Waiting for God (BBC sitcom)
Episode 2.5: Tell the TruthLondon Centrewest MA67 (F667XMS), normally operated from Uxbridge garage but here seen with Wilts and Dorset fleetnames, is used to take a pregnant woman to hospital. Destination reads 'Poole U5'; U5 was actually the Uxbridge Station - West Drayton Station service. Also seen is a Ford transit Mk 2 with 'welfare' body in yellow with white roof. (thanks Geoff Cook).
Wakey Wakey Campers (Channel 4 reality TV series)
In this show filmed on the Isle of Wight recreating a holiday camp of the 1950s, Steve Bunce saw two coaches arrive with the lucky campers. Bob Wingrove identifies them as RSJ422 (1957 Bedford SBG/Duple) and SWO986 (1958 Bristol MW6G/Eastern Coachworks new as Red and White UC758), both at the time owned by Valley Rambler Coaches. The two coaches are seen at the beginning of each show in the series.
Waking the Dead (BBC crime series)
Episode 3.3:Chris Hough notes in a 2003 episode: "Near the beginning Boyd is looking out to sea pondering a lost cockle boat while below him you can see a Mercedes Midibus. The episode looks like it is filmed around the cockle sheds at Leigh on Sea, but I am not well enough acquainted with the area to know which companies operate in that area." Here's the shot, Can anyone enlarge on this?
"In the final episode shown on BBC1 on 6 October 2003, one of the characters was shown boarding London Routemaster WLT576. Unfortunately the bus was only seen from the rear and interior, however the sound effects were pure AEC!". However, Ian's Bus Stop has RM576 (WLT576) as scrapped, so is this a reregistration?
Episode 4.2
Chris also notes "The episode shown Monday 12 July 2004 featured a suspect boarding a Dennis Dart in an all red livery. The bus was chased on foot by one of the detectives investigating the case. The bus was devoid of fleetnames." This was former London Buses DT1 (G501VYE), a Duple Dartline-bodied Dennis Dart, by then with Mediabus of Romford.
Steve Bunce reports a scene "on the platform of a moving Routemaster between Trevor Eve and David Walliams. Couldn't ID the bus - did anyone else get a view of it?"
The War Game (BBC documentary)
A Bedford OB is seen side on in this legendary documentary made in 1964 but not transmitted until 1985. (thanks Bob Wingrove)
Wasted Windfall (Channel 4 documentary)
Programme 2This history of the development of the North Sea oilfields has a shot of workers being bussed to work at Sullom Voe oil terminal in the Shetland Islands. The bus is 564HWO, a former Red and White Bristol MW6G/Eastern Coachworks. Seen behind as the bus stops is a later model MW6G.
Watching (ITV comedy series)
Ex-London Transport AEC Routemaster/Park Royal RM1414 (414CLT), supplied by the Museum of Transport, Manchester, was seen in the background of an episode where Emma Wray's character runs away to London and at one point is seen using a 'phone box to call home.The Way We Were (ITV documentary series)
Compilation of archive film on various themes, tailored to the different ITV regions of the UK, featured in the Central area a programme on transport. The first segment, on trams, features the following Birmingham trams:513 (much footage), 514, 558, 578; 616 (Birmingham's last tram), 631, 635, 649, 654, 674, 679, 688, 753, 800, 818, 819, 823, 827, 828, 829, 835, plus a number unidentified. Much of the footage is of route 2 and route 70.
4978 (2978HA) - BMMO D9
Possibly 3812 (NHA812) - BMMO D5B/Brush
XHA52x - BMMO D7 from the 4453-552 batch
5757 (EHA757D) - BMMO S17
4291 (UHA291) - BMMO S14
4996 (2996HA) - BMMO D9
Possibly 5404 (BHA404C) - BMMO D9
5181 (5181HA) - LS18A class Leyland Leopard/Willowbrook
4978 (2978HA) - BMMO D9
5934 (RHA934G) - BMMO S23
3814 (NHA814) - BMMO D5B undergoing overhaul
4809 (809HHA) - BMMO CM5T on express work to London (including interior shots showing the toilet!
A later period covered was the 1950s tours operated by Wallace Arnold. The main coaches shown were Burlingham Seagull-bodied AECs and a Plaxton bodied vehicle of indeterminate make. The old Hunslet Road Leeds depot and a number of coach interiors were also shown."
"The programme broadcast on 27 January 2005 featured various aspects of transport. Among the subjects covered was the closure of the Bradford trolleybus system, with an interview with the then chair of the transport committee in Bradford, Stanley King. He explained how normal service on the last route to Duckworth Lane ran on Friday so that enthusiasts and the general public could tour the remaining system over the closure weekend. The trolleys shown were East Lancs rebodied vehicles. A final shot showed the wiring being chopped down after the final closure.
Another film was about the police point duty men in central Sheffield in the late nineteen fifties. Many trams including a number of post war Roberts cars were seen plus a number of all-Leyland Titan PD2s of Sheffield Corporation. As a postscript a brief shot of a preserved Sheffield horse car was seen touring the system in 'Last Tram Week' in 1960.
"The episode broadcast on 26 January 2006 was about childhood. It featured several shots of trams in Sheffield, both flat and domed roof cars but no Roberts examples. A later sequence showed a Bedford OB passing the landing stage at Bowness, Windermere."
The episode aired on 3 February 2006 featured various aspects of the way people worked in the early years of the last century. A piece about ambulance crews in the Holme Valley had some shots of a Huddersfield Daimler CVG6/30./East Lancs. Later footage showed Leyland coaches owned by Feather Brothers of Pudsey transporting people on holiday. Also noted in a short about street cleaning was a Bradford tram and also a piano fronted green painted double decker, owner and vintage unknown."
Additional information from February 2007: "A recent edition featured a 1950s film of the Huddersfield trolleybus system. It featured a number of Park Royal bodied Karriers some of which were prewar with triple upper deck front windows. An opening shot showed the depot being opened up by a night watchman and the trolleys lined up inside. At the time the film was shot Huddersfield Corporation routes were all electric while the Joint Committee routes were all motor bus operated, although none of these featured in the film."
(thanks Chris Hough)
We Are Seven (HTV Wales drama series)
This 1989 HTV Wales drama series regularly featured 1950 Bedford OB/Duple LOD 529, owned by Neville Padfield in South Wales (thanks Terry Jones).The Wednesday Play: Cathy Come Home
Made in 1966, but still searingly powerful television, this portrait of a young woman sliding deeper into poverty and eventually having her children taken into care has a brief shot of a London Transport AEC RF in the opening sequence as Cathy (Carol White) hitches a lift.
The Weekenders (Channel 4 comedy pilot)
This Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer pilot for Channel 4 featured former Yelloway AEC Reliance/Harrington Cavalier YDK 590, supplied by the Museum of Transport, Manchester - "this vehicle was once also to be used by the cast of Coronation Street to go and pick up an award but it fell through at the last minute, but not before we had made an appropriate blind for it." (thanks Bob Wingrove)What Happened to the Housemates? (Channel 4 documentary)
"A Channel 4 documentary from December 2000 which looked at how the original 'Big Brother' contestants fared after the series finished. There are numerous buses and coaches visible in the background, including several RMs, a Big Bus Company DMS and a Pete's Travel Dennis Dart/Plaxton. Only one was identifiable, though: Arriva London North RML2503 (NML503E)." (thanks Graeme Selway)Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (BBC comedy series)
In the opening credits a Tyne and Wear Leyland Atlantean crosses a viaduct in the distance, while a Northern General Atlantean or Daimler Fleetline fails to stop for Terry (James Bolam). (thanks Graeme Selway) was the registration number visible?What's That Noise? (BBC1)
Bob Wingrove recalls this 1994 show included the music video for The Flying Pickets' 'I Feel For You', shot with Manchester Corporation's 1949 all-Crossley DD42/8s 2150 (JND 791):
The Wheels on the Bus (Winchester Films/LivingTV children's series)
Voiced by comedienne Dawn French, the star is an odd shaped CGI red open top bus called Beep.The Wheel Tappers and Shunters Social Club (Granada variety series)
"Former Bullocks, Cheadle, Foden PVSC6 coach LMA284 featured on Granada's "Wheel Tappers and Shunters Social Club Outing" in the 1970s. The bus is still used and in the care of the Museum of Transport, Manchester." (thanks Alan at Oldham 163 Preservation Group) Bob Wingrove adds: "LMA284 (which is quite nice to drive actually) has a Lawton body. This is its second body; the original fell apart." It's thought to be the only surviving Lawton body; Fodens were never very common. Peter Tulloch notes the original body was by Wadhams.Why Don't You? (BBC children's series)
Stockport Corporation Leyland Titan PD3/14/East Lancs No.71 (KJA871F) was painted light blue and white for this BBC show. It was supplied by the Museum of Transport, Manchester (thanks Bob Wingrove)A summer 1975 show features a young lad in Blackpool whose mother runs a bed and breakfast. Allan Haynes worked on the filming: "He is mad on trams and is well in with the Corporation Transport. He has access to the depot, changes the points on the seafront, etc. We had an open boat tram at our disposal for filming for half a day."
Windrush (BBC documentary)
Documentary looking at the experiences of the Caribbean migrants who settled in Britain at the end of the 1940s and their descendants. One sequence describes a boycott of the Bristol Omnibus Company over its refusal to employ black staff. Bristol Omnibus Bristol K/ECW NHY982 passes a bus garage on route 2.
With a Little Help From My Friends (ITV)
"This show where personalities use their old friends to provide a support network while they repair or rebuild something recently featured Ian Wright the ex-Arsenal footballer in Peckham repairing and renovating a children's play area. In the programme he collected his old friends aboard an ex London Transport Leyland Titan, possibly A865SUL. The bus was in 1980s London style livery with cream upper deck windows (rather than the correct white). It was devoid of fleet names." (thanks Chris Hough)James Sadd notes:
"When I worked for Sullivan Buses at South Mimms, one of the drivers informed me he had taken T569 to Liverpool in connection with the filming of 'With a little help from my Friends' in which the side destination had the star's name on them, this being a purpose made blind. The following week I checked the scrolls on this bus and indeed she had the celebrity's name on them !!"
Without a Trace (CBS crime series)
Episode: 2:1 The BusFeatures the disappearance of a group of schoolchildren aboard an International yellow school bus. There is also an early scene with ostensibly another school bus, but so little of the exterior of the school bus is seen, it may be the same vehicle.
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