Talking Pictures TV

For over 20 years, Cronin-Stanley and Cronin have been patrons to a DVD membership club, The Renown Film Club, for fans of B-film classics.[1] Cronin had worked for The Rank Organisation and Central Office of Information, and bought the rights to several libraries that owned films that air on TPTV,[5] such as much of the Southern Television library, and originally licensed them out to terrestrial channels.[3] Many of the films aired on Talking Pictures TV are available to buy on DVD, often sold as compilations under different genres, through the distributing company,[9] both online and through the Renown's telephone service. Each DVD set is full of films made between the 1930s and 1960s, and also include special features, such as interviews and history. Other merchandise is also sold on the website, such as mugs, clothing, biographies, and calendars (available to buy in December for the new year), often branded under Talking Pictures TV's name. In spring 2019, Renown released its first CD compilation album named Hits From the Flicks, three CDs of songs from musicals and movies with pop song theme tunes that had aired on the channel.[10]

Since 2014, the channel's producers created the Renown Film Festival, which celebrates classic British film, featuring guest appearances by actors whose films have been aired, as well as historians, who give interviews; there are also screenings for films that were once considered lost, and memorabilia available to buy and be autographed by the actors. It occurs annually in February, and tickets are advertised on both TPTV's website and the channel. Actors that have appeared on the guest lists include Jess Conrad (who reunited with the remaining cast of The Boys in 2017),[11] Rita Tushingham,[12] Brian Murphy, Melvyn Hayes, and Derren Nesbitt.[12] The festival takes place in Hertfordshire, such as Watersmeet Theatre, Rickmansworth[12] and St. Albans' The Albans Arena,[13] but 2019 was the first year to have more than one festival in a year; October 2019 was the Renown Film's 6th Festival of Film at the Stockport Plaza,[14] which also featured special guests, film screenings, and memorabilia. Although tickets sold out, St. Albans' 2020 Festival was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.[15]

A spin-off podcast named The Talking Pictures TV Podcast was announced in December 2018[16] by Adam Roche,[17] the creator of the podcasts The Secret History of Hollywood and Attaboy Clarence,[17] and began broadcasting on 3 February 2019. Each episode is uploaded monthly to coincide with TPTV's schedule releases and invites the audience to review movies and television programmes that will broadcast on the channel during that month. Its first episode became the most popular podcast in the UK iTunes chart within roughly five hours.[18]

A list of selected films shown on Talking Pictures TV:

Talking Pictures TV features several classic television series from American broadcasters ABC, CBS, and NBC, as well as British series, mostly from Southern Television productions for the ITV network. Many of the American television shows were produced by Four Star Television.

Talking Pictures TV also features several films from the series featuring Old Mother Riley, and from the British Film Institute's (BFI) archives, including several significant documentaries, and a considerable number of Children's Film Foundation productions, named under a series segment Glimpses.[3] Its intention is for both nostalgia and education, as well as reminding the audience of the past; some footage is donated by viewers.[6] The series is the most popular original content on the channel and its compilation DVD is the most popular buy on Renown Film's website.[117]

The Take Two series was presented by Elstree historian Morris Bright, and occasionally Robert Ross and/or the channel creators, who interview famous actors whose films and programming is airing on the channel, such as Nanette Newman, Angela Douglas, Rita Tushingham,[118] Sylvia Syms, Michael Craig,[119] Shirley Eaton, Sally Thomsett, Jack Smethurst, Jenny Hanley, Norman Eshley, Valerie Leon, Madeline Smith, Marc Sinden, and Janette Scott;[120] a few of them recorded station idents for the channel.[121][122][123][124][125][126][127][128] An interview with A Family at War creator John Finch was also aired,[129] as well as Neil Sean Meets..., an interviewing series presented by Neil Sean, who has interviewed historians and celebrities of the mid-20th century, such as Tommy Steele,[130] Roger Moore[131] and Eden Kane. Interviews from 2018 onwards have been filmed in the Cinema Museum in the wake of the museum's foreclosure announcement;[132] the interviewees there include Mark Lester, George Layton,[133] Anita Harris, Sid James's daughter Reina,[134] Anneke Wills,[135] and Peter Butterworth's son Tyler.[136] Some interviews in the series was later released on a DVD collection named Talking Pictures with....[137]

The channel has featured themed days, such as "An Afternoon with Liz Fraser"[138] (14 August 2016), "1960s Day",[139] "Sophia Loren Evening"[140] (20 September 2016), "Music Hall Monday" (18 January 2016),[141] "Diana Dors Day" (14 May 2017),[142] and "An Afternoon with Patricia Dainton" (12 April 2016),[143] in which the actress came out of retirement to provide introductions to her films. "Laurel and Hardy Month"[144] aired their short films and feature-length productions throughout September 2017[145] and their movies continue to be shown.[3] "Ronald Colman Season"[146] occurred throughout November and December 2016, airing movies such as The Devil to Pay!, Bulldog Drummond, and Raffles.[147] 15 February 2018 was "Sam Kydd Day",[148] with showings of a handful of his movies and television appearances, excerpts from his diaries and anecdotes of his life from his son Jonathan.[149] 15 March 2019 was "John Gregson Day" which featured movies and television that starred/featured the actor, along with interviews with his family members and remaining cast members of his filmography.[150] There have also been special guests that host their favourite vintage media that has appeared on the channel, such as Danny Baker[151] and Vic Reeves.[152]

Key

Denotes upcoming themed days that have not yet occurred on the channel.

The regulator Ofcom has warned the channel about the use of obsolete racial terms in its programming on a handful of occasions,[21] including an episode of Granada Television's A Family at War, originally broadcast in the early 1970s, shown by TPTV in the hour just before the 9pm watershed, and an uncensored interview with Joan Turner during her appearance on the talk show Tell Me Another.[110] Cronin-Stanley told The Times in February 2018: "Ofcom say we need to advise people before they watch something that it may contain outdated racial stereotyping, but I would say that’s babysitting our audience".[21] However, later in 2018, warning notices had started to appear just before some programmes began, stating, for example, that a programme "was made between 1975 and 1978, and contains some offensive and discriminatory language which reflects the prevailing attitudes of the time".