I contribute occasionally to a forum devoted to archive radio, television and film. About the only thing everyone agrees on is that television is not what it once was. Some of my fellow members are themselves producers and directors and this beggars the question - if they do not think new shows are any good, why should the public? 'Raiders Of The Lost Archive' was billed as a four-part I.T.V. series ( in fact only three were made ) but reaction to the first was so negative the rest went out in a graveyard slot two years later ( though not in my part of the world ). Hosted by the annoying Patrick McGuinness, it reunited stars of the calibre of Michael Parkinson and Chris Tarrant with recently discovered clips of old shows. Little attention was paid to the content of the clips themselves. We were instead invited to chortle at hairstyles and shirts. The commentary sniffed at the '90's sitcom 'Surgical Spirit'. I'm not a fan of it myself, but bearing in mind that I.T.V. has been sitcom-free for years now they should exercise some humility when assessing the past. Had B.B.C.-4 made this I'm sure it would have been better. The attitude to archive shows displayed here is broadly in line with Clive James' on foreign programmes, namely that they are curiosities whose only real value now is to be mocked. Even Philip Schofield's 'Television's Greatest Hits' avoided this trap. There is a good series waiting to be made about the search for missing programmes but this certainly was not it.