25 October 2015

Review: ITV 60

DVD: ITV 60 (2015)

Network may not be a name that you are are au fait with, but I have to admit that they are in my top five companies for releasing real gems, not only in film but in television too. I think I have every box set they’ve ever produced starring Oliver Tobias, and when they have a sale (their sales are epic by the way) I add yet more box sets and Blu-rays/DVD’s to my collection.
So when they advertised this special ITV 60 collection of ’60 years of ITV’ I was intrigued; how would they actually package it, as they must produce nearly every single stand out ITV programme on DVD. I must admit I was hesitant at the 12 discs that plopped through the letter box too, as that’s an awful lot of TV to watch.

Network came up with the idea of making each individual disc a nights worth of TV entertainment, and again, I was somewhat hesitant as a lot of the TV included on the disc I had never heard of (despite my age), and some I remember my father talking about when I was a kid!
So imagine my real delight as watching the very first disc I found myself laughing at The Army Game (which I’d never seen before), I actually remembered Man About the House, and Robin Of Sherwood, ending with The Prisoner. I sat and watched them all and was already planning my next nights entertainment with this wonderful collection.

It’s made interesting by not sticking to a timeline, but rather mixing up all the programmes from every era. It also included some rarities (including some programmes thought lost forever), including previously unreleased episodes of Crossroads, Rainbow, Tiswas, Coronation Street, World in Action, The Bill and Whicker’s World – together with some exceptionally rare items from the Associated Rediffusion archive: No Hiding Place, Mystery Bag, Crane and Our Man at St. Mark’s.

Admittedly not every programme was to my liking (though with ANY large eclectic collection there will be ones that you gravitate to more than others), but this is a wonderful smorgasbord of television entertainment that you can dip into at your leisure and be sure that you will be served up a visual treat on a regular basis. It is also astounding to see how refreshingly UN-politically correct the humour is!

If you’re a nostalgia fan or a plain TV fan this set is unmissable, it also gives you a chance to experience new programmes, then buy the whole series if you like it from Network. Cracking stuff!

DISC TWO: Pathfinders in Space: Convoy to the Moon | The Larkins: Frightful Nightful | Sunday Night at the London Palladium: 28/11/1965 | The World at War: It’s a Lovely Day Tomorrow | Callan: Let’s Kill Everybody

DISC THREE: Catweazle: The Sun in a Bottle | The Arthur Haynes Show: 08/12/1962 | The Avengers: The Winged Avenger | Public Eye: My Life’s My Own | An Audience with Dame Edna

DISC FOUR: Crossroads: 26/10/1983 | On the Buses: The Strain | The Saint: The Contract | The Tommy Cooper Hour: 21/04/1974 | Auf Wiedershen Pet: The Alien

DISC FIVE: Rainbow: 26/12/1975 | Pipkins: Cowboys | Doctor in the House: What Seems To Be The Trouble? | The Power Game: The New Boy | 21

DISC SIX: Magpie: 26/11/1976 | Shut That Door! | Space 1999: Breakaway | No Hiding Place: A Bird to Watch the Marbles | The Sweeney: Tomorrow Man

DISC SEVEN: Tiswas: 30/08/1975 | Four Feather Falls: Horse Thieves | The Stanley Baxter Moving Picture Show | Gideon’s Way: The Wall | Tales of the Unexpected: Royal Jelly

DISC EIGHT: The Adventures of Robin Hood: The Coming of Robin Hood | Nearest and Dearest: What Seems to be the Trouble? | Rising Damp: Black Magic | Mystery Bag: Lockhart Finds a Note | Upstairs Downstairs: Miss Forrest | Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia

DISC NINE: Ace of Wands: Peacock Pie 1 | Coronation Street: 18/05/1964 | Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased): Could You Recognise the Man Again? | Crane: A Cargo of Cornflour | Soldier Soldier: Stormy Weather

DISC TEN: A Fine Romance: Series 2 episode 6 | World in Action: The Chart Busters | The Professionals: Blind Run | Inspector Morse: Driven to Distraction

DISC ELEVEN: George and Mildred: Moving On | Jason King: To Russia With… Panache | The Main Chance: The Best Legal System in the World | Justice: A Nice Straight-forward Treason | Strange World of Gurney Slade: Episode 1

DISC TWELVE: Our Man at St Mark’s: The Facts of Life | The Bill: The Short Straw | Man at the Top: I’ll Do the Dirty Work | Whicker’s World Aboard The Orient Express | Armchair Theatre: Afternoon of a Nymph

Review by Tina (co-host of 60 Minutes With) from discs kindly supplied by Network On Air.