[James2001]

Didn't some of the later episodes of Big Break sit on the shelf for years before airing? There's the 2001 episode on the iPlayer that has a 1998 copyright!

Not that sitting on the shelf for years is particularly uncommon with gameshows. We even had things like the final TVS series of Catchphrase not being shown until after TVS had gone off air (and there were some previously unaired episodes from the penultimate TVS series tacked onto the end of that run as well).

[agemame]

UKGameshows.com say that no production was done at all in 1999 and 2000, them having built up enough to sustain broadcasts without them. What is a little confusing about that iPlayer episode is that it had reedited credits to acknowledge Roger Medcalf's contribution to the format, as the court case resolved around then. I don't believe broadcast shows were ever amended, but certainly there were reports at the time that he was holding up future broadcasts to ensure his full share and contribution were recognised.

It causes other ripple effects too in that collection - Bob's Full House has a new format owner edited into its credits, seemingly because it was sold on by its devisors to fund the lawsuit they found themselves losing. A very tangled setup to say the least.

[Neil Jones]

Yes they seem to have lost faith in it by 1998, and it went out in all kinds of slots as they had a massive backlog.

The episode on iPlayer was originally one of the BBC Four Collections (IIRC Richard Osman curated that particular package), although it lost that branding a while back and now it looks like they've just shoved a random episode up for no apparent reason.

[Milkshake]

Here is a clip from Go Getters series 3 episode 4, watch out for the Scottish Television sign and other gems :

www.youtube.com 

[tellyblues]

Big Break had a good run and at least unlike some other similar aged shows stayed true to itself and didn't try to adapt.

[lookoutwales]

A fun TVS (Maidstone) contribution to the Docurama strand about puppetry, featuring contributions from the workshops of Spitting Image and Jim Henson and hosted by the hands and voice of Francis Wright...

www.youtube.com 

[James2001]

Nearly every upload that channel's making continuing to blow the minds of the Missing Episodes forum people, that material they've for years been insisting with authority has been "wiped" quite clearly existed all along.

[Stooky Bill]

Nearly every upload that channel's making continuing to blow the minds of the Missing Episodes forum people, that material they've for years been insisting with authority has been "wiped" quite clearly existed all along.

Thing is that as far as I know, the TVS archive was never thought to be 'lost'. The situation was that it existed but the paperwork for it didn't, so it was impossible to sell/repeat.

However YouTube is different, it's not going to come up on any content match and if it's real owners don't know or care that they own it then they're unlikely to make a fuss.

Question is how is it ending up online? Either the channel owner had access to the archive or liberated some of it years ago

[harshy]

I absolutely love this channel it’s amazing to watch stuff that we all thought was long gone, hopefully some episodes of The Human Factor will come along, Streetwise.

[James2001]

Thing is that as far as I know, the TVS archive was never thought to be 'lost'.

If you've been following said forum for as long as I have, such claims about the TVS archive, amongst numerous others that are just as false, regularly turn up, and it doesn't help that there's a couple of people on there who act like they have insider knowledge and talk with confident authority (when all they've done is spoken to someone at the broadcasters and production companies who likely don't know themselves), so people seem to take them at their word, and some of what they claim even spreads beyond the forum (The Big Breakfast changing from "the tapes are there but it needs cataloguing" to "most episodes are wiped" is probably the most high profile example- even Transdiffusion put it in an article!).

As to who's responsible for the Youtube account, I'd be very suprised if it's not Nic Ayling. He's been posting TVS content from master tapes on his other Youtube account for years, so he clearly has access to them, wherever they are. I seem to remember reading a few years back someone saying it was all still at Maidstone (which is likely why the people who have tried to contact Disney about TVS material, due to the ownership technically going to them after IFE and Fox, got told they didn't have them).