Roads to Freedom watch online HD

The BBC's adaptation of Sartre's trilogy was a work of art (not a label I would often attach to a TV series). It was repeated in 1976/77, which is when I saw it . A long time ago, but hardly ancient history in TV terms - for example, I saw that 'Elizabeth R', which was first broadcast around the same time as The Roads to Freedom, is currently getting a re-run on one of the digital channels.

So where are the tapes? What has the BBC done with them? Why has the best TV drama ever made not been seen for nearly 30 years? I think we should be told.

If anyone, anywhere, managed to tape the series, they should make a fortune, as there are so many people I know who are desperate to see it again, having been powerfully affected by it in their youth.

Would it have dated if shown again now? I don't think so. Quality lasts. And think of the subject matter - commitment versus freedom, abortion, homosexuality, politics, sex, nightlife, the passions and preoccupations of individuals overshadowed by a looming war. How dated is that?

If anyone knows anything about what happened to the tapes of this series, or would be interested in joining me in forcing the BBC to give us some sensible answers, please email me.

I watched every episode of this wonderful serial (13 weeks) as it was broadcast. It was one of the best dramatizations the BBC ever did, and although the book it was based on was a classic of French literature and political thought(likely to be dull and stuffy and utterly boring I would have guessed), the brilliance of the script, direction and acting brought it to life in a most enthralling manner. I wish they would show it again on one of the cable channels. Superb TV drama.

The Roads to Freedom was one of those few television series which had a profound effect upon me when I watched them as a teenager on my grandfather's television. I had never heard of Sartre and it was only later that I realised how closely the series followed the books. The atmosphere set was gripping, a nervous world with the threat of war and a world over which they had no control echoed in the lives of the characters. Michael Bryant was magnificent as Mathieu, but there was Ivich (I forget the name of the actress) too. Another writer has mentioned Daniel Massey. In particular, the death of Mathieu haunts me to this day.

This and "Man of Straw" with Derek Jacobi which I believe has been deleted by the BBC I believe to be two of the finest series the BBC has ever shown and I am greatly saddened that I will never see them again.

In response to another's comment - the theme song, "La route est Dur" I am sure was not unaccompanied but had at least a cello accompaniment and maybe an oboe too. I haven't heard it since the last episode of the series (alas, no video recorders in those days!) but would love to find a copy.

Update July 2007 A copy of Georgia Brown singing "La Route est Dur" is available here:

http://www.olimu.com/Readings/LaRouteEstDure.htm

Now we just need to find the lost tapes of the series itself!

Like all the other commenters, I would love to see this - I found it gripping, one of the consistently best dramatisations I've seen on television, and as one person said, it followed the books very closely. Acting, atmosphere, pace, costumes and settings were all superb. I thought Michael Bryant in the lead role was particularly good - he had the right air of worried intelligence. Rosemary Leach, too was good - earthy and vulnerable, and Daniel Massey - tortured and irritable. I've heard the BBC deleted a lot of their old television tapes so unless a private individual has recorded it we're all doomed.

Memory plays tricks! The title of the song is in fact "La route est dure" - based on a song of the French Resistance (So ignore my previous nonsense). I came across a copy on 7" vinyl. The performance by Georgia Brown is every bit as vivid as I had remembered, raw and impassioned, and way ahead of it's time as TV theme music.

it's pretty strange reading these remarks, something of an 'I thought it was just me' moment.

I saw the series as a teenager, had never even heard of Sartre, but the series just captivated me.

I still sing the theme music to myself and remember little snippets of action and dialogue - the knife through the hand, the wrestling match between a man and his teenage lover.

anyhow, the BFI definitely have a copy in their archive goodness only knows how that helps

maybe we should try to lobby BBC4 or something

This film seemed to me to be very close to the atmosphere of the books. The film characters of Mathieu, Daniel, Lola etc all seem practically perfect renditions of the book characters. The wretched TV company says it has no plans to repeat it.

In common with may other posters I remember this series during its original broadcast as being an example of the kind of TV that before home video and time shifting one would stay home to watch and look forward to. I was disappointed when it was over and there was no more. Even the theme tune haunted me and I have been looking for a copy for years. The excellent casting period atmosphere and tone are sustained throughout the series. Contrary to some posters memory this was produced in colour although that is difficult to tell from the opening credits over a shot of Rodin's "Thinker" which lacks colour. I am less pessimistic about the availability of source material for a DVD release than some others but suspect that the difficulty and expense of negotiating the many rights involved in a re-issue would prove prohibitive. Sadly it would be inconceivable for the BBC to produce something with the same scale and ambition today. Not just because of the costs but because it is a work that is a, Foreign and b, about ideas. We can only hope that the new markets for DVD Internet broadcast and niche channels will eventually make it worthwhile remastering this forgotten masterpiece. In the meanwhile and in the absence of the opportunity to see the series I have re-read the books several times over the years always imagining Michael Bryant as Mathieu.

I was 15 at the time and living with my ex-pat family from England in California, where I watched Roads to Freedom via Masterpiece Theatre on PBS television.

This show used to draw conversation with my friends and myself at our high school art class each week; to whether or not we saw the current episode, and to what we thought of it. My family only had a black and white TV at the time; however, I remember watching it in colour also at my best friends home; whom also, by the way, remembers the show and it's theme.

The theme, believe it or not, I still have on an old audio tape somewhere in a cluttered draw. When the first tape cassette recorders came out, I got one for Christmas, and I taped the theme to Roads to Freedom by holding up a microphone in front of the television speaker.

Home video recorders were not readily available to most consumers back in 1970/71, and if there were any obscure models about, they would have been unaffordable for most people, and probably technically crude in their quality of recording. Still, however, I believe that there may still be some hope in the recovery of all of those lost episodes from Roads to Freedom; even if the BBC did in fact erase them from their archives forever. The reason for this assumption, is because the BBC exported copies of this production abroad, as I was indeed a regular viewer when I resided in the US as a teenager, so I know this for a fact; and I would suspect that the programme would have been exported to other countries also, So, if the BBC did delete this programme; the possibility still stands that their could be copies elsewhere in the world in some archive vault; PBS, perhaps.

Before I close, I would like to make a comment about EwanScott's entry about Roads to Freedom being the flagship programme which announced the start of BBC 2. BBC 2 was launched in 1964, not in 1970/71 Or could it be that he was referring to the first show to start the evening broadcast?

I saw this series after reading the first book and found the whole series to be a wonderful viewing experience.

The theme song is excellent and I have wanted to find a recording for years.

If you are luck enough to see any episodes or hear the theme song then take the opportunity.

If anyone knows of video or CD recordings of the series or title song then I would be most interested. Paul Downing ([email protected])

I've just come from watching all 13 episodes over the weekend at the BFI. The new prints from the BBC were good, even very good. The whole series was subtle and intelligent and wonderfully directed. It did not feel to me to have dated at all. It should be shown again on the BBC at the earliest opportunity. The acting is uniformly excellent, and it was so moving to see Michael Bryant, Georgia Brown, Daniel Massey, and so many other great actors who have now left the stage, as the French put it. Great too that James Cellan Jones was with us for the screenings, as were Rosemary Leach, Roger Lloyd Pack and Vernon Dobtcheff. What an honour to view it in their company! I was too young to watch it when it was shown in 1970, but it had a huge effect on my father and consequently on me. Michael Bryant's and Daniel Massey's acting turned my father on to the theatre and we subsequently saw almost everything that they appeared in on the stage. Thank you BFI, and come on BBC!

I too remember watching this when I was about 17. It had a profound impact. Recently I mentioned it when talking to a bunch of teenagers about how I came to be a Christian; and thinking back I realised that this more than the book 'The Age of Reason' (in Penguin with Picasso's Gurnica on the cover) just seemed so much to sum up what was true about the world. I especially remember the scene in the café where Yvitch and Matthieu cut their hands. That was very powerfully done; slightly different to the way it happens in the book. Daniel was also a wonderfully real person. I remember his castration scene (Did he go through with it or not?) and his 'conversion' to Christianity where he sings 'I'm as queer as a coot' to the tune of the liturgy. Finally the very end where Matthieu dies still philosophising. You must see this all you exis!

I saw the series as a teenager, and was mesmerised by it, especially the songs which Georgia Brown sang in the night club,

I would love to see it again, and hear the music.

I have a hand written copy of the words and music to the 2 songs, which were published on a single by BBC shortly after the series. I can supply if requested, and would love to hear of any copies available.([email protected]). I cannot understand why BBC will not show it again.

As the flagship series announcing the start of BBC2, it cannot surely have been deleted.

Well done to the BFI for showing this over the last weekend. One surprise was seeing it in colour; I only had a B&W set when I saw this wonderful series in the seventies.

I think it stands up well and would be well-received as a DVD. There are stunning performances from Michael Bryant, Daniel Massey, Rosemary Leach, Alison Fiske, Georgia Brown, Andrew Faulds, Norman Rossington and many more.

Wartime Paris is wonderfully evoked. The night-club scenes with Lols (Georgia Brown) are better than any other film versions I have seen (Cabaret, anyone?) especially when she chooses to sing Kurt Weill (Mack the Knife).

Please lobby the BBC to issue a DVD of this!

I had the great pleasure to work on this series as a very junior studio technician (camera assistant). My memories of it are vivid and it was indeed a truly great drama. The producer went on to make the epic 'War And Peace' for the BBC in 1972 (starring Anthony Hopkins).

But whilst 'War And Peace' avoided the scrap heap (and is available as a DVD set now) 'Roads To Freedom' suffered the fate of much material by being put into the bulk eraser. That is a great sadness. Slightly earlier losses (like some episodes of 'Dad's Army') were film recorded and copies have been recovered but as far as I am aware 'Roads To Freedom' was only recorded on 2" tape and was, of course, from an era prior to domestic recording.

Although a very serious subject, we had enormous fun making the series - both Michael Bryant and Rosemary Leach had a great sense of humour. The theme tune was sung hauntingly by Georgia Brown and I can hear it to this day ...

An excellent TV series from the BBC based on Jean-Paul Sartre's trilogy.

I am sure that B&W is an issue, but it was not a problem.

Great acting throughout. Being based on books by JPS can't hurt.

The characters of Mathieu, Daniel, Marcelle and not forgetting Russian Ivich were particularly interesting.

Some really memorable scenes; nearly forty-years on I can still recall two or three of them quite vividly.

So come on BBC, let's see this brilliant series again, from the era when the Beeb was really on the top of it's game (you know: The Wednesday Play etc.).

Just to clarify for anyone reading these reviews.

The whole of the Roads to Freedom series exists and was screened as a one-off at the BFI in May, 2012. The tapes were never wiped, contrary to rumours.

Since 2012 then there has been nothing from the BBC about making the series available on DVD, and they are not responding to enquiries.

I have written an article about the whole story on my blog here:

http://emeraldlamp.blogspot.co.uk

It includes links to the petition, and to Georgia Brown singing the theme.

My particular concern is that, as well as those of us who desperately want to see it again, there is a whole generation of younger people who have been prevented from seeing a significant work of dramatic art. They won't have even heard of the series.

We need to keep up the pressure on the BBC.

I am sorry to have missed the BFI show mentioned here but luckily had the opportunity to see the entire series recently.(no I can't get you a copy!) The material does exist so it's really a question of letting the BBC know that there is an audience waiting to see this gem of a series and hoping they can navigate the rights issues to put it out on DVD. If you are familiar with the original books you will know that it spans the years leading up to the outbreak of war and the occupation of Paris following the interlinked lives of a group of people centred around the character of Mathieu a lecturer at the Sorbonne. The TV series condenses and omits some of the incidents in the book, most notably the ending which gives the book a very different slant to the TV series. Some of the adaptation is due to the budget which is obviously limited but also the decision to concentrate on certain characters. The series manages to give a very convincing feeling of the time and location. The real strengths however are the original material and the casting and performances which are note perfect. Others have mentioned the haunting theme delivered beautifully by Georgia Brown which never palls even watching 13 episodes in a row.

Just a heads up. The previous post here was mostly accurate in that the episodes which dealt with **second** book in the trilogy THE REPRIEVE will be shown at the BFI on 3rd October 2010. I have my tickets.

And so does the rest exist and what is being done to let the public see them? Oh and as for a review of the original- utterly captivating for a 15yr old never before exposed to this sort of quality production. I can still recall the episodes in the bell tower of the church and the profoundly unsettling effect of the theme tune ... so long ago but it led to reading Sartre and much else besides from the period Not many seats left for the 3rd. Hope you make it

The Tapes have NOT been destroyed-get someone at the BBC to offer a proper explanation-they seem able enough to re run virtually everything else

Like many others I was young when I watched this and the feeling it gave me remains to this day

Check out the song by Georgia Brown online - it is haunting (ok good French speakers may be a little critical!

If the BFI can show it surely they could stick it on BBc4

I cant post this unless I add more!!!-the road is hard! even for something simple-the books are still with me

Someone with some BBC influence has to get involved-what is the problem was there something in it that would be considered not acceptable nowadays ?

just joined here 19/8/2014 Has anyone discovered any recordings still existing? I would dearly love to see the series again-the road to find it again definitely seems hard!

I was 14 when I watched this (and read it) Fantastic Even a remake would be no use. You don't have to be a Marxist Existentialist to appreciate it all its wonderful plus points

All the actors were great and what can one say about Georgia Brown singing

I read that the BFI may still have a copy-Is that true they have a copy?

From its atmosphere to the actual stories it is one of the diamonds of television

I was a naive 22 year old at the time and knew very little about homosexuality or how homosexuals behaved, other than the comedy "camping it up" of Are You Being Served?'s Mr Humphreys and Dick Emery's "Ooh You are Awful". The portrayal of Daniel Massey's Daniel shocked me into understanding a little bit. I remember that the proximity and smell of a female made him feel physically sick, but he would force himself to get close to Rosemary Leach's Marcelle as a form of torture/punishment. Also when seeking a male "one night stand" he would go for the most sleazy, again punishing himself into self contempt for what he was. How differently the gay community is portrayed today!