Saturday Morning Press Books

07/09/2025

At last we have reached the finale to 'The Big Pull' with an episode which makes me wonder if they really filmed up at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire, what on earth did they think of the script?? The illustration is by Robert Hammond and was used to illustrate a storyline to John Elliot's 'Off Centre', which features at the end of my book on 'A for Andromeda', copies still available from the shop.

Future serials will include 'The Monsters' from 1962 and 'The Escape of RD7' which followed A for Andromeda in 1961.

Next week: the time William Hartnell and the murder a few doors down on 'Softly Softly...' Subscribe if you haven't already. I'm one short from a hundred and my ego must be fed.

Saturday is late this week. And time is running out for the future of mankind in the final instalment of this lost BBC serial.

31/08/2025

Part Five of The Big Pull is now up on the Substack! Final episode next week.

https://michaelseely.substack.com/p/the-big-pull-part-five

25/08/2025

And for your Bank Holiday Monday, why not read The Big Pull Part Four and discover how many more technicians at Jodrell Bank must die for the purpose of Jotus and Nebla! And if that makes no sense, you can read the first three episodes at michaelseely.substack.com

The Big Pull is a lost 1962 science fiction serial which went out on the BBC on Saturday nights in the Dixon of Dock Green slot. It centres around a mysterious signal being received at Jodrell Bank (named in the script but might have been anonymous on the screen - and quite frankly had they known what befell their astronomical marvel and its staff, I'm surprised they didn't politely decline the BBC's request to film there! No production file survives, in fact there is very little paperwork to go on.

The signal is connected with the death of American astronaut Mike Sklorski and the disappearance of Dr Weatherfield. More people simply die, and whoever they are with disappear - and reappear as the dead men! What is their purpose?

michaelseely.substack.com

23/08/2025

First of two posts this bank holiday weekend. Discover how BBC1 put together a live debate on the future of Ulster in January 1972 inspite of hostile press (and others) reaction. michaelseely.substack.com

16/08/2025

Today's instalment of The Big Pull is now up on Substack. Can they prevent more deaths at Jodrell Bank - or will the contagion from space spread throughout the country? Where are the missing men? And if they did film at Jodrell, did anyone vet the script!
michaelseely.substack.com

Illustration by Robert Hammond.

09/08/2025

The retelling of the lost 1962 BBC serial 'The Big Pull' continues on Substack. What frightened Mrs Weatherfield? Who will be the next victims of the contagion at Jodrell Bank and how can some simply vanish? Who is the watcher outside the Nailer household?

https://michaelseely.substack.com/p/the-big-pull-part-two

02/08/2025

Todays Substack is on Part One of The Big Pull, a lost 1962 BBC sci-fi serial, one of those which is in the shadow of Quatermass, but on the road to Doctor Who. It even went out Saturday nights at 6.30pm.

On the road to Doctor Who but in the shadow of Quatermass. This lost six part serial will now be retold accompanied by footnotes of what few facts we know of its production.

25/07/2025

Tomorrow on Substack - when Doomwatch - kind of met Softly Softly Task Force and the BBC Series department forked out for a visual effect. Subscribe here at michaelseely.subtsack.com for irregular articles on obscure, lost, forgotten BBC dramas - or just something like this which I enjoy...

15/07/2025

In a few week's time my Substack shall begin storylining lost BBC sci-fi serials and plays from the early 1960s which were going to appear (in more detail I might say) a book. Alas, that is not going to happen, but I am not sure how to present the technical production data which survives sporadically. Massive footnotes (especially Ep 1 of The Big Pull)? or seperate artickles perhaps issued mid week.

Wot I have done so far can be found at

A free home for research on missing or forgotten (and a few not so lost or forgotten) BBC dramas, uncovered during my researches. If you are familiar with my books, you will be interested in these articles. Click to read Saturday Morning Press, by Michael Seely, a Substack publication. Launched 5 mo...

12/07/2025

My latest Substack article on a few discoveries I made while perusing copies of the BBC's internal newspaper/magazine Aerial circa 1972. These unexpected pleasures produced a number of fascinating articles on Doomwatch, and a Drama Playhouse which was replaced by the wonderful Sutherland's Law. PLUS! The book I wish I had written, and was going to, and won't now.

I recently found a stack of issues of the BBC’s staff magazine Aerial from 1972. Three stories caught my eye... Doomwatch references yes, but something else caught my eye...

11/07/2025

Tomorrow’s post on my substack features Doomwatch, Doctor Who, Sutherland’s Law, The Incredible Roger Baldick, Terry Nation, John Wiles and Anthony Coburn. And something that was never made...

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21/06/2025

The line 'Departmental Ferret' I now expect will sweep the internet. In other words, Part Two of the original draft for what became Doomwatch's 'Project Sahara'.

Part Two of our look into Lord of the Humans - the original Doomwatch script which became Project Sahara.