.
You could contact the BBC WAC to comment on this at: Heritage@bbc.co.uk
Leigh
Sorry there has not been much happening here recently.
I have been researching for a new series of videos, the script is mostly complete, we are waiting for better weather before we can do any filming!
There are also a couple of other video series ideas in early stages of production.
There is even another extra episode of “Summer Wine Decanted” to come!
Meanwhile, the “Summer Wine Decanted” book is available from Amazon and many other online book stores.
Alan J.W. Bell has died on 19 October 2023, aged 85 after suffering from dementia.
Having just finished a series of videos documenting “Last of the Summer Wine” we thought it only right to honour him in a short video. This video takes a brief look at his career in television production from 1958, including producing and directing 250 episodes of “Last of the Summer Wine”.
The year 2023 marks 50 years since the pilot and first series of “Last of the Summer Wine” were broadcast. This series of videos is filmed in many of the well-known, and some less well-known, locations seen in the programme.
All Upstaged by a Dog videos on YouTube have subtitles.
Sometimes they are already on the videos when they are released, but sometimes you might have to wait a few days for them to be checked and uploaded.
Many thanks to Rick Anschutz in North Carolina US, for creating the subtitles for the “Summer wine Decanted” video series.
I was interested in tv and theatre production from as early as I can remember. As a child if I was drawing something it would be a tv studio or theatre set with lights and cameras. At school I studied drama and often acted in school plays. Due to the lack of interest in the technical side of theatre production at school another student and myself were primarily responsible for most of the lighting and sound for school productions under the occasional supervision of a random disinterested teacher.
When the headmaster was directing a play for the local amateur dramatic society, he approached me to join as they needed a younger person for one of the roles. By the age of 18 I was running a mobile disco with the other student, and we had become responsible for all the lighting and sound for the drama society. This led us to provide technical services to several schools and drama societies in a semi-professional capacity. In addition, I was also acting in some of the productions.
I was now also a part-time reporter for a local newspaper, primarily writing local stories and reviewing amateur and professional theatre productions.
In the late 1980’s I bought an 8mm video camera and shot various events, but the affordable technology was not practical or adequate quality for making anything generally presentable. I did create a few finished videos, one of which is my tribute to the highs and lows of my home town, that I recently managed to get digitised to upload to YouTube.
We both had full-time jobs and then my colleague joined BBC TV in London as a sound technician, which meant he was not able to continue the school and drama society shows due to his work schedule. I continued as long as I could, but eventually work and home commitments meant that I also had to end the drama work.
Many years later, and still interested in anything related to art, media, and theatre I started helping with set design, lighting, and operating cameras to create videos for other people on video platforms.
My interest in the inner workings of theatre and tv production have not diminished, so I started writing a script for what I anticipated would be a short series of videos for my YouTube channel. After months of researching and writing the project has grown into many more episodes than anticipated and spawned ideas for many other similar projects.
The initial filming for this particular project should start in early 2022.
