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ARCHIVED NEWS 29th DECEMBER 2003 to 4th JANUARY 2004 January 1st 2004 Happy New Year! The UK DVD industry is slumbering at the moment, so there's not a lot of news. Expect things to pick up again early next week. I've updated the Hammer DVD Guide. There are numerous reports that copies of Anchor Bay's new double-bill DVDs are appearing in retailers in the US, presumably only just meeting the cutoff point if their rights expired at the end of 2003! I've also added details of various Hammer CD releases to the Guide. As usual, any additions or corrections are welcome: email me! Details of Play.com's "Biggest Ever" sale has been added to the Offers page. December 29th 2003
How bittersweet that Monkhouse's death comes on a day where the BBC is devoting an evening to archive television. Be sure to catch Missing Believed Wiped tonight on BBC4, where, amongst other things, you'll be able to see a rare episode of Till Death Us Do Part and some vintage Spike Milligan. Also worth a look is That Was The Week We Watched, on BBC2 at 11pm. There are two more programmes in this series, which looks at TV programmes from a particular week in history, tonight's focuses on June 1967, tomorrow's (which is at 11.25pm) is about October 1986. If you're returning to Zeta Minor after an extended Christmas break, be sure to check out last week's News, which included reviews of two new Film Score Monthly CDs, and an interesting new book titled Creeping Flesh - The Horror Fantasy Film Book. Updates to the Incoming and Offers pages will be made next week. In lieu of that, you might like to check out Benson World's current offers, which include a range of VCI titles including the Upstairs Downstairs DVDs, and a range of Doctor Who discs for £10.99. Previous News entries can viewed be by following this link. |
I
am saddened to hear of the death of Bob Monkhouse, who has been a constant
presence on TV for as long as I can remember. Most people will remember
him as the host of long-running game shows like The Golden Shot and
Celebrity Squares, or as a peerless stand-up comedian. It would be
unfair to pigeonhole him, though. Fans will also point to his comedic
roles in films like Carry On Sergeant and the two Dentist films (Dentist
on the Job and Dentist in the Chair), and, more recently, his
memorable guest appearance in Jonathan Creek. He was also a
talented cartoonist, and a pioneering film collector who did much to
promote the idea of archiving our TV heritage. I'm sure coverage of his
death and career will be extensive. Love him or hate him, you have to
admit that he was simply the best at doing what he did, and you can't ask
for more than that.