Master Game on YouTube.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Surely by now the poublic are fed up to the back teeth (!) of cookery programmes."

Or programmes where you take your rubbish to a car boot sale and sell it to people who doubtless hope they will appear on a similar programme 20 years later...

Duels of the Mind was a good format, and it was an inspired choice having Donald Woods (for the benefit of our younger readers he was famous at the time for being very bravely outspoken in South Africa), as people might tune in just to see him.

[Stewart Reuben]

I thought 'Duels of the Mind' was awful, boring and often twee, but that is not the point. I know that poker programme makers have had to pay Channel 5 to broadcast their material. That is just one more expense.
Some of the formats suggested work just as well online, for example seeing a game live. All you lose is the players thrashing around in time trouble.
The reason chess needs TV exposure is because it is a way of attracting NON-serious players to the game. The Master Game format has never been bettered. Consultation games work just as well, but take a long time. Kasparov + Short against the TV Commentary team in 1993 was utter magic. Jon Speelman against an audience dialling in their selections was excellent. But that format is done better online now.
Stewart Reuben

[Steve Rooney]

I thought the Russian coverage of the World Blitz was very good. The blitz format offers bite-sized excitement, both for experienced players and the casual observers. An edited highlights approach to such events could produce very watchable programmes.

But the likelihood of chess on mainstream TV channels seems pretty remote; internet TV is much more feasible and there could be potential for advertising- or sponsorship funded models in the future. The quality of the content is still important though, something often forgotten with internet content of all types. Just because it's cheaper to distribute doesn't mean you shouldn't invest in quality camera work, scripting and presentation.

[Mark Podlesak]

I some times wonder if we need to follow the modern format on other TV shows that have revitalized interest in other fields. eg Come Dancing, Dancing on Ice and even Poker.
They have all used Celebs to get the general public's interest. So something along the line of a master coaching them through a Tournament against other Celebs. The games of a lower standard would be understood by anyone who knows the rules of the game. May be a doubles even with no conferring.
May be no brainer but just an idea.

[David Shepherd]

I would have thought there was some scope for a tv programme covering the London Chessic Classic, people like to see "Brits" playing world champions in anything.

[JustinHorton]

I had the lot. Everything in Betamax.

I sent them on, at his request, to John Henderson 2/3 years ago and have not hear from him since.

Emails have been totally ignored. Letters to the Scotsman (John's column) ignored.
I get adverts with his name on about his website, I answer but no reply.

Has anybody seen John in the flesh within the last two years?

John lives in Seattle.

[frank sealey]

I've just watched some old footage, 1981-2, of BBC's Master Game. Very entertaining, it's a pity they stopped that programme. It will seem ancient to young people today but chess is such a wonderful game. Am I the only one who would like to see it start up again?

[Jon Mahony]

Hi Frank

Yes I'm a subscriber to SirBob's channel, its great stuff. Shame I don’t think he has anymore eps to upload now

[Matt Mackenzie]

I wouldn't mind seeing some of the earlier series, with the original theme tune

[Carl Hibbard]

As before it's at http://www.youtube.com/user/Sirb0b1 although personally I liked some of the games from the 1982 World Cup posted there

[frank sealey]

I don't know why the BBC stopped the series, it used to get 6 million viewers!

[Jon Mahony]

I don't know why the BBC stopped the series, it used to get 6 million viewers!

I agree - because of the editing, it didn’t have the main Chess on TV problem of long gaps of dead air between moves. It was an easy show for casual chess fans, who may just play the odd game with friends and family at home, to sit down and watch. That probably explains the high viewing figures.

In the age of Xbox, PC’s and DVD I very much doubt it would be so well watched, should it come back today - which most likely means it won’t

[Ray Sayers]

Disaster! Gone!

That is a shame, a big loss

[Matt Mackenzie]

Yet more "third party claims of copyright infringement", FFS. Do these people want their stuff to be seen or not??

[Stewart Reuben]

The viewing figures were more like 1.5 million at best. Bill Hartston said that was one of the problems, 'i was no longer seen as a minority interest series.
1983 it was filmed in Bath. There was a strike against outside broadcasts. The series never got shown in Britain, only in Germany. That destroyed the continuity. The only programme available here is the final Karpov Miles from Impala. It was dubbed into English by Ray Keene at my suggestion.

The problem with re-broadcasting any of the old BBC programmes is that there were no agreements at that time about repeats. Hollywood had a similar problem with old films.

I estimate if 1000+ people wrote in independently asking for a series, it might happen.