Never made
YSTV has a long history of making plans for programmes and them getting quite far down the line towards actual transmission...but never quite getting there. Or in many cases being suggested (perhaps on the YSTV Messageboard) and that being it. Here are some examples.
1989 - A creative moment from Benet Allen and John Cornley, that survived thanks to a BBC floppy disc.
1997 - Joker in the Pack II
- A sequel to, funnily enough, Joker In The Pack. Filming was never completed on this drama piece due to technical issues amongst other things but a trailer was shown during Election 97. However, photos taken during production of the trailer remained on the noticeboard in YSTV's foyer for a decade afterwards!
1999 - Who wants to be a millionaireUnverified or incomplete information
- A high ham, high tension, game show blatantly stolen from ITV. Chris Ward was a bit of a millionaire buff, and planned to make such a programme. Around 30s of (fake) footage was filmed in the studio, a contestant musing over an answer, which was used in the What's new in 1999 promo.
2002 - 15 Minutes
- A sitcom, the first episode of which was full scripted by James Whalley and was available to download from the YSTV website in the autumn of 2002. Getting it filmed was discussed at the production meetings of the period but never really got off the ground, largely due to the huge techie bias in the station's membership at the time.
2002 - I'm A Pedestrian, Get Me Out Of Here
- An idea suggested by Michael Prior-Jones where a student would be stranded at Clifton Moor and have to make their way back to the university without any maps or transport, and be filmed. Title of course a rip-off of ITV's recently launched celebrity reality series...
2002/3 - Y Fronts
- Promised in the Freshers' Week booklet for two years but never materialised. Really nothing more than a name (similar to GUST's G Spot) but variously described as a "magazine show about everything and anything" and later on a game show. Many ideas from the latter ended up in The Great Big Massive YSTV Christmas Quiz Game Show Thingy 2003, and YSTV's game show ambitions were eventually satisfied by LipSync.
2004 - Survival
- Planned as "Banzai meets Distraction", whatever that would result in. Basically involved students aiming to get the five things they all required: food, drink, clubbing, sleep and sex (the last one would have been interesting). An idea by Pete Nichols.
2004 - Specs Appeal
- After listening to Radio 1's now axed overnight mainstream show James Thorniley came up with an "off the wall type book review", whatever that means. Planned to debut around the same time as Survival, so doomed from the start.
2003/4 - URY Joint Broadcast
- In a period with rather good relations with URY it was suggested a number of times that YSTV simulcast a show. First it was mooted that the breakfast show might be shown daily with webcam output, but the necessary technical setup and automation put everyone off. Then a daily live show from Vanbrugh Bar was going to be simulcast in Freshers' Week, but due to problems with the 2.4Ghz system this never happened. Finally there was half an idea to broadcast the last shows of James Wickham or James Gallagher, but in the end of term way of things these never materialised. From October 2004 web streaming would mean we wouldn't be able to broadcast URY's music in any case.
2004 - YSTV Challenge
- A rip-off of University Challenge, this time going inter-college. The final was going to be an OB from Goodricke Dining Hall, apparently, with James Gallagher suggested as a Paxman-esque host. Suggested by James Thorniley.
2004 - Pimp My Bicycle
- Doesn't take a genius to work out where this came from. Yet another James Thorniley idea that never came to fruition.
2004 - Questions
- Based upon Channel 4's long-running series of promotions where their stars are all asked the same question, which they answer to camera (although the question is never stated). Filmed at Freshers' Fair in front of the Games Disaster red set board painted with the YSTV logo for Elections 2003, a number of first years were asked various questions. Sadly the footage was never edited up, partly because a lack of interesting answers and partly because of a lack of time in that term. The C4 promotions however are still running!
2005 - NetHead
- Internet/gaming show planned by Ben Tattersall-Smith.
2005 - FasterMinds
- Inspired by Children In Need 2004, Jen Ayerst came up with this to quiz students on degrees other than the ones they were studying. This even had an Inform slide for a while.
2006 - Campus
- Kev Larkin's ambitious Heslington-based version of Dallas. Scrapped due to lack of acting talent but a script was apparently written.
2006 - The East Wing
- Supposedly a filler for Elections 2006, a rip-off of the West Wing from Kev Larkin based in Alcuin East Wing. A script was produced but never filmed.
2006 - Kev Loves That Stuff
- Based upon that catchphrase of the same name from 2005-6 (no-one knows who started it). Basically a big long list of stuff that Kev Larkin loves, with talking heads to support it. Some of this was even filmed, and apparently may still see the light of day...