On The Buses

[Bletchleyite]

I thought that Harry Enfield sketch was very funny.

On The Buses is not politically correct by todays standards, but it was a typical TV sitcom of the 1970s.

It compares with other shows like Are You Being Served? (with the infamous Mrs Slocombe and her, ahem, "cat") and The Dick Emery Show (where some of the double entendres would never make it on air these days)

It's also not dissimilar to the Carry On films in a way. Indeed "Carry On on the Buses" (or I suppose "Carry On Coaching" with a seedy trip to Blackpool or something) is a not entirely unlikely title.

 

[Ken H]

It's also not dissimilar to the Carry On films in a way. Indeed "Carry On on the Buses" (or I suppose "Carry On Coaching" with a seedy trip to Blackpool or something) is a not entirely unlikely title.

Criticising stuff from the past by modern attitudes is never a good idea. Just accept it was a different time.
There is so much from the 60's and 70's that isnt considered acceptable now. Back loading buses with no door, whacking kids, shunters going under the buffers to join/split trains, Shouting at staff.

 

[duncanp]

It's also not dissimilar to the Carry On films in a way. Indeed "Carry On on the Buses" (or I suppose "Carry On Coaching" with a seedy trip to Blackpool or something) is a not entirely unlikely title.

Yes, I could imagine Barbara Windsor as the clippie, Bernard Bresslaw as the bus driver and Sid James as the lecherous womanising bus conductor.

Possibly with Hattie Jacques or Joan Sims playing the role of Olive.

And Kenneth Williams playing Blakey.

 

[D6130]

One episode used former London Transport RTL 1557 OLD 666, a bus prone to overheating, and it ended up burning

With that registration number I'm not surprised that it ended up burning!

Her On The Buses husband Michael Robbins lived on the next road to me in Hither Green and was the complete opposite to the grumpy character he played in the series:

I suspect that he may have later moved to Wimbledon as, when I worked there on the railway (1976-78), I often used to see him in the street or on the station.....and occasionally in the Alexandra pub, which was our de facto Friday afternoon messroom!

 

[Trackman]

One of the ‘stars’ of the series and film was Anna Karen. A book of cinema biographies sums up this part of her career thus: ‘The acting highlight of former stripper Karen’s career was probably playing Reg Varney’s plain sister Olive in TV’s On the Buses (1969-73) and the film spin-offs, On the Buses (1971), Mutiny on the Buses (1972) and Holiday on the Buses (1973). Highlights do not often come lower.’

I have a friend who was a good friends Anna, a bunch of them used to go out on nights out and had a right laugh.
I never knew until Anna tragically died and my friend posted pictures on FB and also she was the first to leave flowers at Anna's door.

That was due to the TV rights belonging to LWT. The characters were owned by the writers, who were only allowed to use characters names in the movies, which were made by Hammer Films.

Yes, LWT made a right mess of that.
I think one of the films beat a James Bond film in the UK box-offices.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

One episode used former London Transport RTL 1557 OLD 666,

I remember that scene. Crying shame, but being 'of my time' the RT's were, and are a favourite (class) of mine.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Never mind the bus detail ! - sums up the dire "light entertainment" genre of the 1970's - like so many programmes etc of the era it sort of celebrated the work dodging , lack of respect for managers and supervisors , lack of customer service and so on - often portrayed sexist and racist "laugh generating" of the era, - (think other programmes like "Love they Neighbour" , "The Dustbin men" and "Mind your Language" and so on ......

It is incredible that standards were so low , and shameful that the watching numbers were so high - but then there was not much else to watch. To think people went out to watch the dire spin offs in the cinema. A different society all right in those dys

Anyway - poor "Olive" died in a house fire this year. A sad and tragic end to her life.

 

[Ken H]

Never mind the bus detail ! - sums up the dire "light entertainment" genre of the 1970's - like so many programmes etc of the era it sort of celebrated the work dodging , lack of respect for managers and supervisors , lack of customer service and so on - often portrayed sexist and racist "laugh generating" of the era, - (think other programmes like "Love they Neighbour" , "The Dustbin men" and "Mind your Language" and so on ......

It is incredible that standards were so low , and shameful that the watching numbers were so high - but then there was not much else to watch. To think people went out to watch the dire spin offs in the cinema. A different society all right in those dys

Anyway - poor "Olive" died in a house fire this year. A sad and tragic end to her life.

But this was the era of Morecambe and Wise, Dick Emery, Les Dawson who were truly funny. But we also had Terry and June, Sykes etc. Oh dear.
But soon we had Rising Damp, Monty Python...

 

[John Luxton]

I must admit as a youngster I really enjoyed "On The Buses" and was about 9 when it first started.

It was interesting that the name Luxton & District had been used being a Luxton!

It wasn't long before I found out that it had been filmed using Eastern National vehicles.

Given that the "Luxton clan" are predominant and have their origins in the south west of England appearing to have place name connections in Devon, using south east England appeared somewhat odd.

I have fond memories of the series as a child - it was very much family watching and my grandmother and great aunt used to enjoy it too.

However, a few years ago I watched a couple of episodes on a streaming service - probably ITV hub - but it just didn't seem funny anymore.

"On The Buses" has aged badly compared to "Dad's Army" which date from the same period.

 

[E27007]

I must admit as a youngster I really enjoyed "On The Buses" and was about 9 when it first started.

It was interesting that the name Luxton & District had been used being a Luxton!

It wasn't long before I found out that it had been filmed using Eastern National vehicles.

Given that the "Luxton clan" are predominant and have their origins in the south west of England appearing to have place name connections in Devon, using south east England appeared somewhat odd.

I have fond memories of the series as a child - it was very much family watching and my grandmother and great aunt used to enjoy it too.

However, a few years ago I watched a couple of episodes on a streaming service - probably ITV hub - but it just didn't seem funny anymore.

"On The Buses" has aged badly compared to "Dad's Army" which date from the same period.

The series was written for an ITV audience, but the acting was to a high standard.
The natural chemistry between the actors worked both on and off script.
Just watch this humerous chat show with the cast of On The Buses and Terry Wogan as Presenter.
Poor Terry Wogan, in charge at the start while interveiwing Reg Varney , at 7 min 40 secs minutes of the video the guests soon took over the proceedings , and Terry became a bystander .


Wogan, On The Buses Chatshow

 

[LUYMun]

I much prefer the film over the TV series for a variety of reasons. From a comedic standpoint, the film had much better timing for its jokes as there wasn’t a studio audience present to provide laughter. There was also more flow to the film’s storyline as compared to the series, where the characters spend half the episode in one spot. Yes, there’s a few memorable moments in the TV series but those are far and few between. The film series combines these best moments to create a lasting impression on the viewer. I’ve also remarked that the OTB film trilogy seem to be the only trilogy where each succeeding film is better and more successful than the previous.

 

[Ashley Hill]

I’ve often wondered why ITV never repeat series 1 and 2 with Cicely Courtneidge playing Stan’s mum?

 

[Strathclyder]

Two of the Lodekkas survive, one in Lille and one in the States.

Ah gotcha. Cheers.

 

[Fenchurch SP]

I thought that Harry Enfield sketch was very funny.

On The Buses is not politically correct by todays standards, but it was a typical TV sitcom of the 1970s.

It compares with other shows like Are You Being Served? (with the infamous Mrs Slocombe and her, ahem, "cat") and The Dick Emery Show (where some of the double entendres would never make it on air these days)

There was one in an episode of On The Buses where the Reg Varney character refers to a canteen girl's "luscious Irish countryside "

 

[Ligeraceaster]

But this was the era of Morecambe and Wise, Dick Emery, Les Dawson who were truly funny. But we also had Terry and June, Sykes etc. Oh dear.
But soon we had Rising Damp, Monty Python...

Things like Terry and June, Sykes, Bless This House, etc. were incredibly popular though, and even Rising Damp, Fawlty, et al look very dated now. The reason Dad’s Army gets a pass is it was set in the past even then so it’s deliberately dated and it’s not quite as jarring I guess.

 

[Ligeraceaster]

There was one in an episode of On The Buses where the Reg Varney character refers to a canteen girl's "luscious Irish countryside "

Wasn’t that be if the films? I think the first one where there’s an Irish canteen girl and Stan gets her home and they’re at it on the sofa and Olive comes down and is pregnant which puts the girl off and she makes her excuses. It’s quite interesting watching it through the prism of 2022 when it wouldn’t raise even a murmur now.

 

[Merle Haggard]

Some background on the buses used in the films might be of interest. For each film, 4 ex Eastern National KSW5Gs were hired by Hammer Films from Syd Twell, a bus dealer at Ingham, Lincolnshire who, at the time, bought most of the buses disposed of by Eastern National, Lincolnshire and United Counties and some United Auto. I used to visit Syd's yard regularly at the time, and he said that in the first film one of the 4 was a bit duff, and in the 2nd, two of the four were. One of my friends in bus preservation owns one of them, and has videos of the films allowing analysis of the appearance of each bus by stopping the film. What this shows is that continuity is pretty non-existent. One classic scene shows (1) Reg climbing into a bus (2) Reg driving through the garage and (3) driving out onto the street. In each case, the reg. no. is visible, and it's different - i.e. 3 different buses used in one scene. All 4 seemed to move in the films but perhaps the duff ones were powered by the crew pushing it - in the series 'The Waltons' one could sometimes catch a glimpse of people pushing some of the cars as the Waltons 'drove off'!

The opening scene of the the last film shows the collision where they all got the 'sack'. The green KSW that is driven, with some force, into the side of one of the red KSWs was ex United Counties 939 (JBD977). This scene was at the film studios, but afterwards Syd's fitter just fitted another radiator and drove it back to Ingham. Incidentally, Syd wanted £250 for it before its film appearance. After the filming and when it was back in the yard I asked how much it was. Still £250 was the answer. Depreciation due to damage replaced by film star status

There was also a red LS DP in the crash scene. This also returned to Syd's yard, and it seemed to be a United Auto one though the tax disc was of a United Counties one. Obviously a completely accidental mistake.

 

[uglymonkey]

Did'nt they use single deckers made up with a semi top floor in some series, rather than full height double deckers, which when they moved studios wouldn't fit under the roof?

 

[Ashley Hill]

Did'nt they use single deckers made up with a semi top floor in some series, rather than full height double deckers, which when they moved studios wouldn't fit under the roof?

Yes,and they also simulated a moving bus in the studio by moving the camera along a stationary bus with the actors posed appropriately as if moving.

 

[Russel]

Did'nt they use single deckers made up with a semi top floor in some series, rather than full height double deckers, which when they moved studios wouldn't fit under the roof?

Which series was this?

 

[Bevan Price]

Eastern National working so far into London was a bit of an oddity to me when I lived a mile or so from Wood Green in the 1960s -- one of their routes went as far as Southend; from memory, I think others just went to Basildon. Everything else in the area was London red.

 

[DunsBus]

Which series was this?

Series 7. The studio doors at LWT's South Bank studios were too low to accommodate double-deckers so single-deckers fitted with false upper decks were used for the depot scenes in that series - as well the scene in the series 3 episode "Radio Control" where Stan's bus ends up stuck under a low bridge. If you look carefully you can see that the upper deck is a false one.