Talking Pictures TV

This coming Friday (12 July) is Kenneth More Day on Talking Pictures TV. Starting at 6.10am with "Our Girl Friday" finishing at 1.20am the following morning with the conclusion of "Loss of Innocence". In between we have "Man in the Moon", "Some People", "Brandy for the Parson", "North West Frontier", "Genevieve" and "The Comedy Man". Plus two biographical segments, "Remembering Kenneth More", at 2.30 and 8.15. No showing of "Reach for the Sky", though, which, as I recall, always used to be our end of term "treat" at school courtesy of a cine projector and a white screen.

And this Tuesday at 6.30pm on the same channel is "Miss Robin Hood" with Margaret Rutherford & Richard Hearne (Mr Pastry to you and me) with early uncredited appearances by Kenneth Connor and Ian Carmichael (as an office junior). Also featuring Arthur Rigby, who those of a certain age will recognise as the Desk Sergeant at Dock Green "nick".

Quote: Billy Bunter @ 7th July 2019, 1:13 PM

This coming Friday (12 July) is Kenneth More Day on Talking Pictures TV.

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Kenneth More's career was remarkably successful for a non-comic actor whose face was bang in the middle ground between ugly and handsome and whose body was neither thin nor fat, nor short nor tall. He was just a very normal looking bloke.

He did, of course, have a very pleasant air about him and, above all, he was immensely likeable. I remember Angela Douglas (his then widow) saying what an absolutely lovely man he was, and I have no difficulty believing that.

The only bit of trivia I know about Kenneth is that the studio thought "Genevieve" was absolutely awful and were very reluctant to release it upon a largely decent British public whom they thought in no way deserved to have to sit through such an appalling cinematic disaster.

Fortunately, they relented and the film went on to be nominated for two Oscars, as well as winning a Golden Globe and a BAFTA.

I shall certainly be tuned into Talking Pictures TV on Kenneth More Day.

Cheers, Billy!

Yes,I think you could say the same about John Gregson.Although perhaps not so affable.

I must say how much I am enjoying this channel since Virgin decided to include it in my package - I hope it is not a "short term loan" to get me hooked and so pay extra for the next bundle up.

Have a whole load of post war British films (our favourites) on the digi-box to watch now and which we are working our way through - the last one being (which to be honest I didn't think I would enjoy because of Dirk Bogarde) "Quartet", which was four short films by and introduced by Somerset Maugham. Many famous faces and another chance to see the "duo" of Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne who always make me smile.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 8th July 2019, 12:08 AM

I must say how much I am enjoying this channel since Virgin decided to include it in my package - I hope it is not a "short term loan" to get me hooked and so pay extra for the next bundle up.

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The channel is free to air, so one would certainly hope they don't try to pull that one.

Quote: Aaron @ 8th July 2019, 8:51 PM

The channel is free to air, so one would certainly hope they don't try to pull that one.

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Odd, because it definitely wasn't in my package up until quite recently.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 8th July 2019, 11:36 PM

Odd, because it definitely wasn't in my package up until quite recently.

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Very weird. I get the impression Virgin aren't wholly honest with how they combine stuff. The channel is on Freeview though, if you can get that.

Quote: Aaron @ 9th July 2019, 12:11 AM

Very weird. I get the impression Virgin aren't wholly honest with how they combine stuff. The channel is on Freeview though, if you can get that.

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Yes, thank you Aaron - I recently had a new aerial erected and can now get it on Freeview, but that's not/wasn't on my Virgin digi-box. Have been looking at maybe ditching my Virgin TV service and buying a Freeview box with hard drive - I think they are quite sophisticated now?

They can be very clever, yes. Freeview Play is what you want to look for.

Or Sky.

I only have Freeview and noticed this channel a few weeks ago. Any movie channel is welcome but I must have had it for a few months as that was the last time I re-tuned. As a Freeview channel I would hope it's illegal for a carrier to imply it's a bonus to have it added to a subscription package.

It does sound like a con for a broadcaster to charge for a channel that is free to air but the fact is that not everybody can pick up all the Freeview channels via their aerial.

If, for example, for whatever reason you can't get a good signal from one of the main transmitters, the solution is sometimes to aim your aerial at a local transmitter that gives you good reception but only a limited range of channels.

If that's the case, and you can't get Talking Pictures TV , you might well consider it worth paying for via cable even though vast numbers of other viewers are getting it absolutely free via their aerial.

Some TPTV programs are less than wonderful (even by the standards of the day) but a great many are solid gold by any standard!

Quote: Definitely Tarby @ 9th July 2019, 12:35 AM

As a Freeview channel I would hope it's illegal for a carrier to imply it's a bonus to have it added to a subscription package.

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Hmmm, perhaps Virgin have had their wrist slapped because up until....................... well recently (could have been a month, but no more) it absolutely wasn't available to me via Virgin as I quite clearly remember being pissed off seeing the many classic British films I couldn't watch and had to make do with ones on Film 4, which were nowhere near as good.

It seemed suddenly that TP TV was no longer greyed out on the digi-box, and it was then I thought they were doing their usual ploy of trying to get you hooked on a channel that wasn't in your package.

As I understand it (not that I do understand these things - I still miss trying to adjust the vertical hold and waiting for the valve to warm up), TPTV is only available on Freeview HD (channel 81) and that therefore it would need it to come through some sort of box rather than directly from the aeriel

Quote: Billy Bunter @ 9th July 2019, 9:05 AM

As I understand it (not that I do understand these things - I still miss trying to adjust the vertical hold and waiting for the valve to warm up), TPTV is only available on Freeview HD (channel 81) and that therefore it would need it to come through some sort of box rather than directly from the aeriel

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And sitting there at the end of the evening's viewing seeing how long you could still see the little white dot in the middle of the fading tube.

And oh! Good point - hadn't thought of that - will try and remember tonight if I can get TPTV directly off my aerial.

Quote: Billy Bunter @ 9th July 2019, 9:05 AM

As I understand it (not that I do understand these things - I still miss trying to adjust the vertical hold and waiting for the valve to warm up), TPTV is only available on Freeview HD (channel 81) and that therefore it would need it to come through some sort of box rather than directly from the aeriel

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Freeview HD (High Definition) channels are obtainable via a TV with a built in HD tuner fed by a reasonable quality standard aerial capable of receiving Freeview.
However, it would seem TPTV is a standard definition channel so should be available via any TV receiving Freeview through the aerial (reception quality allowing).