Скачать или смотреть Ring-a-Ding-a-Genie (2001) - FULL EPISODE

Who's heard of the European Broadcasting Union? It's an organisation of mainly public service television and radio companies from across the continent (and now beyond) whose jewel in the crown is the Eurovision Song Contest. Well, from time to time many of the member states were invited to produce 15-minute silent films to be shared with all the other countries, and this is an example of one of the UK's contributions. I say "silent", but obviously there's sound - the idea was that the programmes should work perfectly well without dialogue. This meant that all that needed to be changed for each region was the narration (the English language version provided here by the legend that is Bill Oddie), and no further localisation was necessary.

So that's the background, but what have we here? Well, it's a modern-day fairy tale with its roots in the Arabian Nights: young Milo gets hold of something made from the recycled lamp of a genie, and a chain of events resulting in chaos is set in motion when a wish goes wrong. (The lead role is played by Terry Haywood, who would later become a regular in Young Dracula.) It's a nice and gentle one-off children's drama that all ages can enjoy, and I like to think that it did the nation proud when it was shared with the rest of the European Broadcasting Union.

Look out for some continuity at the beginning and end from the CITV White Knuckle Tour, featuring Danielle Nicholls, Stephen Mulhern and that Arthur Darvill bloke off of Doctor Who. I wish the recording had lasted just a few seconds more, as it seems to cut off during an allegation of bottom-pinching between Mulhern and a young fan or something. The mind boggles...

The clues on offer, and this website:

http://www.duncanwheelhouse.com/citv/...

hint that the date of broadcast may have been Friday, 17th August, 2001, but I'm willing to be corrected on that.

Many thanks to Lee for providing this recording.

(This is a transfer from an old videotape, so please don't expect full HD quality. To the best of my knowledge, this material is not available commercially anywhere in the world, and has been uploaded for its historic interest. That said, if you are a copyright holder and object, please don't hesitate to contact me.)