Sign in

Alan Briscoe

@alanbriscoe.bsky.social
70 followers 21 following 374 posts

Archive TV aficianado Thriller (ATV) blog thriller-reviews-and-reflections.bl… Shadows of Fear blog shadowsoffearreviewed.blogspot.com Public Eye website www.publiceye1965-1975.uk

PostsRepliesMedia
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 9h
Browsing the web I learned that Luanshya Greer died in May. Originally an actress she later wrote extensively for the screen including co-writing with Brian Clemens "In the Steps of a Dead Man", one of the most acclaimed episodes of ATV's Thriller. She was married to actor John Carson. RIP Luanshya.
062
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This is the first image that I can recall seeing when we first got colour TV (rented from Visionhire!) in 1974 - an afternoon repeat of Granada's "A Family at War". Ironically despite this significance I've never watched an episode of the show, not being a fan of wartime dramas.
120
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The Moments made a lot of excellent music!
010
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Sometimes TV shows or films feature books "written" by one of the characters. Such an example is this book on longevity by notorious scientist Morgan C. Devereaux in the Timeslip serial "The Day of the Clone". Devereaux had also featured in the serial "The Time of the Ice Box" set in 1990.
051
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I remember catching part of an Open University programme on Shakespeare and was amazed to see clips of "Mr Baxter" in Richard II! He was part of the English Shakespeare Company in its cycle of history plays and played various parts very well but for me Michael Cronin will always be "Mr Baxter"!
110
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
As an aside I only realised recently why Dr Loynton was from New Zealand - very probably because writer Bruce Stewart was from NZ, as indeed was producer Ruth Boswell's husband Jim.
000
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Four classics there Richard! Isaac was a musical pioneer, "Shaft" is a good length for a single but it was unfortunate when some of his epic album tracks such as "The Look of Love" were edited for single release - very much an artist whose solo work was best served by the greater freedom of the LP.
010
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
An unnerving moment for Liz Skinner (Cheryl Burfield) as she meets her mannequin in the opening episode of the final Timeslip serial "The Day of the Clone" (1971).
141
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Back in the early 70s Southern TV was one of the best regions in terms of the first broadcasts of UFO so maybe its successor TVS was maintaining that record. I think the 80s repeats were very popular there as this video might attest: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gytn...
youtube.com
TVS Late Night Late UFO Compilation 1988
YouTube video by Neil Miles
112
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
We didn't have a VCR when UFO was repeated (1986-87 aside from those two late nights). I got all the Channel 5 / Polygram videos & still remember getting my first - Volume 6 with Court Martial & Kill Straker! - just before Christmas 1990. Perhaps for that reason those remain two of my favourite eps.
000
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I'm not sure how many of the later video releases (better cover designs I feel) I picked up - I may have reserved them for the episodes that hadn't been released earlier because they made up part of the Invasion: UFO "film". "The Man Who Came Back" I think I first saw via a recording from Bravo.
021
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I certainly had the first video. It was trememdous to be able to rewatch episodes at any time. Also hugely important for me was reading (avidly!) about the series and episodes in magazines such as Century 21 & back issues of SIG I picked up in the early 90s plus Fanderson mags a little later.
111
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Granada had shown "The Long Sleep" in a similar slot a week earlier (14.7.88) but all their other repeats including the other "sensitive content" episodes were weekend lunchtimes so less restrictive than in the 1970s. Needless I didn't know of this repeat either - I wonder how many did see it?
001
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I didn't even know that Granada had repeated "The Cat With Ten Lives" on 21st July 1988. This listing might explain why and it makes a 12.15 am screening seem positively early! Maybe it also suggests that even in 1988 this was seen as a "sensitive" episode unsuitable for daytime screening...
111
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I was too young to see any late-night broadcasts in the 1970s. I first saw it on the VHS release in 1993 & it's always been a huge favourite. In production terms it's where the style of the show really changes and moves into overdrive. Writer / director David Tomblin takes a lot of credit for this.
111
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
OTD 50 years ago (17 September 1976) UFO received its last 1970s broadcast on Granada with a post-midnight "The Cat With Ten Lives", one of those reserved for late-night screenings. Repeats in some regions such as LWT continued into 1977, the series not to return to ITV until around 10 years later.
163
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Basically this is a very entertaining satire on TV commissioning and marketing. I think the show was at its best in the more light-hearted episodes like this, "The Constance Missal", "If It's Got to Go" and "To Russia with Panache", the character of King cannot be taken too seriously.
001
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
This is certainly a well-remembered show. It built on the series of "Magnificent 6 and a Half" short films from the late 60s by the same production team and with a similar format. I think those films are tremendous fun but unfortunately largely forgotten now unlike Double Deckers.
000
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Sad news, it seemed possible he might make it to his century but not to be. Before his time at HTV he worked a lot at Thames including directing the excellent Shadows of Fear episode "Sugar and Spice". RIP Patrick.
011
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Magician David Nixon showing another string to his bow accompanying Anita Harris on double bass during his show "David Nixon's Magic Box" in April 1970.
022
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Very good and pertinent like all pifs, I just wish they could be rounded off with those iconic words "that was a public information film".
010
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
The part of Esme in "Sleepwalker" was played by Elaine Donnelly, another young blonde actress who resembled Cheryl in look and voice.
000
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
The sadly-departed Cheryl Hall in the 1974 YTV detective drama "Who Killed Lamb?", a production sometimes wrongly billed as an episode of Thriller Cheryl did not appear in the ATV series but I feel she would have especially suited the role of Esme, the maid in the 1976 episode "Sleepwalker"...
221
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
I was sorry to hear that Cheryl Hall has died. Cheryl was one of those actresses who was very versatile and gave great performances in many shows. This image from sitcom The Fenn Street Gang in 1971 was one of her earliest roles as it was for Jan Francis, both going on to very long careers.
032
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Yes, I thought it was wrapped up very well. Like a number of ATV serials around that time there was no theme music on any of the episodes but I felt this worked especially well at the end of the last episode, it added greater poignancy.
010
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
This is one of my favourite Tomorrow People serials. Kevin Stoney, John Woodnutt & Ken Farington give great guest star performances and unsually there's a female villain alongside the Spidron. I think it also benefits from avoiding the heavy-handed humour which let down some other TP serials.
010
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Having now completed "A Place to Hide" I must say I was hugely impressed, a serial of two halves starting as an amiable comedy-drama before switching to a hard-hitting hostage tale. Lots of familiar faces. A great shame it never got a DVD release but at least it is now available to see.
220
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Acting is one of the few jobs in which someone can still be working in their 70s, 80s or even 90s. Many actors have very short careers but there are also others who have careers of 50 years or more hence we can see actors from the 1970s & even 1960s still on our screens today.
030
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
I didn't know she was in Eastenders but I think if someone's career is long enough they eventally end up in a soap. This happened with Intruder co-stars Milton Johns who was in Coronation Street in the 90s and Jack Woolgar who moved on to Crossroads.
121
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Certainly I think "The Intruder" & "Come Back Lucy" were excellent late releases from Network and both with an array of extras - they did those series proud. "Tales of Unease" & "The Owl Service" blu-ray relased on the same day as well.
220
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
I was disappointed there was only one series of "Kids from 47A" released, it was one I distinctly remember from early childhood & distinctive in its largely comic focus & one of the few ITV kids' shows to have more than one series. I suppose Network may have felt Series 1 had satisfied the market.
110
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
I'm not sure if it would be classed as a drama - light drama perhaps - but the LWT show "Jamie" shown in the Sunday teatime slot in 1971 also didn't get a series release, just the opening episode on one of the Look-Back volumes. Even those single episodes were still good to see.
120
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
I was just thinking in the past day or two that this was one of the seemingly small number of 1970s serials for younger viewers that didn't get a series release so this is a pleasant surprise. Maybe some others that missed out might appear online, unlikely now they'll ever appear on DVD.
120
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
One of the things I find interesting in my own archive viewing is sometimes I see the same actor in two different shows on the same night and quite unplanned. Depending on what you watch certain actors seem to crop up time and again in many different shows.
012
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
It's early days but certainly encouraging. Even making available again much of Network's old catalogue would be great, ideally something that could add new releases could follow. I think there is still a market for archive discs which goes beyond the "big names" which feature on archive channels.
010
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
A remarkable combination of sound and pictures. The hummed end tune is particularly memorable and unsettling. ATV kids shows in the 70s were often very inventive in their opening / closing titles. Others also pictured the actors, e.g. Jensen Code, Raven, but the drawings here were a great addition.
010
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
One of Diane Cilento's first roles back in the 1950s was as an angel in the film "The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp" so that was some career trajectory!
011
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
In the 1987 Doctor Who serial "Paradise Towers" the Doctor remarks on the threats facing him and refers to "a killer in every corner", a phrase very familiar to viewers of ATV's Thriller! It raises the question of other episode titles that might have featured in a dialogue in other shows.
011
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Perhaps it's the nature of archive TV that it almost seems to freeze in time the actors we see in screen. We can forget that 50 years have passed and even the young adults of the 1970s are now well into old age. A fair number are still with us but unfortunately a dwindling number as time passes.
011
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
I don't think there's any coincidence about name choices in scriptwriting. The demise of her character does set up a very distinctive plotline - an attempt to prove a suspect innocent - and a second memorable appearance by Dinsdale Landen as Matthew Earp.
010
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
I've just discovered that actress Marian Diamond died early this year aged 89. She had a brief but important role in the Thriller episode "The Next Scream You Hear" but was a frequent face in archive TV. One of her central roles was as a villainous agent in the 1972 ATV serial Tightrope. RIP Marian.
343
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Few actors were as memorably menacing at Robert Eddison (Goodchild).
020
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Moments later Terry goes on to mention "Wait Until Dark" starring Audrey Hepburn. This 1967 film was also about a blind woman being stalked by a killer and was almost certainly an influence on Blind Terror and the two later Thriller episodes about blindness.
021
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
In the "End of an Era" episode (1973) of sitcom Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? Bob says he is feeling "blind terror" which Terry notes is a film starring Mia Farrow. Blind Terror (1971) was penned by Brian Clemens & one of the films that set the scene for his series Thriller.
262
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
The Tomorrow People serial "The Heart of Sogguth" (1977) is one of my favourites of the show - Mike's band (played by his actual band Flintlock) have a new manager who secretly has macabre plans for them. This was bold fo its time slot in its depiction of the occult and supernatural possession.
012
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
You see near the end of that episode how two insecure people let their personal pride go too far with disastrous results. While the results are not usually so dramatic it's not an unusual scenario in the real life world.
021
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
That's sad news - she was very good in both her Thriller guest appearances. RIP Joanna.
011
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
I'd never seen Thriller and it was Ian Kerr's articles around 1993-4 that got me curious about the show. The one I saw first was in Time Screen & I read it many times, especially its tantalising episode guide. I think Ian deserves huge appreciation for raising the show's profile in the 1990s.
011
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
He was certainly very good in "If It's a Man...", most notably at the climax. He had a very long and productive career making a fine contribution to many productions. RIP Michael.
021
Alan Briscoe @alanbriscoe.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
That ability to rewatch is certainly important, for many years it seemed that would be the end of Thriller on TV. I'm not sure when recordings started "doing the rounds". I suspect very few people saw every TVM back in the 80s so recordings from elsewhere later helped fill the gaps.
111