Are the episodes transmitted on Drama in the UK edited. I have noticed that fights suddenly stop and one episode featured a shoot up on Hungerfords boat and the entire thing was shown as frozen stills with the soundtrack being played
shareYep, many are. If you buy a series set on DVD, some sets are known to contain the edited for daytime TV versions.
I bought the complete box set of all the episodes and these I understand are the complete versions.
i read that john nettles was disappointed that some episodes where edited because some police station scenes where filmed where a major child abuse scandal took place.i cannot remember the name of the house as i type this
shareAlmost everything on UKTV channels is edited to fit a one hour time slot with adverts so I guess they edit out stuff that they feel isn't vital to the plot. It's the same with Lovejoy shown on Drama. They also do it on other channels such as Sony. It happens to most if not all BBC programmes which of course had no ads breaks. I hate it.
shareEven the BBC repeats (BB2 2015) are the edited versions - some of the edits are terrible including one part where a someone is about to be shot - and then all you see is Bergerac walking away with the wouldbe assailant having made the arrest. Anyone's guess what happened in between.
I wonder where the original cuts are - or if they'll ever been shown again
I have just seen on DVD the OP was talking about S.P.A.R.T.A. and I can confirm that the gunfight plays out in a series of freeze frame shots. Whether this was an artistic or censorship choice I guess that would be for the director of the episode Robert Young. In the UK there has been a very problematic attitude the showing of gun violence of TV in the UK that has increased in light of events that happened in Hungerford, Dunblane and Cumbria.
shareThanks for your reply. Censorship in the UK is haphazard at best. My main concern is that some viewers may never see the true original versions of a TV series or film if they rely on the digital channels for their viewing.
I doubt even the administrators of these channels know (or care) what the original versions were. This means we have the situation where each channel can cut an original tape to suit its needs and then distribute this to other outlets.
In its Defence ' Drama' does show the full versions of New Tricks as they allow one hours twenty minutes for each transmission which mean you're getting the full hour of the original.
Alibi though are hopeless they butcher the original one hours episodes into 45 minutes to allow for their adverts. I refuse to watch their versions.
I just hope that all original versions of anything made are carefully stored away otherwise we're destroying our digital heritage.
The episode The Last Interview and it features the use of bull****, this caused me a bit of double take as the word is hardly used on British TV and Bergarc tended to be shown before the watershed. I did some digging on a website that has old BBC listings and found that the episode was shown after the watershed.
shareCensorship needs a big rethink. If digital channels are going to show a bowdlerised version then they should announce this before the program starts.
Regarding your post it demonstrates that programming is erratic at best. It is well within the capability of the BBC and any digital channel to ask for a parental pin code to be entered if they thing a program is not suitable for children.
Yesterday I saw an episode of Hawaii 5-0 which was violent and bloodthirsty. Ok well it is a cop show except SKY one showed this a 7am when most kids are up eating their breakfast,
About 3-4 years ago I woke up at about 4am and turned on the TV, and I saw the closing scenes of the Al Pacino version of Scarface which as everyone knows is very violent. The station showing it was STV (the Scottish ITV holder)and was just before the early morning news bulletin that came before the Breakfast show (can't recall which one it was) and it would possible for a young child to see a 18 rated film.
shareTo make it easy voice recognition could be used to allow parental unlock for certain programs with a certification process like we have for cinemas.
STV should have posted a message - 'Some scene in Scarface are not suitable for your children while they eat their Ready-Brek.
Last night I watched on DVD Second Time Around, the 1989 Christmas special. This is not you typical episode of Bergerac, it features among other things a speed boat chase in which a crook escapes by being picked up by a helicopter. What also makes it stand out from other episodes is the level of violence shown, in the first 10 minutes a character is handcuffed to a metal chair for them to be both thrown into a swimming pool for the character left to drown. This episode has a body count equal to 4 other episodes combined. The amazing thing is that it went out on early evening and finished before the so called watershed.
shareThat does seem rather violent. I guess censorship is very subjective. I actually complained to the Alibi channel regarding cutting 15 minutes out of New Trick's episodes. It was just for adverts - not explicitly for censorship - but they said that the editing was done to the highets standards to avoid any loss of continuity.
How can you cut 15 minutes out of an hour long show and not ruin it? I guess the revnue from adverts is everything.
ITV4 show repeats of both the Sweeney and the Professionals that have Regan & Carter and Bodie & Doyle blowing away bad guys on a regular basis. Whether those episodes have been cut I leave to someone else to find out.
On Another matter I have my top 10 episodes of Bergerac on my blog. Here is the e-mail address
larryvulcan.blogspot.co.uk