If you'll excuse me for ignoring such things as regional opt-outs ending (for the most part) on Radio 4, the launch of Children in Need and the first broadcast computer generated clock in the world appearing on BBC Two, Tom Baker announced he was leaving Doctor Who in October 1980, so here's a revised repeat of something originally posted to this blog ten years ago about something which has since become more widely available through the Season 18 BD.
The TARDIS Datacore explains that my copy is the re-release which split the hour long reading across two cassettes. It also explains why some copies I’ve seen are only on one tape. What it doesn’t tell us is how it happened. Given the history of Doctor Who, choosing the Vampire gothic State of Decay, the central story in the wider E-Space trilogy for this release is surprising. It's usually Genesis of the Daleks.
Also surprising is that it isn’t some abridgement of the TARGET novelisation. It’s a completely different script from Dicks, who wouldn’t write the book version for another six months, which simplifies the story and reduces the participation of Adric. The TARGET version would eventually itself be released unabridged in 2016 read by Geoffrey Beavers.
The theme tune is an absolute banger. It's not the usual off-brand version Ron Grainer/Delia Derbyshire combo that you often find on this sort of thing, but some kind of bouncy synth music which I can still whistle from start to finish through having listened to this audio book to death as a child. Young minds are like sponges. Some youngsters learn French. I memorised this for all time.
When was it recorded? There's about a year between the recording block for the television version which began on the 30th April 1980 and the release date of June 1981, so there's a twelve month window. Tom announced his departure in October and regenerated out in March 1981, so you would assume it was before then. The TV version began transmission on the 22nd November 1980.
Nevertheless he offers a professional and elegant vocal performance, even when handing Adric’s dialogue, in a format which would become the model for later audio books, its influence clear in the entire BBC range that was to come. Did Pickwick have a plan to release other stories on audio? Could the history of Doctor Who merchandise have been somewhat different to it is now?
Essentially, why? Do you know?
The Adventure Game
"Precious few children’s programmes have managed to stamp as much of an indelible impression upon the minds of viewers as The Adventure Game. Although just 22 episodes were made, shown on BBC2 over a span of six years from May 1980 to February 1986, nostalgic recollections of talking aspidistras, green cheese rolls and crossing the vortex continue to resonate across an entire generation. OTT was fortunate to talk to the show’s creators, Patrick Dowling and Ian Oliver, about how they dreamed up such a remarkable endeavour and how they turned it into a memorable reality."
[Off The Telly]
"We take a look at how The Adventure Game revolutionised kid's TV."
[BBC Clips]
Archive
"This series of three peak hour programmes fronted by seasoned Current Affairs reporter Bernard Falk asked what the new microprocessor-based technology was all about, how it threatened British industry's competitiveness because of its complacency and then looked at the future - at how society might be profoundly changed by computers - chips - the Silicon Factor."
[BBC Computer Literacy Project Archive]
"From the Civic Hall in Trowbridge, a team of experts invite people to bring along their antiques for examination."
[BBC Rewind]
"A special Easter edition of this religious programme from St John's Church in Glastonbury, Somerset."
[BBC Rewind]
"Writer and broadcaster Kevin Crossley-Holland narrates his own script and reads his poems on the seven Burnham villages of North Norfolk, an area well loved since his childhood."
[BBC Rewind]
"An outside broadcast from Beverley in North Humberside presented by Ken Cooper."
[BBC Rewind]
"Together with wildlife artist Gordon Beningfield whose paintings recall a more traditional English countryside, Angela Rippon visits the Cotswold Farm Park where Joe Henson has brought together his colourful collection of rare and unusual breeds of farm animals."
[BBC Rewind]
"A programme exploring the sound of the natural environment with musicians in a Bristol scrapyard. They perform a piece called 'Tuba Mirum'."
[BBC Rewind]
"A genteel and picturesque look at parish life in the villages and countryside of the sparsely populated Lincolnshire Wolds. It follows Church of England Rector, Peter Fluck, whose parish in Lincolnshire is the largest in the country."
[BBC Rewind]
People
"A look at the work of Mat Irvine, a visual effects designer on Doctor Who, Blake's 7, Tomorrow's World, Moonbase 3 and Rentaghost."
[BBC Archive]
"Acclaimed Broadcaster Andy Peebles interviewed John Lennon & Yoko Ono in New York on the 6th December 1980, little did they know that it would be John Lennon's last ever interview."
[The Stortfordian Foundation]
Places
"This section covers Pebble Mill, Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle, Southampton and Norwich."
[TV Studio History]
A collection of candid photos of the cast and crew at the holiday camp where the outdoor scenes were filmed, Warner's in the seaside town of Dovercourt in Essex.
[harwichanddovercourt.com]
Programmes
"In 1978, the Poetry Society and the BBC launched the National Poetry Competition. Several of the poets featured in this section were winners in the years that followed: Tony Harrison in 1980, Carol Ann Duffy in 1983 and Ruth Padel in 1986. But poetry is hardly a competitive activity, and the poems featured in this section show the variety of voices at play in a changing Britain. "
[The Poetry Archive]
"The BBC television series Antiques Roadshow is filming in Aberystwyth and reporter Sulwyn Thomas went along to take a look behind the scenes."
[BBC Rewind]
"o do justice to a series that has been so lauded, referenced and recontextualised since its first transmission (1982) should not be a trivial task. It involves disentangling substance from reputation, to simultaneously acknowledge the impact of influence and historical countenance but also judging it on its own terms in an effort to evaluate and commemorate it all over again."
[Off The Telly]
"This second edition features Angus Deayton and Michael Knowles looking at radio comedy in the early 1980s."
[BBC Sounds]
"Tina Heath speaks to John Mitchell, a BBC engineer who has invented a new system that enables television to display an array of different live video and graphic effects. He gives a demonstration using Simon and Goldie."
[BBC Archive]
"The 1980 Pride and Prejudice made-for-tv miniseries is a solid, well-respected BBC adaptation–so respected that it almost kept the 1995 version from being made. It has a reputation for being quite faithful to the original dialogue and story lines, which is half deserved."
[Modern Mrs Darcy]
"Evolution of Newsnight intros by the BBC from 1980 until today."
[Intro Collector]
"When discussing the origins of Yes Minister, one story seems to loom above all: a nervous BBC delaying the series until after the 1979 election. The following version of this tale, told by writer Jonathan Lynn, seems a good a place to start as any."
[Dirty Feed]
Politics
"Five BBC orchestras were to be axed in 1980, a decision that was to have major knock on effects for BBC Proms 1980. The season opened without an orchestra, and visually powerful strikes."
[BBC Clips]
"Picket at BBC Broadcasting House in Belfast. The Northern Ireland Orchestra on strike over axing of five Orchestras. Interview with James Galway."
[BBC Rewind]
"Interview with James Hawthorne (Controller, BBC Northern Ireland) regarding accusations of BBC bias."
[BBC Rewind]
"I am writing my first foreword to a BBC Handbook in a year during which the Corporation has been driven to make major economies in order to live within the income provided hr an inadequate licence fee."
[World Radio History]
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