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”.
Postage added at checkout
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
Jango - Treacle on Three Fingers
Sole surviving episode of a 1961 ITV detective series.
Based on the Television Playhouse 'Murder Stamp'.
Single disc. In plain sleeve.
£3.00
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
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
Sherlock Holmes on Radio and Television
A highly detailed book about the UK TV appearances of Sherlock Holmes.
Includes a DVD of
Sherlock Holmes – The Peter Cushing Interview
Illustrated with clips from missing episodes of the famous BBC 1968 series
Broadcast in Avroskoop, a series made by AVRO , this edition transmitted on 20th March 1971 saw Peter Cushing talk extensively about his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes for the BBC in 1968.
Extras:
Found in Belgium, various missing clips from the famous BBC 1968 series, restored to full colour.
Colour
55 minutes
£24.99
The Comedy Makers / Greatest TV Sitcoms
An exclusive DVD/Book set for TV Brain.
A 1970 Dutch Tv documentary that followed the making of BBC and LWT sitcoms.
Come behind the scenes on Steptoe and Son, Please Sir and Hark at Barker to name but three.
Combined with a new book examining the greatest sitcoms. This is a superb reference tome, a huge book with photos.
£26.99
His Lordship Entertains
Episode 1 - disc only in plain sleeve
The only surviving episode of the classic Ronnie Barker sitcom restored to its full glory!
Ronnie Barker's famous character Lord Rustless swapped channels from ITV for this short BBC sitcom set in a hotel.
Originally shown from colour videotape, those recordings were wiped. During ITV's "Raiders of the Lost Archives" campaign in 2007 (which was run by Kaleidoscope) ITV were offered episode one of His Lordship Entertains which was in New Zealand. ITV declined because it was a BBC show. Kaleidoscope accepted and the print was shipped to the BBC and transferred. Due to modern technology Jonathan Coley and his amazing colour restoration processes created a new colour master to be screened at the BFI's annual Missing Believed Wiped on 27th November 2021.
Now you can own it on DVD.
TV Brain exclusive.
£10.00
Ronnie Wolfe A Life in Memoirs
The memoirs of Ronnie Wolfe, comedy writer of On the Buses and The Rag Trade amongst others.
Includes full copy of the 1989 comeback script for On the Buses that was planned but never made.
£15.00
Late Night Horror
A classic 1968 BBC horror play, The Corpse Can't Play, restored to colour.
Plus a book about the series Late Night Horror, and a specially-made trail from 1968.
SHIPPING NOW
£24.00
Sound and Vision - Individual Volume purchase
Definitive guide to pre-war television, grouped in years. Seven volumes to choose from.
Please state which volume you want at checkout.
Volumes 1-5 are actual information.
Volumes 6-7 are Appendices A and B.
£35.00
You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two
Memoirs of Stephen Komlosy, manager of Patti Boulaye.
"I was given this book as a gift, and it turned-out to be an unexpected gem. Autobiographical in nature, it details the early life of Stephen Komlosy, and his move into show business managing the top British pop singers of the 1960s, and becoming responsible for the UK tours of artists as varied as Chuck Berry, the Rolling Stones and the Bee Gees. However, the main focus of the book is on events in and around his management of Lionel Bart, the creator of the hit musical “Oliver”, and specifically what happens on their trip to the USA. A colourful set of events ensue during this period, involving both Komlosy’s liaisons, and the debacle of trying to manage an ‘unmanageable’ Lionel Bart.
I would have liked a short epilogue as I had a thirst for knowing “What happened next?” !!
Overall, an interesting and enjoyable read full of insight into the 1960s pop and entertainment scene. Well worth reading, and I look forward to the movie!" - Dominic
£15.00
Sound and Vision
The definitive history pre-war television.
All transmissions pre war.
DVD Rom set.
£15.00