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Rev Lionel Fanthorpe & Fortean TV

All right it worked with getting the herophant back so why don't we try an online petition to get fortean tv brought back on tv or even to be released on DVD.

If there is shown to be a big demand from the petition then I can email it to the relevent people and if they smell money in it then they're almost certain to do something (even if it's only releaseing the old shows on dvd).

FTV was a relitively cheep show to make from the looks of it, it didn't need much of a budget hense could provide a good return on an investment.

I spoke to Lionel about this very thing at the last uncon and he said not only would he be happy to host the show but has a production company that could make it.

Here is the petition:

http://www.gopetition.com/online/8454.html

If you know anyone who enjoyed FTV you MUST get them to sign it too, otherwhise it won't work, the 30 or so sigs we got for the hierophant's return wouldn't be enough to convince a tv executive of a substantial demand worth their investment.
 
Cheers! I signed, and have sent out a bulletin to all my friends to sign it too. I WILL see the TV shows again. Oh yes.
 
Wasn't it made by the same people who brought us Eurtotrash? And of course Antoine de Caunes gets fifteen million series of naked Germans, but what does Fortean TV get? Cancelled! Pah!
 
Lemme see now. What would appeal to the majority of television viewers?

Lots of naked ladies or Lionel Fanthorpe singing?

:hmm:

I signed the petiton though.
 
Not yet, I did try an online petition to show the powers that be that there was a demand for it.

However dispite my best efforts to publisise the petition there are nowhere near enough signatures to convince them of the financial viability of it. :(
 
Hi folks,

It's been many years since I last seen the Rev Lional Fanthorpse on Fortean TV, and that small dose of weirdness never failed to cheer up my evenings.

I can only find a truly meagre amount on Youtube - does anybody know where I can watch the rest, or have a listing of the contents of the episodes? I'm trying to track down a few half-remembered segments but drawing blanks on both fronts.
 
I can't really help but I also love to hear/see the Reverend Lionel. Fortean TV was one of the few must-see programmes I never missed! I have got an audio compilation of his Radio 7 (now BB Radio 4 Extra) segments which are individual 2 or 3 minute tales. Let me know if you'd like a copy :)

There is a partial list of episode contents here: http://thetvdb.com/index.php?tab=seasonall&id=273277&lid=7&order=dvd
 
IntoTheDarkness said:
Hi folks,

It's been many years since I last seen the Rev Lional Fanthorpse on Fortean TV, and that small dose of weirdness never failed to cheer up my evenings.

I can only find a truly meagre amount on Youtube - does anybody know where I can watch the rest, or have a listing of the contents of the episodes? I'm trying to track down a few half-remembered segments but drawing blanks on both fronts.
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You could contact Rapido Television, the production company behind Fortean TV: Rapido Television - Archive
 
You can also contact the BFI. They have information about Fortean TV in their archives, and it may be possible to arrange viewings, although that might be a bit complicated as I think you have to go to the BFI to view things, they can't send out copies.

BFI Archive
Search results from the BFI
 
Whilst I would never advocate anything illegal, all of the series of Fortean TV can be found on some private torrent trackers.
However, pirating is bad, mmmkay.
 
Piracy. It's a crime!

That warning used to piss me off something rotten, not just that it was delaying the start of the movie but that it assumed I wouldn't steal a car. I'd sit in front of the TV shouting "how do you know I wouldn't?? Tosser!!"
I never have stolen a car. I can't drive.
 
Rerenny said:
That warning used to piss me off something rotten
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Oh God yes! It was so obviously - and badly - targeted at der yoof of the day but it turned up - regardless - on films of all kinds. It was also only going to hit people who had paid to buy the DVD, so it was entirely alienating.

I learned to tell which DVDs were likely to deliver this horror: mainly it was those which asked you to choose your language. That was the cue to turn the volume right down, click and visit the toilet.

You could, I think, fast-forward to reach the main screen but without the volume control down, the burst of vile noise would quite spoil your readiness for the film ahead.

Wasn't it voted the most counter-productive informertial evah! or something? :confused:

There was also an annoying variant which broke in at the end of the film. For some unfathomable reason, it featured a big, sweaty blacksmith.

Older viewers may recall those prissy prelims. in which an elocutionist prompted us to "Beware of Illegal Videocassettes!" A warning, we can safely assume, which was left off illegal videocassettes!

And, while I'm on a roll, wasn't it a bit sexist to have all those old meek-and-mild bbfc classifications voiced by a woman with a mippy Marks & Spencers type of voice, while anything above a 12 seemed to require a man-voice, of sorts? :oops:
 
These days the discs say "THANK YOU!!!" for supporting the TV and film industry, which is much better than annoying purchasers who buy the products anyway with the anti-piracy stuff.

I do like this logo at the end of Universal DVDs of a certain age:

There's something very relaxing about seeing it at the end of the film.
 
Thanks to 'Forbidden History' series on Yesterday channel (viewed on catch-up app) Oh how I missed thee Rev Fanthorpe!

Fortean TV was one of my few 'must-watch' pleasures a couple of decades ago and LF was my secret pin-up chap :)

Yes the documentaries themselves are not great... but, Lionel! He seems to me to be an increasingly sensible and lovely man who deserves his own channel.

386px-Lionel_Fanthorpe_2013.jpg
 
I think there was a Fortean TV thread somewhere on here - darn tricky to find with this board's search function, though.

[Three relatively short-lived threads merged--Yith]
 
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Shame the rev isn't doing any TV these days.
 
Peripart said:
Not seen him on TV since that unfortunate church-based video incident a year or two back. He looked older, naturally, but still well.
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What was that incident?
 
Mythopoeika said:
What was that incident?
Click to expand...

Covered elsewhere on this site at the time, I believe:
Grieving family's horror as pornographic video played at funeral for father and baby son
A grieving family and funeral congregation were left horrified when a pornographic video was accidentally played during the service.

Hundreds of people gathered at Thornhill Crematorium in Cardiff to pay their respects to Simon Lewis, 33, and his baby boy, Simon Lewis Jnr, who were killed in a head-on collision.

Simon Lewis, 33, and his baby boy, Simon Lewis Jnr, were killed in a head-on collision.

Mr Lewis died in the crash on New Year's Eve on Lamby Way in Cardiff. His pregnant wife and their three-year-old daughter were also in the car at the time.

Three days later, following concern about the couple's unborn baby being in distress as a result of the collision, Simon Jnr was born by emergency Caesarean Section at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff. He died in hospital later the same day.

Mourners at Wednesday's funeral described their shock after a crematorium blunder saw pornographic footage played by accident, instead of a tribute made in remembrance of Mr Lewis.

Cardiff council, which runs the crematorium, has launched an urgent investigation.
"It was absolutely disgusting, the priest turned around to play the video of Simon, but instead a hard-core pornography video was played on the big screen," said a funeral-goer, who wished to remain anonymous.

"It took them nearly four minutes to turn it off, people couldn't believe what they were seeing."

"Everyone was in shock, Simon's father-in-law was furious, he shouted at the staff present and told them to turn it off.

"It took them nearly four minutes to turn it off, people couldn't believe what they were seeing.

"To the priest's credit he handled it extremely well. He apologised on behalf of Cardiff Council and said that in 30 years of doing the job, he had never seen such filth."

Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe, who led the funeral service, said: "I remember looking up at the screen and seeing some type of video came on and a very loud noise.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...layed-at-funeral-for-father-and-baby-son.html
 
Yikes! I'd forgotten that completely. Ouch.
 
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