S4C documentaries

"In the past two to three years S4C (the Welsh Channel 4) has shown documentaries on:
The TrawsCambria service (Holyhead-Cardiff)
'Dave' Singh, an Asian-born driver based at Machynlleth, featuring his work; I missed it, but am told it included Darts!"
(thanks Gwyn Griffiths)

The Saint (ITC thriller series)

The Roger Moore series has several bus sightings:
Episode 1.01 has Thames Valley 601 (FMO983), a lowbridge Bristol KSW6B/ECW showing Maidenhead as destination.
Episode 5.11 has stock footage of Berlin, showing Bussing D2U doubledeckers
Episode 5.13 has views of London Transport RTs

Salvage Squad (Channel 4 documentary series)

Michael Gardner reports a show in season 2 of this series devoted to the restoration of a tram: Stephen Osman confirms this as Blackpool Coronation tram 304, already under restoration by volunteers from the Lancastrian Transport Trust. Stephen's full notes:
"The Blackpool tramcar in question was fleet number 304, the first Coronation in the batch, which was renumbered in 1968 as number 641. It had resided at St Helens Transport Museum since 1986.
In the opening scenes at the museum, numerous buses were visible, those that could be identified comprising:
Lancaster Daimler CVG5/Northern Counties 466 (NTF466), Greater Manchester Leyland Atlantean/Northern Counties 8151 (VBA151S), St Helens Leyland PD2A/27/East Lancs 54 (MDJ554E), North Western Bristol RESL/Marshall 299 (KJA299G), Warrington Leyland PD2/40/East Lancs 50 (BED731C) and Warrington tram no. 2.
In Blackpool, the following trams could be noted: Balloons 701/2/10/6/7, ex Bolton standard 66, Railcoach 622, Centenary 648, "Trawler" (ex Railcoach) 633, Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramroad "Vanguard" replica (ex Railcoach) 619, Boat (open top Railcoach) 602, a modernised Balloon (either 707 or 709) and Engineering car 754. Also noted were Blackpool Transport ancillary Ford Transit 927 and Mercedes tower wagon 940, together with Leyland Olympian/East Lancs 368 (F368AFR) in the depot's bodyshop. Old film footage was also shown of Coronations (including 316) and Balloons in service in the 50's and 60's."

The Sarah Jane Adventures (BBC children's science fiction series)

Episode 1: Invasion of the Bane
A new drink is on the market, and a brightly-coloured Leyland-National is taking groups to tour the manufacturing plant. It's complete with Leyland and Leyland-Nastional badges: HNB24N was new as Greater Manchester PTE 105 and is preserved (in SELNEC livery) by SELNEC Preservation Society. (thanks Anthony, Phil Groocock, Matthew Aldous and Noel Baxendale) It transpires that the plant is run by malevolent aliens, and the redoubtable Sarah Jane Smith uses the bus as a battering ram to get in! A street glimpse of a Cardiff Dennis Dart gives a clue as to where the series was shot: (thanks Anthony, Phil Groocock, Matthew Aldous and Noel Baxendale)

Saturday Night Live (NBC comedy show)

Carlos Wallberg reports a show hosted by William Shatner, which spoofs Capra´s 'It´s a Wonderful Life'; at the opening a bonneted bus is seen passing by the background. The show was broadcast on 20 December 1986, and also famously included a sketch in which Shatner tells an obsessive Star Trek fan at a convention to 'get a life!'.

Scales of Justice(Merton Park Studios crime drama)

Included here for convenience, this collection of 13 shorts was shown as B features in cinemas, then repackaged for TV for export.

Episode: The Undesirable Neighbour
A brief view of the rear of London Transport Leyland Titan RTL346 (KGU422)on route 10.

School Day (BBC drama)

Scot Fergie reports: "Seen 23 July 2004 on the 'Sign Zone' on BBC1 (signed programmes for the deaf), a programme called 'School Day' (started at 2.50am), with a school bus driver seen trying to calm down the adolecents on the upper deck of an ECW bodied bus. Turns out in a wide shot he's driving OFS668Y, painted light blue with yellow front ends (school bus-style). 668 was the very first (numerically) Leyland Olympian/Eastern Coachworks for Lothian Transport.
Curiously the seats were covered in a maroon-patterned moquette."

Scrapheap Challenge (Channel 4 game show )

Regular background in two seasons is this wrecked former London Central Leyland Titan, formerly T1033 (A633THV): ....and in the same corner of the yard is this minibus: "Earlier series of Scrapheap Challenge and its US equivalent filmed in Britain were made in a scrapyard that contained the wreck of an unidentified coach." (thanks Stephen Osman)
Stephen also reports "In the episode of the current (new) series (filmed this season in a new scrapyard near Reading) broadcast on Sunday 6/10/2002, the two teams of 4 were given the task of building a 'blind-navigation vehicle' in which they had to drive around a pre-set course with the windows of their vehicles painted out. One of the teams opted to do the conversion work on a 3-axle Talbot Freeway minibus registered L113FOJ! The bus was yellow with a single green stripe on each side, and a white roof and was of B-DL layout (with the seats and rear door wheelchair lift missing already) and was probably a former non-PSV vehicle. During the 10-hour conversion, the vehicle was fitted with a scrap-built retractable turntable under the centre floor, which was lowered on chains and raised with 2 manual trolley jacks to lift the bus, which was then turned by hand from inside. To measure the distance travelled, the bus was fitted with a giant wind chime on the side of the rear bodywork which was "bonged" by a metal bar welded to one of the rear wheels. For the competition the following day, both teams' vehicles had all their windows painted over, but the end result was that L113FOJ was beaten by the other team's converted vehicle: Bedford ambulance NYR710Y!"
Answering Graham Selway's request on the uk-bus-fleetnews Yahoo group, Ken Lansdowne identifies L113FOJ's original owner as the London Borough of Barnet. Stephen Parker also notes an LDV minibus in the show.

In another show involving construction of a clockwork car, Bob Wingrove notes footage of "one of the Swiss built Olerkon [not sure of the spelling] gyro buses in service, this is the first time I've ever seen film of these buses running. It showed the bus pulling up at a stop and the three arms on the roof raising to charge up the flywheel."

Adam Floyd reports on the 2005 second semi-final: "a most thrilling challenge to build and race drag trucks! The vehicle of choice for the Power Lifters was Leyland Leopard/Duple WRO 433S (new to Guards, London W1); apart from a crushed roof, it didn't look too bad and still had a decent set of seats. Shorn of its body and with a monstrous truck engine mounted on top of the chassis frame, it powered them to victory against the Big Dippers' twin-engined Ford Cargo!"

A further show opened with one of the teams riding (and driving) this opentopper:

S Club 7: Don't Stop Movin' (BBC children's series)

Steve Dave supplied this screenshot of the DSB Ayats Bravo double-deck coach (registration W60DSB) used as the S Club 7 tour bus for S Club Carnival 2002, which was the subject of the series. Click for a bigger image.

The Screech Owls (YTV childrens series)

Episode 2 of this Canadian series about a kids' hockey team has them arriving at hockey camp in their own yellow school bus.

Second Chance

Bob Wingrove provided these screen captures of Manchester Corporation Leyland Titan PD2/6/Metro-Cammell 3245 (JND646) featured in this adult learning programme with Mike Harding. In the background of the first shot is Manchester's 3228 (JND629), a PD2/3 with Metro-Cammell body.

The Second World War in Colour (Trans World International for Carlton)

One programme "featured distant views of two Bristol G or K type double-deckers of Bristol Tramways & Carriage Co Ltd/Bristol Joint Services, in the city at Park Street photographed from College Green, still a good location. The livery wasn't clear (dark blue pre-war - khaki wartime paints - Tilling green late 1940s.) The film almost certainly came from Bristol Record Office mentioned in the credits." (thanks Alan Walker)

Secret Army (BBC wartime resistance serial)

"In the 1970s drama series 'Secret Army' concerning the Belgian resistance in World War II, a 1930s Paris open-back Renault bus appeared in one episode. In another episode,a Brussels tram appeared. I understand from a 1970s edition of 'Modern Tramway' magazine that this episode was shot using a preserved 1920s car on a disused stretch of track" (thanks Alan Sinclair)

The Secret Life of the Airport (BBC documentary series)

Episode: Joining the Jet Set
Footage is mostly of UK airports, unsurprisingly, but there is much of interest here, looking back to an era when security was less and 'plane spotters were encouraged. Small boy steps off a Bedford SB of the Ministry of Aviation: Seen at Idlewild Airport, New York (since 1963 known as John F Kennedy Airport), are two Flxible Clippers in the colors of the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority, a former division of the MTA. (thanks Daniel Dey) We also see BEA Routemasters, the second here being NMY634E: ....also this pair of BOAC Duple-bodied Bedford SBs, and a later Duple Bella Vega bodied example: This view isn't clear: BOAC AEC Regal IV deck and a half coaches feature in several scenes; the only one identifiable is MLL749: There's also a brief evening view of a BOAC Leyland Atlantean/MCW: Two Bedford OBs: ...and what's this? There's some footage of the area around Heathrow Airport, both old and new. The old is represented by a passing Green Line AEC RF, the new by a First London Dennis Trident/Plaxton President on route 105: A First London Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 is seen at the Stockley Park business park in Middlesex:

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4 (Thames drama serial)

Episode 1.01
Leicester City 41 (TBC41X), a 1981 Dennis Dominator/East Lancs, seems to have been hired for the show. It appears in several episodes; here it's seen from behind, and in a brief glimpse from the side: Passing it on the other side of the road in the first scene is a white/green Plaxton coach, probably a Leyland Leopard: Episode 1.02
A street scene features a passing Leicester City Transport Scania Metropolitan: Episode 1.04
More views of Leicester Dennis Dominators, this one too close to identify; ....and this is 84 (B84MRY), a 1984 East Lancs-bodied Dominator in the then new livery: Seen from above is very early (1978) Dominator/East Lancs 236 (UFP236S): ....then a distant Midland Fox Leyland National: Leicester 41 is seen on route 13, as it pulls away from the stop, two more Dominators are seen in background, one in the old livery, one in the new: ....and a Midland Fox Daimler Fleetline arrives, one of a number of DMS-types acquired from London Transport: Episode 1.06
Extended interior and exterior views of JFD289V, a 1979 Ford R1014/Duple Dominant I, in the livery of A C Coaches of Leicester: London scenes inevitably include glimpses of AEC Routemasters; ...and less predictably a DMS-class Daimler Fleetline, albeit not in London Transport colours: ...and this time we see Leicester 41 from in front:

Secret History (Channel 4 documentary series)

The Killer Fog
An insomniac Scot Fergie watching Channel 4 at 5am reports "a fascinating documentary about the 'killer' London smogs of the 1950s. And they were killers - about 1000 people died in 1952. In the programme they were talking about the smog of 1952.....Plenty of stock/news footage of last tram week, including some at the breaker's yard getting burnt, and RT/RTL/RTW etc class buses driving through smog in Piccadilly Circus etc, and other newsreel stuff of Londoners wearing airmasks and perspex helmets."

The Nazi Officer's Wife
A brief clip of wartime Vienna with a single deck tram picking up passengers (thanks Chris Hough)

The Secret Life of Suburbia (Sky documentary series)

Featured in one show is Geoff Price, who has the largest collection of model buses in the world. The models range from the small diecasts.... .....to the quite large, kept in the garage. The replica AEC B-type B57 sits next to BCM650, a 1950 Commer Avenger/Harrington in the livery of Bere Regis. Next again is LUF1, a 1951 replica Southdown Leyland Royal Tiger, the GUF729, a replica 1947 Leyland Tiger PS1/Eastern Coachworks. The star of the show is LUF1, which Geoff and his wife Linda take out on the road:

Secrets of the Dead (Channel 4 documentary series)

A programme looking at the plague and its effect on a Derbyshire village includes a glimpse of a Leyland Lynx of Hulleys of Baslow.

Secrets of World War II (Channel 5)

Some brief clips in colour and black and white of London Transport buses in Central London.

Sesame Street (Children's Television Workshop childrens' series)

Some snippets gleaned from Youtube from this long-running show: 'My Dad's a Bus Driver'
..and he drives a GM New Look 'Fishbowl', fleet number 735, for Seattle Transit, circa 1970: 'Counting Buses'
Counting one to ten at the Port Authority Bus terminal in New York circa 1970: 'Identifying Different Stores'
Circa 1975 - a little girl travels on Shortline 458, a GM New Look 'Fishbowl', in New York:

Seven Days (Paramount scifi series)

Episode: Vows
Three transit buses are glimpsed in this Washington DC-set episode.

Sex and the City (HBO drama series)

Opening credits feature a passing New York RTS: Alan Aron notes the bus "was a rental from a movie prop supply company located in Brooklyn NY by the name of Picturecars.com. It was modified with special glass so that the glare of the kleig lights used to film the show would not reflect off the glass. If one looks closely, all the passengers face forward and don't seem to notice the bus splashing Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker."
Also during the opening credits the camera is racing down Fifth Avenue. There is a quick shot of an Eagle 10 up ahead.
I believe that this RTS bus has also been rented out to Law and Order for many episodes as well as the movie 'As Good As It Gets' starring Helen Hunt, Jack Nicholson and Greg Kinnear."

Sex Chips and Rock'n'Roll (BBC1 drama)

The Salford Leyland Titan noted by Ewood Eddy is identified as Salford 281 (JRJ281E), a 1967 Leyland Titan PD2/40, by Robin Cotton, the owner. However, it carries an older registration plate, CDK358. These screencaps come from episode 1: Another more distant from episode 6:

Sharman (World Productions/ITV private eye series)

Shortlived, grimy and formulaic, nevertheless an entertaining vehicle for Clive Owen, this mostly South London-set drama has surprisingly few views of buses. There are glimpses of Leyland Olympians, but more significant is a quick view of a London Buses SR-class Mercedes 811D/Optare Starrider in Peckham Hoppa livery, in the 1996 episode 'A Good Year for the Roses'.

Shin Chen (Fox children's cartoon series)

One episode features a Tokyo tour bus of Hato Bus.

Shoestring (BBC private eye drama )

Episode 1:9: Find the Lady
Bristol-based series about a private eye retained by a radio station. Mike Walker comments: "Bristol Omnibus K type open top GHT127 appeared in the episode of 'Shoestring' that featured Toyah Wilcox as a punk singer. GHT was featured driving along the sea front at Weston super Mare with the baddy (Christopher Biggins?) sat upstairs discussing his evil plot.
A scene of a few seconds took three hours to shoot - I know because I was driving it!! By the end of shooting I had mastered the gearbox!" The baddie, Kenrick, was indeed played by Christopher Biggins. GHT127 is also seen in Soldier Soldier. There is a distant glimpse of the roof of a Bristol Omnibus Bristol VRT.

Should I Worry About......Spending? (BBC documentary)

Graeme Selway noted Timebus RM450 (WLT450), an ex-London Transport AEC Routemaster, in this October 2004 show on BBC1, with plenty of internal and external shots of it on Oxford Street.

The Simpsons (Fox cartoon series)

The Springfield Elementary School bus is driven by Otto Mann! (thanks Stephen Osman)

Episode: 9.14 (5F11) Das Bus
A Simpsons spoof on the films 'Das Boot' and 'Lord of the Flies' features a cartoon school bus:
Episode: 9.15 (5F10) The Last Temptation of Krust
"The end of this episode turns into an ad for the 'Canyonero' 4-wheel-drive vehicle. Part of the ad shows the Canyonero forcing a yellow bus titled 'Scout Troop 137' to crash into a tree." (thanks Stephen Osman)

Episode: 9.24 (5F17) Lost Our Lisa
Lisa accidentally gets on the wrong bus (22A instead of 22, driven by a characted named Larry) on her way to the museum. She finds herself lost in unfamiliar parts of Springfield. (thanks Stephen Osman)

Single (Tiger Aspect/Carlton drama serial)

Ewan Gray reports a Dennis Dart/Carlyle and an AEC Routemaster. The Dart appears regularly; it's former London Buses DT1 (G501VYE), owned by MediaBus and driven by Kevin Stewart (thanks Kevin!)

Six Feet Under (HBO comedy drama)

Episode 1.1;
Opening episode of this Pasadena-set hit show about a family-run funeral parlour business shows the father, Nathaniel Fisher, driving his new hearse to Los Angeles Airport on Christmas Eve to collect his son Nate (Nathaniel, Jnr.) who is arrving from Seattle for the Christmas holidays. Nathaniel takes his eyes off the road to lean down and light a cigarette and goes through a red light. The hearse is T-boned by a bus, killing Nathaniel instantly. Alan Aron identifies the bus (fleet number 6285) as a Flxible 870 built by Grumman. Note the fleet number on the roof (2748) doesn't match - thanks also to Geoff Cook. Roger Thiedeman adds more, and supplies the following screencaps: "Elsewhere in the same pilot episode, there are more sightings of buses - probably either or both those referred to above. However, it is not possible to confirm this because the numbers are not clearly visible. Both scenes are surreal/imaginary/fantasy ones, many of which are sprinkled throughout this episode and, indeed, the entire 'Six Feet Under' show.
The first one sees Nate out jogging on the morning (Christmas Day) after his father's death. Paused at an intersection waiting for the pedestrian 'walk' light, he sees a bus approaching - purportedly the same one that killed his father (I told you this is a fantasy scene!). He deliberately steps into its path and is struck down by it: In the second surreal scene, after his father's funeral has taken place, Nate is once again on a city street when he spots his father Nathaniel seated at a bus stop on the opposite side of the street. A bus arrives (again, presumably the same one that took Nathaniel's life?), stops, and Nathaniel climbs in. As the bus pulls away, Nathaniel is seen smiling sadly and waving at Nate:" Episode 2.13
Roger Thiedeman notes "another crucial episode in 'Six Feet Under', at the end of Season 2, where Nate is lying on an operating table awaiting brain surgery, when everything goes white and he next sees himself jogging along the highway (yes, it's another of those surreal, fantasy scenes) - when a bus - that bus again! - pulls up next to him and the doors open, but Nate stands there trying to decide whether or not to board the bus. The episode ends there in a cliff-hanger, keeping viewers in 'suspenders' (!) for the start of Season 3." Note the bus is definitely 6285 - thanks Roger for the screencaps.

Six Into One: The Prisoner File (Channel 4 documentary)

This documentary about the making of the series The Prisoner includes an interview on a bus.

Peter Skellern (BBC)

(included here till I can research this properly)"In the mid/late eighties the BBC ran a short series of musical playlets by Peter Skellern one of which featured a Leyland Titan PD3/East Lancs of Leicester City Transport as an integral part of the plot which concerned a brass band going to a concert and I think losing an instrument from the rear platform." (thanks Chris Hough)

The Sketch Show (ITV comedy sketch series)

This show featuring such comics as Jim Tavare and Ronnie Ancona has a sketch in which a bus conductor on an AEC Routemaster gives the traditional two rings of the bell to start the bus - at which a boxer appears, interpreting the bell as the start of a round and proceeding to hit the conductor....

Sky King (NBC aviation series)

Bob Beard drew my attention to this popular 1950s show featuring a rancher and his aeroplane, a kind of flying Western if you will. "Episode 6 has a great shot of on oldie in the last 5 minutes of so of the chapter. Looks like an Aerocoach but don't recognize the brand on the front of the bus."
All the episodes can be seen online at http://www.af.tv/skyking.htm if you're equipped for it - it's defeated me so far.

The Slammer (BBC children's variety show)

Improbably set in a prison this show has variety acts competing in front of an audience of children for the right to be released. Opeing credits feature this Kings Ferry of Kent coach.

Slaymaker (S4C movie magazine show)

A January 2003 edition of this Welsh-language show features presenter Gareth Roberts reporting in none too serious fashion on a 'Sex and the City' coach tour of New York.

Sliders (Fox then SciFi Channel scifi series)

Episode: 1:3 Prince of Wails
A red Bristol Lodekka FLF is seen posing as a London bus in San Francisco, but actually filmed in Vancouver. The fleet name 'Ensign Bus Lines' is seen on the side! Can anyone suggest an ID for the FLF?
Episode: 2:13 As Time Goes By
The Sliders are arrested by the Immigration Department and picked up in a white bus.

Episode: 2:16 Time Again and World
Story in which the Sliders arrive in a world which is a mirror of their own features a stock clip of San Francisco car 42.

Episode: 3:4 The Guardian
A glimpse of San Francisco streetcars.

Episode: Easy Slider 5:10
The Sliders arrive in the middle of nowhere and flag down a bus to get into town. It transpires that the local buses are hydrogen powered, with a maximum speed of 40mph.

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