On Sun, 05 Feb 2006 22:43:40 +0000 someone who may be Graeme Wall
wrote this:-

Actually I believe the Beeb has, or at least had, a generic tube station set.
I seem to remember it appearing on a number of different programmes

No, it is actually a real station on the secret government tube line
that lies under the ordinary ones:-)

Incidentally while looking for something else I came across
http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/s...on/index.shtml
which has many interesting photographs of the Snow Hill line in
London, now called Thameslink.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

In message
(Old Joe) wrote:

Graeme Wall wrote:

In message
"Ronnie Clark" wrote:

It is an urban myth that Doctor Who ever went out live.

It certainly went out live in the very early years

Oh no it didn't (and I've read more than enough books on the topic to
prove it). 'Quatermass' and various plays went out live but 'Doctor
Who' never did.

I must check with a cooleague who worked on the early episodes. Can't
contact him at the moment as he is somewhere in Brazil!

I wouldn't believe everything you read in books about Dr Who...

--
Graeme Wall
This address is not read, substitute trains for rail.
Transport Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail/index.html

In message
"Tim Roll-Pickering" wrote:

Graeme Wall wrote:

It is an urban myth that Doctor Who ever went out live. It was simply
recorded "as live" for the first few years due to the difficulties in
videotape editing.

It certainly went out live in the very early years, most BBC programmes
did.
Z-Cars was transmitted live well into the 1970s. By then it had become a
fetish for that programme and there were long and loud lamentations when
they
went recorded. The reason being to do with studio scheduling rather than
editing.

I disagree - a lot of research has been done that shows that Doctor Who was
recorded in advance from the outset.

There are recordings of the early shows but BBC drama series were recorded
even when transmitted live (for the repeats). Some where only recorded on
film for archive purposes (and 405 line TV recorded on 16mm film is pretty
awful).


Z-Cars seemed to still do live episodes in 1965 but this was even then
regarded as anachronistic.


Still live when I joined the Beeb in 1969. They were, as far as I know, the
last drama series to be transmitted live.

--
Graeme Wall
This address is not read, substitute trains for rail.
Transport Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail/index.html

In message , Graeme Wall
writes
The only death I've heard of in a BBC studio was a messenger who had a
heart attack during a live programme.

YTV in Leeds famously had a guest die on their afternoon chat show
"Calendar People" in the seventies. (This was the same programme - but
not edition - which saw Richard Whiteley's famous encounter with a
ferret. I'm trying really hard to come up with a railway or London
transport connection here but can't!)
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

In message , Ronnie Clark
writes

"M. J. Powell" wrote in message
...

Was that the one where an actor died on the set and the others ad libbed
around his part? The sets were in the studio, but as a number of
parallel tunnels. It went out live.

It is an urban myth that Doctor Who ever went out live. It was simply
recorded "as live" for the first few years due to the difficulties in
videotape editing.

Very sorry. I added my bit in the wrong place.

I was thinking of an ABC production from Birmingham.

Mike
--
M.J.Powell

Graeme Wall wrote:

I must check with a cooleague

cooleague: n. 1. a fellow worker whose company one enjoys.

OED please note.
--
http://gallery120232.fotopic.net/p9632889.html
(33 112 at Reading, 1 Jun 1985)

In message , Graeme Wall
writes

It certainly went out live in the very early years, most BBC programmes did.

According to ...
http://www.relativedimensions.co.uk/newman.html

it was recorded on videotape (which was indeed unusual in the UK back
then). Almost certainly they would have used Ampex Quad machines, which
the beeb were just starting to employ, following the failure of their
own "VERA" video-taping system.

I can't be certain if that URL is right, but it seems very likely - the
quality of the early episodes matches the very poor reproduction of
early Quads (nowhere near as good as film), and they would already have
been committed to using recording for the title sequence and for the
trailers (it was one of the very few programmes to have had trailers
back in them days).

--
Paul Terry

Paul wrote:

Big question is how they managed to shut the Central line to film it -
unless it was done at Christmas

There are several free hours every day, or rather, night.

--
http://gallery120232.fotopic.net/p9633073.html
(50 023 at Basingstoke, 10 May 1985)

Graeme Wall wrote:

It is an urban myth that Doctor Who ever went out live.

It certainly went out live in the very early years

Oh no it didn't (and I've read more than enough books on the topic to
prove it). 'Quatermass' and various plays went out live but 'Doctor
Who' never did.

I must check with a cooleague who worked on the early episodes. Can't
contact him at the moment as he is somewhere in Brazil!

I wouldn't believe everything you read in books about Dr Who...

Given that many are written by researchers who have accessed the BBC's
files, checking and cross checking the studio dates, internal memos and so
forth. The recording schedules are in existance, the tape usages are, a few
of the early episodes transmitted from film recordings still exist in the
Film Library. The evidence is overwhelming.

"Tim Roll-Pickering" wrote in message
...
Graeme Wall wrote:

It is an urban myth that Doctor Who ever went out live.

It certainly went out live in the very early years

Oh no it didn't (and I've read more than enough books on the topic to
prove it). 'Quatermass' and various plays went out live but 'Doctor
Who' never did.

I must check with a cooleague who worked on the early episodes. Can't
contact him at the moment as he is somewhere in Brazil!

I wouldn't believe everything you read in books about Dr Who...

Given that many are written by researchers who have accessed the BBC's
files, checking and cross checking the studio dates, internal memos and so
forth. The recording schedules are in existance, the tape usages are, a
few of the early episodes transmitted from film recordings still exist in
the Film Library. The evidence is overwhelming.

I think the confusion is down to way it's been described. Dr Who never went
out live, but due to the way it was recorded it was very much like a live
show. Scenes were recorded in order, there was little opportunity for
retakes, etc. So although it was all committed to tape before transmission,
the process for the actors, stage hands, etc. probably didn't differ much
from a show that did go out live.