Oliver Crocker is a filmmaker, podcaster, publisher, and leading writer and historian on classic British television. In this clip from a two-part podcast recorded in 2021, we discuss Oliver's friend, Z-Cars legend Ian Cullen (1939-2019), and the evolution of police drama from Z-Cars to The Bill. Find the complete episodes, with links to suggestions for further viewing, reading and listening, at our podcast website; https://dec4podcast.com/2023/01/29/in-conversation-with-author-filmmaker-and-pod...
Jul 26, 2024•5 min
In this clip from our podcast series taking a deep dive into Elvis' 1973 satellite concert broadcast, Aloha From Hawaii, our leading contributor, Gary Wells ( soulrideblog.com ), joins us to discuss some highlights from 1972. We consider Colonel Parker's hesitancy to play New York, and compare how the fans were showcased in two documentary movies, Elvis That's The Way It Is (1970) and Elvis on Tour (1972). We also take a lighthearted look at Elvis' memorable encounter with the Mayor of Roanoke, ...
Jul 18, 2024•10 min
Oliver Crocker is a filmmaker, podcaster, publisher, and leading writer and historian on classic British television. In this clip from a two-part podcast recorded in 2021, we discuss how The Bill evolved throughout the course of its run, and how the skills of the writers and actors created some of the most admired and fondly remembered characters in British television. The Bill was an iconic ITV police series which ran for nearly 2500 episodes, from 1983 to 2010. Oliver's series of interviews w...
Jul 10, 2024•7 min
In this clip, we revisit our earlier podcast episode, From Memphis to Vegas: A Vintage Leisure Tour, in which our leading contributor, Gary Wells ( soulrideblog.com ), takes us on an audio journey to some of the important cultural sites in Memphis and Las Vegas. Here we recall Gary's visit to 1034 Audubon Drive (the Presley family's first home in Memphis), and to Sun Records. In the complete episode, available on our podcast website and the major platforms, we also visit the Stax Museum, Al Gree...
Jul 04, 2024•9 min
In this supplement to our episode on the Winter Dance Party tour, headlined by Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and JP Richardson (the Big Bopper), our leading contributor, Gary Wells ( soulrideblog.com ), joins us to discuss in more detail some of the friendships and professional relationships forged during the tour. We examine the culpability of the promoters taking into account the context of the time, and learn that the Ritchie Valens biopic, La Bamba, might have been a very different movie if no...
Jun 28, 2024•41 min
In this clip from our 2022 episode, From Memphis to Vegas: A Vintage Leisure Tour, our leading contributor, Gary Wells ( https://soulrideblog.com ), talks us through the excitement of arriving in Memphis, first impressions and safety, and settling in ahead of visiting Graceland and other important cultural sites. Find the complete episode, including additional background, images and links, at our website: https://dec4podcast.com/2023/02/26/gary-wells-from-memphis-to-vegas-a-vintage-leisure-tour/...
Jun 20, 2024•10 min
In this clip from our 2021 two-part podcast taking a deep dive into Elvis That’s The Way It Is (MGM 1970), featuring our leading contributor Gary Wells ( soulrideblog.com ), we look at one of the more interesting editorial decisions taken by two-time Oscar winning director, Denis Sanders (1929-1987). “What we’re trying to do,” Sanders told Jerry Hopkins for a feature in Rolling Stone, “is capture Elvis the entertainer, from the point of view of the fans, the hotel, the city, the audience.” The d...
Jun 14, 2024•5 min
Actor and playwright Frank Williams passed away June 26th, 2022, just short of his 91st birthday. He is remembered with enormous fondness by generations of fans as Timothy Farthing, the perpetually exasperated Vicar in the BBC’s Dad’s Army; on television, radio, stage, and in two feature films separated by almost half a century. This is a clip from our complete tribute episode which was released to coincide with the first anniversary of Frank Williams' passing. His friend, leading television his...
Jun 01, 2024•10 min
In this episode we pay tribute to the last of Dad’s Army’s ‘Magnificent Seven’, Ian Lavender (Private Pike), who passed away on February 2nd, 2024, aged 77. Leading UK television historian, publisher, author and podcaster, Oliver Crocker, joins us to share his thoughts on this very talented gentleman, and to recall his own memorable experience working with Ian Lavender on a segment for ITV’s This Morning. Although Private Pike remains his most enduring and universally beloved creation, we also t...
Apr 08, 2024•18 min
In this episode our leading contributor, Gary Wells ( soulrideblog.com ), joins us to take an in-depth look at the Winter Dance Party tour of early 1959, and explore what led up to a critical midtour decision to charter a light plane for a late night, 300 mile flight from Mason City, Iowa, to Fargo, North Dakota. Around five miles northwest of Mason City Airport the plane crashed on private farmland, killing the pilot, Roger Peterson, along with his three passengers, touring musicians Buddy Holl...
Feb 23, 2024•45 min
In this clip compiled from our 2022 Beach Boys Book Club episode, with our leading contributor, Gary Wells ( www.soulrideblog.com ), we focus on Timothy White's wide-ranging 1994 biography, The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys and the Southern California Experience. Gary explains what sets this apart as more than just a rock and roll bio, we discuss Timothy White's assessment of family patriarch Murry Wilson, and how, in the early 1960s, emerging artists in Southern California...
Jan 01, 2024•11 min
Our leading contributor, Gary Wells, joins us this episode to take a close look at Elvis' concert at the St Paul Civic Centre on April 30th, 1977, which was the subject of a devastating review in the St Paul Pioneer Press, by a very well regarded sports reporter named Charley Hallman. Many claims in the article are open to question, and it's an interesting chapter in the saga of Elvis and Colonel Parker's relationship, or deliberate lack thereof, with local press while on tour. In a pre-internet...
Oct 07, 2023•40 min
Oliver Crocker is one of Britain’s leading and most respected authors, historians, podcasters and publishers on classic British television, whose work on iconic productions like The Bill and All Creatures Great and Small is valued and appreciated as much by the creators as by the fans. He has put together something very special for us this episode, as we remember actor and playwright, Frank Williams, who passed away June 26th, 2022, just short of his 91st birthday. Frank Williams is remembered w...
Jun 25, 2023•57 min
In this episode we sample a clip from our Beach Boys Book Club conversation, as our leading contributor Gary Wells tells us how he and an accomplice managed to find themselves backstage at an early 1990s Beach Boys concert in Canada, chatting to Mike, Al and Carl. It’s a little comical, poignant, and slightly eccentric at various moments, but it’s a great story with some treasured memories. We also recommend a conversation between Gary and singer and actress, Donna Loren, to be found at her Love...
May 06, 2023•14 min
In this latest episode, we present clips sampled from our conversation with Australian radio legend, Steve Collins, Once Upon a Time in Sydney , in which Steve took us on a nostalgic, personal journey through the intense Sydney music scene of the 1970s. As well as his studio work for pioneering rock radio station 2JJ, Steve was at the heart of an incredible era of authentic, in-your-face live music, working at iconic venues – sound and lighting at Revesby Workers Club and security at Hordern Pav...
Feb 12, 2023•8 min
In this episode, we reflect on a couple of important 50th anniversaries in 2023; Elvis’ pioneering satellite concert, Aloha From Hawaii, which was broadcast internationally in January of 1973, and the August release of one of the iconic movies of the 1970s, American Graffiti, both of which we’ve discussed in previous episodes. These were landmark moments in entertainment, but both faced potential disaster right up until the last moment. Aloha From Hawaii nearly collapsed due to catastrophic tech...
Jan 03, 2023•30 min
In this special extended episode, Gary Wells ( www.soulrideblog.com ) is our guide for an immersive audio tour through Memphis and Las Vegas. We’re considering these destinations wholly in the context of mid-twentieth century entertainment and culture, and what are essential places of interest for the ‘vintage leisure’ enthusiast. We begin in Memphis, and visit Sun Records, the Stax Museum, Al Green’s Full Gospel Tabernacle Church, Beale Street, and a highly significant site on Audubon Drive. We...
Oct 09, 2022•1 hr 34 min
This episode is inspired by our regular contributor Gary Wells’ popular website, www.soulrideblog.com , Your Home for Vintage Leisure; specifically, his reviews of two important and fascinating books on the Beach Boys - The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys, and the Southern California Experience (1994), by Timothy White, and Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy (2016), by Mike Love with James S Hirsch. Gary joins host George Fairbrother to take us through why the ambitious ...
Jun 19, 2022•1 hr 3 min
We're delighted for this episode of the DEC4 Podcast to be joined by a genuine legend of Australian radio, Steve Collins, who takes us on a nostalgic, personal journey through the intense Sydney music scene of the 1970s. As well as his studio work for pioneering rock radio station 2JJ, Steve was at the heart of an incredible era of authentic, in-your-face live music, working at iconic venues, and mixing with era-defining Australian and international artists. Steve takes us back to the earliest d...
Apr 03, 2022•57 min
Gary Wells is back with us for our final instalment in our deep dive into the landmark entertainment event, Elvis Aloha From Hawaii . This time, we look beyond the international concert broadcast to the hit double-album release, the single, and then the domestic television special that aired in the US in April, 1973. This is the only available preserved visual record in its original edit, and we see this time capsule exactly as Marty Pasetta intended, and how audiences did half a century ago. Me...
Jan 30, 2022•51 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Welcome to our second of three episodes taking a deep dive into the landmark concert via satellite, Elvis Aloha From Hawaii, with Gary Wells ( www.soulrideblog.com ). In this instalment, we consider the lessons learnt from the dress rehearsal show, then Gary takes us on an in-depth and personal journey into the music and the performance of the international broadcast event. We recognise the supporting talent on stage, including Hawaiian jazz legend Gabe Baltazar Jnr, who played the perfect flute...
Jan 16, 2022•56 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Welcome to the first of our three-part series as we take a deep dive into Elvis' pioneering live satellite concert broadcast, Aloha From Hawaii . Gary Wells ( www.soulrideblog.com ) joins host George Fairbrother to discuss the most iconic single performance of Elvis’ later career, and very possibly one of the most significant entertainment events of the 20th century. In this first episode, we follow Elvis’ career during the stunningly successful and busy year of 1972, and look at planning and pr...
Jan 02, 2022•51 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Gary Wells is back with us to preview our upcoming three-part series on the pioneering 1973 satellite live concert, Elvis Aloha From Hawaii, which will be available across January of 2022. There’s a lot explore; the lead-up, preparations and rehearsals, important people behind the scenes, the intense pressure on everyone involved, a near catastrophe as technical faults threatened to derail the broadcast at the last minute…and finally an entertainment event that would present to an international ...
Nov 03, 2021•52 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Thank you for joining us for this interim episode featuring a recap of Gary Wells’ fascinating personal take on the ending to Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. (Spoiler warning reminder). Gary has written some very interesting stuff on his website, www.soulrideblog.com , on Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the soundtrack, and also a review of Quentin Tarantino’s novelisation. There are also associated pieces on an actor called Michael Parks with an interesting Tarantino connection...
Sep 13, 2021•12 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Highly accomplished author, podcaster and filmmaker Oliver Crocker is back for part 2, in conversation with host George Fairbrother and this time talking adventures in guerrilla indie filmmaking, Dad's Army, some memorable and poignant encounters with authentic legends of British television, and lots more. We thank Oliver for being so generous with his time and sharing so many candid and fascinating insights. (UPDATE; Frank Williams, best known as the Vicar from Dad's Army, and about whom Oliver...
Aug 23, 2021•48 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Welcome to the first of two episodes in which host George Fairbrother is joined by highly accomplished filmmaker, author and podcaster, Oliver Crocker. With around 200 000 listens as of August 2021, Oliver's ongoing project, The Bill Podcast, is loved not only by fans of the iconic ITV police show (2500 episodes, 1983-2010), but also by the artists and crew behind it. He has written a very well-received companion book, Witness Statements - Making The Bill Series 1-3, with another on the way, and...
Aug 03, 2021•50 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Welcome to part two of our deep dive into the influential 1970 MGM concert documentary, Elvis That's The Way It Is . Host George Fairbrother is joined once again by Gary Wells, whose website, soulrideblog.com , Your Home for Vintage Leisure, is loved by thousands of readers in over 100 countries. It's the summer of 1970, and Elvis is riding an exhilarating wave of renewed commercial and artistic success. Having escaped his declining movie career and returned to live performance and non-soundtrac...
Jun 05, 2021•44 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Welcome to part one of our deep dive into the influential 1970 MGM concert documentary, Elvis That's The Way It Is . Host George Fairbrother is joined for this two-part special by Gary Wells, whose website, soulrideblog.com , Your Home for Vintage Leisure , is loved by thousands of readers in over 100 countries. It's the summer of 1970, and Elvis is riding an exhilarating wave of renewed commercial and artistic success. Having escaped his declining movie career and returned to live performance a...
Jun 05, 2021•46 min•Season 1Ep. 1
