MovieChat Forums > The Duchess of Duke Street (1979) Discussion > Where do the episode breaks happen?

Where do the episode breaks happen?

posted 19 years ago by mad19571
9 replies | jump to latest

In the mid 90's many BBC series that were released on video tape did not have the opening and closing credits between episodes. This was frustrating for fans of the shows and newcomers wondered why they were having to watch a TV show that was as long as a Lord of the Rings movie. Fortunately as they have moved to dvds they have abandoned this policy (except for the release of "A Year in Provence").
Since Duchess of Duke Street has not come out on dvd yet I'm posting this for anyone who would like to experience this series the way it was shown originally and, especially, to help you get through tape 2 of season one.
I made my notes a year ago and have forgotten whether you need to set your counter to zero as the opening credits start or finish so be careful with ep one then it'll make sense and times may vary slightly depending on the counter on your vcr.

Series I - Sept 4 to Dec 11 1976
Tape 1 Ep 1-A Present Sovereign-50 m 49 s as Louisa falls asleep after dinner.
Ep 2-Honour and Obey-50 m 22 s-as Prince visits for first time.
Ep 3-A Nice Class of Premises-End of tape
Tape 2 Ep 4-The Bargain-50 m 42 s as Louisa says she'll start as she means to go on.
It took me a couple of times of watching this tape to realize that some marketing moron decided to mix up episodes 5 and 6 so here goes.
Ep 5 Pt 1-Bed of Roses-34 m 48 s as Louisa breaks into tears.
Ep 6-For Love or Money-51 m 55 s as the Baron leaves.
Ep 5 Pt 2-To end of tape
Tape 3 Ep 7-A Lady of Virtue-50 m 49s as Merriman takes the wine upstairs.
Ep 8-Trouble and Strife-49 m 37 s as Starr gets Louisa'a luggage.
Ep 9-The Outsiders-End of tape
Tape 4 Ep 10-Lottie's Boy-49 m 50 s as Major says I hope he keeps it from Lottie.
Ep 11-No Letters, No Lawyers-49 m 48 s as Louisa says to give Fred a biscuit.
Ep 12-A Matter of Honour-End of tape.
Tape 5 Ep 13-One Night's Grace-50 m 34 s as camera goes to Fred and chocolate.
Ep 14-Plain Sailing-48 m 12 s s Louisa walks into yacht club for tea.
Ep 15-A Test of Love-End of Tape

Season II - Sept 3 to Dec 24 1977
Tape 1 Ep 1-Family Matters-48 m 47 s as Louisa breaks into tears.
Ep 2-Poor Catullus-51 m 25 s-as Louisa begins reading the poems.
Ep 3-A Lesson in Manners-End of Tape
Tape 2 Ep 4-Winter Lament-49 m 57 s as Louisa's carriage drives off.
Ep 5-The Passing Show-48 m 3 s as Charles leaves for Yorkshire.
Ep 6-Your Country Needs You-End of Tape
Tape 3 Ep 7-The Patriots-50 m 30 s Louisa takes her Dr's prescription for champagne.
Ep 8-The reluctant Warrior-50 m 18 s as we see the new Fred.
Ep 9-Tea and a Wad-End of tape.
Tape 4 ep 10-Shadows-51 m 50 s as Charles dies.
Ep 11-Where There's a Will-50 m 50 s as Violet goes back to work.
Ep 12-The Legion of the Living-49 m 6 s (forgot to make a note)
Ep 13 pt 1-Lottie-End of Tape
Tape 5 Ep 13 pt 2 RESET TAPE TO 0 AFTER OPENING CREDITS 31 m 42 s (forgot to make note)
Ep 14-Blossom Time-End of tape.
Tape 6 Ep 15-Poor Little Rich Girl-48 m 33 s as they clap for Louisa.
Ep 16-Ain't We Got Fun-End of tape

This is a wonderful series and I hope that this is of some help to some IMDB user some day.

I'll make a good Gordon, Gordon!

[–] melj 19 years ago

Wow, THANK YOU SO MUCH! Why on earth did they did they mix up episodes five and six in Series One? I for one became quite sick of all the editing that went into the VHS releases of TV dramas like 'The Duchess of Duke Street'. It has just been released on region 2 DVD, but in the same edited format - what was the point? Still it is easier to store ten DVDs than ten videos.

The biggest travesty of editing that I have encountered was the VHS release of 'War & Peace'. This was presented in 1972 as twenty episodes, forty-five minutes each - a total of fifteen hours. The VHS release ran a total of twelve hours and forty-five minutes - so not only were the opening and closing credits omitted but there were loads of missing scenes and some were also rearranged - WHY? However, this production is just about to be released as a five-disc set on DVD. I have purchased a copy in advance by ringing the number on the website www.ddvideo.co.uk and it is brilliant - totally unedited, with excellent visual and audio quality and a fascinatingly in-depth behind-the-scenes accompanying booklet. Now, if only someone would do the same for 'The Duchess of Duke Street' - I live in hope.

In the meantime, however, thanks for your invaluable help.

[–] mad19571 19 years ago

Thank you for your message melj. I am glad that this will be of use to you. It makes the time that I took on it worthwhile!

The vhs version of 'Fortunes of War' was another terrible hatchet job on a good series. The recent dvd release of it put back in all the missing parts and only cost $15 (US).

I need to add for you and any others that might come to this page that I am not entirely confident about whether I found the right end points for the last 2 or 3 episodes of series 2. They seemed to go from about 50 minutes to 46 so you may find a spot that feels more like a proper end to the ep than what I have listed. Feel free to post it here for other 'DoDS' fans.

melj I also sent you a private message thru IMDb. If you haven't had anyone do this before click on the "melj's account" line in the upper right hand corner of the home page and then click on "your private message's and you will find it.

Best wishes in viewing all the great series that UK TV has gifted to us.

I'll make a good Gordon, Gordon!

[–] wbrax2-2 18 years ago

Hooray hooray hooray, Netflix has got all 5 of 'The Duchess of Duke Street' available. God bless you Netflix.

[–] chuffnobbler 16 years ago

I've just finished the series on DVD, and it annoyed me that I was on edge every 50mins, waiting for the scene to fade or for a new character to suddenly appear out of nowhere. Thank heavens they don't do this anymore.

I found the theme music a bit annoyingly jaunty, so at least i was saved having to hear that once an hour; but, I recognised lots of actors and wanted to be able to see their names on the credits every hour.

Most annoying.

[–] greenegg 14 years ago

This nonsense of cobbling all the episodes together seems absurd and annoying. They did the same with Poldark, and I swear they deleted some scenes. Why can't they just present the episodes as they were? Thanks to the OP for the helpful episode guide!

Put puppy mills out of business: never buy dogs from pet shops!

[–] tabbycat-313-840783 12 years ago

That's a handy guide and brings back fond memories.

I was fortunate to have watched Duchess of Duke Street when it was first broadcast on BBC in the 70s.

I then watched it when first repeated on satellite channel "UK Gold". Can't remember when this was, late 80s or early 90s. Annoyingly I missed recording the first episode, as I hadn't realised it was on!
The great thing was that to my knowledge each episode was broadcast in full, at least each episode had opening/closing credits and no noticeable reduction in running time.

I subsequemtly purchased the VHS set - can't remember if this had episode breaks or not, I thought it did.
By comparison the DVD set was heavily edited and was somewhat disappointing knowing how much had been removed.

One day I will replay my off-air VHS recordings and re-live the original broadcast (at least as far as possible, save the adverts!)

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] simonrosenbaum 11 years ago

Thank you so much for doing that.
I've just started watching it and you doing that means it will be a much more enjoyable and rewarding experience.

[–] sambda 10 years ago

>>Ep 5 Pt 1-Bed of Roses-34 m 48 s as Louisa breaks into tears.

Actually, the break between the episodes is about 3.5 minutes later than this, just after the conversation downstairs between Merriman, Mary and Starr (and before we cut to Louisa showing the old bloke around).