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Post by stuart7 on Jul 11, 2007 11:50:08 GMT
Yes indeed, it's helped. Thanks for that.
Stuart
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Post by Old Square Wheels on Jul 12, 2007 8:58:51 GMT
ABC2 have been showing some of the classic episodes lately (13:15 for AU members), so I've seen a few that I've not seen for a while, if at all. Dilys's Forgetful Day was quite interesting; loved the awkwardness and surprise from the male firemen when they discovered the visiting firefighter (Penny) was in fact a woman! Hmm, something tells me they wouldn't have gotten away with that episode nowadays!
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Post by stuart7 on Jul 22, 2007 12:08:07 GMT
Just seen 'Norman's Pitfall' and 'Deep Trouble', which were uploaded on youtube by Chris. I hadn't seen these eps for years and I thoroughly enjoyed 'em. These days, the more I think about it, the more I agree with Chris about Trevor Evans (aka 'Trevor The Bus'). Great character. His best moment was undoubtedly this one from 'Deep Trouble', when he, James and Sarah are driving to Penny's:
Trevor (singing): How many flowers can Penny Morris grow In a Ponty country garden? Roses, delphiniums perhaps a daff or two And a - (belches)!
Sarah: Mr Evans! Trevor (still singing): I beg your pardon!
LOL!
Keep 'em coming, Chris!
Stuart
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PC Stratford
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Post by PC Stratford on Jul 22, 2007 20:51:44 GMT
I'm not sure if this will have any relevance, but I found an adress for John Alderton. I don't know if it will be sent sucessfully but I am going to write a letter to him
Apart from questions about Fireman Sam, Please Sir and the 1983 series of Mr Men and Little Miss, does anyone else have suggestions for it and how the letter should be written? I understand that he is a private person since he is living in semi-retirement and there are little interviews about that I am aware of
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Post by Chris on Jul 23, 2007 9:42:51 GMT
Nice going, pc. I'd be interested to know his thoughts on the newer series of Fireman Sam and whether he was actually asked to do it. On a mixed note, some good news is that there's another new series on the way next year. The bad news is that HiT now has even more control so we can expect that "Welsh flavour" to be even less apparent: www.hitnewsonline.com/releases/detail/s4c_announces_sale_of_fireman_sam/
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Post by stuart7 on Jul 23, 2007 11:10:02 GMT
Hmmmm... Let's hope things get better for our favourite fireman. Perhaps their 2002/3 series was just one of those things, like the third series of Postman Pat, with the producers/writers finding their feet.
Stuart
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PC Stratford
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Post by PC Stratford on Jul 23, 2007 16:02:47 GMT
Here is my first draft of the letter:
Dear Mr. Alderton
I am writing to thank you for your contribution to television and acting in general. I am a great fan of your work, particularly 'Please Sir' and two of my favourite children's shows 'Mr. Men and Little Miss' and 'Fireman Sam'. There are some questions that I wondered if you would answer. I understand that you are a private person and along with the late great Patrick Troughton, don't speak very much about your work. If you are uncomfortable about answering the following questions, then it is no problem
You are probably best remembered for the lead role of teacher, Bernard Hedges, in the classic sitcom 'Please Sir'. How did you first receive the role? What was it like to be working with other members of the cast such as Deryck Guyler and Joan Sanderson? Were there any episodes or moments that you remember from the show?
I mentioned 'Mr. Men and Little Miss' and 'Fireman Sam' earlier. In my opinion, these are probably your most underrated work. There are a few people who agree with me that your narration and voices for these programmes were remarkable. Pauline Collins (Actress/John Alderton's wife) also had a great voice range for the Little Miss characters. How did it feel to have that 'husband and wife' team involved doing those voices? There were also a varied number of regional accents involved in that series. Did the production team ask you both to use certain accents for certain characters or did you both decide to put accents on certain characters of your own accord? Were there any characters that you both enjoyed voicing or any that you both found difficult to voice? My question about voicing also counts for 'Fireman Sam'. How did you become involved in narrating/voicing the series and characters? Were there any characters that you liked voicing and were there any you found difficult to voice? It must have been quite difficult to voice characters such as Dilys and Bella? I noticed there has been a new series in recent years, but with different voice artists. Why weren't you involved in the new series? Did you decline to return or did the production team never asked you? Have you seen any of the newer episodes, if you have, what are your thoughts on it. In my opinion, it is an entirely different show and it is not the same without your voices and narration.
I apologise if I am asking you too many questions, however I do have one more. Will you be appearing on television any time again in the future? In my opinion, an acting/voicing range that you show is much missed on television nowadays. I hope see you on television again soon
Does anyone have suggestions on how the letter should be made better?
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Post by stuart7 on Jul 24, 2007 14:13:08 GMT
Just seen 'Safe With Sam', which Chris kindly uploaded on youtube, and, very fortunately, Norman did not get given an ASBO, as many people thought. I found it quite a useful educational episode, not too painfully moralistic. Thomas could do with a episode for railway safety, rather than one preaching the ever-tedious 'help your friends' and 'don't rush' morals.
Stuart
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Post by dragonfoxv2 on Jul 24, 2007 14:33:04 GMT
Just seen 'Safe With Sam', which Chris kindly uploaded on youtube, and, very fortunately, Norman did not get given an ASBO, as many people thought. I found it quite a useful educational episode, not too painfully moralistic. Thomas could do with a episode for railway safety, rather than one preaching the ever-tedious 'help your friends' and 'don't rush' morals. Stuart Yeah, I bought 'Safe With Sam' at a school jumble sale. There I was, expecting a huge dramatic episode about Bella's Cafe burning to the ground... Gee, I've gotta stop reading rumours... I wasn't disappointed, though. A nice educational video, with some of Fireman Sam's traditional humour snuck in (loved the bit when Dilys was holding Bella's money against the sunlight and kept looking back at Bella. I thought she was surprised that Bella was using Welsh currency! )
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Post by gordonfan on Jul 28, 2007 22:15:10 GMT
Any fans of "Bentley The Robot" on here? Always great for a laugh. Plus there is a Tugs parody of it somewhere on Youtube.
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PC Stratford
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Post by PC Stratford on Aug 19, 2007 17:52:54 GMT
Well, after going through various drafts and other busy things going on in my life, I have finally written and posted the letter to John Alderton that I was telling you all about. It's now just a matter of waiting and hoping for him to reply
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Post by Old Square Wheels on Aug 26, 2007 9:31:20 GMT
It appears the classic Fireman Sam dvds are being released down under too... www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/795501November 7th is the diary date. Don't know if I'll bother; might wait until they're all released first and see if they release a boxset of them
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PC Stratford
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I'm a walking television show. I can't get away from it.
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Post by PC Stratford on Sept 13, 2007 20:13:21 GMT
An update on my planned letter to John Alderton. It has been about a month since I sent the letter and still no reply. The adress probably wasn't valid or Alderton wasn't with the agency anymore. Either way, my attempt has failed, but at least I tried
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Post by Chris on Sept 20, 2007 15:30:28 GMT
Sorry to hear that, pc. You never know though - he could be busy at the moment. A reply may still come eventually. Found some info on the next series, which reveals it may entirely computer animated: www.c21media.net/news/detail.asp?area=79&article=37412In other news, HIT appears to have done a run on YouTube. Pretty much all the Fireman Sam videos on there have been taken down. Strangely, no Thomas videos have been touched.
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PC Stratford
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Post by PC Stratford on Sept 20, 2007 15:58:32 GMT
Bit of a bummer in my opinion, no chance of seeing 'Snow Business' in English now. It's the only episode I haven't got and I haven't seen it for years
Though oddly enough, Postman Pat and Joshua Jones videos haven't been touched
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Post by OJ on Sept 20, 2007 16:17:45 GMT
I'm interested in the new coastline. Hope there's more new characters. I wonder if they'll be a sea captain simillar to Salty and that sea Captain from Simpsons.
Chris, did you cut the Fireman Sam episodes into parts. Most videos can get away this way. Still there's always Dailymotion if you want to put some there.
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Post by oliverandduck on Sept 21, 2007 16:00:28 GMT
that sea Captain from Simpsons. Captain McCallister! He is an amazing character who you don't see so much nowadays. I don't recall seeing him in the Movie. I also didn't know they were making a new series of Fireman Sam. It's been a while.
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PC Stratford
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I'm a walking television show. I can't get away from it.
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Post by PC Stratford on Sept 27, 2007 18:24:45 GMT
It looks like the Complete Series DVDs in the boxset are being released individually. I was in Tesco today and seen that 'Norman's Tricky Day' was one of the 'DVDs of the Week', plus clips of the opening credits were shown on the televisions, advertised along with other top DVDs in the chart
I just hope 'Snow Business' is seen more in shops within the next few weeks!
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Post by Devious Diesel on Oct 6, 2007 13:29:19 GMT
What better thing for a kid to be raised on than this, Postman Pat and, of course, Thomas? Me in a nutshell, really. All of them were firm favourites when I was younger, and Fireman Sam probably had the best theme tune of the lot...even if I didn't like the alarm clock right at the beginning. I haven't seen anything from the newer series as of yet, only a handful of 30 second clips. Whilst everything does look a lot more plasticy, I'm not one to judge until I get a taste of a full episode. It'll probably be like Thomas was...having been so long since I watched an old episode, I won't have much to complain about.
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Post by ringo86 on Oct 31, 2007 22:50:18 GMT
John Alderton appeared again in the Daily Mail newspaper yesterday. Having read that Pauline Collins was his wife, I didn't know she did the female voices in Mr Men and Little Miss. I wonder what it would have been like if she had worked with John on Fireman Sam?
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