We're way off topic here, but sustaining an archive is a very expensive operation. Stuff doesn't just magically exist forever, it has to be looked after.

I totally agree more should be available, but the idea we should just have free access to it is naïve at best.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 27th August 2021, 8:53 AM

There are plenty of DVDs available of Till Death - check eBay or Amazon.

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**

Quote: Aaron @ 29th August 2021, 12:30 AM

If you're a fan why don't you just get the complete/surviving DVD box set?

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Quote: Aaron @ 30th August 2021, 12:42 AM

We're way off topic here, but sustaining an archive is a very expensive operation. Stuff doesn't just magically exist forever, it has to be looked after.
I totally agree more should be available, but the idea we should just have free access to it is naïve at best.

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So, what makes mine** off topic? And I object to being called naïve - I've read many, many comedy biographies and each one mentions the author spending hours referencing video archives such as the BBC, so why can't the general public do the same as they can with the British Library.

If it's not available at present, then it should be made so - the BBC for example waste enough money on other projects/channels that people care not a jot about or have very limited interest.

This post is off topic.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 30th August 2021, 11:11 AM

So, what makes mine** off topic?

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Nothing. It's not marked as off-topic.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 30th August 2021, 11:11 AM

I've read many, many comedy biographies and each one mentions the author spending hours referencing video archives such as the BBC, so why can't the general public do the same as they can with the British Library.

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You may be misremembering and getting confused with the BBC Written Archives. There is a very limited archive service offered to researchers, often requiring the backing of agents/estates/etc. It is not somewhere that is either comprehensively stocked, or can be visited or accessed with total freedom like a library, local or otherwise.

The BBC Written Archives Centre, on the other hand, is a dedicated facility located near Reading, which - although by appointment - is much more generally available to access, and holds a vast array of materials (not always complete) including the likes of set designs, contracts, photographs, scripts, memos, and so on. This is definitely a very widely used and cited information resource.

As to the wider point, the BBC in particular does have projects in place to make ever more of its archive accessible, and there's no one who wants to see it go further, faster, more than I do. But I would've thought the costs involved in running such endeavours would be self-evident as to why they're not already public and widely available, and would be impossible to provide for free.