Any news on more Benny Hill? (1 Viewer)

[Steve_Smith]

I was reading over some posts about HBO releasing more seasons of their shows, and it got me to wondering about Benny Hill and if anyone has heard of more of the VHS tapes being transfered to DVD like they did with "Golden Greats" and "Golden Classics".

 

[William B.]

Given the deal struck in the late spring between Thames' current parent FremantleMedia and A&E Home Video (in the U.S.A.), the August release of Set 1 of Mr. Hill's hour-long shows covering the years 1969-71 (including three shows in black & white that were never aired in the U.S. with the possible exception of one sketch), and the upcoming release of Set 2 which will cover the years 1972-74, it appears HBO Video is by no means a player anymore viz TBHS-related compilations. It also appears that, in anticipation of Mr. Hill's entire output of hour-long specials for Thames being released on DVD, the sets already being put out by HBO -- Golden Classics and Golden Greats -- have been taken out of print (this, per what I've seen on Amazon).

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Yes, with the complete hour-long version being issued, I can't see as there would be any demand for those old compilations. If they're what you prefer, though, I'd say buy the VHSes. You should be able to snap them up quite cheaply.

 

[Andrew Radke]

My only hope is that A&E keeps it up! In other words, I hope they eventually release all seasons of the show. I've yet to pick up the first set, but plan to within the next month or two. I have 17 Benny Hill compilations on VHS, the 10-tape "Golden Collection" and the 7-tape collection HBO released prior to that. I'd gladly get rid of them all as long as A&E stays consistent with these releases.

 

[Mark Lx]

It was a fairly quick turnaround for the 2nd set (Jan.25, 2005). I would guess that set one did well. I still see them prominently displayed. The A&E sets are well done and much better value (per minute)than previous releases. I like having the programs uncustomized for a North American audience. Looking forward to the next one.

 

[William B.]

It seems that, judging from the spacing in-between release dates (this August for Set 1, next January for Set 2), each successive set will come out every five months. It also appears that A&E's Benny Hill collection may span six sets overall, from what it looks like.

 

[Jon Martin]

Aren't the "Golden" titles the later, mid 80's Benny Hill shows? I was never really a fan of those.

The A&E releases are the ones I remember, a lot funnier.

 

[Mark Lx]

There's a few old skits thrown in the "Golden" titles, but there is a lot of the later stuff.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

I expect they will not only release them all, but after they're finished, they'll probably put all of them out in a Megaset.

That's the reason I haven't ordered either of the first two sets yet: I'm holding out for the mega set which will be a better overall deal (felt like I got burned by buying Space: 1999 a set at a time).

If you want Benny now, I'd say buy. As I have a lot of the uncut hours already on VHS from abroad, I'm just going to bide my time until/if a megaset comes out.

 

[William B.]

The Golden Greats series in particular, consisted of some of the last five years' (1984-89) worth of shows. The Golden Classics series consisted of four of the seven compilations previously issued on VHS (the earliest sketches originating from 1976). I.I.N.M., those last years will be gotten to in a few years by A&E Video, if we're lucky . . .

Especially since a proposed DVD release of Benny Hill: The Lost Years, dealing with his BBC years, slated for release on May 3, have hit legal snags serious enough to at best delay, and at worse scuttle (no, not Fred) altogether, said release, per:
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=3295

 

[William B.]

Another thing I've noticed about A&E's sets, especially as they've entered the twilight years of Mr. Hill's run with Thames (and I touched on this in another thread), was the relative smoothness of the picture quality whenever an image moved or end credits rolled at the end of each show, as opposed to HBO's Golden sets (and VHS-only releases). Probably some program which went on a field-based 5:6 pulldown basis, as opposed to the old-style PAL-to-NTSC conversions (with the jagged fast-moving double-images) from HBO's releases, if anyone knows what I'm talking about (and would know about the way this system operates), I'm all ears.