Murray Head (muzza@omen.net.au)
Sun, 12 Jul 1998 19:39:13 +0800
Vince wrote:
>Murray Head wrote:
>> >3) Why was "Dead Line" the movie never made?
>> Again reading from the Programme Guide, the movie was initially proposed as
>> an alternative to having a sixth series (ITV having turned down the latter),
>> but several of the principal actors were busy. From a post to the list, we
>> know that Stephen Moffat still has hopes for this project.
>Murray, I think you may be mistaken. As I've always understood it, the DEADLINE
>movie was planned to happen after the 4th series, and when it became clear
>that it was not likely to get made then it was decided to make a 5th series
>instead.
Maybe it was my leaping ahead that made it sound unfamiliar. I can only tell
you what Sangster's Programme Guide says: Deadline was proposed when Stephen
Moffat said he didn't want to write an entire twelve episodes for a series
five block. Instead, the idea came up that six episodes would be made for
series five, followed by a recording block for Deadline - so indeed, the
idea did emerge after the fifth series, and as an alternative (but, at least
according to Sangster's, an alternative to extra episodes rather than as an
alternative to the series entire).
By the time series five was out, SM had come up with a draft script for
Deadline, and Richmond Films & Television was trying to set up arrangements
for a spot in ITV's schedule for series six. ITV apparently was not
interested, so the film was pitched to them as an alternative. What ITV's
response to that was is not stated in the guide, it cites only the fact that
many of the principal actors were unavailable.
>I've personally never quite understood how a PG movie could get
>made. Although nothing would please me more than seeing the Junior Gazette
>up on the silver screen, it always seemed an unlikely idea. Even a 90 minute
>TV movie didn't sound very feasable to me - what time of day would it be shown,
>who would it have been aimed at (diehard PG fans or an older, newer audience ?)
I see what you mean... part of the reason cited for not scheduling a sixth
series is that PG had "outgrown it's timeslot", so who knows what would have
happened as far as a timeslot for the movie.
If anyone knows any more, I'd love to hear about it.
Murray
___________________________________________________________________
Murray Head http://www.omen.net.au/~muzza/
Webmaster: Australasian Soc. for Human Biol. http://anhb.uwa.edu.au/ASHB/
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