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In February 1995, Kaleidoscope staged the British Shakespeare Television Festival at the Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon. Since then, we have produced the Pilot Error season for the British Film Institute's TV On The South Bank project. From the North - Granada Nights came about as a result of a desire to stage a themed retrospective in the style of the above, but for a local audience. The screening took place on Tuesday 23rd April 1996 at the Midlands Arts Centre, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham.

Granada material is rarely repeated on television and this made our mini-event even more of an occasion, as a lot of the programmes on show had literally not been dusted off for decades. A real sense of reverence surrounds a lot of the company's output for this reason and our audience did not go away disappointed.

Jack Rosenthal is one of the finest of all television writers, and two of his earlier works provided the light relief during the evening. We managed to secure an episode of his influential sitcom The Dustbinmen at short notice and, although some of the humour is slightly inaccessible to today's audiences, it clearly showed why it held the number one ratings position throughout its entire first series. Even better was The Lovers, the gentle comedy series that elevated Paula Wilcox and Richard Beckinsale to household name status, which had everyone in hysterics and proved one of the two biggest hits of the evening. Even though it has not been seen for years, this is one of the all-time great sitcoms, boasting exceptional performances and acutely-observed writing. Fans of the feature film should be aware that the series is even better.

Another much-anticipated screening was an episode of The XYY Man, Granada's adaptation of Kenneth Royce's series of books about "Spider" Scott, an expert cat-burglar who is used by the intelligence services for some of their "dirtiest" jobs, also having to avoid the attentions of both the police and the criminal underworld. Making their first appearances in this series were two much-admired TV detective stalwarts, DS George Bulman (Don Henderson) and DC Derek Willis (Dennis Blanch), who continued their roles into Strangers and Bulman. Despite some confusion caused by our being supplied with the second part of a three-episode story, this taut and violent thriller proved a great success.

One hallmark of all the Granada programmes on show here tonight was the gritty, realistic style for which the company is renowned, which even permeated into the sitcoms. The dramas exhibited extreme violence and language the power of which was undiminished despite the material's age. We all expected Big Breadwinner Hog, the ultra-controversial gangster drama from 1969 would prove rather tame by today's standards, but this was far from the case. Featuring horrific acts of violence handled in a completely amoral, matter-of-fact way, the episode we screened was exceptionally powerful and shocking stuff not for the faint-hearted, and, if anything, showed what leaders Granada were for producing revolutionary, experimental dramas long ahead of their time.

The evening ended with the somewhat tamer Coronation Street, in an episode featuring all the classic characters the series' success was built upon. Elsie Tanner faced eviction for rent evasion, everyone wondered why her son Dennis had returned from London, and Ena Sharples had some characteristically ascerbic comments on the matter. The episode showed all the traits of the programme throughout the sixties, and was much closer to a gritty, quality drama series than the "soapified" version it has become in subsequent decades.

Interestingly, in light of the forthcoming Granada Plus satellite repeats channel, Granada Television themselves showed considerable interest in our screening as a potential yardstick to determine how popular vintage Granada material would prove to a general audience. Entirely by coincidence, they told us just before the event that two of the programmes we showed, The XYY Man and Coronation Street, will feature in the channel's launch schedule from day one. A third, The Lovers, has subsequently appeared in a complete re-run on Channel Four.

AP

Kaleidoscope - The Classic Television Organisation

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