TV Gold

Not a strictly related Secret Army query!

Please can someone tell me whether the Colditz series is available on DVD / Video and the best place to go for it - can't find references to it in the BBC's online shop.

Thanks,

damian

Does it even still exist I wonder? Some BBC programmes from that sort of time have been wiped. It would be a pity if that were the case as I have never seen it, and would like to. I would be interested to see Bernard Hepton as the villain of the piece.

A colleague of mine looked into this early last year. Colditz was a co-production between the BBC and an American network (can't recall off-hand which one without checking elsewhere).....hence the bigger budget to pay for stars such as Robert Wagner and David MaCallum to appear.

Unfortunately, both the BBC and the American network in question remain in dispute over which of them owns the rights to the series. They are both claiming they do and the situation has remained in stalemate for years. Until it is resolved, an official DVD release remains extremely unlikely.

Following UK Drama's endless (although welcome) repeats of Secret Army, it would be great if they could obtain the rights to show the series, as UK Gold did back in the early 1990s when some people were able to video it.

Marcus Anton wrote:A colleague of mine looked into this early last year. Colditz was a co-production between the BBC and an American network (can't recall off-hand which one without checking elsewhere).....hence the bigger budget to pay for stars such as Robert Wagner and David MaCallum to appear.

Unfortunately, both the BBC and the American network in question remain in dispute over which of them owns the rights to the series. They are both claiming they do and the situation has remained in stalemate for years. Until it is resolved, an official DVD release remains extremely unlikely.

Following UK Drama's endless (although welcome) repeats of Secret Army, it would be great if they could obtain the rights to show the series, as UK Gold did back in the early 1990s when some people were able to video it.

Thankyou for shedding some light on the problem, even though it is bad news really. I wish they would repeat it, I have some shiny discs at the ready!

I would love to borrow this if antbody has it on video? Thanks, Rebecca

Vulcan wrote:I would love to borrow this if antbody has it on video? Thanks, Rebecca

I don't have this series on video however like to mention my posting here... http://www.tvgold.co.uk/bbc-colditz-t103.html which has a link to 'Raretelevision.com' whom offer Colditz on DVD, marvellous stuff!

Has anyone ordered anything from Rare Television.com and how are they able to offer DVDs of programmes that aren't available elsewhere? I thought Colditz was not available due to the copyright dispute?

I've only ordered 'Electric Dreams' the 1984 film set in San Francisco (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087197/), marvellous picture and (stereo) sound quality which chapter points and scene selection options. I guess their catalogue of releases are 'recorded off television' but although I've only so far bought this first title I'm very impressed although hopefully other titles will be up to the same quality as this.

Lizduck wrote:Has anyone ordered anything from Rare Television.com and how are they able to offer DVDs of programmes that aren't available elsewhere? I thought Colditz was not available due to the copyright dispute?

I guess because its readily available in the public domain nothing will ever get done about it. Every DVD you see about of Colditz is copied from the TV. I have the full series on DVD via this way and although its watchable some of the quality is quite poor.

Is there no way we could get a petition going for an official dvd release? Might just make a difference if enough people are interested. Same goes for Fourth Arm.

Phil J Corbett wrote:Is there no way we could get a petition going for an official dvd release? Might just make a difference if enough people are interested. Same goes for Fourth Arm.

To do that you'll need to bring Paramount and the BBC together so I can't see it happening.

Contact KiwiKid at 222kiwi@gmail.com I believe they have the original 1974 TV series on DVD disc, all 28 show's.