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Ten Acre Books

@tenacrebooks.bsky.social
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Special books celebrating great TV shows and the people who make them. tenacrebooks.co.uk | linktr.ee/tenacrebooks

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Ten Acre Books @tenacrebooks.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
We're counting down to the release of our new book The Reality War. Pre-order now to get the early discount price of £12.99, which will rise to the RRP of £14.99 upon release.
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Ten Acre Books @tenacrebooks.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
It's 50 years since the debut of Multi-Coloured Swap Shop. Read about the show's creation and how it set the template for two decades of live Saturday morning TV in our book Box of Delights: The Story of BBC Children's Television. Available now from tenacrebooks.co.uk
In studio for the final edition of Multi-Coloured Swap Shop in 1982Box of Delights: The Story of BBC Children's Television cover
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Ten Acre Books @tenacrebooks.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
We're counting down to the release of our new book The Reality War. Pre-order now to get the early discount price of £12.99, which will rise to the RRP of £14.99 upon release.
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Ten Acre Books @tenacrebooks.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
We've just received a new crop of reprints. You Are Not Alone, Penda's Fen: Scene by Scene, Maximum Power! and David Whitaker in an Exciting Adventure with Television are all back in stock. Phew! Order now from tenacrebooks.co.uk
You Are Not Alone: A Gay History of Doctor WhoPenda's Fen: Scene by SceneMaximum Power!David Whitaker in an Exciting Adventure with Television
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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Not just nostalgic but open and revealing. Numerous insiders from both in front of and behind the camera share their memories, opinions and working methods. Yet another winner from @tenacrebooks.bsky.social.
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Dark Shadows News @darkshadowsnews.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Thanks to everyone who's supported our 60th Anniversary Dark Shadows charity fanzine Daytime Gothic. Here's a look at the contents – 160 pages of interviews, features, essays and fiction celebrating the TV's supernatural soap opera. Order yours from tenacrefilms.bigcartel.com/product/dayt...
Cover of Daytime Gothic II with Lara Parker.Contents spread… there's a LOT.
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Paul Hayes @paul-hayes.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
It's 23 years ago today since the recommissioning of #DoctorWho was announced. But how did that come about...? My book from Ten Acre Books tells the story... tenacrefilms.bigcartel.com/product/the-...
tenacrefilms.bigcartel.com
The Long Game – 1996-2003: The Inside Story of How the BBC Brought Back Doctor Who
“It would only happen in the BBC, wouldn’t it? BBC Worldwide wouldn’t let BBC TV produce it!” Lorraine Heggessey When Russell T Davies’ triumphant Doctor Who relaunch hit screens in 2005, it didn’t si...
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Ten Acre Books @tenacrebooks.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
From Crackerjack to Rentaghost, Grange Hill to Record Breakers, Narnia to Maid Marian… Relive over 30 years of unforgettable TV shows for young viewers with Box of Delights, the definitive inside story of the BBC Children's Television. Available now from tenacrebooks.co.uk
Box of Delights: The Story of BBC Children's Television
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Russell Parker @pussellrarker.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
-“Oh don’t worry, I’ll get my daughter to do it, she’ll be fine” was her response. So she did. Here’s young Caroline Hawkins in #PendasFen the play, and here she is with me tonight
Caroline Hawkins about to get her hands lopped off in 1974Caroline Hawkins with me tonight, in 2026. The hands grew back.
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Russell Parker @pussellrarker.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
So tonight I went to an exhibition of the work of the late BBC Costume Designer, Joyce Hawkins, covering her 3 decade long career from 1958 to her retirement in 1988. She died in May this year, aged 95. Well done on all that, Joyce
Front page of the brochure
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Dan Hollingsworth @dhollingsworth.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I don't need more books about Doctor Who... 🤔 Oh! But this looks great! 😍 Just bought another book about Doctor Who. Hurrah! 👍
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Ten Acre Books @tenacrebooks.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
63 years ago this week, Doctor Who was in studio, recording for the first time. Read about the show's journey from concept to first broadcast in Pull to Open, the definitive account of those early days by @paul-hayes.bsky.social. Available now from tenacrebooks.co.uk
Pull to Open: The Inside Story of How the BBC Created and Launched Doctor Who.
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David Brown @davidebrown.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Can't believe I got a BBC News alert that #Strictly was starting. They didn't go to that trouble when Penda's Fen got shown on BBC Four. What has the BBC ever done for me?
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Ten Acre Books @tenacrebooks.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Broadcaster and actor Peter Purves got in touch to say how much he’d enjoyed our book The Quatermass Experiment, @tobyhadoke.bsky.social’s definitive guide to TV’s first sci-fi classic, available now from tenacrebooks.co.uk 🚀
‘A remarkable achievement. Your research cannot be faulted, and you have knitted it into the definitive book on early TV production skills and techniques, without ever being boring. Having watched the original Quatermass, I was reminded of so much that I had forgotten. Your choices of photographs are incredibly valuable to the story, and show the limitations of the setting, which you describe quite brilliantly. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and cannot praise you highly enough.’ Peter PurvesThe Quatermass Experiment: The Making of TV's First Sci-Fi Classic
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Dr Tom May @dreamcargoes.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Last word on #Pendesfen for now is: read Ian Greaves's book if you are interested in learning more for a reasonable 15 nicker! It's aptly expansive & detailed, going into every scene, every theme &, well, Roger Casement & Churchill's People! tenacrefilms.bigcartel.com/product/pend... (6)
tenacrefilms.bigcartel.com
Penda's Fen: Scene by Scene
Penda’s Fen, a film for television by David Rudkin, tells the story of a boy obsessed with the music of Elgar. Through a series of visitations – angels and demons, Christ, King Penda, even Elgar himse...
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Ian Potter @ianzpotter.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
You should read Ian Greaves' absolutely brilliant book on it. He's one of my favourite Ians in a fairly packed field. tenacrefilms.bigcartel.com/product/pend...
tenacrefilms.bigcartel.com
Penda's Fen: Scene by Scene
Reprinting: New copies arriving September 28 Penda’s Fen, a film for television by David Rudkin, tells the story of a boy obsessed with the music of Elgar. Through a series of visitations – angels and...
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Al Kennedy @alkennedy.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Great thing about Ten Acre is that while I know very little about Blake's 7, this ad got me to go to their site, where I ended up buying an entirely different book. And this isn't even the first time it's happened!
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Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Buy this book, for charity! We've never said who wrote which bits of Maximum Power! but I can now exclusively reveal that I wrote the 'Barbara Smelley' joke in page 301.
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Martin Parsons @martang66.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
If you are a fan of Dark Shadows, do pick up a copy of Daytime Gothic II before they are all gone! A thing of beauty and all proceeds are going to Peace4Kids www.peace4kids.org tenacrefilms.bigcartel.com/product/dayt...
tenacrefilms.bigcartel.com
Daytime Gothic II: Celebrating TV's Supernatural Soap Opera Dark Shadows
Daytime Gothic is a full-colour charity magazine celebrating 60 years of TV's spookiest soap, Dark Shadows, with 160 pages of features, interviews, rartwork, fiction and humour, illustrated with rare ...
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Richard Marks @richardmlive.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
So I've written a book! It's out next month from @tenacrebooks.bsky.social and it's about the modern series of #DoctorWho, the show's impact on TV and the UK, and how the media industry and fan culture have changed since it returned in 2005. tenacrefilms.bigcartel.com/product/the-...
The front cover of The Reality War, a new book about modern Doctor Who by Richard Marks
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Ten Acre Books @tenacrebooks.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Good news, to mark the latest #Blakes7 Blu-ray release, we're bringing Maximum Power! back for a limited time. An irreverent guide to the much-loved BBC sci-fi series, with proceeds benefiting the charity Sight for Surrey. Order now from tenacrebooks.co.uk/
Cover of Maximum Power!
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Simon Guerrier @0tralala.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
News! Launch event for my new biography, Written by Terrance Dicks, on Wednesday 25 November at the Portico Library in Manchester: www.theportico.org.uk/event-calend... @porticolibrary.bsky.social @tenacrebooks.bsky.social #DoctorWho Yes, that is the anniversary of The Five Doctors.
theportico.org.uk
TerranceDicks — The Portico Library
New biography of prolific children's author Terrance Dicks, who is best known for his time as script editor and writer on Doctor Who.
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Steven Schapansky 🇨🇦 @legopolis.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I was interviewed for this book! Despite that, you should pre-order it anyway.
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Ten Acre Books @tenacrebooks.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
New for October, we are pleased to announce the release of The Reality War, a new book charting 20 years of the Doctor Who revival and its impact on the television industry. Order now from tenacrebooks.co.uk
Cover of The Reality War: How the Doctor Who Revival Transformed Television
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Ten Acre Books @tenacrebooks.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
New book announcement coming at 6pm, gang. 🧡
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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Hurrah! Revolt from the monolith! Turn back to the village!
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Ten Acre Books @tenacrebooks.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
After last night's screening on BBC Four, Penda's Fen: Scene by Scene has sold out! A reprint is on its way, due back in stock later this month. 🔥 Order now from tenacrebooks.co.uk
Penda's Fen: Scene by Scene cover.
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Ian Greaves @greavesian.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
If you’ve been following and enjoying my #PendasFen skeetalong, please consider picking up a copy of Scene By Scene. It is a detailed examination of the scripting and filming of a television masterpiece, drawing on fresh interviews and a huge archive of scripts and paperwork.
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Ian Greaves @greavesian.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
If you do so, please support your local bookstore or buy direct from the publisher. We do not supply Amazon but we are distributed by Gardners Books. Thank you. tenacrefilms.bigcartel.com/product/pend...
The cover of Penda’s Fen: Scene by Scene by Ian Greaves (Ten Acre Books 2025). Endorsement quote reads “***** ‘Surely the definitive statement on Penda’s Fen’ SFX  MAGAZINE”
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Ian Greaves @greavesian.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Join me for a skeetalong-a- #PendasFen this Wednesday night when BBC4 reruns it from 10.15pm. Behind the scenes stories, pics and things to spot. If you've seen the play before, then follow live. If it's new to you, give it proper attention and then join the # on catch up. Link in bio to the book.
Title screen for Play for Today: Penda's Fen (1974)Close up on Dictionary of Place Names reading "Penda's fen" with Penda in italics.Cover of Penda's Fen: Scene by Scene (Ten Acre Books 2025)
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Ten Acre Books @tenacrebooks.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
We've just received a haul of fresh reprints: The Quatermass Experiment, Totally Tasteless, Is That You, Maureen? and Pull to Open are all back in stock. Order now from tenacrebooks.co.uk
The Quatermass Experiment: The Making of TV's First Sci-Fi Classic.Totally Tasteless: The Life of John Nathan-Turner.Is That You, Maureen? My Life Making Children's TV & Beyond.Pull to Open: The Inside Story of How the BBC Created and Launched Doctor Who.
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Ian Greaves @greavesian.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
In the new Radio Times... Screening 9 September on BBC Four.
DRAMA
Penda’s Fen 10.15pm BBC Four Catch up via iPlayer
In his last summer before adulthood, the priggish
son of a village parson has his certainties on faith,
politics and sexuality disturbed by homoerotic
visions, as well as by supernatural apparitions that
include pagan king Penda and even Edward Elgar.
A pastoral chiller suffused with eerie imagery
and Elgar’s music, this BBC Play for Today from 1974
was filmed on the composer’s home turf near
the Malvern Hills. Written by David Rudkin
and directed by the great Alan Clarke,
Penda’s Fen soon became a cult classic
and has been hailed as a masterpiece.
It has warranted sporadic repeats,
cinema screenings, a Blu-ray release
by the BFI and, last year, a scene-byscene analysis from Ten Acre Books.
Spencer Banks, who played troubled
teen Stephen and was then best known
for the ITV kids’ drama Timeslip,
introduces tonight’s revisit at
10.00pm. PATRICK MULKERN
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Ian Greaves @greavesian.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
The first BBC repeat since NINETEEN SEVENTY-FIVE. Which is just mad.
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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Arguably the most influential writer of the 20th Century. Maybe? In terms of getting kids reading? If we’re uncomfortable lionising JKR now, he’s certainly coming up the rankings…
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Ten Acre Books @tenacrebooks.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
We've just received @0tralala.bsky.social's manuscript for Written by Terrance Dicks, the first authorised biogrography of the longtime Doctor Who writer and script editor… and it's brilliant. Look out for updates on the book in the coming months.
Terrance Dicks. The guv'nor.
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Ten Acre Books @tenacrebooks.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
We love a good sticker.
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Patrick Mulkern @patrickmulkern.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
#TimCurry The director John Gorrie recalled the path that led his dejected friend to #RockyHorror @royalcourt.bsky.social and global fame in the early 1970s. Extract from my book #YouAreNotAlone #DoctorWho @tenacrebooks.bsky.social tenacrefilms.bigcartel.com/product/you-...
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Ian Greaves @greavesian.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Well this is fantastic. Get yours from @tenacrebooks.bsky.social . All for a good cause.
Daytime Gothic, a Dark Shadows zine.
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Ten Acre Books @tenacrebooks.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
We've been doing some stocktaking and have just added some discounted damaged books to our webstore. These have minor scuffs or denting, but are affordable reading copies for anyone who fancies a bargain. Order from tenacrebooks.co.uk
Covers of The Long Game, Drama and Delight, Penda's Fen: Scene by Scene and You Are Not Alone.
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Fluffy T Bear @daffodilmallet.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
BlueSky is great for picking up book recommendations, but we are going to need more book shelves (which isn’t a bad thing). Our copy of A Peculiar Effect On The BBC arrived today, the perfect distraction for a Monday. #APeculiarEffectOnTheBBC #DrWho #Quatermass
The orange front cover of a peculiar effect on the BBC, a memoir of Bernard Wilkie. The title runs down the cover in a zig zag design on alternative backgrounds of yellow and turquoise. Small blue shaded monotone images of the author, the rocket from Quatermass 2, BBC Television centre, a Dalek plunger and one of the Martian creatures from Quatermass and Pit decorate the cover.The back cover of a peculiar effect on the BBC in the same orange colour. Again decorated with blue shaded monotone images of a Dalek plunger and a Martian from Quatermass and the Pit.

The text reads:

"It was an exciting period and Jack and I were there from the beginning. We were there when Television Centre was still only a rubbish dump and Lime Grove was as famous as Hollywood. We were the first designers to work at Ealing Studios and were certainly the first effects men ever to be employed in British television."
Bernard Wilkie was a pioneer in the world of visual effects.
Along with Jack Kine he co-founded the BBC's Visual Effects
Department in 1954. Between them, they worked on too many BBC productions to list, but they included Doctor Who, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Quatermass, Monty Python's Flying Circus and Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em.
A Peculiar Effect on the BBC is his memoir, looking back over his career in detail with a light, but educational, and often cautionary tone.
Whether it's trying to make a smoke gun, encase an Ice Warrior in a block of ice, create a Loch Ness Monster, or simply come up with a way of presenting a photo collection on screen utilising only one studio camera, Bernard and Jack rose to the occasion
- often choking, soaking and terrifying their colleagues in the process. And almost all of these effects had to be done live the pressure was on!
Includes a foreword by visual effects designer Mat Irvine and an afterword by BAFTA-winning visual effects designer Mike Tucker
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Joseph Oldham @paranoidstylist.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Reading @tobyhadoke.bsky.social's excellent book has put me on a Quatermass Experiment kick, watching the surviving episodes, reading the script book, etc. It's sooo good. I know that ...and the Pit is probably objectively the best of them because of how the production quality comes on in leaps...
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Prof Neil Martin @thatneilmartin.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
I've just started this, by @paul-hayes.bsky.social & @tenacrebooks.bsky.social, and what a thoroughly excellent chronology and history-stitching of Doctor Who's perineal period it is.
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Ten Acre Books @tenacrebooks.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Happy birthday to Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred! Relive their glory days on Doctor Who with Script Doctor, Andrew Cartmel's candid backstage memoir. Available now from tenacrebooks.co.uk
Cover of Script Doctor: The Inside Story of Doctor Who 1986-1989.
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Ten Acre Books @tenacrebooks.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
For more about Jack Kine's adventures (and misadventures) creating special effects, check out his colleague Bernard Wilkie's memoir A Peculiar Effect on the BBC, available now from tenacrebooks.co.uk
Cover of A Peculiar Effect on the BBC.
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Ten Acre Books @tenacrebooks.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Happiness will prevail! We've just reprinted You Are Not Alone: A Gay History of Doctor Who. Life stories of the show's gay cast and creatives, featuring commentary from Russell T Davies, Steven Moffat, Chris Chibnall and more. Order now from tenacrebooks.co.uk.
Cover of You Are Not Alone: A Gay History of Doctor Who.
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Brian Edwards @brianftang.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Reading @0tralala.bsky.social’s beautiful biography of David Whitaker, and not just loving the writing (obvs) but also the incidental font stuff between chapters. It’s such a lovely book so far.
The cover of Simon Guerrier’s biography of David Whitaker Fonts at work
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Alex Will Resurrect That Werewolf Pic 🔸🏳️‍🌈 @alexwilcock.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
OTD 1953: The Quatermass Experiment – Contact Has Been Established “Bring something back…” A pioneer and inspiration! For original British TV drama, Hammer horror and TV science fiction Still brilliant, what we can still see and read of it To read more, @TobyHadoke.bsky.social book is back in print
Professor Quatermass (Reginald Tate) and Judith Carroon attempt to make contact with the lost rocketProfessor Quatermass and staff of the British Rocket Group, BBC camera in foregroundToby Hadoke at a Quatermass launch, delighted to have finished signing my copy of his book. Only 5,743 to go!
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James @thasceles.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Recommended for anyone with an interest in Nigel Kneale, in tv science fiction or in the early days of television.
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Paul Carnahan @pacarnahan.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
This is a terrific book - beautifully written and full of info and insight from @tobyhadoke.bsky.social. Highly-highly-highly recommended!
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Ten Acre Books @tenacrebooks.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
A new printing of The Quatermass Experiment is now in stock, @tobyhadoke.bsky.social's immersive account of the making of TV's first sci-fi classic, illustrated with rare photographs from the archives of writer Nigel Kneale. Order now from tenacrebooks.co.uk
Cover of The Quatermass Experiment: The Making of TV's First Sci-Fi Classic
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