With the Talking Pictures vintage TV roadshow returning to Monmouth’s Savoy Theatre this month, Julia Deli was delighted to talk to its affable founder, Noel Cronin, about the upcoming event and the related broadcast station.
“The Savoy is a lovely old building – the oldest theatre site in Wales – and we’re really excited to be back,” says Noel Cronin of the Talking Pictures Festival Of Film & TV, last at the venue in 2024. “We tour Great Britain every year.”
Talking Pictures TV, an independent station you can find on Freeview or Sky, was set up by Cronin, daughter Sarah Cronin-Stanley, her husband Neil Stanley and their friend Bob The Projectionist. It’s been a family affair from the start, but their hard work and Cronin’s lifetime in film earned him a BEM for Services to Television in 2023.
“Mike Reid’s my co-host, as ever,” says Cronin, of the Monmouth roadshow, “and we’ve got lots of wonderful guests this year, sharing songs and stories. Local boy Owen Money, Liza Goddard, Kiki Dee, Fortean TV’s Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe… new to us this year are The Ashton Belles, opera-singer Andrew Stuart-Lloyd with his Howard Keel songbook, Stefan Pejic as Tommy Cooper… and of course first-showings and filmstalls. All our shows are non-stop, in the style of old-time variety – one act following another.”
How has Talking Pictures grown since the channel first aired in May 2015? “Frankly,” Cronin says, “one of the reasons we survive as a small channel is the enthusiasts from the world of broadcasting and the wider community who bring us their reels, knowledge and expertise. We could see how broadcasting was changing and knew that if a small TV station was to survive we’d all have to be hands-on, with several jobs each, to make it work.”
Often, on their Footage Detectives and What’s On TPTV? shows, we hear that a film or series they’re showing hasn’t been screened for decades. “It’s always a joy to find a film that’s been lost, a forgotten gem. A few [other] channels are showing vintage TV and film, but we like a level playing field! As I have a technical background, from a restoring point of view it comes naturally to me to look at a print and work out what can be saved.
“There is a nostalgia market out there, but not all licensing companies restore. We hope, by finding and saving films, we can restore them to archival quality. Our film stock comes in from all over the world, and we scour for lost films everywhere. Some get sent in, some we buy at auctions, and some restorers send us their best prints.”
Cronin has always worked in the industry. “I started in 1962 as a postboy at Ranks in Park Royal, and from there became a film editor. I’ve had spells directing, done quite a bit of producing, then moved into scheduling. Now we’re broadcasting! Dear Mike Reid and I have become good friends, and I’ve learned so much from him.”
Through the channel, and their Renown Film distribution wing, there’s a multi-generational following of young filmmakers and conservators. “You find they know more than you do about film history – they’re hungry for the knowledge, and specialists in their own right. I’m always impressed by the upcoming talent and their passion for old film.”
From gritty dramas to neglected subtitled films and series we remember from childhood, TPTV’s created an alternative, and birthed a community. Important work, when ‘futurism’, the modern censorship, might seek to erase the cultural and historical lessons embodied in film. In TPTV’s loving hands, though, the physical reels and their link to the past is shared and safely archived.
Talking Pictures Festival Of Film & TV, Savoy Theatre, Monmouth, Sat 18 + Sun 19 July
Tickets: £70/£38 per day. Info: here
words JULIA DELI
