BBC banks on nostalgia with a TV binge

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• Publication: The Daily Telegraph
• Date: 1991-08-19
• Author: Jane Thynne
• Page:
• Language: English

Even that potter's wheel spins again

TELEVISION addicts who like to look back can look forward to a day-long march down memory lane next week.

Names and faces from the dim, distant and occasionally distorted black-and-white past will shimmer back into focus — such as the Grove Family, Muffin the Mule, Billy Bunter and even the Potter's Wheel.

It is all part of BBC2's 11am to midnight Bank Holiday tribute to the now defunct Lime Grove Studios.

Lime Grove, a rambling warren of converted terraced houses and studio buildings in Shepherd's Bush, west London, closed its doors last month, 41 years after the BBC bought the site for £230,000.

Before the BBC moved in, films like Hitchcock's The Thirty Nine Steps and The Wicked Lady were made there and both will be shown on Monday.

The studios were meant to be a stopgap until Television Centre was completed in 1960, but by that time, Lime Grove was established in its own right.

Now it is condemned by BBC cost-cutting and its own outdated shabbiness. It stands empty until a buyer is found.

Its name lives on as the inspiration for Britain's first soap — The Grove Family. Because most television was then live, and videotape technology did not exist, only three filmed episodes survive. Clips will be shown, with scenes recreated by modern soap stars, including Leslie Grantham, of EastEnders.

Among the first Lime Grove programmes were children's classics such as Muffin The Mule, Andy Pandy and Bill and Ben. These were followed by Billy Bunter and the indes-tructable Blue Peter.

Talks and current affairs accounted for most of the output, presided over by Grace Wyndham Goldie, who pioneered Monitor, the first arts programme, Tonight and Panorama, which began in 1953.

The studios also turned out Hancock's Half Hour, Face To Face, What's My Line and This Is Your Life, which will be recalled in documentaries.

Perhaps to divert Dr Who fans demanding a new series, BBC2 is screening an unseen pilot, The Unearthly Child, starring William Hartnell, the first Doctor, plus episodes of Quatermass II and Dixon Of Dock Green.

Also being shown is the first party political broadcast, for the Tories, in 1953. It "starred" Harold Macmillan and William Deedes, later editor of The Daily Telegraph and now Lord Deedes.

Captions:

The original Groves: Peter Bryant, Carole Mowlam and Edward Evans. Front row: Margaret Downs, Ruth Dunning, Nancy Robers and Christopher Beeny

The stand-in Groves: Nick Berry, Sally Ann Matthews and Leslie Grantham. Front row: Kellie Bright, Sue Johnston, Anna Wing and Paul Parris

The first Dr Who: William Hartnell in unseen pilot

Quatermass too: John Robinson

Yaroo: Gerald Campion's Bunter

Disclaimer: These citations are created on-the-fly using primitive parsing techniques. You should double-check all citations. Send feedback to whovian@cuttingsarchive.org

• APA 6th ed.: Thynne, Jane (1991-08-19). BBC banks on nostalgia with a TV binge. The Daily Telegraph .
• MLA 7th ed.: Thynne, Jane. "BBC banks on nostalgia with a TV binge." The Daily Telegraph [add city] 1991-08-19. Print.
• Chicago 15th ed.: Thynne, Jane. "BBC banks on nostalgia with a TV binge." The Daily Telegraph, edition, sec., 1991-08-19
• Turabian: Thynne, Jane. "BBC banks on nostalgia with a TV binge." The Daily Telegraph, 1991-08-19, section, edition.
• Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=BBC banks on nostalgia with a TV binge | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/BBC_banks_on_nostalgia_with_a_TV_binge | work=The Daily Telegraph | pages= | date=1991-08-19 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=20 May 2025 }}</ref>
• Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=BBC banks on nostalgia with a TV binge | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/BBC_banks_on_nostalgia_with_a_TV_binge | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=20 May 2025}}</ref>