Latest Site Updates

The latest round of upates on Television Heaven include a mixture of reviews from both classic British and American shows. Almost 30 shows have been added in the last month. Amongst them is a new series of reviews from some of ITV's famous one-off plays from the 1960's that were shown under the banner of 'Armchair Theatre', 'Play of the Week' and 'Thirty Minute Theatre', to name but a few. Many of these shows are no longer available in the ITV archives, the tapes having been wiped long ago. But thankfully, all of these shows were previewed in the week that they were broadcast in ITV's listing magazine 'TV Times' (throughout the 1960s -before and until much later- there were no multiple listings magazines meaning if you wanted to know what was coming on ITV you had to buy 'TV Times', and for BBC 'Radio Times').

Having recently acquired a number of these magazines Television Heaven is now able to adapt them into reviews of sorts. Of course, in the strictest terms they are not reviews at all, however, the articles contain information which I believe is not available anywhere else on the Internet. And in doing so it recalls some of the earliest television work of a number of actors and actresses who went on to international stardom both on our television and film screens - as in the case of Michael Caine who is featured in the 'Drama 62' presentation 'Luck of the Draw' in which he plays a shy, insecure man who uses a dating agency to find the woman of his dreams.
This 'review' and many others come under the heading of 'The Lost Plays of ITV' and expect to see many more of them over the coming months.

Another update this month is a look at some of the latest DVD releases from Network DVD, the main source of purchasable classic ITV programmes. This months crop of releases includes 'The Morecambe and Wise Show', 'Arthur of the Britons', 'And Mother Makes Three' and an all-time classic: Britain's first medical soap (which was also the first of the nation's twice-weekly serials) - 'Emergency-Ward 10'. (A full feature on this programme will be added to the site later in the month). There is also a preview of some April releases such as 'Enemy at the Door' and 'Department S'. All these reviews include links to Amazon UK where you can order whatever title you like.

Every month there is always something new to read on Television Heaven. I hope you enjoy your visit.