''The Burke Special'' is a TV series broadcast on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

in the United Kingdom from 15 June 1972 to 13 May 1976. The host was James Burke. The show had a "circus" format, with Burke on a radio microphone walking around interacting with a studio audience that surrounded him on three sides. The editor for all episodes was Michael Blakstad. Producers were John M. Mansfield and Martin Freeth.

Series One

15 June 1972 to 27 July 1972 (7 episodes of 30 mins each).

Series Two

8 March 1973 to 19 April 1973 (7 episodes of 30 mins each) at 8.30 pm to 9 pm on

. Thursday 8 March 1973
"Every minute of the day things are happening that will, sooner or later, change our lives. They're like parts of a

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.
It's only when the picture comes together that you know if you like it or not.
It used to be you could afford to wait and see. Not anymore. Tomorrow comes too fast. That's why this programme puts the picture together ahead of time." James Burke starred on the front cover of the ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' and had his

futurologist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...

cover story on page 6.

Series Three

21 June 1973 to 26 July 1973 (6 episodes of 30 mins each).

90-minute Burke Special - 3 August 1973

Series Four

21 March 1974 to 6 June 1974, excluding 2 May 1974 (10 episodes of 30 mins each).

Series Five

8 April 1976 to 13 May 1976 (6 episodes of 30 mins each) at 8.30 pm to 9 pm on BBC1.

Archive status

With the exception of Series Five, which reportedly exists complete, almost none of the programmes has been

retained In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a retained firefighter, also known as an RDS Firefighter or on-call firefighter, is a firefighter who does not work on a fire station full-time but is paid to spend long periods of time on call to respond to em ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burke Specials, The 1972 British television series debuts 1976 British television series endings 1970s British documentary television series BBC television documentaries British television documentaries English-language television shows Lost BBC episodes