Soundstagenorth

RTBWTV April 26th 2026 - How The Baron changed UK action adventure TV - by accident Regular listeners will know from David Newell and Guy Morgan's conversations that Guy has been less than charitable about the ITC series The Baron. But... there are grounds for appeal and in this episode we explore the background to this much maligned (by Guy) series. Along the way, we ask did Dennis Spooner, Brian...

RTBWTV March 16th 2026 - Private Eyes On a chilly night in Leeds, a blonde sashayed into a bar, wearing a satin evening gown which didn't suit him and took the next stool to Dave. That same evening a brunette stepped up to the all night deli counter Guy was sitting at. Both visitors wanted answers. What happened to all those TV private investigators that muscled in on the UK television schedules i...

RTBWTV February 22nd 2026 - Westerns Howdy. Just how many Westerns were shown on peak time TV both in the US and the UK? Why were they so popular, and why did they all end up on Boot Hill? Guy Morgan and David Newell try to head these and other questions off at the pass, including how do you spell High Chaparral? (Erm, we might have given that one away). Plus we learn how fast on the draw young Da...

RTBWTV January 11th 2026 - Technology and drama, and what was on 60 years ago What do legendary BBC drama producer Innes Lloyd and Yul Brynner have in common? They both used innovative technology to make plays for television. Guy Morgan and David Newell explore how OB units (that's Outside Broadcast for the uninitiated) gave greater flexibility and speed to shows such as 30 Minute Theatre. Why are...

RTBWTV November 25th 2025 - Here is the News Here's a newsflash! Bulletins came to BBC television in the early 1950s without a reader appearing on screen, but things soon changed when that young upstart ITN arrived with the rest of ITV in 1955 and introduced newscasters, reporters and a dash of panache and urgency. Guy Morgan and David Newell trace the move and countermove that shaped television n...

RTBWTV October 12th 2025 - The Future Guy Morgan and David Newell explore the days of future past as imagined by both drama and documentaries during the Golden Age of British Television (1956-1974). Was the future so bright we had to wear shades? Or was it a grim prospect, with various flavours of totalitarian regime lacking in a sense of humour, hoverboards, jet packs and holidays on the moon? Ot...

RTBWTV August 17th 2025 - Tributes and Radio to TV and vice versa With radio being the senior service for so long, why not see if the tried and trusted formats could transfer to that insolent upstart television? Guy Morgan and David Newell explore those early migrations of the 1950s, what worked best and how the tide also flowed back with popular TV shows appearing on the wireless. We ask: What wo...

RTBWTV July 14th 2025 - Animals Was there life on earth before David Attenborough? Who were the other big beasts of natural history television in the Golden Epoch? Join Guy Morgan and David Newell as they hack their way through the undergrowth to catch a glimpse of rare and now sadly lost creatures. Marvel at wildlife wonders, as well those dramatic heroes who put their human co-stars in the shade...

RTBWTV June 1st 2025 Brainwashing and Mind Control Are you acting under your own free will? Or do you feel compelled to listen to David Newell and Guy Morgan taking a deep dive into the unsettling and paranoid world of 1950s-1970s mind control? Discover who the dark forces are subverting your thoughts and desires, whether it's occultists, aliens, communists or big business - or are they all in it...

RTBWTV April 18th 2025 How many people in the Golden Age of British Television can you think of who worked on both sides of the Atlantic, was a familiar guest star in all the top ITC shows, plus Doctor Who, had a decent film career and meanwhile co-created an entire new genre of TV drama whose descendants are still with us today? We made a list and there's only one name on it. Jean Marsh, who has...

RBWTV March 22nd 2025 Side hustles and alternative careers. We all need to make ends meet, and back in the Golden Age of British television it was just the same. In this episode, Guy Morgan and David Newell check through the cvs (or resumés if you're American) of well known faces who appeared on the nation's screens between 1956 and 1974. Some opened restaurants, while many more paid the rent by w...

RTBWTV February 20th 2025 - Robots, cyborgs and computers As we enter that optimistic Star Trek future, where everything is automated and everyone lives a life of peaceful leisure staring at their screens, Guy Morgan and David Newell look back at how the future was viewed by classic television during Britain's golden age - 1956 and the Suez Crisis to 1974 and the three day week. We discover that a...

RTBWTV January 26th 2025 - Spin offs A bracing New Year plunge into the Golden Age of British Television (1956 and the Suez Crisis to 1974 and the three day week). Guy Morgan and David Newell take some threads from classic television of the era and spin them off to explore how one TV series can give birth to another - no matter how tenuous the connection. What is the difference between a spin off...

RTBWTV December 15th 2024 A leisurely sleigh ride through the snowy wastes of Christmas scheduling from the Golden Age of British Television (1956 and the Suez Crisis to 1974 and the three day week). Guy Morgan and David Newell set out on a search party to find the first authentic UK Xmas TV episode of a regular series - only to find the Americans had got there first. Sad to say, some of the track...

RTBWTV November 3rd 2024 A leisurely stroll around the exercise yard of the Golden Age of British Television (1956 and the Suez Crisis to 1974 and the three day week) to inspect the role of prisons and prisoners in comedy and adventure series. Guy Morgan and David Newell dig their way out of the labyrinth and dodge the searchlights to uncover what happened to criminals after they'd been nicked in...

RBWTV September 22nd 2024 Another careful excavation of the treasure buried deep in the archives of the Golden Age of British television - that's 1956 (The Suez Crisis) to 1974 (The Three Day Week). With Dave back from his Volvo hunting in Italy, we explore, as promised, the mysteries of Edgar Wallace now unspooling again on Talking Pictures TV. A host of familiar faces have a crack at playing unf...

RBWTV September 15th 2024 A brief bonus episode of Rose Tinted Black and White Television where David Newell allows me (Guy Morgan) to get some things off my chest about the strange convolutions Dixon of Dock Green went through in terms of script and storylines in the early seventies. As it happens, we recorded this just before the passing of the great Kenneth Cope, star of British Television, wit...

RTBWTV August 18th 2024 - The commies are coming! Oh hang on a minute, they're here! Another snorkel through the calm reassuring lagoon that is the classic television which flitted across the black and white screens of the UK from the Suez Crisis of 1956 until 1974's three day week. But what's this? Some our most beloved adventure series from the beginning of the Golden Age of British TV were writ...

RBWTV July 7th 2024 Legs & Co (shows that stand the test of time) Now that Guy's back from his mission behind the Iron Curtain/former Austro-Hungarian Empire, we relax back on the li-lo and drift through the calm reassuring lagoon that is the classic television which flitted across the black and white screens of the UK from the Suez Crisis of 1956 until 1974's three day week. In this episode: Legs...

RTBWTV May 31st 2024 - Lone Wolves versus teams - which is better? Another snorkel through the classic television that flitted across the black and white screens of the UK from the Suez Crisis of 1956 until 1974's three day week. Co hosts Guy Morgan and David Newell consider shows that are still available, others that have been lost and some which should have existed and perhaps still could..........

RTBWTV April 22nd 2024 Import/Export A leisurely swim (rather than a deep dive) through the classic television that flitted across the black and white screens of the UK from the Suez Crisis of 1956 until 1974's three day week. "The Golden Age". Co hosts Guy Morgan and David Newell consider shows that are still available, others that have been lost and some which should have existed and perhaps sti...

RTBWTV March 7th 2024 - Stars behind wartime bars Another snorkel through the classic television that flitted across the black and white screens of the UK from the Suez Crisis of 1956 until 1974's three day week. Co hosts Guy Morgan and David Newell consider shows that are still available, others that have been lost and some which should have existed and perhaps still could........... This time, w...

RTBWTV February 16th 2024 - Ch...ch....changes A leisurely snorkel through the classic television that flitted across the black and white screens of the UK from the Suez Crisis of 1956 until 1974's three day week. Co hosts Guy Morgan and David Newell consider shows that are still available, others that have been lost and some which should have existed and perhaps still could........... This time,...

Happy New Year to all our listeners! To begin 2024, we take a deep chin stroking review of The Gold Robbers, whose Saturday repeats are winding down on Talking Pictures TV. The series is on the cusp of change for the classic television that flitted across the black and white screens of the UK from the Suez Crisis of 1956 until 1974's three day week, which is of course the Golden Age that co hosts...

RTBWTV November 23rd 2023 - Ian Hendry Special This time we take a deep dive (rather than the usual leisurely swim) through the classic television that flitted across the black and white screens of the UK from the Suez Crisis of 1956 until 1974's three day week, because co hosts Guy Morgan and David Newell examine the under sung life and career of Ian Hendry. Without him there would have been no A...