Bygones (TV series)

Bygones is an Anglia Television documentary series exploring East Anglian history and traditional rural crafts. Bygones won the Royal Television Society Television Professionals' All-time Favourite Regional Series Award in 2000.[1]

It first ran from 1967 to 1989 and returned in 2007 for two more series.[2] The series, and in particular the regular Bygones Specials featured many interviews with people who used to do traditional work now lost to history (such as using a horse-drawn plough or threshing) and investigation and preservation of surviving East Anglian culture.[3]

Bygones was presented by Dick Joice from 1967 until his retirement in 1987 when the film historian John Huntley took over.[4] It was made by the Norwich-based television company Anglia for the ITV network. The series was discontinued in 1989, but briefly brought back by Anglia TV in 2007 following an overwhelming vote from viewers on a programme they wanted reinstated.[5]

It features mystery objects where the audience are asked to write in and guess what the implement's original function was. Joice's collection of objects which featured in Bygones[6] was on display at Holkham Hall, Norfolk, from 1979, in the former stables.[7]

Some of the most memorable editions of Bygones are documentaries directed by Geoffrey Weaver. "The Harvest" re-created a harvest field around the turn of the 20th century, while "Gone For a Burton" followed the seasonal trip of East Anglian agricultural workers to work in the maltings of Burton upon Trent after the hay and grain harvests.[8]

Bygones has a distinctive theme tune played on a player piano[citation needed] (not a barrel organ).

Its 2007 revival was presented by Eddie Anderson, former assistant of the original presenter Dick Joice,[9] and Wendy Hurrell.[10] Antique dealer Alan Smith often presented a section as well.

  1. ^ "RTS awards 2000. URL accessed April 18, 2007". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 18 April 2007.
  2. ^ Dick Joice - Author - Bygones: The Harvest, Bygones: The Horsemen, Bygones: Gone to Burton
  3. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 March 2007. Retrieved 16 November 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "TVARK | Anglia Television | Programmes". Archived from the original on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 16 November 2008.
  5. ^ "Royal Television Society - RTS in your area". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 16 November 2008.
  6. ^ "Bygones". Archived from the original on 13 February 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2008.
  7. ^ "Holkham Hall and Bygones Museum".
  8. ^ Review: A Man Between Three Rivers, ImageDissectors.com, retrieved 6 June 2010
  9. ^ "Episodes broadcast in 2007". Archived from the original on 8 April 2008. Retrieved 16 November 2008.
  10. ^ "Bygones (ITV Anglia) - TV Programmes - Digital Spy Forums". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 9 December 2007. Retrieved 16 November 2008.