I haven't quite given up on this, but I am running out of leads. I'm dropping this here mostly to benefit others by leaving some information all in one place.
It seems that it was first episode of the first season [S01E01] of a Yorkshire Television series named Science Fiction (oh, how I wished they'd picked a less-ambiguous name). This episode was named Spycatcher.
It's listed on IMDB[0] with an air date of Feb 15, 1990, but that date may be wrong. It was discussed twice[1] in TV-section articles in the Hull Daily Mail (Feb 10th and 13th, 1990), and some freely-visible blurbs from those suggest that it aired on a Tuesday at 7:30PM. That more-strongly ties the date down at February 13, 1990 than the IMDB's entry of Feb 15th.
Except: The verdict in Germany didn't come until Feb 15th[2]. I wonder of the Yorkshire Television Science Fiction episode had the same conclusion as the PBS Nova episode did, or if it left things more open-ended. That would help to pin down the date. :)
Some of the clues along the way include an old copy[3] of your own web pages at Berkeley, and one comment[4] on HN from a couple of years ago (they gave up on finding it).
I don't know enough about British television norms (much less the history) to really understand how any of this stuff flows, but I'm gaining the impression that the remains of Yorkshire Television might be owned by ITV, and that archives are likely to still exist.
I've seen reports that people have had success purchasing personal-use copies of old programs by sending an email to viewers.requests@itv.com if anyone wants to go that route.
As I "acted" & consulted on the programme I have a copy of the final edit before transmission unfortunately it's on a 30+ year poorly stored PAL VHS Tape and being now based in the USA I have no way of personally converting it to digital and afaik it's the only copy floating around I'm loathed to let it out of my sight but if anyone based in Brooklyn has the ability to "bake" and transfer PAL VHS I'd be up to let them try.
I've asked Derek Jones (The Director) years ago if he had a copy but he said YTV never gave him one and unfortuneately Sally Hamilton (Production) died a few years later before I had chance to ask her
It looks like it was the Yorkshire Television (YTV) series "Science Fiction" episode titled "Spycatcher".
Search-engining turned up a discussion[0] from 2011 where a poster, "ukscone", purported to have been an adviser and actor in the production, and to have a PAL VHS copy. Searching "ukscone" on the Raspberry Pi forum got me to a Github profile[1], a Mastodon account[2], and a personal website[3] (with other "social" links). I'm not a "social network" person (beyond HN), but perhaps somebody here who is interested and has access to one of the various "socials" in question would reach out to "ukscone". (I'm not seeing an email address or I'd do it. I'm an old curmudgeon who no longer wants to participate in social networks.)
As I "acted" & consulted on the programme I have a copy of the final edit before transmission unfortunately it's on a 30+ year poorly stored PAL VHS Tape and being now based in the USA I have no way of personally converting it to digital and afaik it's the only copy floating around I'm loathed to let it out of my sight but if anyone based in Brooklyn has the ability to "bake" and transfer PAL VHS I'd be up to let them try.
I've asked Derek Jones (The Director) years ago if he had a copy but he said YTV never gave him one and unfortuneately Sally Hamilton (Production) died a few years later before I had chance to ask her
Comments
Do you know what was it called, and when/where it aired?
It is possible that some here have different methods for finding things.
I think it was called Spycatcher. It was on a commercial channel, possibly Yorkshire TV.
I remember making that video - we went up to Calistoga and spent time in a mud-bath. If you find the video, I'd enjoy seeing it! Thanx, -Cliff
Cliff,
I haven't quite given up on this, but I am running out of leads. I'm dropping this here mostly to benefit others by leaving some information all in one place.
It seems that it was first episode of the first season [S01E01] of a Yorkshire Television series named Science Fiction (oh, how I wished they'd picked a less-ambiguous name). This episode was named Spycatcher.
It's listed on IMDB[0] with an air date of Feb 15, 1990, but that date may be wrong. It was discussed twice[1] in TV-section articles in the Hull Daily Mail (Feb 10th and 13th, 1990), and some freely-visible blurbs from those suggest that it aired on a Tuesday at 7:30PM. That more-strongly ties the date down at February 13, 1990 than the IMDB's entry of Feb 15th.
Except: The verdict in Germany didn't come until Feb 15th[2]. I wonder of the Yorkshire Television Science Fiction episode had the same conclusion as the PBS Nova episode did, or if it left things more open-ended. That would help to pin down the date. :)
Some of the clues along the way include an old copy[3] of your own web pages at Berkeley, and one comment[4] on HN from a couple of years ago (they gave up on finding it).
I don't know enough about British television norms (much less the history) to really understand how any of this stuff flows, but I'm gaining the impression that the remains of Yorkshire Television might be owned by ITV, and that archives are likely to still exist.
I've seen reports that people have had success purchasing personal-use copies of old programs by sending an email to viewers.requests@itv.com if anyone wants to go that route.
[0]: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1385328/
[1]: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.com/search-newspapers/re...
[2]: You're mentioned in a world record by Guinness! :) https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/612868-fi...
[3]: https://web.archive.org/web/20090415204255/http://www.ocf.be...
[4]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39154781
As I "acted" & consulted on the programme I have a copy of the final edit before transmission unfortunately it's on a 30+ year poorly stored PAL VHS Tape and being now based in the USA I have no way of personally converting it to digital and afaik it's the only copy floating around I'm loathed to let it out of my sight but if anyone based in Brooklyn has the ability to "bake" and transfer PAL VHS I'd be up to let them try.
I've asked Derek Jones (The Director) years ago if he had a copy but he said YTV never gave him one and unfortuneately Sally Hamilton (Production) died a few years later before I had chance to ask her
Yep, it was Yorkshire Television that did the filming. It was a half hour, as I recall. I'll search my attic to see if I have it on videotape...
Cheers, -Cliff
It looks like it was the Yorkshire Television (YTV) series "Science Fiction" episode titled "Spycatcher".
Search-engining turned up a discussion[0] from 2011 where a poster, "ukscone", purported to have been an adviser and actor in the production, and to have a PAL VHS copy. Searching "ukscone" on the Raspberry Pi forum got me to a Github profile[1], a Mastodon account[2], and a personal website[3] (with other "social" links). I'm not a "social network" person (beyond HN), but perhaps somebody here who is interested and has access to one of the various "socials" in question would reach out to "ukscone". (I'm not seeing an email address or I'd do it. I'm an old curmudgeon who no longer wants to participate in social networks.)
[0] https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=1067
[1] https://github.com/ukscone
[2] https://cupoftea.social/@ukscone
[3] https://eightgrubs.com/
As I "acted" & consulted on the programme I have a copy of the final edit before transmission unfortunately it's on a 30+ year poorly stored PAL VHS Tape and being now based in the USA I have no way of personally converting it to digital and afaik it's the only copy floating around I'm loathed to let it out of my sight but if anyone based in Brooklyn has the ability to "bake" and transfer PAL VHS I'd be up to let them try. I've asked Derek Jones (The Director) years ago if he had a copy but he said YTV never gave him one and unfortuneately Sally Hamilton (Production) died a few years later before I had chance to ask her
damn rampack wobble it was Susie Hamilton not Sally
It looks like we've been doing our homework in parallel. I've gone down a different rabbit hole here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49458147