We're now at the point when every year feels pivotal and/or memorable 1989 is no exception. A glance at just the television page for these twelve months on the wikipedia shows us the trivial and profane: The Late Show debuted, Colin and Guido's kiss on Eastenders, the Five Star incident on Going Live, the coverage of Hillsborough, BBC2's 25th anniversary, John Craven retired from Newsround, Robin Day retired from Question Time, NICAM stereo test transmissions began, Challenge Anneka began, Blackadder Goes Forth, Jeremy Paxman joins Newsnight, Around The World in 80 Days with Michael Palin, Byker Grove, Maid Marian and Her Merry Men, Dennis Potter's Blackeyes and the Del Boy falling through the bar sequence on Only Fools.
But perhaps most importantly of all, Doctor Who's original twenty-six year run ended with the third episode of the story Survival before it headed off into the wilderness years. With Ncuti making his solo debut in the role tonight as we reach the close of the 60th anniversary year (which after a slightly muted start has exploded like Katy Perry's Fireworks), I thought I'd talk about the final speech delivered in voiceover by Sylvester McCoy, hastily written by script editor Andrew Cartmel when Executive Producer John Nathan Turner caught wind that their might not be new series in 1990. Here it is:
"There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, where the sea's asleep and the rivers dream. People made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on Ace, we've got work to do."
In just a few short sentences Cartmel captures the essence of Doctor Who as a character and programme. All of the revival showrunners would return to similar lyrical waxing, notably when the tenth Doctor misunderstands that Donna isn't proposing to leave the TARDIS during the Sontaran two-part in Season 4 ("The Fifteenth Broken Moon of the Medusa Cascade, the Lightning Skies of Cotter Palluni's World, Diamond Coral Reefs of Kataa Flo Ko.") It's almost nonsense poetry, except because of the format, especially in the prose, audio and comics that filled the sixteen year gap, the Doctor and his companions in all their various configurations probably visited planets exactly like these if not weirder.
The Doctor and Ace could have just wandered off into the sunset as was originally planned, but this final speech somehow became a preview of what was to come. Now here we are, eight years away from the revival surpassing its original run (and the way things are looking with series already in production to 2025 this doesn't seem that unlikely), you could probably swap out the companion name, give that dialogue to each subsequent Doctor and it would still work just as well. Not to mention that special effects and budgets, although not infinite, could put people made of smoke on screen and show us how a sea could sleep and what Rivers dream of. Hello Sweetie. Happy Christmas.
The Show
"Report on the auditions for The Show, the new late-night television show for BBC Northern Ireland. Interview with BBC producer Jane Cassidy. Reporter: Susie Millar."
[BBC Rewind]
"BBC Northern Ireland's The Show, which began on Saturday evening (4.11.89), resulted in around 700 phone calls of complaint and the subsequent resignation of presenters Eamonn Holmes and Rhonda Paisley. Report by Liam Creagh."
[BBC Rewind]
"Eamonn Holmes resigns as presenter on BBC Northern Ireland programme The Show. Interview with Presbyterian Minister Reverend Willis Cordner. Report by Mike Gaston."
[BBC Rewind]
Places
"An amateur film of two North London cinemas and a BBC run open day at the Ealing Film Studios that features props and iconic set pieces from the TV series Dr Who."[Screen Archive South East]
"The Director General of the BBC Michael Checkland was heckled by journalists when he arrived to open the organisation’s new television centre in Nottingham."[Media Archive for Central England]
"Report on 10th anniversary celebrations at Radio Foyle. Interview with Sean Rafferty, Gerry Anderson and Michael McGowan. Reporter: Liam Creagh."[BBC Rewind]
"An amateur film of two North London cinemas and a BBC run open day at the Ealing Film Studios that features props and iconic set pieces from the TV series Dr Who."
[Screen Archive South East]
"The Director General of the BBC Michael Checkland was heckled by journalists when he arrived to open the organisation’s new television centre in Nottingham."
[Media Archive for Central England]
"Report on 10th anniversary celebrations at Radio Foyle. Interview with Sean Rafferty, Gerry Anderson and Michael McGowan. Reporter: Liam Creagh."
[BBC Rewind]
Programmes
"The most innovative and consistently funny British sketch-based comedy series of the last 15 years is also one that is inexplicably only ever repeated at late nights on cable channels: BBC’s A Bit of Fry and Laurie (1986 – 1995)."[Off The Telly]
"Michael Peters’ design for the BBC Corporate Identity, launched in 1988, had sharpened up the existing BBC slanted blocks and typography and had introduced the underscore beneath the blocks in colours to represent Scotland, Wales and Ireland."[Ravensbourne University London]
"The phone rings in Michael Palin’s office. “Hello?” he answers. “Yes, yes BBC, I know.” A pause. “You want me to what? You want me to go around the world? Yes, but I don’t see why, you can go around the world in 36 hours …” Silence. “Ah, 80. 80 days. Yes, I see, I’d be Phileas Fogg. And no aircraft.”"[Off The Telly]
"Peter Snow presents the programme on the day the Berlin Wall was breached."[BBC Clips][BBC Programme Index]
"The Blackadder star loved playing the villain in this Robin Hood spoof – but Kate Lonergan had to get checked for bites between shots as her yellow underwear kept attracting ticks."[The Guardian]
"This special edition of Open Air focused on the success of Australian soap operas in the United Kingdom. The Prisoner segment includes phone interviews with actresses Sheila Florance (Lizzie Birdsworth) and Val Lehman (Bea Smith). It aired on 27 April 1989."[NSFA]
"Watch the band's interview with Red Dwarf star Craig Charles on this archived slice of grindcore heaven."[Metal Hammer]
"The most innovative and consistently funny British sketch-based comedy series of the last 15 years is also one that is inexplicably only ever repeated at late nights on cable channels: BBC’s A Bit of Fry and Laurie (1986 – 1995)."
[Off The Telly]
"Michael Peters’ design for the BBC Corporate Identity, launched in 1988, had sharpened up the existing BBC slanted blocks and typography and had introduced the underscore beneath the blocks in colours to represent Scotland, Wales and Ireland."
[Ravensbourne University London]
"The phone rings in Michael Palin’s office. “Hello?” he answers. “Yes, yes BBC, I know.” A pause. “You want me to what? You want me to go around the world? Yes, but I don’t see why, you can go around the world in 36 hours …” Silence. “Ah, 80. 80 days. Yes, I see, I’d be Phileas Fogg. And no aircraft.”"
[Off The Telly]
"Peter Snow presents the programme on the day the Berlin Wall was breached."
[BBC Clips][BBC Programme Index]
"The Blackadder star loved playing the villain in this Robin Hood spoof – but Kate Lonergan had to get checked for bites between shots as her yellow underwear kept attracting ticks."
[The Guardian]
"This special edition of Open Air focused on the success of Australian soap operas in the United Kingdom. The Prisoner segment includes phone interviews with actresses Sheila Florance (Lizzie Birdsworth) and Val Lehman (Bea Smith). It aired on 27 April 1989."
[NSFA]
"Watch the band's interview with Red Dwarf star Craig Charles on this archived slice of grindcore heaven."
[Metal Hammer]
Politics
"Doctor Who is 50 this year and has plenty to celebrate. But just like chart-topping bands with albums they wish they had never released, the veteran sci-fi TV show has had its share of turkeys. Why is the 1980s the decade so many fans love to hate?"
[BBC News]
"This has been a year of significant change for the BBC and for the whole broadcasting industry. This might easily have been written in each of my three previous introductions to the BBC's Annual Report to Parliament. But, after so many predictions, much guesswork and some false starts, we have finally seen in the last 12 months the real transformation of the broadcasting landscape."
[World Radio History]
The Future
Just a short note for people who've read down this far. Now that we've reached the end of the 80s and the peak TV Cream period, I thought it would be the right time to take a pause. Writing these weekly posts can be incredibly time consuming and with this year's Christmas Links, preparing Review 2023 (which begins tomorrow) and, well, life in general, I've fallen behind. The last thing I want is for something sub-optimal to be posts here (not that's stopped me before).
Plus, with more recent decades hovering into view I'm in the process of trying to work out how to cover the 00s and 10s without it all being a bit I Love 1999, especially when it's really difficult to classify what counts as "archive" three years ago. Perhaps I'll sneek one out in six weeks and go full bore (in both senses of the word) again in four months given where I've left off. Though hopefully it'll be sooner. Anyway, let me know if you've been enjoying these posts through the usual channels.
No comments:
Post a Comment