The Incompletist

Howdy.

Firstly, don't forget, there's a 2-minute preview of The End of Time Part 1 on Children in Need tonight. The sequence comes from after the opening credits, apparently.

Oh, and there'll be some other stuff about charity and so forth.

I feel obliged to point you in the direction of the Children in Need website. Please give generously. With any luck, Wogan'll get tanked up like he used to on Eurovision.

I see that there's a Children in Need charity single with Peter Kay as well... on which note, I urge you in advance of Xmas to not buy any X Factor related singles. Reclaim the Xmas Number One.

I'm typing this as the final episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures is showing on BBC1. I missed yesterday's, so will catch up with both on iPlayer later. I recommend you do the same. It's a reminder of an earlier age, when kids' TV was made without patronising in mind. It doesn't talk down to its audience, and is probably as good as its parent show. Though Russell T Davies has very little to do with this spin-off, he has a strong background in children's television. He was responsible for Dark Season and Century Falls, which I strongly recommend you invest in. He also worked on Children's Ward and Why Don't You?, but, most notably, wrote three episodes of ChuckleVision, a career highlight. It probably explains some of his Doctor Who episodes, actually.

The only reason Dark Season and Century Falls got a DVD release was due to Davies's involvement following the success of Doctor Who. Not everything is so lucky, as I was reminded the other day. Kevin Cecil posted a clip of Fist of Fun in which he appeared via Twitter, which reminded me of a ritual I found myself in whilst working for HMV. For seven. Long. Years.

Once a week, I would check the in-store database for certain releases, all too often with a negative response. Loads of comedies, dramas, kids shows... all too often, nothing.

Kevin Eldon (as Simon Quinlank) and Kevin Cecil (as the trainspotter) in Fist of Fun

However, bit by bit, things I searched for found their way onto DVD. Between the Lines, GBH, A Bit Of Fry And Laurie, The Comic Strip Presents... My collection was starting to get that little bit more complete. Even things I had wanted to see again for years started finding their way onto shiny discs, like Absolutely. One particular show's arrival on DVD has been bittersweet... KYTV.

KYTV, featuring the late, lamented Geoffrey Perkins

Frustratingly, the first and second series have both been released, but the third, final series was pulled from the schedule, despite having a release date allocated. Nearly three years have passed, and still no sign of it. It was never a massively well-known programme, but the third series was superb, and we're missing out on the classic "Hot Crimes" ("Murder. Ruthless, bloody murder. Coming up, after the break.") and "Get Away With You" episodes. Slightly more frustratingly, Love Thy Neighbour and On The Buses had consistent releases.

Perhaps one reason why series 3 was pulled is because it's a little bit too close to home... Whereas KYTV started as a parody of Sky and lowest common denominator television, dumbed down tabloid rubbish, the BBC has been flying further down that route itself in recent years.

Other programmes that need to get released soon are the mighty Fist of Fun, The Mary Whitehouse Experience, Newman and Baddiel In Pieces, Happy Families, Inside Victor Lewis-Smith, even Alas Smith and Jones. The latter has seen a Best Of released, which is the ultimate piss-take, a fate reserved also for The Adam And Joe Show. I'll decide what's 'Best', thank you. These DVDs are often compiled by people who would put the clip of Del Boy falling through the bar in Only Fools and Horses on repeat. They are sorely misjudging their audience. So thank goodness for 4OD, having all four series of Adam and Joe available. The BBC iPlayer should be put to such great use with its back catalogue. It is, however, great to catch old radio series of Lee and Herring and the 99p Challenge, for example, through iPlayer. I just wish they'd realise what important material they're sat on. There's a sizeable part of their audience that they're ignoring. Indeed, the Beeb themselves turned down the chance to make Red Dwarf IX in the past couple of years, as it was "not a demographic they wanted to represent" or words to that effect. So, more rubbish like Two Pints, then.

Anyway, although it was pretty last minute, I did manage to advertise yesterday's Vikki Stone & Friends, with a little Google Map thingy indicating where the venue was. To remind you, if you have an event, gig, TV appearance, radio appearance, anything along those lines that you want to share, I'll happily advertise it on here for you.

Finally, just because this amused me greatly, a pic of Pudgey from David Schneider's site (made by Ross Owen).

By the way, please give generously, despite the quality of entertainment on offer tonight.