FROM The Magic Roundabout to The Sweeney, On The Buses to The Avengers and Thunderbirds to Brideshead Revisited, transferring popular TV shows to the silver screen has long been a lucrative exercise – just look at the Star Trek franchise.
But given the choice, which TV show would you like to see make the leap from goggle-box to cineplex?
This year's annual poll of Radio Times readers – released earlier this week – reveals that the TV show most viewers would like to see turned into
a blockbuster is Doctor Who.
That makes me feel really old because, as anyone over the age of 40 probably knows, it wouldn't be the first time that the Doctor has appeared on the big screen.
The first occasion was way back in 1965 when Peter Cushing took on the Time Lord mantle to tackle the Daleks in glorious Technicolor for the first time – groundbreaking stuff, but boy were the pepper-pots gaudy.
The ageing actor reprised the role a year later in a second film, Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD, although by then interest must have been waning as a planned third movie based on the TV adventure Keys of Marinus never made it into production.
Similarly a whole raft of scripts in the 80s never saw the light of day, including one co-penned by Tom Baker called Doctor Who Meets Scratchman, in which scarecrows came to life - a concept no doubt familiar to David Tennant fans who have watched the episode entitled, Family of Blood.
As for the rest of the Top 10, in at No 2 was Friends - well, if they can do it for Sex And The City, why not? No 3 was Red Dwarf, another sci-fi series that refuses to die. Cult US drama Heroes, which tells of a group of people with super-powers made it to No 4 (who remembers The Tomorrow People?) and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation managed No 5.
At No 6 came spy series Spooks, while 24 was at No 7. Plane crash drama Lost hit No 8, Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood only reached No 9 and The Prisoner, originally made in the 70s, stole the No 10 spot.
The problem with cinematic transfers is that they rarely live up to the original – think Starsky and Hutch.
On stage, however, things can be different. Roy Walker has just proved a huge Fringe hit with his show Goodbye Mr Chips, which included a section in which the audience got to play Catchphrase.
And while the news that Graham Norton is to take over as host of the Eurovision Song Contest might have fans of Terry Wogan (and of witty banter) pulling their hair out, they can always take comfort from the stage version of the annual songfest, Eurobeat, another Fringe success.
And it's not just TV light entertainment that has transferred successfully to the stage. Just this week a new production of Allo Allo began to tour the provinces with original cast member Vicki Michelle once again playing Rene's mistress Yvette Carte-Blanche, while Hi De Hi star Jeffrey Holland will replace Gordon Kaye as Rene Artois the cowardly cafe-owner.
The production follows the success earlier this year of the stage play of Dad's Army starring Leslie Grantham as the spiv Private Walker.
Next there will be calls for a Doctor Who stage-play - oh, yes, that's been done before too. On reflection, ever think the world of stage and screen is stuck in a time-warp?
The full article contains 591 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
