ALL OUR YESTERDAYS: VINTAGE TELEVISION FROM THE VAULTS

UK Gold currently has the rights to 1,500 hours of programmes from the BBC, and a further 500 from Thames; this constitutes a mere scraping of the surface of the nation's television archives.

The station is generally disposed to purchasing relatively modern shows so as to be able to compete with fare shown by Sky One and ITV. Popular programmes already dusted off and given an airing include To The Manor Born, Tenko, I Claudius (right), and Minder; however, a large volume of material from the 1950s and 1960s, which many viewers have expressed a wish to see again, is not covered by the existing Equity agreements and remains in archive limbo. Old favourites such as Marriage Lines (left), The Rag Trade, Not Only... But Also and Life With The Lyons will sit on the shelf until a new settlement is reached.

The most shown programmes on UK Gold have been popular dramas such as Casualty, The Bill and EastEnders, all of which have run continuously since the channel's launch in 1992.