Firecracker00

Vultural said:

This does not help you, but I watched Heartbeat S04E09 “Red Herring” last night.
I watched with subs, which indicated the Rolling Stones “Play With Fire” but what actually played was a Searchers tune.
Later, during some business, subs indicated “Sloop John B” by the Beach Boys, when there was no music whatsoever, just folks mucking around in the countryside.
I can see where this might drive you nuts.

Hi, I’m not sure what version of the ep “Red Herring” you have watched but as far as I know the songs used on the DVD version are:

Playing with Fire by the Rolling Stones
You Can’t Do That (cover version originally sung by the Beatles)
Let Me Go Home (no idea who sings this song)

On the ITV broadcast I have from 1994 the songs are:

Playing with Fire (Rolling Stones)
Back in the USSR by the Beatles)
Let Me Go Home

None of the above versions feature the songs Sloop John B by the Beach Boys or a Searchers song. It’s likely you’ve probably watched an upload on somewhere like Dailymotion where someone has dubbed over the original song with another song to avoid a copyright strike, or it’s from another TV channel broadcast. I have seen the Red Herring episode on Daily Motion where someone has added From Russia with Love by Matt Munro during the end scene, and you can hear the original song underneath, so it’s probably someone messing about with the episodes and uploading them, or maybe an overseas channel which couldn’t use the original songs for whatever reason.

There used to be uploads on youtue from the Filmrise TV channel which included the original Beatles songs used in the TV broadcasts and Britbox versions, but for some reason other songs by Bob Dylan have been changed. In “Toss Up” from series 5 on the Filmrise version they have changed “Like a Rolling Stone” by Bob Dylan during the car crash scene for Tobacco Road by Status Quo, a very inappropriate song for that scene but likely because they couldn’t use the song. And also, when Bob Dylan is heard on the radio in the Aidensfield Arms they have muted his vocals and you can only hear the instrumentals. Abit OTT but they must be so terrified of being sued for just a few short seconds of someone’s voice. The music changes to Heartbeat is all over the place.

I am currently doing a list of all the song changes to every episode, time consuming but I have nearly every episode to work with and compare the versions I have seen. Just wish my tapes where in better condition.

Hopefully one day I will redub the original broadcast songs to the DVDs, but the short cuts to the series 2 episodes (why only those 2 episodes have been cut out of all the rest is abit strange, maybe there’s another reason for the cuts?) presents a problem in editing them.

Vultural said:

I am midway through S04. Been watching from S01, on and off, for about ten years.
Only plan to go to S05, then bail.
My take is when songs are dropped, it is a rights thing.
This happened with Lost In Austen when US versions of the DVD missed the “Downtown” sequence, as well as the ringtone in-joke.

I am aware of the music rights issues with the series and know that certain songs have been replaced/changed, sometimes with cover versions of those songs of replaced with different songs altogether (why they couldn’t have used cover songs for every song they replaced (ie Beatles covers) instead of using different songs (which sometimes don’t suit the scene at all compared to the original song used), but I’m guessing this is either down to the studio not having a cover song for that song, or that the artist who covered that song wants an arm and a leg for them to use it.

My issue with the songs is that appear to have been badly dubbed over the audio in some episodes, but not everyone. It appears that some episodes they weren’t using the actual raw episode which would’ve been without the music added prior to the episode being aired; this would allow them to add the songs where it was needed in for the scene, but it looks like they were only given a “finalised” version with the original (ie Beatles) songs already added, and of course this wouldn’t have been possible to remove and replace, so it appears that they muted the audio and added another song over the top. This is apparent in series 2 episode 2 “End of the Line” where the opening scene seems to have no background noise, ie no coughing, you don’t hear the vicar, the steam train etc apart from the music they used as a replacement, and this is maybe the reason why the scene with the taxi driver was cut out. In series 4 episode 9 “Red Herring” just before it cuts to Ivanov walking around the village looking for help, the shot on the boat where they are looking for him you can faintly hear the opening of Back in the USSR (again this would’ve been added in the edit), but when it cuts to the next scene we now have a cover of “You Can’t Do That” (In the original broadcast Back in the USSR transitioned into the next scene). My question is, why was the opening to Back in the USSR left intact in the previous scene?. My answer is, like with S2 EP2, was that they couldn’t remove the song, so when the scene cuts to the next scene they probably removed the entire audio track of the scene up until Ivanov stops Nick on his bike (which the song ended at that point too - luckily too otherwise the dialogue would’ve been too) and simply added another song on top and added a few background sounds. Again, if this is the reason then why didn’t they have the raw edit without the songs?.

Hope that makes sense.

Baobab Archiver said:

Sadly I don’t have any original recordings. I don’t think my Dad does either. I’ll check a couple of other sources and let you know if I find anything.

Regarding your comment about the master tapes, I don’t think it’s very surprising to be honest. Even more recent shows wouldn’t necessarily retain the raw audio. It’s hit and miss with most shows what’s retained. The slightly more concerning thing is whether the edited versions become the new masters.
That would result in the original versions being lost altogether.

No worries. I was a big fan of the series having watched it back when it was first shown on ITV in 1992, partly through my dad watching it as he loved the 60s. The earlier series were the best, never liked the later series after Nick and Claude Greengrass left. I’m not sure whether they would have lost the raw master tape without the audio track because they do occasionally show the early series on the UK ITV channel with the songs included (though I do recall over 10 years when they showed an ep from series 7 they replaced “Goodday Sunshine” by the Beatles with A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procul Harum, and I’ve also seen versions on youtube from the Filmrise channel which retain some of the songs used in the original broadcasts, other versions I’ve come across they have kept some songs but changed others, even the song Rawhide by Frankie Laine was replaced in one epsiode, though the source of the recording seems to be unknown as the channel logo was blurred out. Surely they could get the rights to that song?.

In episode 9 from series 2 “Wall of Silence” (DVD version this is), they have replaced “Hey Jude” with a cover version of “If I Fell” by the Beatles but they have cut a few seconds out of that scene the song is heard during, but it’s clear from watching the scene that they must’ve had the original raw tape in order to remove the original song and replace it something else as there’s a scene with the characters speaking with the music heard, something that would’ve been impossible to keep if they couldn’t remove the audio, unless there’s a mix of the two songs (no software I know can remove an audio track completely). Can’t think of any reason why they trimmed a few seconds off that scene.

In another episode from series 4 (ep 9 Red Herring), again from the DVD, in one scene where it cuts to the next scene we hear the beginning of “Back in the USSR” with the noise of a plane, but when it cuts to the next scene we now have a cover version of “You Can’t Do That”. The fact that in the previous scene you can hear the opening to Back in the USSR but it then next there’s a different used, suggests to me that what the DVD studio did was mute or remove the audio in the next scene because they couldn’t remove Back in the USSR, they added a few sound effects to make it match the live sounds from the filming and then add the different song on top.

Baobab Archiver said:

No worries just thought I’d offer the help if needed.

Hi, I have checked with someone who has the DVDs of all the series of Heartbeat, I asked this person whether the episodes I have seen on youtube (as well as the torrent files in avi I’ve also seen) have cuts in them, and he confirmed that yes they had been cut. Very strange why the DVD distributor of the show cut some scenes out, but watching the scenes I suspect that ITV or Yorkshire TV either didn’t or couldn’t give the DVD studio (Network) the actual raw master tape that didn’t have any music added where they could just simply add a different song in replace of the song used in the TV broadcast, in this case Beatles songs. So all they were given was some already finalised version of the episodes which still had the original music, and this of course created a problem because they couldn’t use that version due to copyright music and all the rights issues for home video, so what they did was just basically mute the audio from the audio track to the scene (which included music and background effects and people speaking), add the replacement cover song on the audio track, but because the music was used during where two characters are speaking they had no choice but to cut out the dialogue scene because the original audio track had been muted to remove/hide the copyright Beatles song which they couldn’t use.

Why ITV Studios or Yorkshire didn’t give them the actual master tape I do not know, surely they have a copy it somewhere and haven’t lost it. I’m pretty sure this is what they have done as other episodes where they have used different music are like this also, in a previous scene where the original TV broadcast music would’ve transitioned from the previous scene into the next scene, in one ep from series 4 ep 9 you can hear the beginning of the Beatles song “Back in the USSR” with the sound of the plane which was on that song, however, when the scene cuts to the next scene where it should be Back in the USSR, we hear a cover song of “You Can’t Do That”. The original broadcast tape should’ve had no music at all, again why ITV never gave them the episode without the music is strange.

Sorry for the long winded message.

If anyone has any original ITV broadcast recordings of the episodes to share I would love to them. The Britbox versions, although “uncut” don’t include the original ad break bumpers which the ITV broadcasts from the early-mid 90s do, but the DVD versions do include them but scenes have been cut in some episodes. When it has been shown on ITV3 in the UK they have (from the ones I’ve seen) add the original songs included, but some scenes have been cut, and they don’t include the ad break bumpers as they were originally shown, and also the display the annoying channel logo.

Papai2013 said:

Firecracker00 said:
I never knew that they couldn’t film at the place where the lake is, strange I don’t recall hearing this on any JP documentary of behind the scene.

Do you know where these open matte versions have come from, how do people get hold of these which won’t be released on any home video copy?

They couldn’t film inside the ranch as it was private property and the owner did not allow. So, they took a still photo and animated it digitally. If you have the ‘Beyond Jurassic Park’ DVD or the Trilogy Blu-ray, then you’ll find a documentary on the VFX of the trilogy where this information is available.

If you search with the right keywords, I think you can find it. As for a legal copy, the open matte versions of Jurassic Park 1, 2 and 3 are available as “Fullscreen” DVDs from Universal home video. They are not fully open matte though. The matted shots are panned and scanned as per the available image area.

Well from the above programme I mentioned, the presenter talks to the ranch owner about the filming of the waterfall descent scene with the helicopter, which he says was on private property. I did download the full open matte, but the file seems to be very large and doesn’t play well on my laptop, probably easier to convert it to a DVD .TS file but will obviously lose some quality. I did see a few more open mattes, one of Titanic but these weren’t on MySpleen as I don’t know how to access those.

Papai2013 said:

Firecracker00 said:

Thanks for that, I heard something similar to what you said there on a youtube video about the open matte version. But why does the bluray version I have show a small amount to the left side but the open matte version is cropped, only slightly but noticeable?. Do you know where the open matte version of JP came from and how they got hold of them?. Also, I noticed there was a 16:9 aspect during a non effects shot where the camera moves into Grant’s face as he is looking towards the herd of Brachiosaurs moving across the lake below, but the other non effects shots go back to the open matte look.

I don’t know why that close-up shot (and another one where he says “they move in herds”) was matted. Such shots probably had green screen. We know that they couldn’t film inside the ranch where the lake is. The wide shot of the Brachios wading on the lake is a still photo frame that was animated during post-production. the actors were shot with a green screen in the foreground and later composited in the photo, edited to look like a motion picture image; with heatwaves, reflections on the water surface and camera shakes, etc.

I never knew that they couldn’t film at the place where the lake is, strange I don’t recall hearing this on any JP documentary of behind the scene. I have recording of an episode of a UK series called “Schofield in Hawaii” from 1995 where Philip Schofield visits the Kawai location used for the helicopter ride and landing pad to the island and he talks to the owner of the land, but he never mentions anything about that the crew couldn’t film at the lake only that they had to use dummies inside when the copter descending down the waterfall due it being a dangerous descent. The shot I was referring to is the shot of Grant turning to look at the lake below. After this and the Brachiosaur lake shot it cuts back to Hammond and it’s now back to an open matte, but than after that cuts back to Grant saying “they move in herds…” and it’s back to the wider “hard matte?” aspect, even though it’s only an head shot of the actor.

Do you know where these open matte versions have come from, how do people get hold of these which won’t be released on any home video copy? as I say, the one I found you can see the edges of the film in certain shots, the tape visible on the visitors jeeps plastic roof and boom mics visible like during the helicopter ride to the island). The file seems to be really huge despite only being about 6gb (I suspect it’s much bigger) and an MP4 1920x1080 file and my laptop can’t process the video without the image breaking up. Converting to an MP4 file using Handbrake does the trick but encoding the entire film takes about 10 hours to do for some reason.

Papai2013 said:

Firecracker00 said:

I came across an open matte copy of Jurassic Park… During shots of the CGI effects the image is shown in a wide format and I’ve heard this was the way the effects shots were filmed, but I did notice that the left hand side of the frame during those CGI shots that it’s cropped slightly but the right side shows more than the DVD and bluray version but the bluray and DVD versions show more than the open matte version. Does anyone know why the left side is cropped, shouldn’t it show the full image?.

The very left side of the frame gets printed over by the sound strip that is placed at the left side of the print. The right side has nothing obscuring the edges, hence you see more picture. The effects shots were filmed on VistaVision cameras that have a tall 1.47:1 aspect ratio. They were then cropped to a 16:9 type of shape, for ease of rendering (less amount of effects rendered is less cost in post-production and more time saved). The film gate through which the entire print passes, not only hides the sprocket holes and splices, but also obscures more image at the edges for stabilisation purposes. The DVD, Blu-ray don’t show much more image than the theatre, but the Laserdisc and THX Widescreen VHS did. They showed the full width of the negative. The DVD and Blu-ray actually show less image and a slightly different framing than the projected theatrical prints. They cut off more headroom than the projected image did.

Thanks for that, I heard something similar to what you said there on a youtube video about the open matte version. But why does the bluray version I have show a small amount to the left side but the open matte version is cropped, only slightly but noticeable?. Do you know where the open matte version of JP came from and how they got hold of them?. Also, I noticed there was a 16:9 aspect during a non effects shot where the camera moves into Grant’s face as he is looking towards the herd of Brachiosaurs moving across the lake below, but the other non effects shots go back to the open matte look.

I came across an open matte copy of Jurassic Park which showed the boom mics in shot, and in the overhead shot where Ian Malcolm is heard saying “what have they got in there, King Kong?” you can clearly see the end of the track that the tour car is moving on, revealing it to be just a short section used for that particular shot (why they never used the longer track seen in the wide shot with the cars moving through the gates I don’t know).

The file was in 1920x1080 res at about 6gb (HEVC MKV), very good resolution and was nice to see the film with a more saturated look with the more orangery look of the reds and browns. During shots of the CGI effects the image is shown in a wide aspect, and I’ve heard this was the way the effects shots were filmed, but I did notice that the left hand side of the frame during those CGI shots that it’s cropped slightly but the right side shows more than the DVD and bluray version but the bluray and DVD versions show more than the open matte version. Does anyone know why the left side is cropped, shouldn’t it show the full image?.

Baobab Archiver said:

Hi
I have no idea if this series has cuts. I haven’t seen it in ages but have happy memories of watching the early episodes with my Mum and Dad on a Sunday evening.

If there are cuts and help is needed to restore them I’m happy to assist where I can if needed.

Thanks for the reply. Since my message I have heard that the cut episodes I mentioned, which I watched on youtube, according to someone who has the actual DVDs, told me that the uploader has edited the episodes, why I don’t know as the music used was already a cover version on the DVDs anyway and there would’ve been no reason to cut them to avoid youtube’s copyright policy. I also came across a torrent file of the same episode in much higher quality than the youtube upload (again from the DVD release), and it too has the same cut, so either the DVD themselves are cut or someone has edited the episode, file shared it on a torrent site and then used the same edit and uploaded it to youtube. I will buy the DVD from series 2 and see if it’s uncut. I am quite good at video editing and have managed to edit a few episode together using the DVD version I found and an original broadcast recording which has the Beatles songs included. My intention is to use the DVDs and redub the original music as used on the original ITV broadcast with the available tape recordings I have and some Britbox versions which also used the original songs, pretty much what the Only Fools and Horses fans are doing with the cut episodes. Pretty easy to do if you know about video and audio editing.

I noticed the thread on the cut episodes of Only Fools and Horses so I’d thought I’d ask anyone if they know if any of the Heartbeat DVDs have been cut, because from the episodes I’ve seen on youtube they appear to have been. I have most of the original early series episodes on tape recorded back in the early-mid 90s when they were shown on ITV, and most of the all the later series are all from the original broadcasts too.

Having early recording of any show is a good way of knowing whether any DVD releases have been subjected to cuts, either music changes or trimmed scenes. I noticed in a series 2 episode “End of the Line”, that there is a brief cut at the beginning for some apparent reason.

Here’s the DVD rip version on youtube (the cut is at the 2:44 mark)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS56ZCvmHvA&t=166s

And here’s the Britbox version with the short scene uncut (at the 2:37 mark)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9OHNf60THM&t=202s

Now, my initial thoughts where that the person who has uploaded it has cut the part out and redubbed a different music track over, but considering all the DVD versions use Beatles cover songs or different songs entirely to the original broadcast songs (in some episodes Jimi Hendrix songs have been changed) I don’t know someone would redub the track with another cover song if they were trying to avoid a copyright strike. Plus I have download this episode outside of youtube (won’t say where) of a higher quality and this scene is still cut. An early recording I have of this episodee from ITV in 1994 has this scene included, but it appears this has been cut on the DVD release. I can’t confirm this as I haven’t seen the actual UK release.

JayArgonaut said:

Wow, it seems that almost nothing is untouched.

Tales from the Darkside:

The DVD release contains an altered soundtrack without the original music score. Episodes released on VHS during the 1980s do contain the original music score throughout.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_the_Darkside#DVD_releases

Horror (UK) aired the entire run and I was initially planning to record the whole lot but I had nothing to compare the broadcasts with to confirm that they contained the original music score.

The Curse of Steptoe: increasingly censored during re-broadcasts after complaints from the brother-in-law of Harry H. Corbett regarding the portrayal of Corbett’s second wife, with these cuts carrying over to the DVD - which was subsequently pulled from sale by the BBC.

Peaky Blinders: soundtrack substitutions on the US Netflix versions.

https://www.reddit.com/r/PeakyBlinders/comments/80wswh/is_the_netflix_version_without_the_soundtrack_as/

Blimey, if it’s not music changes that’s ruining the originality of these beloved shows its some other change. The Brother-in-law of Harry H Corbett needs get a life; “…portrayal of Corbett’s second wife”, err?, it’s a fictional character for godssake not portraying a real person. I’m sure Harry Corbett himself had no issues with it when he was alive. I do wonder what will happen to these old shows in the future if they keep changing them.

JayArgonaut said:

Firecracker00 said:

Good idea, never thought about torrents.

You don’t happen to know if there are any uncut OFAHs episodes that have been uploaded via torrent do you?. To be honest I couldn’t imagine many would. As I said previously, a good way of sourcing them (though probably pot luck) would be via ebay and the like from pre-used tapes that have TV recordings of them. But what are the chances that someone would have an uncut recording of one of the early episodes (complete)?. Maybe an ep from the later series say from the late 80s/early 90s onwards. There is supposed to be an Only Fools and Horses uncut facebook group, but it appears to be a closed group. It claims they have lots of uncut, unaltered recordings of the episodes; whether that’s true I don’t know.

There’s 39GB worth of episodes on MySpleen but even that is incomplete.

Keeping in adherence with the rules here, I suggest that if you search Google using the term “only fools and horses uncut torrent”, you’ll find leads to what you’re looking for. 😉

Thanks, but I very doubtful I’ll find any uncut episodes that way. They’ll just be ones from a VHS or DVD release which will be butchered. Never heard of Myspleen before, but will check that out.

I noticed that in Yuppie Love part of the nightclub scene with Rodney, Mickey and Jevon was cut (the original music was replaced) during the part where Mickey says he’s had lots of women, to which Rodney replies “just wondering if it was sponsored Bulls**t”. I’m familiar with most of the alterations of these episodes, but as far I’m aware I don’t know why they cut that part out. Can’t imagine it being for PC reasons. There is more stuff on TV nowadays with these annoying and unfunny standups that is considered far more offensive than there is in some eps of OFAH. At least Delboy never had to come out with the F word, unlike the majority of these police dramas you see on TV.

JayArgonaut said:

Firecracker00 said:

I suppose expiration of the music in the Open All Hours ep does make more sense. Still, it is sad they do this, and I’m sure they could retain it if they paid it, but they want to.

They have to justify the cost and if the licence is considered unduly expensive, it cannot be justified and so the music will be substituted with a cheaper alternative or even removed and the scene left without music - as happened with an episode of Bad Girls, where the characters are seen dancing to a track that is no longer present. 😄

Firecracker00 said:

Speaking of Heartbeat again, but when the latter series was shown on repeat viewings on itv3, I believe they changed some of the music there as well, not necessarily Beatles music as such but just a random 60s song. So even on repeat showings on an ITV channel you still can’t watch it as it was originally shown. Why have the rights for music when first broadcast, yet change the music on repeated showings on what is essentially the same channel?. Unless, as suggested above, it is because the licence has expired?. If music rights was such an issue, particularly with a show like Heartbeat, I’m surprised there was any original music left intact.

The licence(s) were very likely negotiated for the immediate broadcast run and then would need to be renegotiated for rebroadcasts and home video. When many of the licences were arranged for older content, home video hadn’t been factored into the equation. Also, some record companies, executives and artists are easier to negotiate with than others. Don Henley and Eric Clapton allowed their songs to be used for free on an independently made documentary because the film-makers couldn’t hope to afford the licence fees and they’d sympathised with their goal. However, that incident is an exception rather than the norm and almost certainly would not occur with a TV series that was produced by a major organsiation.

Firecracker00 said:

I would love to convert the episodes I have convert them to digital for archive, but if put on the internet they’ll just be removed. I’ve seen dozens of shows uploaded to youtube, yet neither the copyright holder nor YouTube seem to have an issue. It seems to me that it’s only certain shows which people regarded as popular (ie Fools and Horses) - and influential? they are so keen on altering. I’ve seen plenty of Heartbeat eps on YT, lots of Open All Hours, Summer Wine, Red Dwarf, etc which they don’t seem bothered about, yet try uploading an ep of OFAH in full and it’s promptly removed.

Share them via a torrent. Much better. 😉

Good idea, never thought about torrents.

You don’t happen to know if there are any uncut OFAHs episodes that have been uploaded via torrent do you?. To be honest I couldn’t imagine many would. As I said previously, a good way of sourcing them (though probably pot luck) would be via ebay and the like from pre-used tapes that have TV recordings of them. But what are the chances that someone would have an uncut recording of one of the early episodes (complete)?. Maybe an ep from the later series say from the late 80s/early 90s onwards. There is supposed to be an Only Fools and Horses uncut facebook group, but it appears to be a closed group. It claims they have lots of uncut, unaltered recordings of the episodes; whether that’s true I don’t know.

I suppose expiration of the music in the Open All Hours ep does make more sense. Still, it is sad they do this, and I’m sure they could retain it if they paid it, but they want to.

Speaking of Heartbeat again, but when the latter series was shown on repeat viewings on itv3, I believe they changed some of the music there as well, not necessarily Beatles music as such but just a random 60s song. So even on repeat showings on an ITV channel you still can’t watch it as it was originally shown. Why have the rights for music when first broadcast, yet change the music on repeated showings on what is essentially the same channel?. Unless, as suggested above, it is because the licence has expired?. If music rights was such an issue, particularly with a show like Heartbeat, I’m surprised there was any original music left intact. I would love to convert the episodes I have convert them to digital for archive, but if put on the internet they’ll just be removed. I’ve seen dozens of shows uploaded to youtube, yet neither the copyright holder nor YouTube seem to have an issue. It seems to me that it’s only certain shows which people regarded as popular (ie Fools and Horses) - and influential? they are so keen on altering. I’ve seen plenty of Heartbeat eps on YT, lots of Open All Hours, Summer Wine, Red Dwarf, etc which they don’t seem bothered about, yet try uploading an ep of OFAH in full and it’s promptly removed.

Oh, back to Heartbeat again, but anyone who’s (or was) a fan of that show I also have several interviews on tape of the cast recorded around the mid-late 90s. Interviews with Derek Fowlds, Trish Penrose, Nick Berry, Bill Maynard, etc on GMTV. Also have an interview with Bill Maynard on the Paul Ross (brother of Jonathan Ross) show around 1994/5-ish. Would happily convert them and upload them, but I suppose YouTube would throw an hissy fit over copyright.

Regarding OFAH, but is there any chance uncut episodes can be found via ebay from people selling pre used blank VHS tapes?. There are lots of stuff like that on there, and I’m sure there are some real rare gems to be found from the joblots that are listed. If they are that desperate to censor those episodes they will have all the copies confiscated, then you’ll get people claiming there’s a Mandela effect type thing going on as they will swear that they remembered a certain scene being such a way only to find no mention of it anywhere, as if it’s been deliberately erased from history lol. I would love to get my hands on a good quality recording of the Miami Twice episode from 1991. I remember seeing that one on Gold a few years, and getting excited that it seemed uncut, suddenly I was saddened to see they cut bits out when Del and Rodney are running through the Everglades.

I’ve just checked out the Open All Hours ep mentioned where its said a scene of Granville dancing to Singing in the Rain has been removed. The one on Youtube I found shows this very scene (title “The New Suit”). Why they would leave this scene intact on early DVD releases, but cut it on later versions I don’t know. It’s a very memorable scene so it’s a ridiculous they cut this because of a bit of music. This rights issues stuff is becoming a joke. If you think the BBC are bad then try YouTube for their censorship.

Just come across this forum as I was looking into the cuts that were made to Only Fools and Horses. Looks like a great place for discussion for shows that have been butchered or been altered in some way due to music rights issues, and OFAH is no exception of course.

I wish I still had the second repeat showing of OFAH Miami Twice (both parts) on video, but sadly they got taped over some years ago by my dad with Heartbeats lol. I think this airing was recorded around summer 1992 (will need to look up on the BBC Genome site to confirm this). I had Part 1 on one tape, but the Miami ep I had to rec on two tapes as I ran out of tapes, so there were a few secs missing between Raquel talking to the vicar about his lorry full of wine and Del and Rodders at the beach with Rico and his henchmen (just before the Jet ski incident). Apart from this, every bit of the ep was intact and no cuts (as far as I’m aware). I suspect someone must have this showing, or even the original Xmas Eve/Day broadcast on video (converted to DVD/HDD possibly) somewhere in their collection, as well as other eps that were uncut at the time. I did have a recording (again off BBC1) of the seance which, surprising to me at the time, had that extra bit at the beginning where Rodney is talking to Albert (I think Del was asleep?), which was recorded probably the early-mid 2000s (rough guess). I had never seen the extra scene before then.

Glad you mentioned Heartbeat. Used to be glued to that show. My dad and I used to be big fans of it, so we had recorded a lot of early (mostly original) showings of it on ITV. I’d say I have about 90% of the episodes on tape, the majority of them when they were originally aired, though there are some from the first and second series that are second showings, but thankfully they are uncut for content and no music has been changed. There are also one or two separate recordings from these series that were recording from UKGold, but i think they cut the violent bits out due to being shown in the afternoon. From series 3 onwards almost every episode I have was taped when first aired (adverts not recorded apart from the odd one), with the original music (Beatles originals incl). Speaking of Beatles music, but I wondered if music rights was the reason why the used Joe Cocker’s version of “Let it Be” at the end of the do were Dr Ferrenby dies?. Btw, this was used in the original broadcast, so mayve just been down to suitability rather than rights issues.

Shame the DVD versions have had their music altered. Not sure if this is correct, but I think they changed the music in the series 5 ep where the two girls crash their MG and Nick and Maggie rush over to see the BeRo Man. The music they used was “Like a Rolling Stone” by Bob Dylan, and I thought that song really suited the scene perfectly. When I came across a clip of it online the music was completely different.