Books
Kaleidoscope Publishing exists to promote the appreciation of British television in general and particularly ‘classic’ television programmes that many of us remember from years gone by.
“...a very enterprising group of people in the midlands called Kaleidoscope who specialise in looking at old programmes, gettings copies that everyone thinks have long disappeared and they find them and restore them, and they do credits lists for people like me.” Alan Plater, CBE.
To this end we have published a number of guides to British television archive holdings. These guides include exhaustive information on the number of archived programmes and the format(s) that they are held in. We have created this website as a means by which visitors can get a flavour of just why our guides have been described as “invaluable resources for anyone wishing to research, or even with a general interest in, British television”.
Postage added at checkout
Bending the Willow
Beautiful hardback book released during the 1990s.
Now updated by the author and re-released with new photographic content.
Eagerly awaited by Sherlock Holmes fans worldwide. A stunning portrait of Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes.
Order from our store
£26.99
Colour Me... Hollies
A classic pop show, believed lost, found in the collection of its producer.
Sadly only kept in black and white, on film, now it is restored to its original colour look.
Extra:
French feature behind the scenes on the filming of the special.
Original monochrome version included.
Single disc.
In stock.
£24.99
Conan Doyle: Mystery and Adventure
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is best remembered for Sherlock Holmes, a character who has been portrayed on screen more than any other. But he was also a prolific author of what is today known as genre fiction. One of his greatest admirers was John Hawkesworth, the celebrated scriptwriter and producer, who would go on to develop for television Granada’s Sherlock Holmes. But their association began much earlier, in 1967, with a long-forgotten but historically significant BBC TV series, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
In 1967, a little-known scriptwriter by the name of John Hawkesworth adapted thirteen short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for BBC2. Though critically acclaimed and award winning, the series was junked in the 1970s and is largely lost to the mists of time. But it was the start of an association between dramatist and author that would last twenty-five years, reaching its pinnacle with the celebrated Granada Sherlock Holmes series starring Jeremy Brett.
Conan Doyle: Mystery and Adventure recreates the largely missing television series as never before. Drawing on the surviving scripts, production files, and the Hawkesworth archive, it provides an in-depth appreciation of a lost moment in television history, filling gaps in the story of Hawkesworth’s stellar career and the tale of Conan Doyle on screen.
In this richly illustrated new book, Mark Jones examines the clues to recreate the story of the lost series, of which only one episode survives. Drawing on production files, correspondence, and the Hawkesworth archive, Conan Doyle: Mystery and Adventure combines television history and Doylean scholarship to tell the tale of what happened when the foremost dramatist of one generation met the greatest storyteller of another.
£25.99
Dawson and Dixie
German television special with Les Dawson and George Sewell.
Never seen in the UK.
Extras: Les Dawson on The Blackpool Show, ABC 1967.
Subtitles for German language sections.
TV Brain exclusive.
£12.99
Dickie Henderson - A Life in Broadcasting
A huge star and one of early television's most popular comics, Dickie Henderson was a much-loved entertainment figure throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s who is now almost totally forgotten.
Here we present 2 episodes of his self-titled domestic sitcom, written by Jimmy Grafton and Jeremy Lloyd, unseen in decades; and an unbroadcast sketch show pilot written by Barry Cryer, which also features comedy icon Kenneth Williams.
On DVD for the very first time, the three episodes are accompanied by a photo gallery including images from missing programmes; and a new book comprising an exhaustive list of Henderson's broadcast credits and a new, original biography-cum-career appraisal from comedy historian Graham McCann, paying tribute to this forgotten great of British comedy, just over 100 years since his birth.
IN STOCK NOW
£25.00
Dr Finlay's Casebook - Unfit to Marry
Based on the A.J. Cronin books, a lost episode of this classic medical drama series, first shown Christmas Eve 1967.
A lost classic recovered by Kaleidoscope.
Extras:
Subtitles for hard of hearing
Script
£22.99
Frankie Howerd - The Lost TV Pilots (DVD)
Various pilots from Canada and Australia. DVD.
LAST COPY LEFT
£25.00
He Who Would a Writer Be
John Finch was one of the generation of Northern writers who came to prominence in British television in the 1960s, many of them, like Jim Allen, Stan Barstow, Jack Rosenthal and Tony Warren, writing for Granada Television. Recruited by Granada in 1960, Finch was one of the first writers on Coronation Street, for which he wrote 140 episodes, helping to establish it as Britain’s most popular television drama.
Towards the end of the 1960s Finch branched out with other series and single plays, all with a strong Northern flavour, but it was the 52-episode Second World War saga A Family at War that saw him embark on a series of original and highly popular ‘telenovels’ for Granada in the 1970s.
He followed A Family at War with the semi-autobiographical Sam, for which he wrote all 39 one-hour episodes. The story of a boy, like Finch, growing up in the Yorkshire coalfields, Sam was his masterpiece, watched by 20 million viewers every week. He continued to receive letters from viewers thanking him for putting a truthful picture of Northern working-class life on the screen for the rest of his 97 years.
Though his brand of realist Northern drama fell out of favour in the 1980s, John Finch’s contribution to British television drama was enormous. His autobiography, written in the final years of his life, is a testament to a life well lived, revealing a sensitive and accomplished writer who more than fulfilled his dream.
This book is available quickest worldwide by ordering here.
£26.00
His Lordship Entertains
Episode 1
The only surviving episode of the classic Ronnie Barker sitcom restored to its full glory!
Ronnie Barker's famous character Lord Rustless swapped channels from ITV for this short BBC sitcom set in a hotel.
Originally shown from colour videotape, those recordings were wiped. During ITV's "Raiders of the Lost Archives" campaign in 2007 (which was run by Kaleidoscope) ITV were offered episode one of His Lordship Entertains which was in New Zealand. ITV declined because it was a BBC show. Kaleidoscope accepted and the print was shipped to the BBC and transferred. Due to modern technology Jonathan Coley and his amazing colour restoration processes created a new colour master to be screened at the BFI's annual Missing Believed Wiped on 27th November 2021.
Now you can own it on DVD.
TV Brain exclusive.
£19.99