Christopher Lee films on terrestrial TV over Christmas/New Year

[Laura Allard]

According to the Christmas TV guide with The Mirror, these are the films featuring Christopher Lee that are being shown on terrestrial TV over the Christmas/New Year period:

Death Train, December 18, BBC1, 11.50pm-1.30am
The Battle of the River Plate, December 28, BBC2, 7pm-9pm
Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, December 30, ITV1, 1.25am-3.35am
The Wicker Man, December 31, ITV1, 11.30pm-1.05am

Other films which might be of interest are:
Witchfinder General, December 20, BBC2, 12.20am-1.45am
The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, December 23, BBC1, 12.45am-2.15am
Star Wars, December 29, ITV1, 12.40pm-3.05pm

The Wicker Man on ITV1 will provide a nice alternative to the usual (and in my opinion, anyway) boring programmes on New Year

[Purple_Pen]

Ooh! Thanks for this! There are two there I haven't seen (Battle of the River Plate (actually, I've never heard of that one - is it known by any alternative titles?) and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes). Definitely looking foward to both of those!

The Wicker Man is my favourite film ever... but then again, I already have it on DVD, and don't actually want to be watching it as midnight comes and goes. I prefer to be concentrating on seeing the new year in with my friends / family. I might tape it, though, just so I can see which version of it they show!

[Laura Allard]

Originally Posted by Purple_Pen

(Battle of the River Plate (actually, I've never heard of that one - is it known by any alternative titles?)

Hello Purple Pen

I think I have seen it, but if I have it was years ago when I was a small child and used to watch old war films with my dad. Mr Lee has a small part as a bar owner called Manolo.

Here is a link about the historical battle: http://www.ocean98.org/spee.htm and a bit from the same site about the film:

This naval action was carefully detailed in the British-made film "Pursuit of the Graf Spee". Peter Finch played the role of Captain Hans Langsdorff, while Antony Quale played Commodore Harwood of the allied flotilla. Supporting actors were Anthony Newley, Christopher Lee, and Patrick Macnee. The 1957 film was originally titled "The Battle of the River Plate", when it was released in England.

For the US distribution, the name was changed to "Pursuit Of The Graf Spee". In the film the American heavy cruiser USS Salem starred as the Graf Spee and three British cruisers filled in for the allied warships

Best wishes

[Purple_Pen]

Ah, yes - I've got it now! I believe he talks about that film on TMOAL, and there's a brief extract from it. Great!

[Laura Allard]

Hi all

Since my first post, a few more of the TBA film slots have been revealed (Radio Times):

Satanic Rites of Dracula, December 21, BBC1, 1.05-2.30am
Gremlins 2, Christmas Eve, C4, 2.20-4.10pm

A few other films of possible interest include:
Twins of Evil, December 20, BBC1, 1.00-2.30am
Horror of Frankenstein, December 22, BBC1, 1.55-3.30am
Gremlins, December 23, C4, 2.25-4.15pm

(Looks like the BBC are having a mini season of Hammer. That's something nice to see as the Hammer films havn't been on TV much lately. When I used to watch the old Hammer films there was at least one on each week.)

By my count that's 6 Christopher Lee films being shown over Christmas/New Year. With Mr Lee's Fireside Tales on Radio 2 it means it should be a good Christmas.

Best wishes

[Purple_Pen]

Once again, thanks! I try to keep up with what CL films are being shown via DigiGuide, but none of these are appearing in their listings yet.

It's not a fail-safe method, anyway, since a search for "Christopher Lee" only brings up films where he has a high billing. The Return of the Three Musketeers was on Channel 4 this afternoon, and I didn't even know until about half an hour before the end, because he isn't billed high enough for DigiGuide to mention him! *sobs*

So there's no substitute in the end for scouring printed guides: and thanks to you for doing that for us!

[Purple_Pen]

Actually, scratch what I just said in my previous post: my DigiGuide listings have just updated themselves, and these are starting to come through now. In fact, I can add another film to our list:

Dec. 29th, BBC 2, 18:15 to 20:00 - Scott of the Antarctic

Another one I haven't seen: hooray!