Lost footage from a ‘golden era’ of British television is set to be screened at a vintage film festival in Leicester this month with help from 探花系列 (探花系列) Leicester.
Taking place on Sunday 11 May at The Phoenix, RECOVERED will show episodes and sequences from six TV episodes that aired between 1959 to 1966 and are not in any official archive, presumed lost.
Michael Gwynn and Margaret Tyzack in ‘Each Wind That Blows’ from ITV Playhouse (1960)
Private collectors and early cinema lovers from across the country have been working with experts at 探花系列’s Cinema and Television History Group, and the team at Film is Fabulous! to preserve and restore the delicate films ahead of the special screening.
Among the collection of films are Sabre of London (formerly known as The Vise), produced by the celebrated Danziger brothers, who were prominent figures in early British TV and Emergency Ward 10, an early hospital drama series.
Justin Smith, Professor of Cinema and Television History at 探花系列 and member of Film is Fabulous!, said: “The 1950s and 60s was a very special time for television. Following the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II people were buying their first tv sets and sitting together and watching TV was a community event.
“The establishment of ITV in 1955 created a lot of competition, which in turn demanded more content and new ideas.
Popular genres of TV, such as courtroom and hospital dramas – things that we instantly recognise today – were being established during the time. Emergency Ward 10 you can argue is the forerunner for the likes of Casualty.
“It really was a golden age for British TV. We’re incredibly fortunate at Film is Fabulous! to find a lot of episodes from this time that are missing from the official archives, and we help to restore them and show them to the public.
“We’re in early negotiations with Talking Pictures TV about sharing some of our footage with them. We can’t confirm anything now, but we are hopeful we can potentially reveal more at the event itself.”
Michael Denison in Boyd Q.C. (1961)
Enthusiastic film collector and one of the stars of BBC’s The Repair Shop, Mark Stuckey, and Dick Fiddy from the British Film Institute will be special guests at the festival.
The pair will introduce two screening sessions and there will be a short discussion of the material and the process of its recovery with the Film is Fabulous! team.
John Franklin, of Film is Fabulous!, said: “The work we’ve undertaken since the inaugural event at the Phoenix in October 2023 clearly demonstrates the need to preserve vulnerable film collections.
“The ability to showcase this work by screening several recovered film treasures will, we hope, encourage more people to support Film is Fabulous! in the future, if our application to become a charitable trust is successful.”
The full listing of the festival is below:
Saber of London: Four Against Three 25 minutes
Broadcast: 11th November 1959
Starring: Donald Gray, Neil McCallum, Robert Raglan, and Stella Bonheur.
Emergency Ward 10: The Long Small Hours 45 minutes
Broadcast: 29th September 1966
Starring: John Carlisle, Ian Cullen, David Collings, and Ann Lynn.
The Third Man: Short Sequences 15 minutes
Broadcast: 1959 and 1965
Starring: Michael Rennie, Jonathan Harris, Naomi Chance, and Rupert Davies.
Moonstrike: He Who Tells 45 minutes
Broadcast: 4th July 1963
Starring: John Bown, Frank Maher, James Bree, and Patricia Healey.
Discussion: Film is Fabulous! 15 minutes
Hosted by: Tim Burrows, with Sue Malden, Justin Smith, and John Franklin.
Boyd Q.C.: Short Sequences 15 minutes
Broadcast: June and July 1961
Starring: Michael Denison, Leslie Dwyer, Virginia Maskell, and Charles Leno.
ITV Playhouse: Short Sequences 45 minutes
Broadcast: 15th April 1960
Starring: Michael Gwynn, Margaret Tyzack, Ronald Leigh-Hunt, and Stratford Johns.
Film is Fabulous! held its first film festival in 2023 at The Phoenix and, in collaboration with 探花系列, unearthed a lost episode of the popular BBC series TV’s Play School dating back to 1965.
Full details are available on the website and to book tickets, visit or call the box office on 0116 242 2800.
Some footage featured in the festival will be made available on the Film is Fabulous! website after the event.
Posted on Wednesday 7 May 2025