Murder She Wrote - the crossover episodes

There was that time that Thomas Magnum - star of TV's Magnum PI - met Jessica Fletcher - star of TV's Murder She Wrote. 

It was a crossover caper. Part one aired as a segment of Magnum PI whilst the story concluded in a segment of Murder She Wrote. 

Thanks to a disreputable source of mine, I've got hold of the TV Guide ads for some other lesser known crossovers from everyone's favourite elderly female detective (after Miss Marple). 

She got about a bit, didn't she? 

Bank Holiday television isn't what it used to be...

Given it's a bank holiday and given that the weather is usually shit, you'd expect something a bit more special on telly. 

But these days, there's often very little if anything. 

The BBC still has its standard fare of Homes Under the Hammer and Bargain Hunt episodes that might as well be repeats for all the originality each 'new' edition contains.

ITV meanwhile has replaced This Morning with episodes of Murder She Wrote and Columbo in an effort to extend their 'classic' weekend scheduling. 

As for the other Freeview channels....

Whatever happened to Disney Time, Billy Smart's Circus and Holiday Star Trek??? 

Rant over...

New Magazines Now Not Available From All Good W H Smiths...

You used to get some really odd magazines on sale at WHSmith's. 

I remember one devoted to 'blue light dramas' - like 'Casualty', 'The Bill', 'London's Burning' 'ER - I mean, who the heck would read that? 

Here's some more obscure magazines that I had a hand in a year or so ago...

New TV Tie-ins from Target Books

Doctor Who fans have never had it so good. Yes, there are the old fogies who yearn for the classic series and the time when no one except them watched the series. But in these enlightened times, we can give thanks for all the wonderful things available to us fans now that 'Doctor Who' is the most important thing on the planet. 

Time was, anything was merchandised and published with the Doctor Who logo on it. There was very little quality control on it from the BBC. I heard a rumour that back in the 1980s, the producer John Nathan Turner vetted everything that was released commercially and checked their authenticity to the series rigorously. Having seen some of the stuff (and even purchased some of it) from the era, we can all safely say that that is a myth - like further missing episodes turning up. JNT's pet dog Pepsi probably had more say in what could be released than he appears to have had.

In the 1980s, Doctor Who Target novelisations were a publishing phenomenon. Phenomenon in that no one in the publishing world could quite understand why there were so many and how on Earth a company could make them pay.

The books provided fans the chance to relive recent (and occasionally old) episodes in prose form before the age of Sky plus and TV on demand. Visually these books suffered in the mid-life with poorly chosen photographic covers and a lack of any Doctor other than the current one posing on them. Sometimes the photos appeared to have been cut out using a pair of 'Play School' scissors and stuck to a piece of day-glo card - whichever was available to the work experience guy at the time. All in all, visually they went through a pretty shit period. 

I'd hate to think what would've happened if the current Doctor Who success happened in the early 80s as opposed to today.... 

A BOOK: Yesterday

The Lost Tradition of the Christmas TV Annual

A page torn from the 2014/15 Autumn/
Winter Shuttlewoods Catalogue.
CLICK FOR LARGER

The end of the school holidays in September used to bring with it the sight of Christmas on the horizon - only very tiny but within the space of a couple of months, it would soon loom large.  One of the earliest signs of Christmas in our family was the arrival of the huge tome that was the 'Kays Catalogue'. Hundreds of pages of things to purchase on weekly terms from ladies under apparel to bicycles to three piece suites to socks in packs of five. 

The toy section was always the best. A ready made order form for Santa's shopping list and at the end was usually a whole page of next year's annuals. For the non-UK citizen, an "Annual" is a hardback book usually released in the late summer/early autumn with an air of the Christmas market. Annuals could be based on pop stars, comics, films, cub scouts, kittens or TV shows. I recall checking the relevant pages in my Mum's Kays Catalogue for any new TV annuals. There was always the 'Dr. Who' (qv) annual but nearby listed were usually one or two others the tempt me into including it in the Christmas list - 'The Bionic Woman', 'Logan's Run', 'The Sweeney', 'Battlestar Galactica' and, even to my delight and surprise one year, a 'Blake's 7' one. (I actually managed to get that one BEFORE Christmas. A transgression that according to my father was tantamount to opening presents BEFORE Christmas Day.) 

My eagerness to devour these annual publications was matched by their overall shoddiness and paucity of content. The 'Dr. Who' annuals are legendary for their unique view of the worlds of 'Doctor Who'. Companions who looked nothing like the individuals they were written as, seat belts in the TARDIS and illustrations that looked like the prime ingredient of them was smoked rather than drawn. 

Many of the other annuals were no better though some had their merits. The 'Logan's Run' annual I mentioned earlier featured some early work by the artist David Lloyd who would go on to draw the sublime 'V For Vendetta' and the four 'Dalek' annuals released in the late 70s are almost on a par with their 60s counterparts due no doubt to actually being authored by Terry Nation himself. 


These days, there's still annuals but their content seems to be more based around celebrity than concept. 'Justin Bieber' and the latest boy band fill the flimsy hardbacks with full page paparazi photos and 'fun facts' gleaned from press packs. Even the 'Doctor Who' annual is a vacuous blend of large print, publicity stills, 'fun facts' and word searches - with the odd lightweight comic strip to break the garish monotony. The kids of today might accept this as normal but the plethora of these books that adorn the shelves of charity shops suggest that their appeal is merely ephemeral. I suppose that was the truth back when I devoured them in the 70s. Once Christmas was over and the January sales began in earnest, they were often available for half price or a quid until they died out some time in February. Perhaps that was their function - as a finite piece of fun disguised as a hardback book. 

I liked them though and as is my want as a fifty year old kid, I bemoan their passing. What if the annuals of today had the same obsession with TV they had in the sixties and seventies? 

Detective comics...

Remember back in the sixties and seventies, toy makers and book publishers jumped at the chance to produce anything connected to a popular TV show regardless of the show's demographic or content. Hence, the kids of those decade were afforded annuals and games based on the likes of such adult shows as 'Z Cars', 'The Sweeney' and 'The Professionals'. Looking back, it does seem odd if not immoral that a show like 'The Professionals' could spawn a kids merchandise bonanza but it did. 

What if modern detectives had their own comics aimed at the junior market?

Yeah, I know 'Murder She Wrote' might be a bit tame for seventies kids but what the heck?