Jon Preddle: Created page with "250px VHS slips for The Airzone Solution and Auton '''BILL & BEN VIDEO (BBV)''..."

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[[File:BBVlogo.JPG|right|250px]]
[[File:BBVVids.JPG|right|thumb|250px|VHS slips for The Airzone Solution and Auton]]
'''[[Wikipedia:Bill & Ben Video|BILL & BEN VIDEO]] (BBV)''' is a video and audio production company created and owned by Bill Baggs.

Between 1991 and 2008, the company produced a number of direct-to-video dramas and audio CDs featuring actors from '''Doctor Who''' playing different characters. The dramas were of varying lengths, ranging from 35 to 90 minutes in duration.

The company secured licences from the BBC and the original writers who created them to use characters from the TV series, such as Liz Shaw, Romana and K9, the Rani, and aliens/monsters like the Autons, Draconians, Sontarans, Wirrn, Zygons and the Krynoid.

The video dramas were initially released under the BBV label on VHS cassette with behind-the-scenes bonus features. A year or so later, some tapes were repackaged and distributed by [[Reeltime Pictures]], while DVD editions also followed for a selection of titles in the early 2000s.

In 1995, Baggs directed '''[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0182991/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt The Doctors - 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond]''', an interview documentary inspired by the controversial book from Adrian Rigelsford, published by Boxtree, 1994.

The 60-minute documentary was released on VHS by MasterVision Ltd in 1995 (a special 80-minute extended edit was also available via mail order exclusively through ''Doctor Who Magazine (DWM)''). A DVD with additional interviews was released under the BBV label in 2002.

==Rights Sold to Television==
[[File:DoctorsVHS.jpg|right|thumb|150px|VHS slip for The Doctors (1995)]]
To assist with the funding of projects, Baggs entered into co-production deals with the newly-launched [[Sci-Fi Channel Europe]] (who later co-funded the final two titles in the '''P.R.O.B.E.''' series), as well as seeking support from American backers (such as retailer [http://www.whona.com/ Who North America]) in exchange for the broadcasting rights. (Baggs's colleague Nick Briggs also worked for the UK SF Channel at the time.)

The following productions are the ones for which the rights were at least under option; those marked '''SF''' were to have been shown on the Sci-Fi Channel, but were dropped (see below); those with '''++''' are believed to have been shown on UK TV; the ones marked '''#''' were definitely shown on US TV:

*'''The Stranger - Summoned by Shadows''' (35m; Sep 1991) '''SF'''
*'''The Stranger - More Than a Messiah''' (40m; Feb 1992) '''SF'''
*'''The Stranger - In Memory Alone''' (40m; Mar 1993) '''SF'''
*'''The AirZone Solution''' (50m; Sep 1993) '''#'''
*'''The Stranger - Terror Game''' (45m; Jul 1994) '''SF'''
*'''The Stranger - Breach of the Peace''' (45m; Aug 1994) '''SF'''
*'''P.R.O.B.E. - The Zero Imperative''' (65m; Dec 1994) '''++'''
*'''The Stranger - Eye of the Beholder''' (90m; Jul 1995) '''SF'''
*'''P.R.O.B.E. - The Devil of Winterborne''' (90m; Sep 1995) '''++'''
*'''The Doctors - 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond''' (60m; 1995) '''#'''
*'''P.R.O.B.E. - Unnatural Selection''' (45m; Oct 1996)
*'''P.R.O.B.E. - Ghosts of Winterborne''' (45m; Nov 1996)
*'''Auton''' (60m; Oct 1997) '''#'''
*'''Auton 2 Sentinel''' (60m; Oct 1998)
*'''Auton 3 Awakening''' (60m; Sep 1999)

==BBV on TV - UK==
[[File:30YearsSCF.JPG|right|thumb|250px|Misnamed as "Dr Who - 30 Years…" on Sci-Fi Channel Europe; TV & Satellite Week, 29 May 1996]]

'''30 YEARS OF TIME TRAVEL AND BEYOND'''

The 55 minute documentary was aired by [[Sci-Fi Channel Europe]] for the first time on Monday, '''20 May 1996''', at 9pm. Its second showing was on Wednesday, '''29 May 1996''' at 9.30pm - this was the ''only'' '''Doctor Who''' content on Sci-Fi UK the week the Paul McGann [[TV Movie]] aired on BBC1.

It was reshown '''at least 23 more times''' from 1996 to 1998, often edited into shorter 20, 30 or 45 minute segments and used as late night filler material (often listed under the shortened title of '''The Doctors - 30 Years of Time Travel'''). It aired a further eleven times during '''1996''' - five times in June, twice in July and August, once in October and November, three times in December; that's 16 times in 1996! It was played five times during '''1997''', and three during '''1998''' (see November clipping below). Its last known showing was on Saturday, '''6 March 1999'''.

'''THE STRANGER'''

Since [[UK Gold]] had the rights to '''Doctor Who''', Sci-Fi Channel looked for a '''Doctor Who''' substitute to show in the wake of the recently-screened [[TV Movie]].

[[File:StrangerChain.JPG|right|thumb|450px|The Stranger marathon scheduled to screen on Sci-Fi Channel, 15 June 1996 (listing from DreamWatch Bulletin #22)]]
For the evening of Saturday, '''15 June 1996''', the [[Sci-Fi Channel Europe]]'s cable service (but not on its satellite feed) had scheduled the '''30 Years…''' documentary (again) at 6.10pm, this time followed by a six-hour session (from 7.10pm to 1am Sunday) of all six instalments of BBV's '''"The Stranger"''', under the collective title '''Doctor Who - Chain Reaction: The Stranger Series'''. ("Chain Reaction" was a standard term used by Sci-Fi for its late evening marathons.)

The six stories were also scheduled to be repeated from midday to 6pm the following day, Sunday '''16 June 1996'''. Several genre magazines, such as the June cover-dated issues of ''Cult Times'' (#9) and ''DreamWatch Bulletin'' (#22), had '''The Stranger''' marathon down for both days.

'''However''' … the planned screenings were ultimately '''dropped''' because (as noted in the following issue of ''Cult Times'') the rights to show them weren't actually held by Sci-Fi as negotiations had not been completed in time. In place of '''The Stranger''', Sci-Fi ran a "Chain Reaction" of the short-lived 1970s US series '''[[Wikipedia:Future Cop (TV series)|Future Cop]]''' (which had already aired on the channel several times before). More up-to-date publications such as the weekly ''TV Times'' and daily newspapers that came out closer to those June airdates printed the amended schedules.

According to the July ''Cult Times'', there were plans to perhaps show '''The Stranger''' later in the year (the autumn), however we have been unable to find any evidence that '''The Stranger''' marathon was ever rescheduled.

'''Making of AUTON 2'''

In May 1998, a team from the [[Sci-Fi Channel Europe|Sci-Fi Channel]] went on location during the filming of the second Auton story to record a special '''"Making of Auton 2"''' documentary; this short aired on the UK channel in '''mid-1998''' during one of its regular daily editions of '''SF Scene''' (aka '''SF Scene Special'''). An extended 7-minute edit was included as a special feature when the story was released on VHS in October.
{{image table
|[[File:30YearsSFC98.JPG|right|thumb|250px|"The Doctors - 30 Years…", SF Channel Europe; The Guardian, 28 November 1998]]|
[[File:SFCUK1998.JPG|right|thumb|250px|Generic sample of SF Scene / SF Scene Special listings; Radio Times, 29 August 1998]]
}}
The generic sample listing here for 29 August 1998 from the ''Radio Times'' shows four listings for '''SF Scene''' throughout the day. Note: the listing for '''Probe''' that follows the 3.45pm "SF Scene Special" is for an instalment of the [[Wikipedia:Probe (1988 TV series)|10-episode 1988 US series of that name]] (which had previously screened on Sci-Fi in 1997), rather than being one of the four BBV dramas of the same name.

'''P.R.O.B.E.'''

According to several first-hand accounts, the second of the four Elizabeth Shaw / P.R.O.B.E. spin-offs, '''The Devil of Winterborne''', was shown by the [[Sci-Fi Channel Europe]] in a late night timeslot in 1998, believed to have been around the anniversary, so circa late November?

Given its 90 minute running time, it may have occupied one of the regular late night "Film" slots, but despite perusing a number of newspapers and TV listings magazines and guides from that period, we could not find any billings for that production (or for any other BBV drama for that matter).

'''The Zero Imperative''' apparently also screened on the Sci-Fi Channel, but again, no listings could be found.

'''[If you know for a fact that these screenings took place and when, please drop us a line!]'''
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==BBV on TV - US==

As far as US screenings go, '''The AirZone Solution''' and the first in the '''Auton''' trilogy '''debuted''' on US television when they were screened in a back-to-back pairing on two PBS stations, which had acquired them as special "Pledge Night" presentations:

*[[KTEH]] Channel 54 in San Jose, [[California]], screened them on Sunday, '''17 August 2003''' from 8pm, then again on Friday, '''22 August 2003''', from 11.30pm.
**It was stated in pre-publicity that if successful with its fund-raising, KTEH would look at acquiring further titles from the BBV back-catalogue (KTEH said there were 19 stories on offer, although BBV had not actually made as many as that at that time), as well as offering the syndication rights to the rest of the US. However, after reaching only 80% of their pledge target, it would appear they did not proceed with purchasing any additional titles from BBV.
[[File:AirZoneCalifornia1.jpg|left|thumb|650px|The AirZone Solution and Auton, on KTEH; Santa Cruz Sentinel (California); 17 August 2003]]
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*[[Iowa Public Television]] also aired the two stories on its own Pledge Night, a month later on '''27 September 2003''', from 9pm.
[[File:AirzoneIowa2003.jpg|left|thumb|650px|The AirZone Solution and Auton, on IPTV; Des Moines Register (Iowa), 27 September 2003]]
{{clear}}
*On Saturday, '''13 March 2004''', '''The Doctors - 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond''' was screened by [[IPTV]] at 11.45pm during that weekend's Pledge Drive Festival.

==BBV on Amazon Prime==

[[File:AirZonePrime.JPG|right|thumb|250px|AirZone on the Amazon Prime Video menu]]
From '''January 2019''', '''The AirZone Solution''' was available to stream via [[Amazon Prime]] video -- on '''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B07MX97JM5/ Amazon US]''' and '''[https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/B07MX9Y6GJ Amazon UK]'''.

==External Links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/19991104011540/http://www.bbv1.demon.co.uk:80/ BBV Online Home Page (Archived)]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20010201144600/http://www.bbvonline.co.uk:80/ BBV Online Home Page Updates (Archived)]
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20010107212700/http://www.bbvonline.co.uk:80/news_arch.html BBV News (Archived)]
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20090217194944/http://bbvonline.co.uk/about_us.html BBV Video Home Page (Archived)]
*[https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?companies=co0103698 BBV IMDB]
*[https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2018-12-07/doctor-who-fan-made-spin-off-films-cyberons-sexy-zygons-mark-gatiss/?fbclid=IwAR1lEJ-8upfze239kICryA5PUicStb1uipoKTGQ2V6-hm_TWhZSG9w7Ma1I Radio Times feature 27 November 2018]
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[[Category:Documentaries and specials]]

BBV Productions - Revision history

Jon Preddle: Created page with "250px VHS slips for The Airzone Solution and Auton '''BILL & BEN VIDEO (BBV)''..."