Best Of British
| Best of British | |
|---|---|
Company logo used on series
|
|
| Genre | Documentary |
| Created by |
Robert Sidaway Ashley Sidaway Maurice Sellar Lou Jones |
| Written by |
Robert Sidaway Ashley Sidaway Maurice Sellar Lou Jones |
| Narrated by |
John Mills Anthony Quayle |
| Theme music composer | Rob Waugh |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 67 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Robert Sidaway |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Best of British Films & Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC1 |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Audio format |
Mono (1987–1990) Stereo (1993–94) |
| Original release | 22 April 1987 – 31 March 1994 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | The World of Hammer |
Best of British is a British television documentary series, created by Robert Sidaway, Ashley Sidaway, Maurice Sellar and Lou Jones and produced by Robert Sidaway.
Narrated by John Mills and Anthony Quayle, the series comprised five seasons and sixty seven episodes all originally broadcast on BBC1.
Designed as entertainment for a broad audience, the complete series encompasses a comprehensive view of British cinema from the 1930s to the 1980s by examining a different theme and / or genre in each episode through the extensive use of film clips.
The series debuted on 22 April 1987. The final episode was broadcast on 31 March 1994.
The UK company Best Of British Films & Television was established due to the success of the series.
The creators had worked together in 1985 on the one hour documentary special Around The World in Seven Minutes And Four Times on Saturday, about the Pathé News and Movietone News cinema newsreels and their lead commentators Bob Danvers-Walker and Leslie Mitchell. The successful relationship established with Barry Brown (at the time Head of Acquisitions at the BBC) led to the pre-purchase of Season One, which was then made independently by Charisma Films.
Produced during 1986, Season One comprised ten episodes and featured films produced and distributed by the Rank Organisation over a fifty-year period from the 1930s to the 1980s. Produced by Robert Sidaway for Best of British Films & Television and Charisma Films, all the programs were written by Robert Sidaway, Ashley Sidaway, Maurice Sellar and Lou Jones and narrated by John Mills.
Commencing Wednesday 22 April 1987, the episodes were broadcast on a weekly basis at 7:35 pm. Each episode was 25 minutes in length, apart from Things That Go Bump in the Night (Episode 1.07) which was edited down to 19 minutes by the BBC due to the intense nature of the content for the early evening timeslot.
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