Is there a high quality version of The Shock of the New art series?

September 15, 2023 3:09 PM

I'd like to rewatch Robert Hughes 1980's 8-part Shock of the New art history series. All I can find on line are low quality, fuzzy versions: Youtube with ads, Internet Archive, Amazon 4-DVD set (according to people who bought the set). I remember the original BBC version as being of high quality. Is there a high quality version available somewhere for streaming or purchase?
posted by Jackson to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

Best answer: It's being repeated on BBC Four at the moment, so it's currently available on iPlayer from within the UK...
posted by offog at 4:43 PM on September 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Offog: Rats, I'm in the US so iPlayer doesn't work. But thanks. Definitely appears that a high quality version still exists.
posted by Jackson at 5:28 PM on September 15, 2023

I got the DVD from my library recently and it wasn't too fuzzy. No subtitles, though.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:57 PM on September 15, 2023

Best answer: There's a 720x480 dub available via BitTorrent that looks a lot cleaner than the YouTube and archive.org versions.
posted by flabdablet at 7:36 AM on September 16, 2023

Response by poster: Offog: I'm told it is possible with a VPN to watch BBC Four content. I will pursue this.
Flabdablet: I'll look into this as well.
posted by Jackson at 1:51 PM on September 17, 2023