an explanation from Keith Wickham about the edited ISIRTA episodes
08/06/2011 19:16 GMT

Posted by lisa

The fan club contacted Keith Wickham, the man who has provided many recovered/restored episodes of "I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again" to BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7).  We asked about the station's playing the highly edited Transcription Services versions of many episodes (in particular from series 7, with the "Professor Prune" serial, which have been airing the past few months) while more complete versions are in circulation.

Keith asked that I let everyone know that he has restored all the shows (with a few being of varying quality, but mostly they are perfect). However, BBC Radio 4 Extra made the decision to only use his restorations in cases where they didn't have any copy of an episode; the result is that, for the most past, the station is using the Transcription Services versions. This decision likely was due to the station needing to clear for OFCOM regulations any newly obtained shows, which would take time and money. 

There may be hope on the horizon, though.  According to Keith, there is a chance that BBC Radio 4 Extra will broadcast the whole series in full if they feel the current broadcasts have been sufficiently popular. Therefore, please continue to tune in for the weekly broadcasts, and encourage your friends to do the same!