Ace of Wands: (From left) Tony Selby (Sam), Michael Mackenzie (Tarot), Judy Loe (Lulli), Donald Layne-Smith (Mr. Sweet) and Fred Owl (Ozymandias).
WIPED NEWS has added an audio recording of Ace of Wands story Nightmare Gas to its YouTube channel.
Like all of seasons one and two of the fantasy-based Thames Television children’ show, Nightmare Gas is missing from the ITV archives.
Thankfully, off-air domestic audio recordings of all three episodes exist, though the quality leaves a lot to be desired. The uploaded episode has been restored by Wiped News as much as possible.
“Nightmare Gas”, Episode 1/3 (tx 01/09/11): Tarot (Michael Mackenzie) meets a new adversary – the beautiful but deadly Thalia (Isobel Black). With her monosyllabic brother Dalbiac (Jonathan Newth) she steals a top-secret weapon – the deadly hallucinatory gas H23, a gas which produces not just a deep sleep and nightmares but kills the person 23 minutes later.
Next week, episode 2 of “Nightmare Gas” will be uploaded.
SINCE AUGUST of last year, websufers have been able to watch gems from the archives of Scottish Televison on video sharing site YouTube. Among the classic STV programmes made viewable on demand are popular drama Take The High Road, music show Thingummyjig and selected highlights of historic Scottish football matches.
In our latest feature, Wiped News speaks to David Paton, Media co-ordinator – STVPlayer on YouTube, about the move into cyberspace and the search for lost material. Visit: STV Archives Come To YouTube.
WIPED NEW’S resident columnist Ray gets the New Year off to a great start with news of a number of clips from missing shows featuring Georgie Fame, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Gerry Rafferty and… Bill Oddie – Raymond of the Lost Archive 8#.
WHEEL MEET AGAIN: A promotional photo from The Wheel in Space showing the Cybermen and new companion Zoe (Wendy Padbury).
A NEW CGI trailer for classic Doctor Who story The Wheel in Spacehas become an internet hit.
The clip imagines what the sixties adventure would have looked like if made by Alien director Ridley Scott.
Lasting two minutes, the “creepy” black and white animation features scenes of popular Who foes the Cybermen set to the soundtrack of Scott’s acclaimed 1979 horror film.
The video has had thousands of views on YouTube since being uploaded on New Year’s Day and shows how far reconstructions, or ‘recons’, of missing Doctor Who episodes have come.
Animator Iz Skinner made the trailer as a ‘taster’ for a forthcoming recon of the Patrick Troughton story and says she was trying to reinstate the “scariness” of the episodes.
She said: “When I read that Ridley Scott had actually worked for BBC Television in the 1960s, I thought it would be fun to imagine how he might have made a trailer for this great story.
“I felt that the Alien soundtrack in some way reinstated the scariness of this episode for the modern generation who might not know how terrifying and exciting these stories were when they were first broadcast.”
Originally broadcast from April 27 – June 1, 1968, only episodes three and six of this six-part story are currently held by the BBC.
Telesnaps and fan-made audio recordings of all episodes, however, do survive and have been utilized by Iz and fan-group Loose Cannon Productions to recreate as much as possible the look and feel of the show.
“The trailer is made up of a small selection of the clips I’ve been animating for the upcoming Loose Cannon release,” said Iz, who has based her work on continuity stills and the “expert advice” of fellow LC members Derek Handley, Dean Rose and Russ Port
“I do think a semi-photo realistic episode is entirely doable,” added Iz.
“I say semi-photo realistic because for the most part I’d say that you would still know it was CG, particularly with the characters.
“I now have a motion capture set-up in my living room which allows me to act out scenes and give a more natural movement to my characters.”
Kincade: L-R Nigel Griggs, Paul Griggs, Rick Williams
AN AUDIO recording of a lost live performance by 70s’ group Kincade on Lift Off With Ayshea has been found in the possession of one of the band’s members.
The recording of single “Dreams are Ten a Penny”, including an introduction by host Ayshea Brough, was made by singer and guitarist Paul Griggs.
The veteran musician, who went on to join vocal group Guys n’ Dolls, taped the performance off the TV at time of broadcast using a reel-to-reel recorder.
Griggs recently rediscovered the tape and has now posted the clip on YouTube.
Speaking to Wiped News, he says Kincade’s appearance on Lift Off With Ayshea, aired on ITV, is notable for being the only time the line-up of Griggs, brother Nigel, Rick Williams and drummer Alan Eden played live.
He said: “Lift Off was the only time this line up of the group performed live, as the records were made by a guy called John Carter, and most of the time we went round miming to session musicians.
“I don’t have any great memories of the show but it was produced by Muriel Young, who was a very nice person. Vanity Fare were also on.”
Grigg was invited to form Kincade in December 1972 after receiving a call from Larry Page at Penny Farthing Records, the label that his former band Octopus had recorded for.
The label had just had a hit record in Europe with “Dreams are Ten a Penny”, purportedly by an act called ‘Kincade’ which, in reality, didn’t exist.
The song had actually been made by John Carter, a former member of The Ivy League, who did not want to go out as performing artist and so a front group, which Griggs recruited, were hastily put together.
Kincade appeared on Dutch and Spanish TV miming to Dreams are Ten a Penny but in May ’73, faced with a forthcoming live performance on LOWA, recruited drummer Eden and headed to the studio to record a backing track.
They filmed at Granada Studios in Manchester and the show was broadcast on June 1, 1973. The group, back down to Paul, Nigel and Rick, disbanded in December that year.
“I think I did quite a reasonable impersonation of John Carter,” said Griggs, who in 2008 published Diary of a Musician, a book about his career (including his time with Kincade) based on diaries he’d kept from 1960.
Ayshea Brough - host of children's pop show Lift Off With Ayshea
Lift Off With Ayshea ran from 1972 to 1974. It was hosted by former model, singer and actress Ayesha Brough, remembered today for appearing as Lt Johnson in the 1970 Gerry Anderson science fiction TV drama UFO.
Broadcast between 12/4/72 and 17/12/74, LOWA was notable for the first TV performance of “Starman” by David Bowie in 1972.
In total, 73 episodes were made but according to Lost Shows.com only two, 15/10/74 and the finale, are still held in the Granada archives.
READ ON: You can find out more about the story of Kincade, as recounted by band member Paul Griggs, at www.paulgriggs.com.
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