Black and Blue Secrets (1973– ) Online

I knew very little of this play before I bought the "Ripping Yarns" DVD boxed set, on which it is included as an extra. I'm so glad to find that it was - even though it's sourced from an off-air recording, the picture quality is perfectly watchable and matters not a jot anyway when you consider the qualities of the script and the performances. Sharply written, excellently played with some superb turns from luminaries such as Warren Mitchell, David Collings and Brian Wilde, this is a brilliant example of the sort of one-off television play the BBC and indeed British television in general was once so famed for. That it was not preserved in the archives is a tragedy, but the fact that it exists in a home video format from as far back as 1973 is something to be thankful for. It does, however, sadly make one wonder just how many similar gems went out, were wiped and were not lucky enough to be preserved. This is almost worth the price of the "Ripping Yarns" set on its own, never mind the fact that that wonderful series in itself is on the discs!

Around the time the Monty Python material was coming to an end and they decided to move on to other things, Terry Jones & Michael Palin were able to get the BBC to produce a series of scripts they were working on into TV movies. SECRETS is one of those, from 1973, and is a black comedy about a manufacturer of boxed chocolates in England who find themselves trying to retrieve a consignment of their product that have been contaminated when some workers fall into the machinery and their remains end up being accidentally put into the fillings. Panic ensues as the factory boss (Warren Mitchell) desperately tried to recall the product on the quiet (the accident is hushed up) but unfortunately the new and unusual taste becomes a hit with the unsuspecting British public.

SECRETS was an experimental script that was turned into the film CONSUMING PASSIONS many years later. It's quite well written by Jones & Palin, and although it is just a TV film, it is an interesting watch with Warren Mitchell producing another solid performance. Unfortunately the BBC no longer have the master copy of the tape (presumably it was wiped many years ago) and the only known existing copy is from a 30+ year old home videotape. This tape was cleaned up as far as is reasonably possible and the programme was added as an extra feature onto the RIPPING YARNS DVD released by the BBC (thats where i found out about it). RIPPING YARNS was a great show anyway but putting SECRETS as an extra is a nice little bonus for fans.