Stourbridge group brings historic TV archive back to life (From Stourbridge News)

Stourbridge group brings historic TV archive back to life

5:18pm Tuesday 20th October 2009

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A MASSIVE TV archive thought to be lost has been brought back to life by a Stourbridge restoration group.

Tapes of classic comedy moments featuring stars like Tommy Cooper, Frankie Howerd and Benny Hill which were handed over to the Kaleidoscope organisation by the family of the late entertainment legend Bob Monkhouse are to be screened this weekend in London for a celebrity-packed audience.

Kaleidoscope, a not-for-profit co-operative of volunteers that catalogues and restores old film, will be showing the footage for the first time since its broadcast around 50 years ago.

Kaleidoscope spokesman Chris Perry said: “Bob was a versatile entertainer; a comedian’s comedian.

“He supported and knew all the comedy greats, helping their careers whenever he could.

“Bob recorded their appearances as well as many of his own to build a huge archive of enormous significance.

“We have worked closely with the Monkhouse family to preserve this nationally important collection.”

The vintage clips include extracts from The London Palladium Show, Hancock’s Half Hour, Pete Murray’s Open House and New Faces featuring the first TV performance of Dudley comedian Lenny Henry.

Until the early 1980s, both the BBC and ITV regularly wiped programmes after broadcast and it was feared that the film had been destroyed.

Monkhouse died in 2003 and his family this year released the tapes to Kaleidoscope who are regarded as a major independent group in the preservation of TV and radio archives.

The footage will be shown at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) HQ on Saturday October 24, at an event called ‘Bob’s Full House’.

Guests at the event, which will raise money for the Prostate Cancer Research Fund, will include the It’ll be Alright on the Night host Denis Norden, Fifteen-to-One frontman William G Stewart, and comedy icon June Whitfield, former Blue Peter presenter Liz Barker will host the event.

Kaleidoscope, who have an archive in Dudley and hold regular screenings at Stourbridge Town Hall, have been restoring old TV and radio tapes for 20 years and work closely with broadcasters like ITV and the BBC to produce footage for DVD releases.

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