Review of Pandora's Box

As with HOLLYWOOD UK and who knows how many other BBC series, all repeat showings of PANODORA'S BOX have been cut by approx 12 mins per episode. Original length for each episode was around 58 mins. If you made v-t recordings of BBC's original transmission from 1992, as I did, preserve them, as the BBC should have done. BBC have not learned from its days of wiping programmes. The cuts have nothing to do with copyright complications. Nowadays, after first screenings, BBC lease series out to syndication, and networks cut length to insert advertisements. When BBC wants to repeat a series years later, it gets a syndicated copy. And that's how PANDORA'S BOX ends up around 45 mins per episode and misinformation of the programme length propagates. PANDORA'S BOX, like HOLLYWOOD UK, is one of the best documentary series ever made, but that didn't save it from witless vandalism. Once again it is down to the viewer to take responsibility for archiving programmes.