The BBC is again planning to raid the archives of the British Film Institute in an effort to tap into a growing interest in evocative silent movies from a bygone age.
Following the success of the BBC2 series The Lost World of Mitchell and Kenyon, which offered a fascinating insight into life in late Victorian and early Edwardian Britain, the corporation is dusting down the archives of the pioneering 1920s film-maker Claude Friese-Greene.
Through the restored footage, the BBC hopes to reawaken interest in a landmark film, The Open Road, featuring some of the earliest colour footage of locations around the UK.
The BBC plans to follow the route of a journey made by Friese-Greene from Land's End to John O'Groats in 1924, stopping off at 24 locations en route to show local people the footage from their area.
There will also be five regional events attended by the presenter Dan Cruikshank and experts from the BFI National Film and Television Archive, at which they will attempt to glean greater insight into the history of the people, buildings and landscapes featured in the footage. The resulting series, The Lost World of Friese-Greene, will be shown next year.
The BFI's director, Amanda Neville, said The Open Road was "yet another fantastic gem" from the archives. "It gives us a glimpse into a bygone era which, like Mitchell and Kenyon, serves as a powerful reminder of why it is so important to preserve and cherish our film heritage. The public demand for access to wonderful films like this adds an urgency to our efforts to restore and showcase them."
A surprise hit for the BBC, the films made by Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon excited much interest among viewers and critics for their unique insight into life in Britain in the early 1900s.
One programme in the series, currently being repeated on BBC2, shows a 1902 football match between Blackburn Rovers and Manchester United.
The BBC2 controller, Roly Keating, said the success of the series "proved how fascinated British audiences are with these astonishing visions of a lost era.
"In the Friese-Greene footage, the sheer quality of colour photography makes this an equally remarkable source of forgotten history."
