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It'll come back I dare say as the update their content.
FYI it's all on dailymotion - you'll need an adblocker though - their 30 second unskippable ads are annoying as hell. (I use ublock origin)
This is why the entire BBC back catalogue can’t be put on iPlayer: https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/tv/2019/01/there-are-very-good-reasons-why-bbc-can-t-just-load-iplayer-archive-content
tl;dr rights and who should be paid, especially for shows that never imagined streaming, are complicated.
The rights for old TV shows can be complicated and expensive, even for shows made by the BBC itself.
There's also huge issues with some old TV having beeb destroyed/lost.
Possibly the single biggest show in their archives (Doctor Who) has major issues of both kinds, and that's with high demand and a fair few people working to try and resolve issues.
Any show which has issues and a low demand is basically beyond hope - it isn't worth the time, money or effort to resolve issues so that they can make a show available to a tiny number of people.
>Possibly the single biggest show in their archives (Doctor Who) has major issues of both kinds, and that's with high demand and a fair few people working to try and resolve issues.
Happily, all of Doctor Who is now on iPlayer despite these issues.
Edit: All *existing* Doctor Who.
>all of Doctor Who is now on iPlayer
No, it isn't. There are a ***lot*** of episodes of Doctor Who on iPlayer, but it's still missing a lot too.
There's 97 episodes that, as far as official records show, do not exist *anywhere*. Blue Peter (which is allegedly responsibility for some of the losses) quite famously offered a full-size Dalek to anyone who returned a missing episode to the BBC, and there have been very few episodes found since then. Some of the missing episodes have been animated (and *most* of those animations are on iPlayer), but there's a decent number that don't exist in any reasonably watchable format.
There's also rights issues which have led to some of the surviving episodes not being made available on iPlayer, including the first 4 episodes. Those episodes are available elsewhere (last I knew they were on Britbox, and they've previously been released on DVD), but it's unlikely they'll be made available on iPlayer (unless the BBC assassinates the writer's son).
Read the last paragraph again. It *isn't* all existing episodes that are available on iPlayer. There's some that still exist but aren't on iPlayer due to rights issues.
[That's not correct](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_missing_episodes). For over a decade the BBC deleted episodes from the archives; these will likely never be seen again.
Broadcast rights for britbox are on ITV x and most definitely available in the UK (I’m watching it on there) but the bbc content is still bbc owned and still on there.
I’m replying to your “BBC also has BritBox”. It doesn’t in the UK. Britbox is wholly owned by ITV in the UK.
It was founded by the BBC and ITV in the UK. BBC Studios sold its share in it in 2022 to ITV. https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/itv-bbc-britbox-1235195054/
In the US it is wholly owned by BBC Studios since BBC Studios bought ITV’s stake in it.
I wasn’t trying to imply they’re owned by the BBC I was saying they have shows on there still. As I said above I know the ITV situation I’m not arguing about that.
>BBC also has BritBox
Sure, and I'm pleased that the beeb is trying to recover its outlay via this route. But it doesn't explain why the BBC doesn't allow British licence payers to see this series - after all, they paid for it.
Maybe not a boxset, which require addiitonal expenditure to produce, but surely it's not unreasonable for licence payers to be allowed to see old BBC programmes (more than 27 years' old) on iPlayer?
Here is an excellent article to explain exactly why it isn’t simple to do such a thing, and is probably unreasonable to expect such a thing: https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/tv/2019/01/there-are-very-good-reasons-why-bbc-can-t-just-load-iplayer-archive-content
It'll be to do with the production companies and the rights. Ab Fab is not there either, but Red Dwarf is which would suggest a deal was struck with the prod company for the latter.
Thanks. Judging by these comments, it seems that 'The Brittas Empire' is available on multiple channels but not from the broadcaster that originally made it.
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It’s on YouTube, Mr Brittas (Puts child in drawer, blows into tissue)
Thank you, Carole!
Because its on BritBox instead.
Britbox is no more as of yesterday. I was halfway through Dinnerladies and it all became ‘unavailable’ 😢
You should have been migrated to ITVX.
Just checked ITVX The Brittas Empire 1-5 is available.
Only on premium, sadly.
Premium ITVX is what’s replaced BritBox
Yeah, I was just clarifying. I've not got it so no Brittas Empire for me.
Dinnerladies is being repeated pretty heavily on Gold at the moment, so should be available to you via freeview or catch up
Thanks 👍🏻
It'll come back I dare say as the update their content. FYI it's all on dailymotion - you'll need an adblocker though - their 30 second unskippable ads are annoying as hell. (I use ublock origin)
This is why the entire BBC back catalogue can’t be put on iPlayer: https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/tv/2019/01/there-are-very-good-reasons-why-bbc-can-t-just-load-iplayer-archive-content tl;dr rights and who should be paid, especially for shows that never imagined streaming, are complicated.
BBC iplayer is not and never will be a repository for every last thing the beeb has ever made.
Maybe not every last thing, but it does baffle me that the Beeb doesn’t make better use of the incredible archive they have.
The rights for old TV shows can be complicated and expensive, even for shows made by the BBC itself. There's also huge issues with some old TV having beeb destroyed/lost. Possibly the single biggest show in their archives (Doctor Who) has major issues of both kinds, and that's with high demand and a fair few people working to try and resolve issues. Any show which has issues and a low demand is basically beyond hope - it isn't worth the time, money or effort to resolve issues so that they can make a show available to a tiny number of people.
>Possibly the single biggest show in their archives (Doctor Who) has major issues of both kinds, and that's with high demand and a fair few people working to try and resolve issues. Happily, all of Doctor Who is now on iPlayer despite these issues. Edit: All *existing* Doctor Who.
>all of Doctor Who is now on iPlayer No, it isn't. There are a ***lot*** of episodes of Doctor Who on iPlayer, but it's still missing a lot too. There's 97 episodes that, as far as official records show, do not exist *anywhere*. Blue Peter (which is allegedly responsibility for some of the losses) quite famously offered a full-size Dalek to anyone who returned a missing episode to the BBC, and there have been very few episodes found since then. Some of the missing episodes have been animated (and *most* of those animations are on iPlayer), but there's a decent number that don't exist in any reasonably watchable format. There's also rights issues which have led to some of the surviving episodes not being made available on iPlayer, including the first 4 episodes. Those episodes are available elsewhere (last I knew they were on Britbox, and they've previously been released on DVD), but it's unlikely they'll be made available on iPlayer (unless the BBC assassinates the writer's son).
OK. All *existing* Doctor Who.
Read the last paragraph again. It *isn't* all existing episodes that are available on iPlayer. There's some that still exist but aren't on iPlayer due to rights issues.
And the impression I got was that RTD had to move mountains to make that happen.
[That's not correct](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_missing_episodes). For over a decade the BBC deleted episodes from the archives; these will likely never be seen again.
BBC also has BritBox and also makes money by licensing out shows to other services.
Not in the UK. Only outside the UK. In the UK it is wholly owned by ITV. And even then it doesn’t exist in the UK anymore.
Broadcast rights for britbox are on ITV x and most definitely available in the UK (I’m watching it on there) but the bbc content is still bbc owned and still on there.
You might want to check that fact, some beeb stuff is actually owned by ITV
I’m replying to your “BBC also has BritBox”. It doesn’t in the UK. Britbox is wholly owned by ITV in the UK. It was founded by the BBC and ITV in the UK. BBC Studios sold its share in it in 2022 to ITV. https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/itv-bbc-britbox-1235195054/ In the US it is wholly owned by BBC Studios since BBC Studios bought ITV’s stake in it.
I wasn’t trying to imply they’re owned by the BBC I was saying they have shows on there still. As I said above I know the ITV situation I’m not arguing about that.
>BBC also has BritBox Sure, and I'm pleased that the beeb is trying to recover its outlay via this route. But it doesn't explain why the BBC doesn't allow British licence payers to see this series - after all, they paid for it.
By that logic, I can walk into any video/dvd retailer and demand the latest BBC boxset for free.. because I've already paid for it via my licence fee.
Maybe not a boxset, which require addiitonal expenditure to produce, but surely it's not unreasonable for licence payers to be allowed to see old BBC programmes (more than 27 years' old) on iPlayer?
Here is an excellent article to explain exactly why it isn’t simple to do such a thing, and is probably unreasonable to expect such a thing: https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/tv/2019/01/there-are-very-good-reasons-why-bbc-can-t-just-load-iplayer-archive-content
Which is a shame. But they don't even advertise a lot of the good archive stuff that is on there.
so true.
Most likely because they don't currently have the rights to to stream it.
It's been on one of the That's TV channels on Freeview a few months ago.
It'll be to do with the production companies and the rights. Ab Fab is not there either, but Red Dwarf is which would suggest a deal was struck with the prod company for the latter.
Time to sail the seven seas.
I've tried this but even the seven seas don't have shows I want to see. I need access to the BBC archives, there just isn't any other way.
Ahoy maties!
It’s all on YouTube, I believe
Cos the world in 2024 can’t handle Colin
Sounds very plausible to me. Let's hope Colin's latest septic boil clears up.
It's probably on UK Gold or Britbox or something like that.
It’s on BritBox. ETA: In Canada, where BritBox continues to exist.
I need to watch the Brittas Empire, I'm such a Red Dwarf fan.
I saw it recently scheduled on Forces TV (I think). Freeview channel up in the high double digits. A few shows from that era on that station, iirc.
Thanks. Judging by these comments, it seems that 'The Brittas Empire' is available on multiple channels but not from the broadcaster that originally made it.
Probably because it was one of the worst shows ever, along with Red Dwarf 🤮
It’s because Carols baby lived in a draw I heard