Dukes 35th Anniversary UK

[HossC]

I know that everyone in the US celebrated the 35th anniversary of the Dukes of Hazzard back in January, but in the UK it didn't start until March 3rd, 1979. Below is the listing from the Radio Times (roughly the UK equivalent of the TV Guide) from that day. As y'all can see, it was originally shown at 9 PM on a Saturday night, but soon moved to an earlier Saturday slot. Back then we only had three channels, and no breakfast or daytime TV (except programs for schools). The two football leagues mentioned in the Match of the Day listing are now known as the Premier League and the Championship. Most of the other names bring back memories too .

(Yes, I did spot the misspelling of Gy Waldron's name)

[P.J. Gathergood]

Yep, it's 35 years ago today

I have that Radio Times, have posted a scan of the page online several times over the years (one of my sad old collecting hobbies is / was collecting old Radio and TV Times, from an era when more detailed cast listings was more detailed).

The RT spelled Gy Waldron wrong for quite a while in their listings; similiarly, they spelled Sonny Shroyer "Sonny Schroyer" for a long time.

The series soon moved to an earlier time-slot to accommodate the huge child fanbase. As I've said in my "introducing myself" post, pretty much my first memory is sitting by my Dad watching 'Dukes' (I was born '78, so pretty much grew up with the Dukes run).

Sadly, other than more obscure satellite channels the series never really got a repeat run after the original broadcasts had concluded, unlike shows like 'The A-Team' and 'Knight Rider' on ITV which were reran (albeit in a hotch-potch order and often very edited state) several times over, so it's testimony to the show that it is still so fondly remembered and loved by so many in the U.K.

(A couple of years ago, when sorting through a load of my old childhood things, I found an old school "news and storys" workbook from the mid-1980s. By the later episodes of Dukes, when viewing ratings were lower, they were sometimes shown as fillers on Sunday afternoons. One week "The Boar's Nest Bears" (s6) was apparently shown, and the following day I wrote about watching it in my workbook, complete with a crayon drawing of the cast, including the General Lee jumping over Sheriff Little's head! If I find it again, I'll try and scan it so we can all have mirth at my poor drawing skills circa 1985)