As we ease into August, the sun is high in the sky, but the weather outlook is less promising for the week ahead. The forecast for Talking Pictures TV, though, is a mix of the finest comedy, drama, nostalgia and music, and you don’t need to worry about what clothes to bring. So flip down your plush red velvet seat and try not to let your Lyons Maid melt on the floor! Talking of seats, if you fancy a bit of armchair travelling, we have shorts and features to transport you to interesting and beautiful places. Take a tour of Aberdeen and Edinburgh in the 1960s at 7.35am on Sunday. If north of the border’s a bit too chilly, how about Brazil? 1960 thriller, The Girl in Room 13, on Thursday at 10.50pm, takes us to sunny Sao Paulo. Let’s not forget our favourite destination, which is back in time, to some of the very best classic film and TV to be found anywhere. If it’s the weekend TV of childhood days you yearn for, we have heroes galore for you to enjoy with your Rice Krispies. Saturday at 8am sees the premiere episode of Young Eagles. Made in 1934 for cinema showing, this action series was endorsed by the Boy Scouts of America. After that, Sir Francis Drake is back at 8.30am. We travel to California with Stagecoach West at 9.30am, and stay in the US for Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans at 10.30am.But if you prefer your heroes in spangly disco shirts, rather than tights or buckskins, you’ll definitely want to watch Mike Read present another episode of classic 70s game show, Runaround. Happily, Mike survived the traction engine fumes(!) from last week’s opening episode and is now giving us the Runaround on both Saturday and Sunday at 9am. In fact, all these great family shows can be seen both days from 8am, except for Sir Frances Drake. On Sundays he takes a well-earned rest and hands over to William Tell.
As always, we have some top-class premieres for you, including something very exciting and unusual. Sally Sallies Forth (1928), showing on Tuesday at 11.20am, is the first all-woman production made in the UK. A silent film, it’s the tale of Sally, who aspires to a better life, only to find it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
We are all looking forward to the 1954 film The High and The Mighty which makes its debut on Talking Pictures TV on Sunday at 6pm. This tense aeroplane-set thriller stars John Wayne, Clare Trevor and Robert Stack and became the template for all the disaster movies that followed. Directed by Delbert Mann, it features an Oscar-winning score by Dimitri Tiomkin. In fact, it does feel a bit like Oscar week at Talking Pictures as one of our other premieres is Come Back, Little Sheba (1952). The star, Shirley Booth, crowned Best Actress for her performance, had already won a Tony for the same role on stage. Rarely seen now, this film co-stars Burt Lancaster and is, we think, unmissable.
Want to see more of this week’s premieres and highlights? Then CLICKHERE
For those of you who would like to see a list of the weeks programming WITH SUBTITLES AVAILABLE CLICK HERE and for our FULL LISTINGS for 7 days with all films and episode synopsis CLICK HERE
Thanks as always for all your emails and letters.
We love hearing from fellow classic film and TV enthusiasts. And aren’t you an observant bunch? This is from viewer Rob Brown.
Did anyone notice that on the proclamation that the Sheriff of Nottingham wrote while he was held captive by Robin Hood, he actually signed it with his real name – Alan Wheatley?
Only just noticed myself!
Great channel, keep it up!
Thanks, Rob, we will.
Here’s a lovely story about TPTV favourite, Janette Scott, from Alida Baxter.
I used to know an elderly lady who had worked at a rather important store in the West End where Thora Hird used to shop for clothes, together with Janette, and the whole staff were entranced by her. In the interview she gave you, she mentioned having given a lift to Audrey Hepburn when she was stranded in pouring rain at the studios. This was absolutely typical of her. The lady I knew told of an occasion when Janette had been brought to the store so that clothes could be bought for her, but in the presence of the staff told her mother that a girl she knew was up for a part she’d be perfect for, but didn’t have suitable or good enough clothes for the audition – please could they buy clothes for her. Thora Hird agreed, but that a girl that young (this happened when Janette was still a child) should be so thoughtful made a deep impression on everybody.
Thank you for all your wonderful and very hard work, and I watch your channel constantly.
Thank you, Alida, for your loyalty and support.
Talking Pictures TV Merchandise
Don’t forget, you can find a range of TPTV merchandise on our website. We have a couple of top picks for you this week. Firstly, the box set of groundbreaking daytime TV series, Together. This contains all 51 episodes, unedited and complete, and featuring a host of star names, including future Blue Peter presenter, Sarah Greene and Kathleen Byron, best known as Sister Ruth in Black Narcissus. CLICK HERE
This weeks ‘Pick’ is our Double Bill DVD release of THIS WEEK OF GRACE (1933) and SHE SHALL HAVE MUSIC (1935) This Week of Grace stars: Gracie Fields with Henry Kendall and Douglas Wakefield and is directed by Maurice Elvey. A poor, unemployed woman is made housekeeper at the estate of a wealthy duchess. She Shall Have Music stars Jack Hylton, June Clyde and Claude Dampie and is directed by Leslie S. Hiscott. A broadcasting magnate hires Jack Hylton and his orchestra to broadcast from a cruise ship. The film is a fantastic showcase of the look and sound of one of the greatest ever British dance bands, The Jack Hylton Orchestra. All that fun for just £8.99 with FREE UK postage! Click HERE
TPTV Podcast
A new episode of the popular podcast was released on 31st July and is filled with reviews and fun facts relating to this week’s schedule. Click HERE to listen. Also, next Friday, 7th August, we are releasing a special bonus episode for you, in which we talk to Joanna McCallum, star of Bognor, and daughter of Googie Withers and John McCallum. One not to miss.
This Week’s Highlights
Monday:
Start your week at 7.10am with The Ghost of Monk’s Island, a ripping adventure story made by the Children’s Film Foundation. At 9.30am there’s comedy with, All Over the Town (1949), which stars Sarah Churchill (yes, she was his daughter!). At 11.15am, you can catch an early appearance by Marilyn Monroe in the 1951 film As Young As You Feel. At 2.30pm it’s the great Carmen Miranda and her fruit-laden headgear in Copacabana (1947) with Groucho Marx. Scotland Yard had better watch out at 4.20pm, as Christopher Lee seeks The Vengeance ofFu Manchu (1967). The investigators, amateur and professional, fare better in the evening. From 8pm onwards, catch Hannay, Special Branch (almost the last episode) and The Gentle Touch.
Tuesday:
Book today off, as we are really going travelling. After Edinburgh and Aberdeen at 7.35 am, travel south to the beautiful Yorkshire Dales for A Boy, A Girl and a Bike (1949). Skulduggery and competitive cycling in gorgeous surroundings with John McCallum, Honor Blackman and Diana Dors. At 5pm, we’re in the Kent countryside for Powell and Pressburger’s dreamy classic, A Canterbury Tale (1944). If you fancy your locations a bit more gritty, watch The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) at 10pm, for a bit of Robert Mitchum and the seamier side of Boston.
Wednesday:
At 6am, there’s Love in Pawn, written by those comedy legends, Frank Muir and Dennis Norden. Jassy (1947) at 10.45am is the last of the Gainsborough melodramas, and the only one made in colour. Catch Margaret Lockwood in the title role as a determined young woman with a strange gift. If your favourite fantasy film pairing is Danny Kaye and Margaret Rutherford, then fantasise no more, as On theDouble (1961) is back at 2.40pm. End the day in the company of two titans of Hollywood, Humphrey Bogart and Fredric March (both Oscar winners) in hostage thriller, The Desperate Hours (1955), at 10.05pm.
Thursday:
It’s off to the seaside at 7.40am, but you won’t need your bucket and spade, as Shadowof a Man (1956), filmed around Hastings, is a taut murder mystery. On the Night ofthe Fire (1938) at 9.30am sees the great Ralph Richardson as a mild-mannered barber embroiled in murder and blackmail. Paulette Goddard, Michael Wilding and a glittering cast take on Oscar Wilde at 2.30pm in The Constant Husband (1947), directed by Alexander Korda. Talking of all-star casts, at 4.15pm Yul Brynner and Trevor Howard clash in The Long Duel (1967), a tale of the British Raj. Hell’s Outpost (1954) at 7pm is a gripping modern Western starring Rod Cameron and Joan Leslie.
Friday:
At 6.45 am, you should Send For Paul Temple (1946). Anthony Hulme stars in the first film outing for Francis Durbridge’s famous sleuth. At 10.20 am, we’re back in Gainsborough territory, but not in a costume romp. Give Us the Moon was made in 1944, but strangely set in 1947. This pacey comedy stars Margaret Lockwood and marks Jean Simmons’s film debut. Ian Carmichael and Alastair Sim star in Left, Right and Centre (1959) at 12.10, a lighter look at party politics from the wonderful Launder and Gilliat. Fame is the Spur (1947) at 2.30pm also takes politics and power as its theme and stars Michael Redgrave and Rosamund John. At 8.30pm, you can continue enjoying 80s crime caper series, Bognor, which is also showing at 5am every day.
Saturday:
Adults leave the room for the early part of the day, as kids’ fantasy series, Shadows, kicks off the weekend at 7.30am, followed by heroes, villains and Mike Read (see above). Our premiere at 2.50pm, Foul Play (1978) stars the effervescent Goldie Hawn as a librarian unwittingly drawn into intrigue. If you’ve ever wondered how a bicycle is made, catch the short film at 5.10pm, called, er…. How a Bicycle isMade. At 6pm, Richard Attenborough stars in The Ship That Died of Shame (1955) directed by one of Talking Pictures TV’s favourite directors, Basil Dearden.
Sunday:
Today, watch three of the finest short wartime documentaries from our friends at the BFI. Village School at 11am was originally designed to reassure city parents that their evacuee children were in safe hands. The Hospital Nurse, showing at 12.50, was part of a wartime recruitment drive. At 5.15pm, you can see one of the most famous documentaries of them all, London Can Take It!, which highlighted the heroism of ordinary Londoners during the Blitz. In between, at 3.15pm, it’s another premiere, Fun in Acapulco (1963), which has Elvis Presley, songs, Mexico and boats. What more could you want? The High and The Mighty (see above) premieres at 6pm. At 10pm, there’s one last premiere, Desire Under The Elms (1958). Love, lust and murder starring Sophia Loren and Anthony Perkins – a perfect way to wind up the week.
And another week has flown by on your favourite TV channel. Don’t forget, we are a 24-hour channel, so there’s always something great to watch throughout the day and night. Please spread the word and thanks, as ever, for your support.
Our very best wishes,
Sarah, Noel and Neill
