Six English Towns

Six English Towns (1978), Six More English Towns (1981) and Another Six English Towns (1984) are three television documentary series presented by architectural historian Alec Clifton-Taylor for BBC Two. In the series, Clifton-Taylor visits an English town and discusses their history and architectural character, with a particular focus on the building materials.[1]

Six English Towns
Title screen, showing images of the six towns visited in the first series.
Also known asSix More English Towns
Another Six English Towns
Presented byAlec Clifton-Taylor
Theme music composerThomas Arne, Jim Parker
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes18
Production
Executive producerBruce Norman
ProducersDenis Moriarty, Jane Coles
Release
Original networkBBC2
Picture format4:3, 16 mm film, colour
Audio formatMono
Original release4 August 1978 (1978-08-04) –
14 October 1984 (1984-10-14)

A writer on architecture, Clifton-Taylor came to television late in life. He was introduced by his friend Nikolaus Pevsner to BBC arts producer John Drummond who was planning a series on British architecture called Spirit of the Age. Drummond asked Clifton-Taylor to present the first episode about medieval English architecture, which was broadcast in October 1975.[2][3]

Based on the success of this episode, Clifton-Taylor was teamed with producer Denis Moriarty to present a series of studies of English towns, discussing the genius loci similar to his chapters in Pevsner's Buildings of England and the AA Touring Guide to England. The Radio Times stated that the initial six towns were chosen "based not so much on the historical appeal of a fine cathedral, a castle or a church but the range and quality of the ordinary domestic houses and the use made of the traditional building materials of England - stone, brick, wood and plaster." Clifton-Taylor said "I'd like every programme to be an exercise in looking."[4]

Episodes

Three series were made in total; series 1 episodes were 30 minute in duration, series 2 episodes were extended to 40 minutes, but returned to 30 for series 3.

Series 1 and 2 feature the final movement of Thomas Arne's Symphony No. 2 in F major as their title music (which Clifton-Taylor later chose as one of his Desert Island Discs[5]), series 3 has an original score composed by Jim Parker.[6]

Series 1 - Six English Towns
Episode No.SubjectUK Broadcast Date
1Chichester, West Sussex4 August 1978[7]
2Richmond, North Yorkshire11 August 1978[8]
3Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire18 August 1978[9]
4Stamford, Lincolnshire25 August 1978[10]
5Totnes, Devon1 September 1978[11]
6Ludlow, Shropshire8 September 1978[12]

Series 2 - Six More English Towns
Episode No.SubjectUK Broadcast Date
1Warwick, Warwickshire15 September 1981[13]
2Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland22 September 1981[14]
3Saffron Walden, Essex29 September 1981[15]
4Lewes, East Sussex6 October 1981[16]
5Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire13 October 1981[17]
6Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire20 October 1981[18]

Series 3 - Another Six English Towns
Episode No.SubjectUK Broadcast Date
1Cirencester, Gloucestershire9 September 1984[19]
2Whitby, North Yorkshire16 September 1984[20]
3Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk23 September 1984[21]
4Devizes, Wiltshire30 September 1984[22]
5Sandwich, Kent7 October 1984[23]
6Durham, County Durham14 October 1984[24]

Reviews

Architectural writer Jonathan Glancey cites them as a formative influence for his passion for architecture: "It wouldn't work today. A lovely old duffer in a Viyella shirt, tweed jacket and wobbly hat pottering about six small English towns with a camera crew in tow and speaking quietly of their simple virtues...I still think these programmes are some of the best made on architecture, buildings and places, because I learned so much from them, liked their lack of pretension, their quiet passion and Clifton-Taylor's great ability as a communicator."[25]

Media releases

Each series was accompanied by its own book, and DVDs of the three series were released in 2016 and 2017. A box set of the three series was released 5 November 2018, entitled Six English Towns The Complete Collection and includes a discussion between John Julius Norwich and Alec Clifton-Taylor called In Search of the Spirit of the age shown before the BBC2 repeat of the series Spirit of the Age in May 1976. Producer Denis Moriarty provided a new commentary on the episodes about Chichester, Saffron Walden and Cirencester.

References
  1. "Six English Towns: Devizes". BBC. 18 November 2009.
  2. "The Spirit of the Age". Radio Times. 31 October 2018.
  3. "Obituary, Sir John Drummond". Daily Telegraph. 9 September 2006.
  4. "Six English Towns". Radio Times. 27 July 1978. p. 47.
  5. "Desert Island Discs - Alec Clifton-Taylor". BBC Radio 4. 3 October 1978.
  6. "Alec Clifton-Taylor's English Towns". Radio Times. 8 August 1985.
  7. Radio Times, Genome Project
  8. Radio Times, Genome Project
  9. Radio Times, Genome Project
  10. Radio Times, Genome Project
  11. Radio Times, Genome Project
  12. Radio Times, Genome Project
  13. Radio Times, Genome Project
  14. Radio Times, Genome Project
  15. Radio Times, Genome Project
  16. Radio Times, Genome Project
  17. Radio Times, Genome Project
  18. Radio Times, Genome Project
  19. Radio Times, Genome Project
  20. Radio Times, Genome Project
  21. Radio Times, Genome Project
  22. Radio Times, Genome Project
  23. Radio Times, Genome Project
  24. Radio Times, Genome Project
  25. Jonathan Glancey (18 August 2000). "Back to the Future". The Guardian.

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