Televisually our world is a cornucopia of streaming. It’s a never-ending smorgasbord of possibility in terms of genre, quality and product. And it’s a window into earlier times.

TUNE INTO YESTERYEAR – WHENEVER & ALWAYS

Do shows date, or are they timeless? If dated, does that mean they can’t be enjoyed – loved even – by a new generation of viewers? Oh not just the young, who might have been toddlers when such shows first aired, but people of any age who simply didn’t watch a particular drama when it first hit the airwaves.

What makes a show from yesteryear worth streaming today, tomorrow – forevermore? Writing? Acting? Direction? A certain indefinable spark, which sets one drama, or comedy, apart from another? Beauty is often in the eye of the beholder. And taste is subjective indeed.

Nine years have passed since I blogged regularly. Four since I stopped. But the shows I loved back then haven’t been digitally mothballed into a BBC archive. They pop up like magic mushrooms on TV repeats and on digital streams. Maybe it’s because the shows I loved tended to be sci-fi/fantasy. I’m talking Doctor Who, Torchwood and the excellent Ashes to Ashes. But I’m also talking about successful, much-loved dramas such as Spooks (a.k.a. MI5) and Sherlock, as well as Colditz which first aired before I was born!

Yesteryear now comes round again, at the press of a touchscreen. So, it occurred to me that the reviews I wrote when the shows in question were shiny and new might still be of interest. Obviously they’re framed by my perspective at that time, but they’re also rich with the enthusiasm felt on first watching. Cleaned up a tad, and transferred here from their original home, they might once again find an audience; just as the shows themselves might find new viewers.

Are the shows dated, or timeless?

Things may vanish from the internet, even with the Wayback Archive, but gems do re-appear too. The channel, platform or device may change but the content remains. Are shows dated, or timeless? And what of their reviews?

Stream a show and see…