My Thriller Journey - Personal Recollections Part 3 - the DVD age

In Autumn 2004 Thriller fans got what they always wanted - the show on DVD, or at least Series 1. This seemed inconceivable not long before but many shows that seemed likely to stay in the vaults forever - or at best get a satellite repeat - got official DVD releases. For the first time fans could see the show in excellent quality and in original ATV versions without the bizarre titles of the movie versions. I had to wait a little longer for my copy as the first one never arrived but fortunately the replacement one did! The question now was would there be any more as it wasn't unusual for one series of a show to appear and then no more were released or there were gaps of years between series. 

Fortunately that proved not to be the case and in Summer 2005 we didn't just get Series 2 but the whole of Thriller in one box set from Network. No more waiting and hoping about future releases - it was all here along with plenty of extras. All in their ATV original versions but with the movie titles as extras to satisfy curiosity. 

Network's 2005 release of all 43 episodes of Thriller

The arrival of this set was a huge boost to the Thriller community and for some newer viewers it was the first time they had seen many (or even all) the episodes. Even for those like myself who had seen them all it was our first chance to see them all in original ATV format. Around this time I decided to get my thoughts about the show put together into a website. Black Nun's site was the definitive site so i decided to go down a more personal route and focus on angles that particularly interested me. One of these was my favourite quotes or lines from episodes and these formed the heart of my new site "The Quotable Thriller". Alongside those were reviews of each episode and these reviews have formed the basis (with updates and some revisions) of those on this blog. 

I also explored some other issues related to the show including the 1980s repeats in the UK. I aimed to track down the transmission dates of these during the 1980-1984 window when they were shown. Given the number of channels / regions this was a mammoth undertaking, especially given that back then it involved scrolling through microfilm in libraries without access to the more easily searchable online newspaper archives of today. Other fans including Martin Marshall joined with this search and over the years we have tracked down and refined so much information although such are the vagaries of late-night TV schedules it's one of those searches that is never fully completed.

Around Spring 2006 - perhaps surprisingly to some readers - my Thriller watching pretty much ground to a halt which then largely persisted until this year. I had a "repeat run" around 2012-2013 but other than that maybe watched one or two episodes per year although I don't recall the exact details. This certainly wasn't because I no longer liked the show or had lost interest in it but maybe I had "maxxed-our" on it went into hibernation. There can be an element with our favourite shows where we feel we know them backwards and watching other less familiar things seems a greater priority, This has happened with quite a few of my favourites and I know that they are always there and I will come back to them some day. I was still interested in researching the show and discussing it but watching it was largely in abeyance.

Around 2010 came what I feel is the definitive Thriller set - the Australian release by Madman. This had all the features on the excellent Network set but also a beautifully-designed cube box and episode introductions by Brian Clemens. Even though my Thriller viewing was largely on hold there was no question that I wanted this set and it's the one I use for viewing to this day.

The 2010 Australian complete series set of Thriller

The decade afterwards was fairly quiet for me on the Thriller front and maybe more generally in the Thriller community. It perhaps seemed like there wasn't much else left to be discovered about the show. However behind the scenes over those years Thriller expert Martin Marshall was at work on what - aside from the DVD releases - is what fans always wanted to see but thought would never appear - a book about the show....

Martin's book A Thriller in Every Corner was published at the end of 2020 and is essential reading for Thriller fans (and those interested in TV history more generally). I would have welcomed even a book of a hundred pages or so but Martin's work offered us far more than that - over seven-hundred! It also contained so much information that was previously unknown or only vaguely-known about the show's production context and international broadcasts as well as insightful entries about each episode and many other aspects besides, all supported by interviews with some of those involved on both sides of the camera. 

The book was a delight to receive and read and is always something to delve back into - an essential reference resource as well as something that can be read cover-to-cover. Another thing I'd credit the book with is getting me interested in watching the show again and reformulating my thoughts about it. At first this was still rather occasional - an episode every month or two but more recently it's picked-up to around one episode per week. Another stimulus for this viewing was me deciding to rework what had been on my old Thriller website (which ended in 2010 when Geocities ended its free website provision) into a blog focusing mainly on episode reviews. I've now reviewed all forty-three and have enjoyed the process greatly. Writing the reviews has also encouraged me to revisit certain episodes, often perhaps surprisingly those I've previously been lukewarm about. I've found that many of these "lesser" outings have impressed me much more this time around and maybe that shows the benefits of watching them after a long break and with a fresher mind than before. I should get round to seeing them all again over the next six months or so and a benefit of the blog / review format is it's easy to revise and update thoughts about the episodes.

Whatever happens, Thriller has been a key part of my viewing experience and appreciation for almost thirty years. It's been a delight to see all the episodes in various formats and versions and the biggest thanks go to the late Brian Clemens who created the series and the many others who figured in it in front of or behind the camera. Many fans and observers of Thriller have provided so many insights but three people have been central to my discovery and appreciation of it: Ian Kerr; Black Nun and Martin Marshall. Many other followers of Thriller have benefitted so much from their efforts over the years and we owe them so many thanks!