King's Cross fire documentary 21st May

[Cletus]

On Channel 5 this Wednesday there is a programme on about the 1987 fire.

http://www.channel5.com/shows/kings-cross-inferno-on-the-tube

It is early evening in November 1987 - London. In one of the city’s biggest railway stations, a discarded match or cigarette on a wooden escalator begins a small fire. Within minute the fireball it creates engulfs the station ticket hall, killing 31 people and injuring hundreds.
Kings Cross station had been an integral part of the London transportation network since the mid 1800’s but like many of the capitals stations its infrastructure was woefully inadequate for a rapidly growing city – It appears a major fire was a tragic incident waiting to happen. Inferno on the Tube tells the story of the events of 18th November 1987 when a “flashback” filled the stations ticket hall. We speak to Daemonn Brody who was there at the moment of disaster, Sharon O’Neill, a London Transport officer who helped to rescue many, reporter Lindsay Taylor who was close to the scene of the accident and who managed to create an extraordinary audio record of the events. Each tells their story with extraordinary and moving lucidity.
The programme also features interview with firefighters, political observers and others who witnessed the worst fire in the history of the London Underground and a dramatic wake up call for safety on the network.

 

[Michael.Y]

Another one? Not that this story doesn't need to be told to every generation but seriously, these documentaries are like film reboots. Next week we'll have another one about the Concorde crash...

 

[ralphchadkirk]

If it's Channel 5 it will be aimed at the Cbeebies level of intelligence.

 

[jon0844]

If it's Channel 5 it will be aimed at the Cbeebies level of intelligence.

Watching it now and suspect my two year old would be cringeing at how sensationalised it is. Way beneath Cbeebies level!

The use of footage is shocking as most of it so far wasn't even at King's Cross. Just very generic stock footage that was obviously cheap and picked out by someone who didn't care about accuracy because the viewer wouldn't care either.

 

[John Webb]

Watching it now and suspect my two year old would be cringeing at how sensationalised it is. Way beneath Cbeebies level!

The use of footage is shocking as most of it so far wasn't even at King's Cross. Just very generic stock footage that was obviously cheap and picked out by someone who didn't care about accuracy because the viewer wouldn't care either.

Most of the fire shots were taken from the HSE scale reconstruction of the escalator done at their laboratory at Harpur Hill near Buxton, hence the somewhat crude appearance as it was one-third full-size. (I have a copy of the Fennell report with photos in front of me as I write.)

This programme, like the others in this series, concentrated on the experiences of those involved in the mishap, and failed to follow on what happened afterwards. That was a shame, as the investigation into the fire and its implications showed a remarkable fire phenomena (the 'Trench Effect') whose existence was not known about, yet was crucial to understanding the spread of fire up the escalator once it had been found.

 

[Temple Meads]

The 285 page report into the fire can be found on the Railways Archive site here (just click on the PDF symbol towards the top of the page): http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docsummary.php?docID=75

Certainly more in depth than the programme in question.

 

[jon0844]

It was an hour of padded nonsense, very limited insight from those interviewed, with no real detail on the fire itself, or what happened after.

Lots of use of the word disaster though.

Fortunately there have been better programmes about the fire before.

Very disappointing, and left me wondering why I watched it through! The first 30 seconds made it quite clear what it would be like...

 

[ralphchadkirk]

You can really see the difference between respectable broadcasters and Channel 5. For example, compare C5's 'Classic Car Rescue' with C4's 'For the love of cars'. One is based around two fat middle aged men shouting at each other for 42 minutes and 3 minutes of glossed over car restoration. The other is actually about car restoration.

 

[90sWereBetter]

I remember there being an episode of Seconds From Disaster that covered the Kings Cross fire a few years ago now. Pretty decent programme it was, and I imagine streets better than Channel 5's effort.

 

[jon0844]

The format of the Ch5 programme was very much like Seconds from Disaster (I wondered at first, given the on screen clock, whether it was the same production company), but I've always found Seconds from Disaster to be much more detailed and interesting.

Plenty of interviews on Seconds from Disaster too, but also loads of detailed 3D recreations of what happened - and not just stock footage of inside random ticket halls and escalators dominating over very little real footage of the actual location. Then finished with about 20 seconds saying that people resigned and they promised to do things better from then on.

This was basically just dross.

The policewoman who was interviewed didn't seem to do much at all, other than hide in an office? Surely they could have found others to interview? She really was, well, pointless.

God help us if they decide to do a 7/7 one. That will still be clear in the minds of many given it was only 9 years ago (amazing to think it's even that long) but if people didn't know about the King's Cross fire, they'll still know very little after watching that s*i*e.

Some comments on Twitter suggest people are now starting to say things like 'makes you think' as if this fire is in some way possibly going to happen again. The programme should have at least shown how and why such a disaster should never happen again and that you don't need to now worry about walking about the subways at King's Cross.

 

[JB1601]

There was a 7/7 one, it was the first of the series. It wasn't as sensationalist as this one though - I think the passage of time has made them think they can get away with it for the KC fire.

Worst bit for me was actually superimposing smoke over stock footage of the underground areas with people going about their normal business. Totally accurate and misleading...

 

[jon0844]

Perhaps they had more footage for the 7/7 one (and more facts as they looked it up on Wikipedia) and many more people to interview.

The King's Cross fire one was if they knew sod all about what happened, bar how many died and that there was a flashover (which wasn't even explained in any detail for those who don't know how or why they occur).

 

[W230]

Worst bit for me was actually superimposing smoke over stock footage of the underground areas with people going about their normal business. Totally accurate and misleading...

Likewise. To see the new Met stock with some CG smoke blowing across the screen just looked plain ridiculous.

It was total total dross and had I not been watching it at work I would have turned it off!

 

[fgwrich]

You can really see the difference between respectable broadcasters and Channel 5. For example, compare C5's 'Classic Car Rescue' with C4's 'For the love of cars'. One is based around two fat middle aged men shouting at each other for 42 minutes and 3 minutes of glossed over car vandalism with a touch of doing some work. The other is actually about car restoration and involves actual knowledgeable people who know the subject very well.

I guess you were watching the same episode as me Ralph? Where I spent an hour swearing - apologies! at C5s so called 'Classic Car Rescue' and their very sad attempts at ruining a rather good if not in need of a little work 1966 Westphalia Volkswagen Split Screen. C4 Certainly has hit the nail on the head with 'For The Love of Cars' and most other documentary series. With that program in my mind, and a few other of C5s documentaries shown recently i'm rather glad I had to work late tonight and miss it then!

Oh and I've edited your post for a true reflection of that series!