FWIW,

PBS in America has become a cluster-eff. Where once many series from BBC were shown in their entirety (I,Cladius, Poirot, many others), nowadays PBS has become a platform to try and sell viewers either PBS Passport or Britbox. Most anything you do see in its entirety are repeats of programs like Lady Lucy Worseley's productions. Shows like Vera, Ridley, Astrid, Annika are shown, but mostly only single seasons as "teasers." And all of this has gotten worse with each year since COVID. Since the days of shows like, "Upstairs, Downstairs" and "Six Wives of Henry the 8th", PBS was the single best source of "better TV." Its whole idea was to provide such productions for FREE to the betterment of all. Amazingly, PBS still has membership drives for donations every year, while at the same time putting premium content out of reach to those who can afford it least. 

Please pardon the rant.

Possibly, but I somehow doubt it. 

However, your chances of seeing it in the USA might be improved if you wrote to the head of BBC Programming. They might well look kindly on a request for a BBC America listing.

Thx for the additional info Nernstian. So basically, club standard chess. My 'pupils' should be interested in that.

Dink Heckler wrote on 01/21/25 at 11:08:58:


Found it! No schedule date available yet - apparently delayed from 2024. Provisionally called Chess Masters, and will be presented by Sue Perkins; she of Bake Off fame. 

Despite the title, all the contestants will be amateurs, so the standard of play might be more comprehensible to us lesser mortals.

Yep, saw that when it first aired. There was a lot of tv chess around that time, largely inspired by the Karpov-Kasparov saga and the Nigel Short challenge.

As for the subject of the OP, I think I'll have to write to the head of ITV programming before I give up all hope of ever seeing that series again. My best guess is that the tapes have either long since been destroyed/wiped, or else rendered unusable coz of chemical degradation. Unfortunately, acetate is not the most stable compound known to man.

Did not know about an impending series though. I shall look out for that, and thx for the info.

I have books by some of those authors too, and the film in question is The Seventh Seal, starring Max von Sydow and directed by Ingmar Bergman. It was released in 1957, around the same time as the tv series that are the subject of the OP.

I should have made clear that the series aired in the UK. It's highly unlikely that it aired in the US. The commentator had a distinctly upper crust English accent, which would not have travelled very well across the pond.

Hey chess buddies,

Is any member here old enough to remember a tv series on chess that aired c. late 50's/early 60's? It was on Sat. pm, and went out just before either Robin Hood or William Tell - can't recall which. 

The progs consisted of a chess set and voice only commentary on the moves made by the protagonists, presumably the best players of that era. The pieces moved by themselves, so some form of animation was involved. Unfortunately, I don't remember the prog. title either. I've done online searches for more info., but turned up diddly squat. To my knowledge, the series has never been repeated, so might well be permanently lost by now. Real shame, coz I would have loved to have seen it again.

Bizarrely, the missus remembers the series, and she has almost zero interest in chess. Ring any bells anyone? Plse let me know if it does.