For over 20 years Out Of Town was a television
programme that provided a window on country life in rural Britain. Hundreds of
programmes were broadcast by Southern Television but they were feared lost when
the company lost its ITV franchise in 1981.
Apart from 28 episodes that
were recreated by presenter Jack Hargreaves in 1986, using extracts from films
used in the original TV programmes with new footage filmed by Jack, it was
presumed that all other examples of the original Out Of Town series had been
lost forever.
In 2012, after extensive research by Simon Baddeley, Simon
Winters, and Southern Television archive expert David King, 34 complete original
episodes of Out Of Town – not seen since their original broadcast in 1980 &
1981 - came to light and are now being made available on DVD by
Delta.
The 34 charming programmes in this collection of
ten DVDs are presented as they were originally broadcast three decades ago, and
provide ample evidence of why the enchanting charm of Out Of Town have endured
for so many people for so many years.
Over twenty eight hours (including bonus features) of Out
Of Town are presented on these ten DVDs. Only edited versions of some of the
location films that are included have been seen on DVD – featured in the 28
programmes produced in 1986 - but the significant part of them are being
presented in their original form for the first time since they were broadcast
three decades ago.
The discovery of these programmes ensures that Jack’s
legacy on screen is preserved and that the unsentimental charm of Out Of Town
will live on for future generations.
Each of the DVDs in this collection
has a bonus feature which allows the viewer to see the unedited versions of the
Out Of Town episodes in their original broadcast format, including the off
screen countdown clock with comments from production staff and an occasional
remark from Jack Hargreaves.