Television
Red Blood
By CLIFFORD HANLEY
COLOUR television is hastening very slowly on us, and anybodY who has just bought a new set on the never-never can be fairly sure that all the instal- ments will be paid by the time it becomes obsolete. The BBC, ITA, GPO and other interested parties have been conducting tests since last September, and considering that the first tentative public transmissions are nt3t planned before 1965, you can see that we are 11°t rushing bald-headed into anything. In this instance, we should be willing t° applaud caution. The Americans rushed courage' ously into colour several years ago, and initial delight was followed by fearful disenchantment. Some viewers started asking for receivers with a mechanic attached. Coming late into the field; Britain can leapfrog the expensive mistakes nt the pioneers. Three systems are being tested, nn,e, American, one French and one German. A" three operate on 625 lines, and all three have compatibility and reverse-compatibility; that colour transmissions will operate a black-and- white receiver, and black-and-white pictures ca° be put out over the colour transmitters. The final choice will be made by Britain ill agreement with the rest of Europe, probablY bY the end of this year. Whatever system we get, the principal gimmick will be a new kind of cathode; ray tube containing three electron guns jostea° of one, and coated with thousands of separal! dots of different phosphors to form a resea" rather like the additive colour system used in the old Dufay film transparencies, and in half-We colour blocks, It will be peachy, I'm quite sure, and aParl from anything else, I look forward to a ne!t series of reissues of The African Queen and SP Wore a Yellow Ribbon, with genuine red Pre this time. d In the meantime, I haven't seriously Misse, colour, because both channels seem to bakv: hoisted themselves out of their grey phase in past couple of weeks. A new spirit of jollitYL abroad, particularly in the drama department'ci Granada's series The Victorians is a sPleildid stroke. These old plays are not played dean straight, despite everybody's good intentions. is impossible to play period straight, because vi`r are ourselves, and of our own time, and °tit version can't help including our comment. IP this in itself adds an extra dimension. Alan Plater achieved another triumph with Long Charlie (BBC) last month. Not only sa,o, not only funny, but warm. We need Warrri:he even in summer. Surprising warmth too in BBC's Sunday offering, Trial Run, despite ir"e matter-of-fact seediness; and in ABC's rti Monkey and the Mohawk—a deliberate come" of all things, with the tidy charm of an 0. Hen.rYi; or perhaps a W. W. Jacobs. It makes a ntc change.
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