I found season 1 of THE ADVENTURES OF BLACK BEAUTY today and am watching it now. I notice the episodes are only about 22 minutes. I recall them being a few minutes longer than this, about 25 minutes. Does anyone know: are the episodes edited?
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Remember this is an ITV programe, so the advert break is missing from the DVD.
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"As a matter of fact there was no advert break during the transmission of these episodes, as I remember the series well. In one dvd episode, not sure which one, but it's one of the early ones, there does seem to be a commercial break included there, as the credits come on during the episode, the picture fades,
and then the credits reappear. However I don't know why that is there, as there was definitely no advert break during the original transmissions, or subsequent repeats. Not in Britain anyway."
I think you'll find Black Beauty did originally have ad breaks - it went out as a roughly 24 minute programme in a 30 minute weekend teatime slot (Circa 5.10-5.40pm) on ITV. You can see where the natural ad break is roughly around 10 minutes into each episode where there'll be a particularly dramatic scene; usually a cliffhanger to keep you watching - then fading to black with a big pause before the next scene. I remember Ned seeing the scary hooded creature in 'Out of the Night' just prior to an ad break.
In the later morning and 'children's hour' afternoon repeats, the ads were more likely to be left out, though.
Yes the original Saturday showing definitly had ad breaks, as I previously said to the OP this is probably why the episodes are shorter on the DVD
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johnkibbey: "The series in Britain was originally shown on Sundays, not Saturdays, though I suppose I may be mistaken about the ad breaks. After all, it's 37 years since I first watched it!!!"
I associate Black Beauty with Sunday teatimes myself but, though the rest of the country showed it on Sunday, London viewers did get the first series on Saturday afternoons.
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It didn't start in London till October 21st and was then on Saturdays at 5.10pm. Odd decision for them to start running it so long after the other regions as it was an LWT series.
If you recheck your TV page you'll see that the other English regions had the first series on Sundays at 5.35pm after quiz show The Golden Shot: 4.40 The Golden Shot 5.35 Black Beauty.
The young soldier was Keith Chegwin.
I think The Hostage (especially), Warhorse and Two of a Kind stuck out most for me from series 1, but The Witch did leave an impression, too - quite creepy in places.
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