Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC

[antnield]

Acorn released the complete series of The Edwardians in 2009. Available from all the usual outlets.

One of non-Clarke episodes of The Company of Five has been released by Network on their Dennis Potter at LWT set so perhaps they'd have info on the whereabouts of other five.

[beamish13]

I've always thought that both Alan Clarke's and Michael Haneke's unreleased TV movies would make awesome Eclipse sets.

Dennis Potter, too. It took me forever to get a copy of TENDER IS THE NIGHT (thanks, Reddit!) and BLACKEYES is a major work that deserves serious reappraisal.

Perhaps Criterion could license PLAY FOR TODAY/SCREEN TWO titles?

[MichaelB]

At least one UK distributor has been after Penda's Fen, but the BBC wanted a wholly unrealistic amount of money.

Incidentally, Nick, I assume you've read Richard Kelly's book on Clarke?

[peerpee]

Acorn released the complete series of The Edwardians in 2009. Available from all the usual outlets.

One of non-Clarke episodes of The Company of Five has been released by Network on their Dennis Potter at LWT set so perhaps they'd have info on the whereabouts of other five.

Thanks for THE EDWARDIANS tip! Just ordered it. Will be able to fit it in chronologically if it arrives soon.

Yes, all this ITV stuff will be in ITV's vaults. NETWORK the best hope for those. It needs someone there to have the vision to put them all together in a cracking looking boxset.

[peerpee]

Incidentally, Nick, I assume you've read Richard Kelly's book on Clarke?

Have you stopped using Twitter?

[MichaelB]

Never really started.

[peerpee]

I've been tweeting Clarkovsky quotes. Richard Kelly tweeted back. The Kelly ALAN CLARKE book is amazing.

[antnield]

Yes, all this ITV stuff will be in ITV's vaults. NETWORK the best hope for those. It needs someone there to have the vision to put them all together in a cracking looking boxset.

Of course, they put out Made in Britain on Blu-ray as part of their excellent Tales Out of School set last year, so there's hope.

["membrillo"]

Of course, they put out Made in Britain on Blu-ray as part of their excellent Tales Out of School set last year, so there's hope.

Thanks for that. Just ordered. Can't wait to see it on Blu-ray!

[peerpee]

Yes, that's a good set (TALES OUT OF SCHOOL Blu-ray). I'll start to embellish the list above with known commercial releases (seeing as there are so few).

[RossyG]

The Gold Robbers got a limited edition release by Network: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Gold-Robber ... B004EGITEU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[peerpee]

Fantastic! Just ordered (from play.com for £24.99) Thanks.

[peerpee]

What I wouldn't give to have copies of some of this work, especially ROAD, CONTACT and CHRISTINE.

Quite a lot are on YouTube in their entirety (ROAD is on there, but in parts. Worth it though!). I'm adding YouTube links to the top post if I think they're watchable and if they're not split up into parts.)

[sidehacker]

Just some maintenance here, the link for Diane is incorrect. It can be found here. Here's the only thing I can find specifically about the film - http://filmsociety.wellington.net.nz/db ... php?id=160" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for doing this, Nick.

[peerpee]

Just some maintenance here, the link for Diane is incorrect. It can be found here. Here's the only thing I can find specifically about the film - http://filmsociety.wellington.net.nz/db ... php?id=160" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for doing this, Nick.

Thanks! I've fixed the DIANE link. I've recently seen A FOLLOWER FOR EMILY, FUNNY FARM, and DIANE and will be writing them up shortly. Also added a few more links.

[beamish13]

Interesting that DIANE's credited screenwriter is "David Agnew", which is a pseudonym. Any guesses as to who the original writer was?

[peerpee]

Interesting that DIANE's credited screenwriter is "David Agnew", which is a pseudonym. Any guesses as to who the original writer was?

imdb says "Anthony Read", but the Faber Alan Clarke book has a number of folk describing how Jonathan Hales was the author of a 2-parter called ALL THE SAINTS, which Clarke turned into DIANE. Hales didn't like what Clarke had done, so they went with "David Agnew", which is the "Alan Smithee" of the TV world.

[GaryC]

Maybe there's some confusion because Anthony Read did use the "David Agnew" pseudonym for the Doctor Who serial The Invasion of Time, which Read cowrote with the show's then producer Graham Williams. "Agnew" went on to write another Doctor Who, City of Death - in that case the writers were Douglas Adams and Graham Williams.

[ogtec]

There's a good, long, piece on Contact over at British Television Drama. I'm surprised Contact was as late as 1985 and I'd always, mentally, placed it much earlier. Love the Morris Marina...

George

[peerpee]

Teaser posters... all designed in high resolution as Quad posters, using a specific template (same fonts, placement, etc), to unify a series of films that have never had posters before and provide a basis for future DVD artwork:

[zedz]

Nice work, Nick. Those titles are the exact contents (with the addition of Made in Britain) of a British Council programme that was touring several years ago (and may still be, for all I know). Coincidence?

[peerpee]

Thanks! -- (yes, MADE IN BRITAIN was made by ITV, and is out on Blu-ray, so doesn't need excavating, but I'd like to do a matching teaser poster for it!) Whereabouts did you see this touring programme?

...and here's ROAD:

[RobertB]

I would pay a good sum for a box of blu-rays. £100 isn't out of the question. Hope you can get Network os someone else interested in releasing this. A DVD box would be of a much less interest to me. Very nice artwork but I liked the moustache Gary Oldman had in The Firm, and you can't really see it in that picture. And just for the sake of selling more copies I guess it could be something that promises hooligans and violence.

I love the look of this.

[RossyG]

BD would be great, but I'd be more than happy with a DVD set. Don't forget, they were quickly made productions, shot on 16mm and with TV in mind. A good DVD will still be a lot better than their original broadcasts.

[peerpee]

Very nice artwork but I liked the moustache Gary Oldman had in The Firm, and you can't really see it in that picture. And just for the sake of selling more copies I guess it could be something that promises hooligans and violence.

That's exactly why I didn't go with the obvious for THE FIRM. I'd rather respect the audience, than bring everything down to the lowest common denominator all the time (which is what has been done repeatedly with SCUM / MADE IN BRITAIN / THE FIRM's artwork over the years).

I love the look of this.

It's sexy (as Alan might say).