David Wood, one of the Jackanory cast, along with Jan Francis, Maurice Denham & Berhard Cribbins, has just posted a response to the news on his website - apparently no-one had told him, or his agent, about the CD! I posted on his guestbook about the production being made available & this is his response - some interesting bits in here.
Quote:
Hi
Just seen on Amazon that the fantastic Jackanory adaptation of The Hobbit you were in is going to be out on CD in October!
Wonderful news, but, no DVD? Was the video lost, or is it a copyright thing. The set, & seeing all of you performing added so much to the whole experience.
Can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to experiencing it all again
David Marley
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Thanks, David. The news in your message came as a complete surprise! I was pleased to hear that the BBC are releasing our JACKANORY hobbit as a cd – but it would have been nice if they had told me!! Or contacted my agent! Heigh ho!
Years ago there were attempts made to release a video, but the Tolkien Estate refused permission, saying there were too many versions on the market. Presumably, now the hype of the films of LORD OF THE RINGS has died down a little, they have relaxed a bit! But not enough to allow a dvd! Or perhaps there isn’t a master tape of suitable quality....
Anyway, thank you for alerting me to the release of the cd! Hope it brings back some memories! We had fun doing it – at the old Lime Grove Studios. We were in a studio next to the GRANDSTAND studio, where Des Lynham was introducing – live – the Saturday afternoon programme. In our lunch break, Bernard Cribbins and I crept in to watch, and were tempted to interrupt the broadcast!! But we were too law-abiding!
All good wishes,
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David.http://davidwood.org.uk/talk_to_david/?entry=0
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So, looks like the Beeb did want to release the series on video - so I assume that at some point they did have a decent video copy - but it was scuppered by the Estate (Tolkien Gateway refer to it as a "copyright battle"
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Jackanory). Be interesting to know why they've changed their minds now? Can't believe Des was doing Grandstand back then!
