Level Crossing Accident on Casualty 7th August

[PalGreen]

Did anyone else see the level crossing accident on Casualty on Sat 7th August?
Did you find it totally unrealistic?
Not only did they use American bells for the level crossing, but also and American sounding train horn just before the crash

Not only that but the second fatality caused by a shunter surely would not happen as after any incident on the railway does not traffic stop on all lines in all directions?

Rant over

(It was filmed at Dean Forest railway and featured their class 14 loco demolishing a car and a class 8 shunter running down a character from the series

 

[yorksrob]

I've not watched Casualty for many years, but I'd be dissappointed for them not to have used authentic sound effects. The BBC is supposed to be a professional outfit.

 

[GB]

Does anyone actually watch these kinds of shows for "realism"??

Clip here for anyone interested....I guess I should add viewer discretion advised.

 

[Northern_guard]

I've not watched Casualty for many years, but I'd be dissappointed for them not to have used authentic sound effects. The BBC is supposed to be a professional outfit.

"Supposed" I guess being the key word.

 

[yorksrob]

I think that for a British drama, one could forgive using slightly out of date stock or equipment, but almost everyone will have heard a UK crossing alarm. American bells, like on Close Encounter don't really cut it.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Aug 2021 ==

"Supposed" I guess being the key word.

Good point, well made.

 

[fgwrich]

Does anyone actually watch these kinds of shows for "realism"??

Clip here for anyone interested....I guess I should add viewer discretion advised.

I didn't watch it, but it was on in our household. They did announce "This program uses dramatic license" beforehand though - You don't say! Having dealt with fatalities and people in near similar circumstances, Casualty's effort no doubt was ridiculous as always.

Still, it was good to see Parkend receive some television coverage and it'll be some money in the bank for the Dean Forest Railway at least.

 

[Cowley]

Does anyone actually watch these kinds of shows for "realism"??

Clip here for anyone interested....I guess I should add viewer discretion advised.

I guess if you don’t know anything about railways (which most people don’t) it would be kind of dramatic…
The way the class 14 came storming under the footbridge and through the station but didn’t ever seem to actually get anywhere near them for ages was absolutely hilarious though.

 

[Peter C]

I watched it last night and noticed the same things already pointed out - but @Cowley's hit the nail on the head when he says non-railway-enthusiasts probably won't notice the issues picked up on here. I must admit I didn't expect the second train and jumped a bit

The way the class 14 came storming under the footbridge and through the station but didn’t ever seem to actually get anywhere near them for ages was absolutely hilarious though.

That was one of the things I picked up on too: the previous episode had a shot at the end showing the view from what turned out to be that Class 14 rolling through the station quite slowly, and then they used the same clip again in last night's episode.

-Peter

 

[61653 HTAFC]

At least they used a real train, unlike Coronation Street's infamous tram crash several years ago... which was less realistic than the stuff Gerry Anderson was doing in the 60s!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Not only that but the second fatality caused by a shunter surely would not happen as after any incident on the railway does not traffic stop on all lines in all directions?

It does, but amongst all the other errors and blunders that's one bit which they seem to have got right as this second accident ( which appears to be an 03 not an 08? ) happens just seconds after the first, so there would not have been time to stop the second train.

Caveat: I am going by that YouTube video posted above; I don't watch the series itself.

 

[43055]

It does, but amongst all the other errors and blunders that's one bit which they seem to have got right as this second accident ( which appears to be an 03 not an 08? ) happens just seconds after the first, so there would not have been time to stop the second train.

Caveat: I am going by that YouTube video posted above; I don't watch the series itself.

Yes the second train was a 03. The 08 was on the rear of the first train with two wagons in-between the two locos.

 

[C J Snarzell]

I've not watched Casualty in yonks.

I do remember around 1993 when it was still a decent series to watch, they did a really big series opener involving a train crash where three teenagers in a stolen Ford Cortina (being pursued by the police) stalled it on a level crossing causing a huge train crash.

Given they've pulled the plug on Holby City, I think it's time Casualty was put to bed too if they are rehashing plots and stories from yesteryear. Charlie Fairhead surely deserves a happy retirement by now.

CJ

 

[alxndr]

I've not watched Casualty in yonks.

I do remember around 1993 when it was still a decent series to watch, they did a really big series opener involving a train crash where three teenagers in a stolen Ford Cortina (being pursued by the police) stalled it on a level crossing causing a huge train crash.

Given they've pulled the plug on Holby City, I think it's time Casualty was put to bed too if they are rehashing plots and stories from yesteryear. Charlie Fairhead surely deserves a happy retirement by now.

CJ

They've recycled plots for years, there's only so many basic ways to injure yourself after all.

Last weeks episode did feel like one of the fakest train scenes I can recall though.

 

[Paul Jones 88]

What a waste of a really lovely old car, my mum had one of those when I was a kid and I preferred it to dad's Jag.

 

[GB]

It does, but amongst all the other errors and blunders that's one bit which they seem to have got right as this second accident ( which appears to be an 03 not an 08? ) happens just seconds after the first, so there would not have been time to stop the second train.

Not sure they did get that right to be honest. It was a manual gated crossing so chances are there would have been a signaller or crossing keeper on site to do what they do as soon as the car went through the gate.

But again that goes to my original point of do people watch it for the realism or the drama?

 

[C J Snarzell]

What a waste of a really lovely old car, my mum had one of those when I was a kid and I preferred it to dad's Jag.

Do you mean the Cortina? Yes, I would agree - there is always something very nostalgic and likeable about the Cortina.

CJ

 

[Ianigsy]

There's a certain bathos when the camera lingers on the "Gladys" nameplate on the 08 there. I guess the main effect was the Final Destination moment of the 03 appearing from behind the other train.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Has Casualty ever been realistic? Not watched it for years, didn't even know it was still going, but like London's Burning (same thing but for the fire service rather than the NHS) it was always really quite contrived, and you could spend the first 10 minutes or so trying to predict what this week's disaster would be.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Not sure they did get that right to be honest. It was a manual gated crossing so chances are there would have been a signaller or crossing keeper on site to do what they do as soon as the car went through the gate.

But again that goes to my original point of do people watch it for the realism or the drama?

I'd suggest that even with a signaller on the spot there putting the signals back instantly and frantically waving a red flag at the approaching train, those few seconds from the time of the first crash wouldn't be enough to make any difference.

Yes - the majority of people will watch it for the drama.

 

[C J Snarzell]

Has Casualty ever been realistic? Not watched it for years, didn't even know it was still going, but like London's Burning (same thing but for the fire service rather than the NHS) it was always really quite contrived, and you could spend the first 10 minutes or so trying to predict what this week's disaster would be.

When Casualty first graced our screens back in 1986, it focused on the demands of the night-shift team at Holby City who were constantly walking a tight rope between the patients and the penny pinching NHS executives. A quite realistic portrait of a busy A&E in its first few years.

However, it did start to go down around the time they extended the annual series from a modest 15 episodes to 20-30 odd episodes each year, which was roughly around the time original cast member Brenda Fricker quit the series.

CJ

 

[malc-c]

Not watched this program in decades.

LOL - the speed of the shunters would have meant that they would have pulled up yards before the crossing..... in the time of the cut away from them to the attempts to get the woman out of the car the shunters could have travelled half a mile passed the crossing, and as for the American sound effects.... the researcher / producer etc should be fired for not doing the basics. Heck even the old BT films warning kids not to play on tracks was more realistic !

 

[alxndr]

I'd suggest that even with a signaller on the spot there putting the signals back instantly and frantically waving a red flag at the approaching train, those few seconds from the time of the first crash wouldn't be enough to make any difference.

The time from the car smashing through the barrier to the impact was far longer though (due to the already mentioned slow speed).

 

[MotCO]

Charlie Fairhead surely deserves a happy retirement by now.

CJ

Is he still in it? Blimey, he must be past pensionable age by now.

 

[Ploughman]

I've not watched Casualty in yonks.

I do remember around 1993 when it was still a decent series to watch, they did a really big series opener involving a train crash where three teenagers in a stolen Ford Cortina (being pursued by the police) stalled it on a level crossing causing a huge train crash.

Given they've pulled the plug on Holby City, I think it's time Casualty was put to bed too if they are rehashing plots and stories from yesteryear. Charlie Fairhead surely deserves a happy retirement by now.

CJ

Was that the Grosmont crash on the NYMR or the LC Crash on the GC I think.

 

[C J Snarzell]

Is he still in it? Blimey, he must be past pensionable age by now.

Actor Derek Thompson is 73 now. I kind of think they will still have him as a working professional for a few more years to come. Wasn't Jack Warner in his 80s when we was still playing Sgt George Dixon?

CJ

 

[MotCO]

Actor Derek Thompson is 73 now. I kind of think they will still have him as a working professional for a few more years to come. Wasn't Jack Warner in his 80s when we was still playing Sgt George Dixon?

CJ

Is he still nursing? Otherwise, I could see him being a non-exec member or chairman of the NHS Trust Board.

Jack Warner was very 'cardboardy' near the end - he was hardly off chasing villains round the streets.

 

[John Luxton]

Has Casualty ever been realistic? Not watched it for years, didn't even know it was still going, but like London's Burning (same thing but for the fire service rather than the NHS) it was always really quite contrived, and you could spend the first 10 minutes or so trying to predict what this week's disaster would be.

Exactly! That is why I gave up on casualty mid 1990s. My parents continued to watch it for a while - but even they gave up on it my mid naughties! It was just guess the disaster from the initial scene setting.

 

[John Luxton]

Is he still in it? Blimey, he must be past pensionable age by now.

Derek Thompson as a criminal in a 1983 episode of Bergerac I watched on UKTV the other evening. Very young with thick curly hair!

 

[DelW]

Exactly! That is why I gave up on casualty mid 1990s. My parents continued to watch it for a while - but even they gave up on it my mid naughties! It was just guess the disaster from the initial scene setting.

I vaguely recall a comedy sketch from a few years ago, about an estate agent showing a prospective buyer around a house in "Holby". Accompanied by suitably doom laden music, as they went round the house you saw lots of exposed wiring, or leaking gas appliances, or loose floorboards, or tiles about to fall off the roof, etc.
(I may have the details wrong, but it really took the p*** out of these programmes very effectively).

 

[C J Snarzell]

Derek Thompson as a criminal in a 1983 episode of Bergerac I watched on UKTV the other evening. Very young with thick curly hair!

He played a criminal in the gangster film 'The Long Good Friday' - Bob Hoskins 'stripes' him in the neck with a bottle.

CJ