Books
Kaleidoscope Publishing exists to promote the appreciation of British television in general and particularly ‘classic’ television programmes that many of us remember from years gone by.
“...a very enterprising group of people in the midlands called Kaleidoscope who specialise in looking at old programmes, gettings copies that everyone thinks have long disappeared and they find them and restore them, and they do credits lists for people like me.” Alan Plater, CBE.
To this end we have published a number of guides to British television archive holdings. These guides include exhaustive information on the number of archived programmes and the format(s) that they are held in. We have created this website as a means by which visitors can get a flavour of just why our guides have been described as “invaluable resources for anyone wishing to research, or even with a general interest in, British television”.
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![Ready Steady Go [remaindered stock]](/media/com_eshop/products/resized/no-image-150x150.png "Ready Steady Go [remaindered stock]")
Ready Steady Go [remaindered stock]
Last copies of 2023 RSG Limited Edition release.
Returned stock from retailers - NEW.
£40.00
Public Eye - The Missing Episodes (Audio)
Some episodes of Public Eye and Mystery and Imagination are sadly missing.
But a few were recorded off air on audio only from the TV.
Tapes donated to Kaleidoscope many years ago from a collector in Oldbury, have now been cleaned up and presented on DVD for the first time.
Extras:
An introduction to Public Eye by Richard McGinlay
32 page colour booklet about Public Eye
Surviving clips from Public and Eye and Mystery and Imagination - Casting the Runes.
Scripts for the missing Public Eye episodes so you can read along with the audios.
Single DVD with booklet. Reversible cover. Public Eye one side, Mystery and Imagination the other.
£10.00
Carry On Spying - The First Draft
Did you know that Sid James was supposed to the main lead star for Carry On Spying?
Here in full is the original unused 'Sid' script, with a brilliant introduction by Carry On expert Doctor Steven Gerrard from Leeds Beckett University.
Hardback with photographs.
£23.00
Hamilton's Hot Shots DVD
David Hamilton trawls through 1950s music clips and links the material with his own anecdotes.
Extras include an interview with Pete Murray and Jackie Trent.
£5.00
The Work of John Ryan Studios
Two educational films made by John Ryan Studios in the 1960s and shown by ITV.
Extra: Unused footage from Tom and the Smugglers.
Please note there is no Captain Pugwash on this release. It is work made for ITV.
£10.00
Colour Me... Hollies
A classic pop show, believed lost, found in the collection of its producer.
Sadly only kept in black and white, on film, now it is restored to its original colour look.
Extra:
French feature behind the scenes on the filming of the special.
Original monochrome version included.
Single disc.
In stock.
£12.00
Jango - Treacle on Three Fingers
Sole surviving episode of a 1961 ITV detective series.
Based on the Television Playhouse 'Murder Stamp'.
Single disc.
£3.00
Wolfshead
A pilot for a 1969 LWT version of Robin Hood.
Discarded in favour of Catweazle, it was sold as a B-movie and never seen on UK terrestial TV.
Single disc.
£10.00
Pipkins
All the episodes recorded off air by Nigel Plaskitt and other stars.
Extras:
New menus
Material recorded at Kaleidoscope events
New menus and links recorded by Hartley Hare
New insight from Hartley Hare into his career
ITV held episodes
MBW Online footage
18-disc set.
In stock.
£40.00
Conan Doyle: Mystery and Adventure
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is best remembered for Sherlock Holmes, a character who has been portrayed on screen more than any other. But he was also a prolific author of what is today known as genre fiction. One of his greatest admirers was John Hawkesworth, the celebrated scriptwriter and producer, who would go on to develop for television Granada’s Sherlock Holmes. But their association began much earlier, in 1967, with a long-forgotten but historically significant BBC TV series, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
In 1967, a little-known scriptwriter by the name of John Hawkesworth adapted thirteen short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for BBC2. Though critically acclaimed and award winning, the series was junked in the 1970s and is largely lost to the mists of time. But it was the start of an association between dramatist and author that would last twenty-five years, reaching its pinnacle with the celebrated Granada Sherlock Holmes series starring Jeremy Brett.
Conan Doyle: Mystery and Adventure recreates the largely missing television series as never before. Drawing on the surviving scripts, production files, and the Hawkesworth archive, it provides an in-depth appreciation of a lost moment in television history, filling gaps in the story of Hawkesworth’s stellar career and the tale of Conan Doyle on screen.
In this richly illustrated new book, Mark Jones examines the clues to recreate the story of the lost series, of which only one episode survives. Drawing on production files, correspondence, and the Hawkesworth archive, Conan Doyle: Mystery and Adventure combines television history and Doylean scholarship to tell the tale of what happened when the foremost dramatist of one generation met the greatest storyteller of another.
£25.99
The Optimist
Meet The Optimist! A guy who has big dreams in life, yet creates problems and confusion wherever he goes. He means well, but in this dialogue-free comedy series he manages to leave a trail of chaos across Hollywood and London. If you like Mr Bean, you will love The Optimist. Starring Enn Reitel.
All episodes are complete and uncut.
Extras:
Sea Dreams (rough cut). The pilot that was screened to Channel 4 commissioner Cecil Korer in 1981, from which the full series was commissioned
Original music by David Spear. Music created for Sea Dreams, sourced from the original master tapes.
PDF scripts; Original scripts by series creator Richard Sparks.
The Making of The Optimist: 24-page booklet, colour illustrated with many behind the scenes photos. Features contributions from series star Enn Reitel, producer Robert Sidaway, writer Richard Sparks, and cast members Sharon Davies, Jenny Runacre, Jenifer Landor, Julie Peasgood, Annette Lynton-Mason and Karen Smith.
IN STOCK NOW
£10.00
He Who Would a Writer Be
John Finch was one of the generation of Northern writers who came to prominence in British television in the 1960s, many of them, like Jim Allen, Stan Barstow, Jack Rosenthal and Tony Warren, writing for Granada Television. Recruited by Granada in 1960, Finch was one of the first writers on Coronation Street, for which he wrote 140 episodes, helping to establish it as Britain’s most popular television drama.
Towards the end of the 1960s Finch branched out with other series and single plays, all with a strong Northern flavour, but it was the 52-episode Second World War saga A Family at War that saw him embark on a series of original and highly popular ‘telenovels’ for Granada in the 1970s.
He followed A Family at War with the semi-autobiographical Sam, for which he wrote all 39 one-hour episodes. The story of a boy, like Finch, growing up in the Yorkshire coalfields, Sam was his masterpiece, watched by 20 million viewers every week. He continued to receive letters from viewers thanking him for putting a truthful picture of Northern working-class life on the screen for the rest of his 97 years.
Though his brand of realist Northern drama fell out of favour in the 1980s, John Finch’s contribution to British television drama was enormous. His autobiography, written in the final years of his life, is a testament to a life well lived, revealing a sensitive and accomplished writer who more than fulfilled his dream.
This book is available quickest worldwide by ordering here.
£26.00
Dickie Henderson - A Life in Broadcasting
A huge star and one of early television's most popular comics, Dickie Henderson was a much-loved entertainment figure throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s who is now almost totally forgotten.
Here we present 2 episodes of his self-titled domestic sitcom, written by Jimmy Grafton and Jeremy Lloyd, unseen in decades; and an unbroadcast sketch show pilot written by Barry Cryer, which also features comedy icon Kenneth Williams.
On DVD for the very first time, the three episodes are accompanied by a photo gallery including images from missing programmes; and a new book comprising an exhaustive list of Henderson's broadcast credits and a new, original biography-cum-career appraisal from comedy historian Graham McCann, paying tribute to this forgotten great of British comedy, just over 100 years since his birth.
IN STOCK NOW
£25.00
Dr Finlay's Casebook - Unfit to Marry
Based on the A.J. Cronin books, a lost episode of this classic medical drama series, first shown Christmas Eve 1967.
A lost classic recovered by Kaleidoscope.
Extras:
Subtitles for hard of hearing
Script
£12.00