Talk:The Burkiss Way

Jo Kendall
From the article: Jo Kendall had previously appeared in I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, and thus has the distinction of having appeared in not one but two acclaimed cult radio comedy shows.

Jo Kendall was also in The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy; she was Lady Cynthia Fitzmelton. That makes three acclaimed cult radio shows.

Wocky 13:39, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Mono
From the article: ...and some episodes have been broadcast in mono, suggesting that the original stereo masters were wiped

I think this should be edited out as, as far as I'm aware, everything on BBC7 is broadcast in mono, regardless of source. I thought I'd put that forth for discussion before I removed someone elses work, and found myself to be wrong. :)

Spaced1999 04:02, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

Spaced1999, I checked some of BBC7's shows; the ones I checked have definite stereo separation (different tracks on each of the two channels.)

Wocky 11:14, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

Ah, okay, cheers. Must just be the DAB broadcasts that are in mono. :)

Spaced1999 19:22, 26 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Yes, BBC7 is mono on DAB, but stereo on Freeview, satellite, etc. --Dr Greg 11:53, 18 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I can confirm that Earthsearch is definitly in stereo now on BBC7 on Freeview as the "Angel" voices are full-left or full-right.  BRIANTIST  (talk) 20:25, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

I've just updated the list of stereo episodes. The early ones (1-5) are also in stereo. This is significant in itself but also makes me suspect that all episodes should be stereo – it seems unusual for a show’s run to start in stereo and then revert to mono - especially as the change to stereo occurs midway through a series (3). The article states that “the BBC is known to have all episodes in its archive”. Firstly, are we sure that is true, and secondly, what does that actually mean in this context? Is it saying that therefore the mono broadcasts are definitive archive versions, or that there are stereo versions but they are not broadcast for some reason? I’ve added “though it is unusual for the early shows to be made in stereo and then some later shows to be only in mono” in order to show that the situation is not totally resolved. I feel that even if it is shown that eps 7-27 are only mono, it’s still worth saying “though it is unusual for the early shows to be made in stereo and then some later shows to be only in mono” in order to stop future musing that they might be in stereo. Artwwweb (talk) 09:28, 29 April 2019 (UTC)

Missing episodes
Often the reason why BBC7 omits some episodes from a series is not that the tapes are lost, but that the language is considered unsuitable for a modern audience. For example it might be considered racist or homophobic by modern standards. I can't say whether this reason applies to the Burkiss Way. --Dr Greg 11:53, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again has quite a lot of out-dated language and is still broadcast. If there is something egregious they give a warning. I suspect, therefore, that the timing is the main problem. However, R4X found room in the schedule to broadcast a 15 minute Hancock special, so if they had it, you'd think they'd do the same for Burkiss. -- Artwwweb (talk) 09:34, 29 April 2019 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Eric Von Contrick.ogg
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BetacommandBot 05:18, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

BBC Radio 3..?

 * ''The Burkiss Way was a BBC Radio 4 sketch comedy series...

Wasn't it broadcast on BBC Radio 3..? 213.246.83.86 (talk) 18:32, 21 November 2010 (UTC)


 * No, see 2nd paragraph of article.--  Dr Greg   talk  19:28, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

Lesson 6
Why was this lesson half the length of the rest? Is it indeed correct that it lasted only 15 minutes?88.105.39.98 (talk) 17:05, 31 December 2010 (UTC)


 * The first run went out in Radio 4's late-night Friday comedy slot, and when Parliament returned after the summer recess, the slot was cut by 10 minutes to accommodate Today in Parliament. That happened to be the final week of The Burkiss Way's run. So yes, it really was shorter, and it wasn't some Marshall & Renwick messing-with-the-format gag, it was just bad BBC planning. --Walnuts go kapow (talk) 11:55, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Following on from that, does anybody know anything more about the purported Harold Macmillan sketch in that episode? On the one hand, stylistically it would seem to fit as a Burkiss Way sketch and the spoof sign off at the end (And that's the end of 'Today in Parliament'.) would also fit given the show's propensity for that kind of thing and the fact that that particular episode did run directly after Today in Parliament for its initial broadcast. On the other hand that sketch would take the total length of that episode to around 17′30″, meaning it would have had to overrun its allocated slot somewhat, it isn't included in the official CD re-release of series 1 as far as I can tell (the running length of lesson 6 there more closely matches the official 15 minutes slot), and only appears in the fan-made recordings floating around on the internet, the audio quality of that sketch in those recordings is somewhat inferior compared to the rest of that episode, and to add a final bit of confusion on top, some collections feature that sketch at the beginning of lesson 6, while others have it at the end.

So does anybody have any idea as to that sketch's status - is it actually a Burkiss Way sketch or not, and if yes, which version is the correct one - at the beginning of the episode or at the end? And if no, where did it actually originate from then? JanTH (talk) 22:46, 8 October 2019 (UTC)

Mono episodes
"some episodes have been broadcast in mono, suggesting the original stereo masters were wiped."
 * I've noticed that in the BBC 7 broadcasts some early episodes were in mono but had stereo tape edits - noticeable because the tape is cut and rejoined at an angle so that the edits on the left and right channels are offset. This is always noticeable when listening on stereo headphones. I don't know why this is, but it suggests that the masters for these episodes were either recorded in mono or accidentally transferred to 2-channel mono before editing. Lee M (talk) 04:19, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

First appearance of "Eric Pode of Croydon"?
According to the article Eric Pode first appeared in series 2. However, he first appears in "Solve Murders the Burkiss Way", which is Lesson 4 of Series 1. Have I misinterpreted something somewhere?

BTW I once met Fred Harris and I seem to recall him telling me that both he and Chris Emmett voiced Eric Pode. Quornhog (talk) 14:41, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

What's the theme tune?
What is the music used as the Burkiss Way theme?Lorcan (talk) 21:21, 12 December 2014 (UTC)
 * It seems to have been a sped up version of "Brass Band Boogie": https://twitter.com/AndrewM2p4c/status/676356310892462080 JanTH (talk) 21:15, 8 July 2016 (UTC)