Hamish MacBeth (BBC serial)
Episode 2:1 A Perfectly Simple ExplanationThe local bus driver, Neil the Bus, is seen washing his bus - we don't see more than the front of it. FAS376X was new as Highland Omnibuses L31 and was later with Highland Scottish; here it carries fleet number L231P and fictional fleetname 'Findlay Coaches'. It's a Leyland Leopard PSU3F/4R with Alexander 62-seat bus bodywork:
"A character is seen alighting from an Alexander bodied single decker in a red livery with grey waist band and 'Findlay Coaches' fleet names nearside only." (thanks Ian Hardie) - it's FAS376Z again.
Episode 2:3 Isobel Pulls it Off
"An Alexander bodied Leyland Leopard FAS376X in a red livery with grey waist band and 'Findlay Coaches' fleet names is being recovered from a ditch; rear nearside views only. It is later seen from the nearside parked in a workshop." (thanks Ian Hardie again)
Episode 3:6 More Than a Game
"M26HNY, a Volvo B12 with Jonckheere body in plain white appears several times during this episode. The first time it's seen is when the driver is telling Hamish Macbeth (Robert Carlyle) all about his new coach (exterior shots only). It is then used to transport the Lochdubh shinty team to Dunbracken for the annual match (exterior and interior shots).
Hancock's Half Hour (BBC comedy series)
Episode: Erickson, King of the VikingsThis 1958 episode featured an unidentified London Transport AEC Regal RF, also the Saxon escapes the Vikings by getting on a bus, AEC Regent III RT registration KGK 806. (thanks Bob Wingrove)
Happy Birthday Shakespeare (BBC drama)
Starred Neil Morrissey and Tony Selby as coach drivers. Vehicles reported as used were Mercedes 609/Coachcraft E974YJL and Stort Valley Dennis Javelins/Plaxton P422JDT and LRU822. any more information?Harbour Lights (BBC drama series)
Tina Hobley's character boards Southern National Bristol LH 94 (FDV789V), leaving Nick Berry's character running after the bus. Southern National Dennis Dart 802 (H802GDV) is seen in Red Bus livery, carrying a group of birdwatchers; also an H registration Leyland DAF400/Dormobile appeared, owned by Mike Halford Minicoaches, but lettered up for Haymouth Coaches. (thanks Steve Oxbrow)Hard Labour (BBC drama)
"A play about a downtrodden housewife who worked as a daily help in a middle-class household was made by the BBC in the early 1970s, and was repeated a couple of years ago. It was set in the Manchester area - in one scene, the leading character disembarks from a half-cab vehicle in SELNEC livery, which I think may have been an ex-Salford Daimler. Ben Kingsley had a small part as an employee in a taxi firm." (thanks Alan Sinclair) This was one of the Play For Today series and was made by Mike Leigh in 1973. It also starred Alison Steadman and Liz Smith.Harry Enfield and Chums (BBC drama series)
An episode has Enfield's 'Scousers' visiting 'Dat London'. They travel from Liverpool and back on a white Van Hool coach with the fictional 'Scouse Line' fleetname. "At the London terminus (which appeared to be a pre-revamp Victoria Coach Station), Speedlink Scania/Van Hool J111SAS was visible". (thanks Graeme Selway)Gerry Allen advises "I can confirm that the scenes in a 'Coach Station' were actually filmed at the old Speedlink Airport Services garage in Staines, now turned into another office block!! I was at the time a driver for Speedlink and we were able to watch the filming, as long as we stayed out of shot!!"
Reportedly has a scene in which Enfield's 'Tim Nice But Dim' character is thrown off RM87. Can anyone confirm?
Harry O (ABC private eye series)
Episode 1: GertrudeOne of the better private eye series of the time. Initially set and shot on location in San Diego; this episode reportedly has Harry Orwell (David Janssen) losing a man following him by getting on a bus; Orwell was known for getting the bus rather than driving. Janssen's voiceover:
"One of the collateral advantages of riding buses is that it's hard for anyone to tail a bus without giving themself away. A bus moves with a different rhythm than somebody's car. When I was on the force, I had to tail a guy on a bus once. It was the worst 45 minutes I ever spent."
Harry and the Wrinklies (CITV children's series)
The trailer for this series had "Tilling green Bristol Lodekka FLF/Eastern Coachworks 826SHW being overtaken on a country road. (thanks Scot Fergie)Heartbeat (Yorkshire TV drama series)
Episode 6.10: The ChampionshipFeatures the wrecking of a unique Bellhouse Hartwell bodied Ford Thames coach (OHW407) in the livery of Smethwicks of North Yorkshire. Bob Wingrove comments: "What made it even worse was that it carried a prototype Bellhouse Hartwell body, and was supposed to have been at a Commercial Motor show. The vehicle was in good nick and had not long been re-restored. The former owner was almost in tears when he saw what happened." was this vehicle then scrapped, or restored?
United Automobile BG413, a Bristol L5G/Eastern Coachworks (LHN860), has been used.
Also used in the series was 647BKL, a Guy Warrior/Mulliner new to Leybourne Grange Hospital - it was mocked up as United Automobile GU2. (thanks Dave Farrier)
A Bedford OB is used on a seaside outing. This may have been Bedford OB/Duple LYB941 owned by Nostalgia Travel, Oxford, which is known to have appeared in this and'Spitting Image' in 1991.
"Another episode was set at the 'Kettleys' garage in Ashfordly, featuring various coaches including an AEC Regal." (thanks Adam Floyd) any more information?
An episode including footage of a brass band and the shooting of a constable also features preserved Lancashire United 440 (MTJ84), a Guy Arab III/Roe coach from the Minster Omnibus Collection (confirmed by Stephen Osman). The episode also features a maroon/white Bedford CA minibus XPT454F.
Stephen Osman adds "another United bus used was Bristol K5G/ECW BGL29 (GHN189). Other vehicles that have seen use in the show include: AEC Regal III/Barnaby JVY516 (ex York Pullman no.66), Dennis G17 charabanc RD111". The latter is a fire tender with a replica toastrack-style body.
Episode 7.20 Local Knowledge
The episode which sees the original central character Nick Rowan leaving for Canada also features United Automobile Bristol L5G/ECW LHN860 and ex-West Wight Bedford SB3/Duple Vega UDL454.
Episode 7.1 Bad Apple
A coach depot is broken into - Bob Wingrove believes Lancashire United's Guy Arab III/Roe 440 (MTJ84) was used. Chris Hough adds that the break-in scene "was actually filmed in a former textile mill in Farsley which Yorkshire TV use as a studio for Heartbeat. It was formerly used for the interior sets for Emmerdale."more information needed
A 2003 episode featured an appearance by ex-West Yorkshire EUG71 (TWT123), an Eastern Coachworks bodied Bristol MW. (thanks Stephen Osman) EUG71 also featured in a later 2003 episode (thanks Tim Worel). A visit to the Cumbria Classic Coaches website confirms the use of two of their vehicles in 'Heartbeat': Arab III/Roe MTJ84 (mentioned above), also former Florence of Morecambe JTB749, a 1948 AEC Regal III/Burlingham.
Chris Hough notes " The former West Yorkshire Bristol MW5G/Eastern Coachworkss EUG71 (TWT123)has appeared in a number of episodes of the current series. It carried North Riding Traction "fleetnames" which were obviously vinyl add ons"
Episode 11.17:
Features 647BKL, a rare 1957 Guy Warrior with Mulliner body, in United Automobile livery with Whitby as its destination.
He Kills Coppers (ITV crime drama)
Set in 1966; Chris Hough reports a London Country AEC RF in episode 2 of 3; Jeremy Buck also noted the appearance of a heavily disguised SMS753 (JGF753K), a 1971 AEC Swift/MCW last used by LT as a mobile publicity shop. Painted up as a hippy bus it was supplied for filmimg by Mike Nash.The Hello Girls (BBC drama series)
Set in Derby telephone exchange in the 1960s, "this had occasional shots of a Southend Massey-bodied Daimler painted in Derby Corporation livery. There was also use of a blue painted Bedford OB." (thanks Bob Wingrove)Nick Webster identifies the Daimler as GLX913, a 1944 Daimler CWA6 with a 1954 Massey body specially painted from Southend Corporation livery for the part. He also notes that a vehicle featured more than the Daimler was Potteries L453 (NEH453), a 1949 Leyland OPD2/1 with a 1951 Northern Counties body fitted in 1954. can anyone identify the Bedford?
Lenny Henry in Pieces (BBC comedy show)
"Kings Ferry 4.12 (T908 LKE), a Scania L94/Irizar, was in the episode transmitted on Thursday 7 March 2002" (thanks Graeme Selway)Lenny Henry: This is My Life (BBC comedy show)
Recording of Lenny Henry's stand up show of the same name includes a spoof newsreel describing the arrival of his West Indian family in Britain, complete with footage taken from British Pathe News. There is brief footage of a Birmingham Corporation double decker, but more clearly seen is London Transport Leyland PD2 RTW457 (LLU947)Hetty Wainthrop Investigates (BBC private eye drama series)
"An early episode shows Darwen Bus station complete with a Blackburn Transport Leyland Atlantean, and a Darwen Coach Services Minibus (and my mother-in-law!!!). A later episode is set outside Blackburn Station and local vehicles pass by." any more information? (thanks Ewood Eddie) Carl Turner remembers "seeing Blackburn Transport's Leyland Atlantean/East Lancs 129 (LFR129T) in one of the episodes. There was also one of Hyndburn Transport's Iveco/Mellor minibuses in Slaidburn." - possibly this is the same episode.Season 1 Episode 1: The Bearded Lady
"As Hetty sits in a cafe a Blackburn green and cream liveried Leyland Atlantean is seen passing in the background. Hetty boards a Darwen Coach Services Carlyle-bodied Sherpa D130NON and it drives away on route to Upper Darwen."
A Stagecoach Mercedes L608D is seen in the background in a later scene." (thanks Ian Hardie - this overlaps with the previous information!)
(screencaps by stronghold)
Hi De Hi (BBC sitcom)
Episode 3.5: Trouble and Strife:Preserved Eastbourne Corporation AEC Regal III/East Lancs 11(AHC411) brings holidaymakers to Maplin's Holiday Camp followed by Eastern National 309 (ONO49), a 1950 Bristol L5G/Eastern Coachworks. "Both vehicles were being kept at Castle Point Transport Museum at that time. Filming took place on the North Norfolk Railway at Weybourne station." (thanks Nick Webster)
Episode 3.5: Stripes:
This time Eastern National 309 appears alone:
1987 episode featuring an assault course challenge between the camp staff and a team of Marines also features Eastbourne 11, and a cream/green AEC Regal III/Duple A - can anyone identify?.
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