These Daily Record listings for 31.5.75 highlight the confusion over which Thriller episode was to be shown in STV (1st image) & adjacent areas. Ultimately it seems to have been more clear-cut: STV - ITV still off-air; LWT - repeat of "The Eyes Have It"; everywhere else "Murder Motel" rescheduled.

Somewhat odd synopsis for STV broadcast of the "Murder Motel" episode of Thriller, 31.5.75. This was a second attempt after it was postponed in most ITV regions a week earlier due to industrial action. However LWT did show it and instead repeated "The Eyes Have It" which may explain the confusion...

Profiles of actors & performers due to play in a charity football match in 1974 - quite a few very familar names who were on screen or on the radio back in the early 1970s.

April 12th is significant in Gerry Anderson's UFO as it is the only specific date noted on screen. In the episode "Survival" we learn that astronaut Bill Grant was killed on April 12th 1981. The episode marked the production debut of Michael Billington as Paul Foster who searches for the killer.

Porter Arnold Capper (John Halstead) again in the bad books of the nurses (played by Sally Knyvette, Carol Hazell & Pippa Rowe) in episode 126 of General Hospital, December 1973. The odd look of the image is because the episode exists as that rare thing - a colour telerecording of the original tape.

April 2nd for followers of Thriller is "One Deadly Owner Day". Specific dates were rarely mentioned in the show but model Helen Cook (Donna Mills) discovers it was on that day that Mrs Jacey disappeared and set off the fateful supernatural chain of events which were to put her own life in danger.

Mark Curry meets Bonnie Langford - the new Doctor Who assistant Mel - on Blue Peter in September 1986. Both had many of their earliest TV appearances back in the early 1970s on Yorkshire TV's kids' variety show "Junior Showtime". Janet Ellis had guest-starred in Doctor Who back in 1979.

Colette O'Neil & John Carson in the 1974 Thriller episode "Come Out Come Out, Wherever You Are" & then in rather different garb in the 1983 Doctor Who serial "Snakedance"; a young Martin Clunes is alongside them.

Which series of ATV's Thriller are most popular or least popular with viewers? These results are based on IMDb ratings. Probably not a big surprise that Series 3 is easily the best-rated. Series 6 is lowest, maybe reflecting some changes in style & some more low-key stories.

The viewer ratings for the 43 episodes of ATV series Thriller. It's always interesting to see how these compare to our own opinions - probably broadly similar but with us rating some much higher or lower. "Coffin for the Bride" is clearly in top place with "K Is for Killing" bottom.

One of the notable features of the Jason King TV series (1971-1972) were the mock-up novels written by Jason about his fictional detective "Mark Caine" and which regularly featured in episodes.

Headed notepaper showing the Hereford address of the Bourne family featured in ATV drama "The Cedar Tree" (1976-1978). ATV shows occasionally referred to less well known parts of the region although in this case I'm not sure there was any filming in the Hereford area or anywhere beyond the studio.

Actress Wendy Gifford in Crown Court in 1972. Wendy appeared in many shows but ATV's Thriller was not one of them. Despite this I can't shake off the idea she appeared in the episode "Good Salary - Prospects - Free Coffin", probably because it features characters called Wendy & one called Gifford!

It's always interesting to see pictures - especially in colour - from wiped episodes. These are from "The Old Folks at Home" (August 1973) from Series 1 of ATV police drama Hunters Walk. Actor Ken Jones was best known for his comic roles but like many comic actors acquitted himself well in drama.

Article extract from June 1974 about Mark McManus. Now best remembered as Scottish detective Taggart it's easy to overlook the variety of roles & accents he employed with great aplomb early in his career. In this extract he offers some fascinating thoughts on work, class and politics....

Border TV was the joint first channel to start showing Gerry Anderson's UFO in September 1970. After a strong start though screenings became more sporadic with a few new episodes mixed with repeats. It didn't complete a first run until May 1975, almost 5 years after starting.

Malcolm Terris and James Bate appearing in the last episode of the 1972 Granada TV serial "The Intruder". By coincidence both appeared as detectives in episodes of ATV's Thriller. Both were also originally from the North East (Sunderland & Whitley Bay respectively).

Anthony Ainley & Geoffrey Beevers in a 1976 episode of prison drama Within These Walls alongside regulars Mona Bruce & Sonia Graham. Both actors later played incarnations of The Master in Doctor Who. Anthony was playing an MP here & described himself as "the Shadow Minister for Organised Chaos"!

Special effects were not generally a strength of Thames' 1970 science fiction series The Tomorrow People but it did make some good use of optical effects such as in this colourful, psychedelic image from the 1974 serial "The Blue and the Green".

Crime-writer, crime-fighter and playboy Jason King - or is it?

John Le Mesurier, Carol Lynley and Francesca Annis in "Death of an Old-Fashioned Girl", an episode of Orson Welles' Great Mysteries (Anglia). All three also had starring roles in ATV's Thriller but unlike Thriller OWGM wasn't networked & this episode appeared at various points in 1975 & 1976.

Ulster TV did not start showing UFO until Friday 29th September 1972. An overall broadcast order is impossible as most of the earlier screenings had no episode title but it it possible to identify when the "late night", "sensitive-content" episodes were first broadcast.

"The Vampire from Space" - the original name for the 1971 Doctor Who serial "The Claws of Axos". It isn't unusual in TV for stories or episodes to have originally had different titles but it's quite rare to have on-screen evidence of the original.

Colourful ident for Trident Television. Trident was a company that handled sales for both Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees. The three prongs of the trident represented these two companies and Trident's extensive other business interests.

Nicholas Pennell, "Gail" aka Helen Worth and Bernard Kay in the Doctor Who serial "Colony in Space" broadcast in May 1971.

Thames TV ident from its earliest days in 1968, very different to its later, best-known incarnation but still accompanied by the famous fanfare. New ITV channels often had at least one ident before reaching the versions for which they are best remembered.

First broadcasts of Gerry Anderson's UFO on Grampian spanning three and a half years from mid 1971 to late 1974. This was a difficult region to compile with the show disappearing for long periods and with repeats mixed with first broadcasts. Grampian did not start colour broadcasts until 30.9.71.

The 1974 Thriller episode "Death To Sister Mary" focused on the targeting of an actress playing a nun in a TV series set in a convent. A seemingly improbable setting for a drama but it had been used in the 1967-1968 Rediffusion series "Sanctuary" starring Joanna Dunham - only one episode exists.

Listing for the episode "Nowhere for the Kids" from Series 2 of LWT's prison drama "Within These Walls", 24th January 1975. Curiously this episode is missing and it's uncertain how it happened with all other episodes of the show's five series in existence, possibly a case of accidental wiping.

Listing from September 1969 for the first episode of "Parkin's Patch", a series about ruling policing and an early YTV production. This notes that lead actor John Flanagan was himself the son of a police officer. He went on to play detectives or police in later shows such as The Sweeney & Thriller.

Actresses Barbara Mitchell and Polly James as guest storytellers on Rainbow in late 1972. The show was then its early days but lasted another 20 years. Also lasting those 20 years was its famous theme tune which was never re-recorded or "updated" as other long-running themes have been.

Listings for Ulster TV for 20th December 1973. An odd feature is the reference to "The World of Jason King" - the original name for the Jason King series but dropped before screening. The show had been on TV for two years by this time so it's puzzling the old name was used.

Sheila Fay and Sarah Greene in a publicity picture for Southern TV daytime soap "Together" (in which they played mother and daughter) as it started its run in January 1980. Sheila was a well-established actress; Sarah was very early in her career but later that year moved on to present Blue Peter.

Evening listings for HTV West on 2nd March 1973 including a very late screening for new sitcom "The Upper Crusts" starring Charles Gray about an upper class family forced by debts to move into a council house. Some other new shows ended up in graveyard slots in various ITV regions.

UFO was first broadcast in 3 areas (ATV, Border, Tyne Tees) OTD (16th September) in 1970. To mark this it's interesting to see the rank order of episodes on the IMDb. Obviously for this or any series our own preferences may be very different but it's always useful to see what others think.

A 1972 credit highlighting that Larry Grayson was appearing at the Golden Garter club in Wythenshawe - a reminder of the days when light entertainment or comedy programmes often had this or a voiceover about a star appearing in some show or venue. The Golden Garter is also long gone.

Peter Cellier & Alethea Charlton in the 1971 Shadows of Fear episode "Repent at Leisure". Two years later they appeared in the Thriller episode "Someone at the Top of the Stairs" in distinctly sinister roles. Alethea sadly died quite young in 1976 but Peter is still with us and nearing 100.

An appropriate image for this date.

OTD 50 years ago - Sunday 10th August 1975 - Grampian TV repeated the UFO episode "The Long Sleep". This is the only known example in the 1970s of that episode being shown outside a late-night slot. Grampian also repeated other episodes of UFO with "sensitive content" in that slot in summer 1975.

A rare sighting of Crown Court barristers James Elliott & Jonathan Fry (Charles Keating & Bernard Gallagher) without their wigs from the 1972 story "Euthanasia"). In the show's early days episodes started with black-and-white images of key figures connected with the story.

Sometimes a show is depicted within a show such as in an episode of YTV sitcom Dear Mother... Love Albert in 1971. Albert (Rodney Bewes) appeared on the fictional game show "Double Another". Comedy stalwart Damaris Hayman played a fellow contestant with American actor Al Mancini as quiz-master.

John Comer playing a newsagent with a nice array of chocolate boxes and sweets behind him in the Children's Film Foundation 1980 film "The Boy Who Never Was". Although best-known for his long-running role in Last of the Summer Wine he guested in many other productions.

A very appetising birthday cake made for Zippy of Rainbow back in 1991. Zippy was voiced by actor Roy Skelton who was born on this day in 1931.

Some profiles of actors who were part of the "Entertainers XI" squad for a charity game in February 1980. Plenty of familar names for the archive TV follower.

Novelisation of ATV's "Echoes of Louisa" (1981) by Gail Renard who also wrote the series, ATV's last drama for younger viewers. This was a ghost story in common with ATV's earlier "Come Back Lucy" (1978) on which she co-wrote the episodes with Colin Shindler based on the novel by Pamela Sykes.

Although best known for his central role in UFO Ed Bishop guest-starred in many British shows both before and after such as in ATV series The Cedar Tree in 1976. In the episode "Fete Accompli" (Part 2) he had a fitting part playing genial American actor Earl Mulligan who was visiting the UK.

Some UK Gold listings from 30th July 1994. This early incarnation was very valued by archive TV followers with lots of BBC & Thames shows, not just the best-known ones as followed in later times. No title for the Sweeney episode but from the synopsis it could fit almost every one!

Uncredited actors don't normally go on to have starring roles but the "David & Goliath" episode of Please Sir in 1971 featured two examples. In the background of picture 1 is Vicky Williams who starred in The Changes (1975) & in picture 2 (yellow trousers) is Tina Heath, star of Lizzie Dripping.

OTD (8th June) in 1975 the first episode of ATV Sunday drama for youngsters "The Siege of Golden Hill" notable for its depiction of gang violence, intimidation, racism, corruption and lack of opportunities. Gerry Sundquist & Billy Hamon starred, the former starred in "Soldier & Me" a year earlier.

Grant Taylor playing a senior military officer in the space-themed Doomwatch episode "Re-entry Forbidden" in March 1970 - he went on to play a similar role as General Henderson in UFO. Also appearing in that episode as themselves were presenters James Burke & Michael Aspel, both still with us.