British Comedy Guide

2point4 Children not released in 2010

2point4 Children series 4-8 will not be released in 2010 after all now. 2entertain were hoping to release the rest of the series through a different distributor but they pulled out due to high clearance costs. Sothat's that then, all our hopes gone forever! F**k that company whoever they were. Angry Angry

Please people write to 2entertain and insist they don't give up getting it released. PLEASE!

As pessimistic as even I am, I think you're jumping to conclusions a bit there, Richard. For starters, there's no guarantee that this other company would have gone through with it. There's quite a lot of work to do after clearance, not least including - I expect - restoration of the masters to DVD quality. And there's still a hell of a long time until the end of 2010. Plenty could happen in the meantime. Certainly not a hope that's "gone forever" in the slightest!

Besides, from what I've heard in the past, it should be BBC Worldwide you're "f**k"ing for the ridiculously high prices they charge right from the start of the process.

Excuse my language Aaron, but I was so angry about hearing this, I have waited 5 long years for the remaining series to be released and now they are saying that the distributor has dropped out and there are no immediate plans for anymore DVDs. They also said that Eureka Video's contract ends this year so series 1-3 will go out of print also. This is all just terrible news. So what are you saying exactly Aaron?

Ah, well that's good news! If Eureka's rights are about to expire then the series is about to become far more attractive to other distributors. They'd rather wait and get the show from the beginning than jump in half-way through, potentially boosting another company's profits with the increased interest.

As for "no immediate plans", take that with a pinch of salt - but take it literally so: IMMEDIATE. Doesn't mean that it's not planned, or that there aren't others who are interested. It just means that it's not currently scheduled.

It is certainly true that the BBC give their programmes the worst treatment DVD-wise, but take a step back. All you know is that, today, there's no one discussing buying the rights. Doesn't mean that that'll be the same case in 6 months, or even 1 week from now.

Besides, the fact that another company were interested in the series at all has got to be a good sign, no?

They didn't mention that any other distributors were interested, they only said one mystery distributor pulled out. That is only one. But they made it sound like they were just going to give up releasing it.

Other distributors may have not expressed their interest to 2entertain yet. And if they had, I'm pretty sure there'd be confidentiality contracts. If you're negotiating releasing what you believe to be a lucrative programme, you don't want your rivals finding out and jumping in with a higher bid, do you? :)

In any case, unless you expressly asked if others were talking to them (?), it's hiiiiighly unlikely that they'd give the information over of their own accord.

As for giving up, they'll never do that. They may put it on the back-burner, as 'twere, but they'll never remove it from sale.

I can understand his frustration though. I seem to remember 2.4 being popular at the time, so for it to fouled up by people umming and ahhing about releasing it is pretty annoying. It would make sense for lesser known series to not see the light at the end of the DVD release tunnel as there was never a good fan-base to begin with but for something so popular not to be release is sheer folly (clearance issues accepted).

Was 2.4 mentioned on the 'Bizarrely Unreleased' thread?

I'm sure it was, yes.

The reason is that the BBC charge astronomical fees just to have access to talk to them about getting rights for a show, which sets the production cost rather high right from step 1. When the first 3 series were released, basically no one bought them, and in fact the company who released them nearly went bankrupt accordingly (or so I heard). I suspect that similar happened with Birds Of A Feather, although that's just been released again so can't be sure. Lesser known shows on the other hand - and particularly ITV ones, which seem to make up the bulk of archive releases - I would doubt whether there are such ridiculous costs involved, which explains their volume.

2point4 Children will never be released. I am so unbeleiveably angry and sad. Angry Angry :( :(

Ever the optimist, eh Richard? :D

It has been confirmed now Aaron, they are not going ahead with the release. I just cannot believe it! Angry :(

It was me who was messaging 2Entertain about 2 Point 4 Children and they replied several times over a few months

The first time they said they had no plans to release it.

Then they said they were assessing the viability of releasing it.

The last thing they told me was that they had been in talks with a distributor but due to low sales of series 1-3, plus high costs of clearance and then another clearance issue with series 7 that would need an edit that would interfere with the programme itself, they decided to pull out of a release.

They also said that the contract for series 1-3 runs out at the end of this year and after that it will no longer be on sale.

I have a group on Facebook set up. 2 Point 4 Children - Petition To Get The Whole Series Released On DVD!

Quote: Richard Saunders @ September 17 2009, 9:19 PM BST

2point4 Children will never be released. I am so unbeleiveably angry and sad. Angry Angry :( :(

This actually rather touching. I really liked the show at the time but I can't imagine ever getting stressed about the non-release of any sitcom let alone this one.

I hope you eventually get what you wish for Richard.

I doubt I will, the BBC are a pain in the Arse, always changing their mind, they will release it, then they wont, then they might, then they will, then they won't again. They do my head in. They have been promising us for the last 5 years that they will continue with the release in 2010, now they have gone back on their word once again Angry

Quote: Richard Saunders @ September 15 2009, 8:28 PM BST

Please people write to 2entertain and insist they don't give up getting it released. PLEASE!

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