Old TV Comedy.

\i see on BBC 2 in the afternoons in the week they have started to show some of the Ealing Comedies .
They started yesterday good selection this week.
Mick

They show some brilliant old films on the Talking Pictures channel.

I very often watch Talking Pictures. I'd already seen last night's which was The Family Way---John Mills/Hayley Mills.

I had not heard of talking pictures, just had a look and have set to record quite a lot on there.

I always look to see what is on Talking Pictures because there are some real old gems. Often a kitchen sink drama from the early 1960s which I was too young to see at the time. And the old series Scotland Yard with Edgar Lusgarten, which feature lots of detectives in macs and raincoats, pots of tea and very well dressed ladies. The Edgar Wallace Mysteries were usually B movies when you went to the cinema. They are quite good murder mystery stories but the clothes, the rooms, the furniture, the cars, the streets are all genuine 1950s so quite fascinating now.
The last two are not on at the moment but may be back again.

1 episode of Quatermass, that I watched on an old black and white tv in the 1950s, has stayed with me to this day! I'd love to watch that again to see if it's as scary as I remember it.

Re the OP's post. comedy and light entertainment often seems to relate to the time and the place, and doesn't travel well to other countries or through time. I'm not sure if we'd laugh at those old comedies now, probably some of them but not all. If they still hold up today then you know they were well written (Steptoe and Son, Hancock). Would the youngsters find them funny? Probably not, it was a different world then, and they wouldn't even understand what half of it was about. They may laugh at old slapstick comedy because there's a timeless element about it.

I'm another fan of Talking Pictures. But I get very uncomfortable about the treatment of women in those old series and films.
There seem to have been only five types of roles for women: tart with a heart, housewife/mother, saint, plucky but gullible, hand maiden.
It bothers me that these stereotypes perpetuated the secondary nature in our culture for most women for decades.

Another option is Forces TV with things like Goodnight Sweetheart ,and others between 7-9 at night .
I too have gone to Talking Pictures channel as well, also I noticed at Easter on mainstream Beeb Indiana Jones reruns , plus the heavy ones like 10 Commandments
Mick

I think we have to view old films with different eyes just as we do episodes of history. We can't judge from our modern point of view. Talking Pictures often puts a warning up prior to the film if there are aspects that are unacceptable these days.

Sony Movies Classic is on Freeview Channel 50 and great for old movies as an alternative to Talking Pictures. I always have a look at both on the listings.
P.S. Rebecca is on Talking Pictures tonight at 6:20. Love that film!

I remember saying to someone at work, in a Bloodnok voice 'You swine' They looked horrified. They were quite a bit younger then I was, so wouldn't make the Goonshow connection. Oops!

vampire you're correct, and a particular dislike of mine is the vogue for re-inventing history to make it more 'relevant'. My disquiet sprang from realising that women of the time watching those post war films would have realised that there were very few options for them in life.

Young women in old 1950s British movies were immaculately dressed in figure-hugging clothes, had perfectly styled hair and make-up and walked with a wiggle. The men frequently ogled them, even the Scotland Yard detectives!
These were our role models! No wonder I grew up having to make myself presentable with make-up and tidy hair whenever I went out!