The Railway: First Great Western on Channel 5

[Aldaniti]

I thought it was interesting, but in Programme 1 we had revenue protection, rowdy passengers on late night services, incidents on the line, a look inside a control centre, night maintainance at Long Rock, daily life at Paddington. What are they going to put in the remaining eleven episodes?

Hope the Pullman restaurant car and sleeper make an appearance. Haven't watched it yet, I'm recording them all so that I can avoid wasting a couple of hours of life watching adverts. I'll reserve judgment but I'm not usually a fan of the style of C5 programming. Still, better than the usual crap I suppose.

 

[Muzer]

Hope the Pullman restaurant car and sleeper make an appearance. Haven't watched it yet, I'm recording them all so that I can avoid wasting a couple of hours of life watching adverts. I'll reserve judgment but I'm not usually a fan of the style of C5 programming. Still, better than the usual crap I suppose.

It does have all the usual C5 clichés - over-dramatic voiceovers/music, no extended sections about one topic, not the best continuity in the world - but the actual content, IMHO, is rather good.

 

[tsr]

I have to say that I feel that this isn't too bad for Channel 5. Good effort to make things seem reasonably realistic, but not too negative (unlike the first episode of the BBC's The Railway) and, whilst the control and revenue protection operations were (and had to be) dramatically simplified, I think the general public will enjoy this as much as they usually would enjoy a fly-on-the-wall documentary about railways.

I was pleased to see one or two familiar faces from Paddington - the management team are very well-meaning and professional, and I trust that showed.

 

[jon0844]

While the programme did mention things like headcodes and showed close-ups of screens, it was still made so that someone who has no 'enthusiast' interest could still enjoy it.

Ultimately, anyone that uses the train as a means of transport would have some interest - just as people will watch shows following airlines, cruise liners, haulage companies etc.

The obvious thing on this programme is making it more personal, so you will actually get some form of bond with people.

And, the programme really did seem to make out that the members of the public moaning were idiots (as we know the reasons, and they either didn't or chose to ignore them).

 

[matchmaker]

Definitely shown as a RPO...

Looks like Arsene Wenger moonlighting for FGW.

No, it's Chief Inspector Wycliffe!

 

[SPADTrap]

RPO's can issue PF's, tickets etc but are not PACE trained and cannot place anyone under caution for fare evasion or MG11'd as we tend to call it. RPI's can do this.

RCOs who work the gate line can in fact MG11 but without the caution part. They don't work trains whereas RPIs primarily do. At least at my TOC.

I've seen my own TOC mix up Revenue Control Officer (gateline) and Revenue Protection Inspector (on trains) in their own name badges before so I guess it's a case of they all sound the same so they must be.

 

[Stigy]

I watched it and found it very good, although was a bit miffed as to why the RPO called the local Police when there were at least two BTP PCSOs present with more than enough savvy (I'm assuming...) to deal with the situation and request assistance themselves should the Revenue staff require help if it kicked off.

 

[Cletus]

The Channel 5 biog says RPI.
http://www.channel5.com/shows/the-railway-first-great-western/meet-the-crew/dave-bunyan
Is it like a Police Officer who is also an Inspector?

 

[Julian W]

Missed it and not in the UK so can't watch it on 5od - anyone seen it appear online anywhere?

 

[anthony263]

Missed it and not in the UK so can't watch it on 5od - anyone seen it appear online anywhere?

Keep an eye on youtube since these railway documentaries do tend to be posted a day or two after they are broadcast. Channel 5 do have their demand 5 youtube channel

 

[phil8715]

I've not watched it yet but Sky + it. However I was under the impression there was also supposed to be a series on Sky 1 about East Coast Trains?

 

[anthony263]

Yes sky were filimng a documentary on east coast no idea when they intend to broadcast it though

 

[jon0844]

No, it's Chief Inspector Wycliffe!

Actually, thinking again, it couldn't be Arsene Wenger. If it had been, he wouldn't have seen anything or got a result!

 

[Statto]

Yes sky were filimng a documentary on east coast no idea when they intend to broadcast it though

Uh oh, anyone who watched the East Coast episode on the recent BBC doc watch out for that David Brent type manager see if he appears on the Sky doc.

 

[anthony263]

Uh oh, anyone who watched the East Coast episode on the recent BBC doc watch out for that David Brent type manager see if he appears on the Sky doc.

I would be surprised if he wasnt in any new series.

Channel 5 have uploaded this episode onto their youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGY2j0CMsJ8

 

[merlodlliw]

Missed it and not in the UK so can't watch it on 5od - anyone seen it appear online anywhere?

where do you live,out of interest

Bob

 

[F Great Eastern]

That video is restricted to UK only, FYI

 

[313103]

Remind me never to watch 5player again. Firstly you have to watch a load of adverts at the beginning, then you cant skip adverts during the programme, if you try to do this it will open the advert and there is no back button, just to watch the first 12 minutes has taken me nearly 30 minutes. This is as frustrating as some of those passengers being delayed.

 

[Captain Chaos]

Remind me never to watch 5player again. Firstly you have to watch a load of adverts at the beginning, then you cant skip adverts during the programme, if you try to do this it will open the advert and there is no back button, just to watch the first 12 minutes has taken me nearly 30 minutes. This is as frustrating as some of those passengers being delayed.

The Youtube video linked to earlier contains no ads at all. Quality can also be changed to HD if desired.

 

[ModernRailways]

Remind me never to watch 5player again. Firstly you have to watch a load of adverts at the beginning, then you cant skip adverts during the programme, if you try to do this it will open the advert and there is no back button, just to watch the first 12 minutes has taken me nearly 30 minutes. This is as frustrating as some of those passengers being delayed.

Channel 5 need to get revenue somewhere. ITV Player I've noticed tend to have adverts splashed all over the screen, Demand 5 seems to be better, but you just have to sit through the adverts like I did.

 

[mbonwick]

Remind me never to watch 5player again. Firstly you have to watch a load of adverts at the beginning, then you cant skip adverts during the programme, if you try to do this it will open the advert and there is no back button, just to watch the first 12 minutes has taken me nearly 30 minutes. This is as frustrating as some of those passengers being delayed.

Use Adblock. Works for me on Firefox with no adverts before, during or after the episode!

 

[1e10]

Missed it and not in the UK so can't watch it on 5od - anyone seen it appear online anywhere?

It's on YouTube but I'm not sure whether or not it will play if you're outside of the UK.

If not there are other ways of accessing it but I'm not going to post them here.

 

[Domh245]

I too watched it on Demand5, and I did find the adverts very tedious. What I found worse was that they placed adverts in the middle of the film (eg Jody was talking to the camera and then suddenly cut to an advert about Ladbrokes) it really made the thing difficult to follow

 

[quarella]

There should be BTP officers on the train, Jody was vulnerable

I disagree. People should know how to behave. No-one should have to put up with that behaviour. As Jody said she was subjected to an hour of verbal abuse from off duty female police officers. She also said "Bit different to Monday morning." I would love to behave at normal commuter times in the manner I am expected to tolerate going home from late turn.
I sincerely hope you are not suggesting that as a female she should get special treatment. Equality was fought for in employment, not just the nice bits.
I have to say that I know several women who are far better at dealing with drunken groups like those shown than I am.

 

[bicbasher]

I have a feeling Jody will become one of the main characters, like Stobart, they've got into a pattern of featuring those who are popular with the viewers, which is the case with the truck drivers.

 

[phil8715]

There seems to loads of transport based programmes this year.

I wonder why this is? Why the programme makers sudden interest in transport?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[1e10]

There seems to loads of transport based programmes this year.

I wonder why this is? Why the programme makers sudden interest in transport?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Nothing solid to prove this is the case but it could be because of rising fuel costs, people turning to public transport and given this, TV channels are feeling the interest in it.

 

[bicbasher]

There seems to loads of transport based programmes this year.

I wonder why this is? Why the programme makers sudden interest in transport?

The Tube and the The Railway: Keeping Britain on Track did really well for BBC2, although the decision to air Stobart may have been based on the success of Ice Road Truckers.

Trains and trucks appear to appeal to the mainstream.

 

[1e10]

I watched it and found it very good, although was a bit miffed as to why the RPO called the local Police when there were at least two BTP PCSOs present with more than enough savvy (I'm assuming...) to deal with the situation and request assistance themselves should the Revenue staff require help if it kicked off.

I think the RPO explained afterwords (something along the lines of) usually they only need to be overheard requesting Police and the troublemakers will leave.

 

[jimm]

I watched it and found it very good, although was a bit miffed as to why the RPO called the local Police when there were at least two BTP PCSOs present with more than enough savvy (I'm assuming...) to deal with the situation and request assistance themselves should the Revenue staff require help if it kicked off.

The reason is that PCSOs do not have the full powers of arrest that a police constable has. PCSOs' powers do not run much beyond a 'citizen's arrest' to differentiate them from constables, to try to make it look like they aren't policing on the cheap.

The RPI is the person in charge of the operation, not the PCSOs, so it's his call if he wants proper coppers, who would have to be called anyway if things did get out of hand.