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Missing 1979 Countdown footage found!!!

G'day all.

A while ago on Ebay was a bunch of B&W reel-reel videotapes advertised and one of them was titled "Countdown No.1s", one of my video tech friends won the tapes and recently he sent me a DVD dub of that video reel and it had a whole stack of clips from various 1979 Countdown episodes.

To my pleasant surprise in amongst the footage was 2 studio performances from two missing 1979 shows and a music video from a missing episode with studio Countdown shots mixed in. The studio performances recovered are:
Plastic Bertrand - Ca Plane Pour Moi (ep 182/183)
Angels - Shadow Boxer (ep 200)
And the music video with Countdown shots mixed in:
Lene Lovich - Lucky Number (ep 200)

All of the details of this Countdown reel can be viewed on this page of my site http://1970scountdown.atspace.com/79reel.html . I have uploaded the clips to YouTube and they can be viewed on that page.

Also done a number of other updates to my site as well http://1970scountdown.atspace.com/ .

Unfortunately the video reel transferred very badly so there's glitches galore throughout the reel but fortunately the clips from missing episodes had the least amount of glitches.

Anyways what more can I say but this is an awesome discovery!!!

Cheers
Troy

Re: Missing 1979 Countdown footage found!!!

OH MY GAWD!

Did Lene Lovich and Plastic Bertrand actually perform in the Countdown studio?????????

Re: Missing 1979 Countdown footage found!!!

TROY!

Just checked them out!

I can't believe that Plastic Betrand performed on Countdown!

And the end of the show with the crowd dancing to Lene Lovich is ACE!

I am SO UPSET that these were destroyed by some
D I C K H E A D at ABC :-(

AMAZING footage, it doesn't matter that it's in shakey condition as it's PRICELESS footage!


Thanks for posting the info on here, we are sister sites! LOVE IT!

Re: Missing 1979 Countdown footage found!!!

Just checked out the Plastic Bertrand footage as well - great stuff indeed!

It's pretty sad that we may never know for sure what was on the missing episodes - which is why discoveries like these are fantastic.

It's a wonder the ABC didn't at least keep run-down sheets on who was hosting/what clips were on each show...be great if they existed as well.

I remember I started watching Countdown way back in 1978 when I was merely 5, although sadly I can't recall who hosted what shows - I wish I could.

Would have loved to have seen Mr Bertrand host Countdown - would have made for memorable viewing I'm sure.

Re: Missing 1979 Countdown footage found!!!

Great footage Troy

I saw them 2 days ago on YouTube and subscribed to your site straight away so I will know if you find anything else.

Keep up the great work

Re: Missing 1979 Countdown footage found!!!

This is amazing footage - excellent work Troy!! I never thought Plastic Bertrands legendary appearance would ever turn up again. Actually, if you read Dave Warner's "Countdown" book closely you will see a bit where his band appeared in early 1979 on Countdown (Doing "Suburban Boy") - and he does mention that they were on the same episode as Plastic Bertrand.

1978 & 1979 were the first Countdown years where a glut of overseas artists appeared "live" in the studio to co-incide with their Australian tours. I remember them all vividly on Countdown - the likes of Meatloaf with 3 songs (he co-hosted as well), Graeme Bonnet, Foreigner, John Cougar and so on. The Foreigner and John Cougar performances survive (but are edited to fit a 1982 segment tape for use on that Studio 31 special from 1982) - the remainder do not.

It is enough to make a person weep thinking of all those wiped shows. Still, nice to see Plastic Bertrand again after all these years - shaky B & W footage is better than nothing!!

Re: Missing 1979 Countdown footage found!!!

Patrick
Just checked out the Plastic Bertrand footage as well - great stuff indeed!

It's pretty sad that we may never know for sure what was on the missing episodes - which is why discoveries like these are fantastic.

It's a wonder the ABC didn't at least keep run-down sheets on who was hosting/what clips were on each show...be great if they existed as well.

I remember I started watching Countdown way back in 1978 when I was merely 5, although sadly I can't recall who hosted what shows - I wish I could.

Would have loved to have seen Mr Bertrand host Countdown - would have made for memorable viewing I'm sure.


Hi Patrick - I am sure the run-down sheets do exist in the archives. The first 50 shows detail definitely exists as the details were obtained by Troy for use on his website. The other shows from No. 51 onwards -well there is a good chance those run-sheets exist as well. It would be very interesting to see the detail of all the other wiped shows. And don't forget - a handful of 80's shows don't exist either.

Re: Missing 1979 Countdown footage found!!!

Top stuff Troy! Can't wait to check it out.

Re: Missing 1979 Countdown footage found!!!

Screen_Shot_2018_05_12_at_2_39_46_PM

This graphic (the best I could get) was at the end of one of your videos, Troy. I take it this person hosted the show. Who is he? Does anyone know? If this was from September 1979, then he is the host of either 2nd, 9th or 30th September. John Paul Young hosted on 16th September, and John St. Peeters (I don't think it's him) hosted on 23rd September. Wendy Stapleton was singing Heart Of Stone prior to this graphic.

Re: Missing 1979 Countdown footage found!!!

LOL. First thing that came to mind was Victoria Nicholls! Looking at it a few times, probs a little too masculine to be her.