Following on from their successful 30th anniversary programme held last August, Kaleidoscope returns to BFI Southbank on Saturday 20 April to curate Music Believed Wiped, a music-themed special of the hugely popular Missing Believed Wiped programme in partnership with the BFI. This bumper edition of rediscovered pop-chart hits includes Kaleidoscope’s exciting latest find, a missing 1969 episode of Top of the Pops which has uncovered a ‘lost’ early cut of The Beatles promotional film for Something, provided to the BBC. The Beatles also feature in an 11 second fragment of a ‘lost’ live performance of Paperback Writer, all that survives from their 1966 appearance on Top of The Pops.
Other highlights include a real rarity from the early days of satellite television, with the earliest known surviving footage of Sky TV, Tony Blackburn’s 1985 Sky Fi Music Show, proof that television still went missing in the golden age of the VCR. We also screen two episodes of Cilla, the eponymous BBC series, recently returned to the BFI National Archive by the Cilla Black Estate.
Session 1: Reel-Time! (20 April, 15:15, NFT1) hosted by broadcast DJ and former Top of the Pops presenter and MBW regular ‘Diddy’ David Hamilton, is a televisual juke box of chart-topping pop discoveries featuring a delightful mix of previously missing live music performances spanning the 60s, 70s and 80s. The first session features two curated compilations, including clips from a variety of programmes, with an impressive musical line-up featuring The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Slade, T.Rex, Elton John, The Sweet, Jethro Tull and Rod Stewart amongst others.
Recently recovered from an Austrian Archive, Kaleidoscope discovered a missing episode of Top of the Pops (13/11/69), coincidentally the last episode to be shown in black and white before BBC1 went full colour. The Missing Believed Wiped session will screen ‘lost’ performances from Fleetwood Mac (Oh Well Part One) and Jethro Tull as well as the chart countdown from this classic 60s edition. What makes this find truly special however is the inclusion of a previously unknown cutting copy of The Beatles promotional film for Something. Made especially for the BBC, this early version of the promotional film includes some alternate footage, as the film shot by Paul McCartney had not been incorporated yet. Kaleidoscope believes that this version has remained unseen since its original BBC transmission.
Chris Perry, CEO of Kaleidoscope comments “Finding lost television is like forensic archaeology. You find the clues and follow the trail. Found in Austria, this missing videotape is pure Top of the Pops magic. However Kaleidoscope didn’t expect to uncover a ‘lost’ original cutting copy of the Beatles promotional film for ‘Something’, buried deep within it. Shown only once on Top of the Pops, this previously unknown promo edit is a truly remarkable treasure for Beatles fans everywhere.”