Talking Pictures TV (TPTV) is a British free-to-air vintage film and nostalgia television channel. It was launched on , on the Sky digital satellite television service in the United Kingdom. Later it also became available on Freeview, Freesat, and Virgin Media.
Listed on some electronic programme guides (EPG) as TalkingPictures TV, it is on air 24 hours a day, and features primarily older British films, both classics and B-films. The schedule also includes some American films, classic television series, straight-to-video programmes, cinema shorts, extended interviews with veteran actors, and period home movies of British locations.
In July 2018, Talking Pictures TV had an audience share of 0.50%. , it had reached an audience share of 0.63%.
Foundation Talking Pictures TV Ltd (TPTV Ltd) is a family business, founded by producer/editor Noel Cronin, and run by his daughter Sarah Cronin-Stanley with her husband Neill Stanley. Films in many genres (horror, comedy, drama, and thriller) are included in the schedule. In-house productions are also shown, as are items from the Cronins' own back catalogue, including Noel's Dandelion Distribution, as well as series from the archive of Southern Television, a former ITV contractor, and early American television shows. Films are usually copied directly from film reels; damaged reels from the catalogue are often replaced by donations, either from online, viewers or available libraries.
One of the aims of the founders was to maintain the history of British cinema; it was said to have been in the making since 2007. Older films, including those made in black and white, which were once regularly shown on terrestrial channels, such as BBC and Channel 4, but such programming had declined by the 2000s, with only the best known classic films occasionally being aired.
Cronin-Stanley explained to the Watford Observer in 2016 that "People were interested in the big titles, but he [her father Noel] wanted to save the smaller, more obscure titles, from getting lost". However, television networks rejected their pitches, unconvinced that it would be of high demand, so they decided to set up the channel independently. Cronin-Stanley later explained that the channel specialises in "the things people have forgotten".
Availability Talking Pictures TV was initially only available via digital satellite (DVB-S) on the Sky TV platform in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Since 15 September 2015, the channel has also been available on digital terrestrial (DVB-T) platform Freeview. It became available on Freesat channel 306 in February 2016, and on Virgin Media digital cable (DVB-C) platform on 1 June 2017. On Freeview, it was initially broadcast only in standard definition (SDTV) on a HD multiplex, and could be received only by Freeview HD equipment.
From 30 November 2017, the channel became available, to those within coverage (90 percent of UK households), on any TV capable of receiving Freeview. In 2018, the channel reportedly had a weekly audience of about 2 million, but BBC News reported that it possibly rose to as high as 6 million in mid-2020 (during the COVID-19 pandemic).
Broadcast output Films A list of selected films shown on Talking Pictures TV: film titleorig.yeargenredirectorstar castA Taste of Honey 1961 Drama Tony Richardson Dora Bryan,Rita Tushingham An Alligator Named Daisy 1955 Comedy J. Lee Thompson Donald Sinden,Jeannie Carson Au Pair Girls 1972 Comedy Val Guest Gabrielle Drake,Astrid Frank Bad Blood 1981 Thriller Mike Newell Jack Thompson,Carol Burns Ball of Fire 1941 Comedy Howard Hawks Gary Cooper,Barbara Stanwyck Be My Guest 1965 Musical Lance Comfort David Hemmings,Steve Marriott The Beach Girls 1982 Comedy Pat Townsend Jeana Tomasino,Debra Blee Beat Girl 1960 Drama Edmond T. Gréville David Farrar,Noëlle Adam Bedazzled 1967 Comedy Stanley Donen Peter Cook,Dudley Moore The Black Book 1949 Thriller Anthony Mann Robert Cummings,Richard Basehart Blood Mania 1970 Horror Robert Vincent O'Neil Peter Carpenter,Maria De Aragon Blood of the Vampire 1958 Horror Henry Cass Donald Wolfit,Vincent Ball Blue Money 1972 Drama Alain Patrick Alain Patrick,Barbara Mills Brannigan 1975 Thriller Douglas Hickox John Wayne,Richard Attenborough Can You Keep It Up for a Week? 1974 Comedy Jim Atkinson Jeremy Bulloch,Sue Longhurst Carry On Admiral 1957 Comedy Val Guest David Tomlinson,Peggy Cummins Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things 1972 Comedy/horror Bob Clark Alan Ormsby,Valerie Mamches Child's Play 1972 Drama Sidney Lumet James Mason,Robert Preston Commuter Husbands 1972 Comedy Derek Ford Gabrielle Drake,Robin Bailey Crucible of Horror 1971 Horror Viktors Ritelis Michael Gough,Yvonne Mitchell Cry of the Banshee 1970 Horror Gordon Hessler Vincent Price,Hilary Dwyer Cry, the Beloved Country 1951 Drama Kellner Zoltán Canada Lee,Sidney Poitier Curse of the Fly 1965 Horror Don Sharp Brian Donlevy,George Baker Curtain Up 1952 Comedy Ralph Smart Robert Morley,Margaret Rutherford Deathdream 1974 Horror Bob Clark John Marley,Lynn Carlin The Demon 1981 Horror Percival Rubens Cameron Mitchell,Jennifer Holmes Dentist in the Chair 1960 Comedy Don Chaffey Bob Monkhouse,Peggy Cummins Down Among the Z Men 1952 Comedy Maclean Rogers Harry Secombe,Michael Bentine Every Day's a Holiday 1965 Comedy James Hill John Leyton,Mike Sarne Friends 1971 Romance Lewis Gilbert Sean Bury,Anicée Alvina Fourteen Hours 1951 Drama Henry Hathaway Paul Douglas,Richard Basehart The Flying Deuces 1939 Comedy A. Edward Sutherland Stan Laurel,Oliver Hardy The Frightened City 1961 Crime drama John Lemont Herbert Lom,John Gregson The Frightened Man 1952 Crime drama John Gilling Dermot Walsh,Barbara Murray Go for Broke! 1951 War drama Robert Pirosh Van Johnson,Lane Nakano Hell Drivers 1957 Crime drama Cy Endfield Stanley Baker,Herbert Lom Henry V 1944 Drama Laurence Olivier Laurence OlivierRenée Asherson His Girl Friday 1940 Comedy Howard Hawks Cary GrantRosalind Russell Hobson's Choice 1954 Comedy David Lean Charles LaughtonJohn Mills Home Before Midnight 1979 Drama Pete Walker James AubreyAlison Elliot Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte 1964 Thriller Robert Aldrich Bette Davis,Olivia De Havilland I Remember Mama 1948 Drama George Stevens Irene Dunne,Barbara Bel Geddes Incident in Shanghai 1938 Drama John Paddy Carstairs Margaret Vyner,Patrick Barr I See a Dark Stranger 1946 Comedy drama Frank Launder Deborah Kerr,Trevor Howard It's a Wonderful World 1956 Comedy Val Guest Terence Morgan,George Cole The L-Shaped Room 1962 Drama Bryan Forbes Leslie Caron,Tom Bell The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp 1943 Drama Michael Powell,Emeric Pressburger Roger Livesey,Deborah Kerr) Look Back in Anger 1959 Drama Tony Richardson Richard Burton,Claire Bloom The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner 1962 Drama Tony Richardson Tom CourtenayMichael Redgrave Lost in the Desert 1969 Drama Jamie Uys Wynard UysJamie Uys Malibu High 1979 Crime thriller Irvin Berwick Jill Lansing,Stuart Taylor The Man in the Mirror 1936 Comedy Maurice Elvey Edward Everett Horton,Genevieve Tobin The Man Who Could Cheat Death 1959 Horror Terence Fisher Anton Diffring,Hazel Court Marilyn 1953 Crime drama Wolf Rilla Sandra Dorne,Maxwell Reed Mark of the Phoenix 1958 Drama Maclean Rogers Julia Arnall,Sheldon Lawrence Melody 1971 Comedy Waris Hussein Mark Lester,Tracy Hyde The Million Pound Note 1955 Comedy Ronald Neame Gregory Peck,Ronald Squire The Mouse on the Moon 1963 Comedy Richard Lester Margaret Rutherford,Bernard Cribbins,Terry-Thomas,David Kossoff,Ron Moody The New York Hat 1912 Silent film D.W. Griffith Mary Pickford,Charles Hill Mailes Night Boat to Dublin 1946 Thriller Lawrence Huntington Robert Newton,Raymond Lovell Night of the Big Heat 1967 Sci-fi Terence Fisher Christopher Lee,Patrick Allen No Love for Johnnie 1961 Drama Ralph Thomas Peter Finch,Stanley Holloway Notorious 1946 Thriller Alfred Hitchcock Cary Grant,Ingrid Bergman Once a Jolly Swagman 1949 Drama Jack Lee Dirk Bogarde,Bonar Colleano Once in a New Moon 1935 Sci-fi Anthony Kimmins Eliot Makeham,Rene Ray Our Girl Friday 1953 Comedy Noel Langley Joan Collins,George Cole The Plough and the Stars 1937 Drama John Ford Barbara Stanwyck,Preston Foster The Pom Pom Girls 1976 Comedy Joseph Ruben Robert Carradine,Jennifer Ashley The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie 1969 Drama Ronald Neame Maggie Smith,Robert Stephens Pygmalion 1938 Drama Anthony Asquith,Leslie Howard Leslie Howard,Wendy Hiller Radio Cab Murder 1954 Drama Vernon Sewell Jimmy Hanley,Lana Morris Raffles 1939 Drama Sam Wood David Niven,Olivia De Havilland Rasputin the Mad Monk 1966 Horror Don Sharp Christopher Lee,Barbara Shelley The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler 1971 Sci-fi Bob Wynn Leslie Nielsen,Bradford Dillman Richard III 1955 Drama Laurence Olivier Laurence Olivier,Ralph Richardson Rosie Dixon – Night Nurse 1978 Comedy Justin Cartwright Beryl Reid,John Le Mesurier Sapphire 1959 Crime drama Basil Dearden Nigel Patrick,Yvonne Mitchell Saturday Night and Sunday Morning 1980 Drama Karel Reisz Albert Finney,Shirley Anne Field Say Hello to Yesterday 1970 Drama Alvin Rakoff Jean Simmons,Leonard Whiting Séance on a Wet Afternoon 1964 Drama Bryan Forbes Kim Stanley,Richard Attenborough Sextette 1978 Musical drama Ken Hughes Mae West,Timothy Dalton The Skull 1965 Horror Freddie Francis Peter Cushing,Patrick Wymark Sparrows Can't Sing 1963 Comedy Joan Littlewood James Booth,Barbara Windsor Suburban Wives 1971 Comedy Derek Ford Eva Whishaw,Barry Linehan Tarka the Otter 1979 Adventure David Cobham Edward Underdown,Peter Ustinov Tom Brown's Schooldays 1951 Drama Gordon Parry John Howard Davies,Robert Newton The Trollenberg Terror 1958 Sci-fi horror Quentin Lawrence Forrest Tucker,Laurence Payne Tomboy 1985 Comedy Herb Freed Betsy Russell,Gerard Christopher To the Devil a Daughter 1976 Horror Peter Sykes Richard Widmark,Christopher Lee The Van 1977 Comedy Sam Grossman Stuart Goetz,Deborah White Virgin Witch 1972 Horror Ray Austin Ann Michelle,Vicki Michelle What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? 1969 Thriller Lee H. Katzin Geraldine Page,Ruth Gordon Whistle Down the Wind 1961 Drama Bryan Forbes Hayley Mills,Bernard Lee White Cargo 1973 Comedy Ray Selfe David Jason,Hugh Lloyd Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? 1978 Black comedy Ted Kotcheff George Segal,Jacqueline Bisset,Robert Morley,Jean-Pierre Cassel,Philippe Noiret,Jean Rochefort,Gigi Proietti,Stefano Satta Flores,Madge Ryan,Frank Windsor,Peter Sallis,Jacques Balutin,Michael Chow The Young Ones 1961 Musical comedy Sidney J. Furie Cliff Richard,Robert Morley
Television series Talking Pictures TV features several classic British television series, mostly from Southern Television productions for the ITV network, along with series from American broadcasters ABC, CBS, and NBC. Many of the American television shows were produced by Four Star Television.
New television programmes for 2022 included The Heritage Chart Show with Mike Read, a pop music countdown of videos and live performances from veteran acts, presented on Sunday nights by the former Radio 1 disc jockey Mike Read and shared with the Local TV network of channels. Also, Read can be seen each week with Talking Pictures TV founder Noel Cronin on the channel's archive programme The Footage Detectives, a show which discusses forgotten films and lost TV shows such as The Barnstormers from 1964.
British programmes
American programmes
Other Talking Pictures TV also features several films from the series featuring Old Mother Riley, and from the British Film Institute's (BFI) archives, including several significant documentaries, and a considerable number of Children's Film Foundation productions, named under a series segment Glimpses. Its intention is for both nostalgia and education, as well as reminding the audience of the past; some footage is donated by viewers. The series is the most popular original content on the channel and its compilation DVD is the most popular buy on Renown Film's website.