As you will know, I am working through the ‘Radio Times’ for the mid 1960s and the series of posts is currently at Sunday afternoon on the Light Program, a link to the latest post is here.
However, in preparation for some comments that I might want to do later, I am looking at a soap that appeared in late July 1965 called ’199 Park Lane’.
199 Park Lane
It seems that this series ran twice-weekly for some 18 episodes (that’s only about two months) and, for the record, it was shown on BB1 on Tuesday and Friday nights (I think) at 7.30 PM both nights.
According to the Wikipedia, the BBC wiped the tapes in 1970 and no episodes survive and a search on the internet does not reveal anything either.
I wonder if any readers have any information, recollections or comments about the soap? It’s always sad to see a program sink virtually without trace and as this is over 40 years ago any information that can be collected will be useful.
I have the Radio Times for the week of the first edition which introduces the soap and which tells me that it ‘goes behind the glossy façade of this expensive street, through the exclusive doors that muffle the noise of London, to meet the people of Park Lane and tell their stories’.
Produced by Morris Barry and written by William Fairchild it used several actors who starred in ‘Compact’, two of whom are; Brenda Kaye and Henry Gilbert.
The address is an exclusive block of flats and the action takes place in the restaurant and bar below and the characters are upper class.
Soaps
Various soaps at that time were being produced by the BBC in the hope of rivalling the acceptance and popularity of Coronation Street and Crossroads produced by Independent Television. Sadly, many of the BBC attempts were less than successful and I imagine that this is one of them.
I never saw any episodes of 199 Park Lane but I did watch some of the ‘Compact’ series which, for the record, and to fit in with the comments above, ran from 1962 to July 1965.
It’s interesting to note that the successful soaps all seemed, at least in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, to revolve around the lives of ordinary people doing what are, within some boundaries, ordinary things. I know that this is probably not true now and storylines are much broader and less credible. But it is for this reason, perhaps, that a decidedly upper class series like this one did not capture the large audience share that was expected.
Any information about this series, as they say, will be gratefully received.
