Multi-Coloured Swap Shop: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:15, 13 January 2023

Revision as of 09:56, 15 March 2023

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This first ever question for the live audience was, 'Where will the next Olympic games be held (1980)?'. Moscow was the answer.

''Swap Shop'' is poorly represented in the BBC archive. For some time it was believed that either the programmes were never routinely recorded in the first place, or they [[WipingLost television broadcast#BBCWiping|had been wiped]] on the orders of the BBC's Archive Selector Adam Lee in 1993. The truth, as related by ex-''[[Blue Peter]]'' editor [[Richard Marson]] on the archive television forum ''The Mausoleum Club'' in 2006, is that almost every edition of ''Swap Shop'' was recorded in full every week onto two 90-minute [[2-inch Quadruplex videotape|Quad tapes]]. These tapes were held by the BBC until the late 1980s, at which time the Deputy Head of Children's Television, Roy Thompson, allowed many of them to be wiped and sold to Australia as recycled stock. Although Quad tape was considered obsolete in the UK, Australia was still using it extensively at that time, and as the ''Swap Shop'' tapes had no physical splices in them, they were considered ideal for reuse.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mausoleumclubforum.org.uk/xmb/viewthread.php?tid=13855&page=1|title=Junked BBC Childrens Shows|publisher=The Mausoleum Club Forum|date=2006}}</ref>

As a consequence of this action, many of the clips used in the retrospective ''It Started With Swap Shop'' and as extras on some DVD releases of other BBC shows had to be taken from domestic video recordings that had survived in private hands. Amongst the editions wiped were those featuring appearances by [[Blondie (band)|Blondie]], [[XTC]], ''[[Trumpton]]'' creator [[Gordon Murray (puppeteer)|Gordon Murray]], and numerous cast and crew members of ''[[Doctor Who]]''.