Yes, it’s that time of year again: the annual plea for readers of Curious British Telly to donate their old video tapes. For those new here, the purpose of this is simple. I dig through these dusty tapes for fleeting glimpses of long-forgotten British television. I’m talking about programmes that haven’t seen the light of day since their original broadcast, in-vision continuity announcers introducing films, regional news reports and, of course, that true blast of nostalgia: the advert break. A fine example of what I can uncover is this Anglia closedown from 1985.
I’ve been at this for ten years now, yet recordings from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s are getting harder to find. The majority of tapes I see online are from the mid-1990s, and usually contain recordings of Big Brother 5 or even the 2008 Olympics. Yes, these recordings are getting older by the day, but they're far from the interests of Curious British Telly. I want to take you back on a journey into the distant, distant past.
So, if you happen to have - or know someone who has - old VHS or Betamax tapes gathering dust like the ones pictured above, please get in touch. I’m always happy to come and collect them, and yes, I can send them back if you’d like. Each tape rescued is another small piece of British television history saved from oblivion.
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