The noble art of trawling through ancient video tapes - part archaeology, part masochism - often turns up fragments rather than complete relics. Betamax tapes throws up all manner of interesting nuggets from the past, but many of them tend to be incomplete. The problem is that the original tape owner's main treasure was usually something like a Bond film, but they may have left the tape running afterwards - hence why I'm eternally being handed the opening minutes of the evening's news before the recording stops.
For those of us in the analogue underworld, this is teeth-grinding stuff. We crave complete programmes, neatly boxed time capsules complete with adverts and in-vision continuity from a friendly face in a makeshift studio. Nonetheless, these glimpses of ephemeral television are still of interest. That's why I regularly upload little snippets to YouTube and, just recently, I've been featuring showcasing them over on the Curious British Telly Substack. So, just a quick reminder to head over there and, for example, check out an extended clip of Bruce Forsyth presenting Hollywood or Bust in 1984.
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