Continuity and other errors in British films/TV

[Bedpan]

The funniest take that I can remember is an episode of Casualty several years ago which featured na train crash. The train featured a Hymek and I think it was filmed on the West Somerset Railway althyough of course it was supposed to be a main line service. The funny bit was the way the bloke on the platform gave the right away, he raised his arm in the correct fashoion but after a few seconds then quickly dropper it to his side with his elbow straight, bending his body at the same time, it reminded me of the way the teachers used to start races at primary school.

As fror Portillo, I actually like the way the programme shows a variety of trains. The problem is that whoever makes the series s in a lose lose situation - if they maintain continuity the series will take a lot longer to make and the cost would be considerably more (helicopter hire and all) so people would complain, and if they don't then people complain about the obvious continuity howlers.

 

[LE Greys]

The BBC's adaptation of 'Wind in the Willows' broadcast in 2007 featured Mr Toad, disguised as a washerwoman, trying to get on a train at an English country station hauled by a distinctly German or Austrian looking steam locomotive.

I'm assuming that scene was shot on the Nene Valley Railway.

The Nene Valley is an old favourite with filmmakers, they've shot scenes for at least two James Bond films there. One involved an armour-plated Chopper (of the English Electric variety) crashing into a tank, the other involved a steam-hauled circus train ramming a car (that happened to be 4ft 8½in gauge) and sending it flying through the air into the River Nene. Some things are so daft that they can't be mistakes.

 

[142094]

Must be Goldeneye and Octopussy those two films.

 

[Lampshade]

As for adverts, the VT one currently running depicting a student off home for the weekend to meet her boyfriend, supposedly representing an Euston - Manchester journey, is particularly interesting even without the refurbishment of the portals of Shugborough Tunnel...

Which starts at Glasgow Central

Then there's the other one where Ed is travelling from Glasgow to Preston and arrives at Preston on platform 3 from the south :?

And the dubbing of the Valenta sound over the adverts.

 

[EM2]

There's a *really* bad one in a book by Daphne Du Maurier (I think). The first sentence is
'As the Inter-City train sped through the Kent countryside'...
This was written in the early noughties

 

[Peter Mugridge]

There's a *really* bad one in a book by Daphne Du Maurier (I think). The first sentence is
'As the Inter-City train sped through the Kent countryside'...
This was written in the early noughties

Could have been the result of her seeing D9000 on the Ramsgate I suppose?

Having said that, I would certainly agree that basing a story on a once a day service would be rather poor research on her part...

 

[LE Greys]

There's a *really* bad one in a book by Daphne Du Maurier (I think). The first sentence is
'As the Inter-City train sped through the Kent countryside'...
This was written in the early noughties

Weren't CEPs considered to be Inter-City stock in the 1960s? They used to run with buffet cars and MLVs after all. Mind you, by the 2000s, nobody would think a CEP to be IC quality.

You should read some of my stuff,
"The grating snarl of a suburban train..." during an argument on Reading platform 4
"...by the ear-splitting, metallic hiss..." of the Valenta-engined HST a character's just got off
Too much realism and not enough plot

 

[chuffchuff]

There's a *really* bad one in a book by Daphne Du Maurier (I think). The first sentence is
'As the Inter-City train sped through the Kent countryside'...
This was written in the early noughties

If it was set in the 90's, then it is correct.
Started of with 3 and ended with one to and from Liverpool
usually 47/8 and MkII's

 

[Oswyntail]

There's a *really* bad one in a book by Daphne Du Maurier (I think). The first sentence is
'As the Inter-City train sped through the Kent countryside'...
This was written in the early noughties

Alas, she died in 1989.

 

[EM2]

Alas, she died in 1989.

Not her, then. I know it was published sometime between 2002-2005, because that's when I was working in a book shop and it was a new title.
But it was set 'in the present day', and therefore couldn't have meant the Liverpool service, if it was wanting to be accurate, especially as it mentions the regular commuters, who would be unlikely to use it.

 

[kennethw]

The Nene Valley is an old favourite with filmmakers, they've shot scenes for at least two James Bond films there. One involved an armour-plated Chopper (of the English Electric variety) crashing into a tank, the other involved a steam-hauled circus train ramming a car (that happened to be 4ft 8½in gauge) and sending it flying through the air into the River Nene. Some things are so daft that they can't be mistakes.

The Octopussy sequence was meant to be serious, in that the car Bond is driving has its tyres shot up and it ends up running on the rails on its bare wheels. Bond jumps onto the circus train just as an oncoming locomotive crashes into the car with the result that it gets flipped off the tracks and into the river - rather impossible as when a train hits a car it tends to crush it and push it along unless fitted with a cowcatcher.

My favourite Bond boo boo has to be From Russia with Love. Bond escapes on the Orient Express which in one sequence the locomotive looks like a Stanier black five hauling maroon coaches and with an oh so British dolly - shunting ground signal - in the foreground. Well, maybe starting from Istambul one must remember that Stanier locomotives were in Turkey. And seriously, did the Orient Express run on a single line and could be stopped at an ungated level crossing by a broken down car? There must have been a change of engine as it is not the same as the aforementioned clip. The coaches have started green at Istambul, become red en route and back to green when Bond leaves the train.

Surely with the amount of money generated by Bond could Mr Broccoli find a clip of the genuine Orient Express or similar in motion!!

 

[LE Greys]

My favourite Bond boo boo has to be From Russia with Love. Bond escapes on the Orient Express which in one sequence the locomotive looks like a Stanier black five hauling maroon coaches and with an oh so British dolly - shunting ground signal - in the foreground. Well, maybe starting from Istambul one must remember that Stanier locomotives were in Turkey.

That was actually done in broad daylight with infra-red film (British Railways would not let them film at night in case they got squashed). I think it was at Leicester Central, it was certainly GCR.

And seriously, did the Orient Express run on a single line and could be stopped at an ungated level crossing by a broken down car? There must have been a change of engine as it is not the same as the aforementioned clip. The coaches have started green at Istambul, become red en route and back to green when Bond leaves the train.

Last minute job, any old bit of film will do. The Thirty Nine Steps has a similar problem, where Hannay's A3 from King's Cross to Perth suddenly becomes a Castle-class leaving Box Tunnel.

Surely with the amount of money generated by Bond could Mr Broccoli find a clip of the genuine Orient Express or similar in motion!!

The book handled it fairly well (Ian Fleming was clearly an enthusiast - or at least had a fine eye for detail). They go all the way from Istanbul to Dijon, with an engine change at Venice. The SMERSH agent tries to kill Bond in the Simplon Tunnel, and ends up dead by the other end. It's far easier to get the details right in a book, and there are always second editions.

Oh yes, and there really were war-surplus 8Fs sold to Turkey.

 

[Sam Bentley]

In the film quadrophenia, the trains shown are diesel hauled in and out of Paddington, class 50 IIRC, but Jimmy is going from London to the south coast.

 

[Retropractor]

The current 'Specsavers' Postman Pat commercial. Two sacks of mail, suddenly become two sacks of vegetables.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I contacted Specsavers about that; apparently there are four sacks on the ground but on TV only the veg sacks are visible - the mail sacks are just off the screen to the right; they are just visible if you view it online though.

Still, I think they should re-edit it because it does look very sloppy.

 

[4SRKT]

There was an episode of Coronation Street years ago where Tracey Barlow ran away to Newcastle. She was seen on a 142 leaving Manchester Victoria, heading westbound.

 

[142094]

A 142 all the way to Newcastle would be great, best I could get would be to York.

 

[4SRKT]

Given the direction it was heading, it would be a lengthy journey indeed to Newcastle on that one!

 

[455driver]

The current 'Specsavers' Postman Pat commercial. Two sacks of mail, suddenly become two sacks of vegetables.

There are 4 sacks, 2 of each on my telly.

 

[Retropractor]

Oops! Just watched it on YouTube. There are two sacks of mail, right at the edge. But on my Sony HD wide screen TV. You don't see them.


Anyway. Going back a bit. In the 1960's epic 'Exodus'. Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint, in the restaurant balcony scene. During their conversation. His shirt lapel keeps flipping up, in every other shot.

 

[richw]

Oops! Just watched it on YouTube. There are two sacks of mail, right at the edge. But on my Sony HD wide screen TV. You don't see them..

some might say the advert could be appealing to you then

 

[Wyvern]

If you spot it it shows you've been to Specsavers.

 

[starrymarkb]

Doomsday
Signed as "Glasgow Queen Street", but clearly isn't!

Not strictly British
Mission Impossible
The TGV is electric, but for one entire section of the filming there are NO overhead live wires!

That was filmed in Scotland, for the filming the crew had the use of a pair of 33s and some TCs - They built a filming platform on the front of one of the TCs

 

[Retropractor]

Co-incidently. My current pair of spectacles is from specsavers.

 

[kennethw]

mulling over the Octopussy sequence, I wonder whether Bond was well and truly shaken as the car is switched to a parallel track at a passing loop, would double flanged wheels ride over points, and also would saftey demand that all train movements stop as there is an unauthorised vehicle on the tracks.

In the Titfield Thunderbolt, the producers wanted the old driver appear for duty under the influence, this was rejected as it would lead to immediate dismissal in real life.

Still I expect the Nene Valley did quite well out of the sequence
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
or would the car end up like a picture in railway modeller of (I think) a class 31 derailed on its side with a speech bubble "I see Fred's tried to run his Triang diesel through scale points again"
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

The book handled it fairly well (Ian Fleming was clearly an enthusiast - or at least had a fine eye for detail). They go all the way from Istanbul to Dijon, with an engine change at Venice. The SMERSH agent tries to kill Bond in the Simplon Tunnel, and ends up dead by the other end. It's far easier to get the details right in a book, and there are always second editions.

Oh yes, and there really were war-surplus 8Fs sold to Turkey.

the film made several changes as they went further from Fleming's novels to the point where say Moonraker had virtually nothing as written by Fleming.

In from Russia with Love it is the filmakers invention of the terrorist organisation SPECTRE behind it all, the plan is to get the British and the Russians at each other and to get revenge on Bond for killing Dr No. a SPECTRE agent kills Kerim Bay and then tries to kill Bond on the train, Bond then leaves the train to reach Venice by boat.

A better sequence is in A View to a Kill where Amberly museum becomes a Californian mine near San Fransisco, one of the locomotives and a rake of skips features painted green and labelled with Zorin Industries

 

[jamesontheroad]

4SRKT may appreciate this one: Vinnie Jones and Samantha Mumba filmed a pretty dreadful gangster flick together a few years ago called Johnny Was. It was set in Brixton but was a British / Irish co-production, so Smithfield Market in Belfast stood in for Brixton Market, while Lisburn Railway station stood in for a leafy suburban London station. Trouble was the had a rather burbly NIR 450 Class lightly disguised as belonging to a fictional (and presumably all electric) London operator...

 

[4SRKT]

4SRKT may appreciate this one: Vinnie Jones and Samantha Mumba filmed a pretty dreadful gangster flick together a few years ago called Johnny Was. It was set in Brixton but was a British / Irish co-production, so Smithfield Market in Belfast stood in for Brixton Market, while Lisburn Railway station stood in for a leafy suburban London station. Trouble was the had a rather burbly NIR 450 Class lightly disguised as belonging to a fictional (and presumably all electric) London operator...

Excellent! I suppose they do look, if not sound, like 455s!

The current ad for some sort of season of programmes about British achievements on the channel Blighty has a brief clip of a French (I think, certainly not British) train flashing across the screen in between clips of Blenhaim Palace, the white cliffs of Dover, regency terraced houses etc.

 

[yorksrob]

Excellent! I suppose they do look, if not sound, like 455s!

The current ad for some sort of season of programmes about British achievements on the channel Blighty has a brief clip of a French (I think, certainly not British) train flashing across the screen in between clips of Blenhaim Palace, the white cliffs of Dover, regency terraced houses etc.

My goodness, you'd have thought they could have found a shot of a 125 or something

 

[Bittern]

I loved the way he was sat on a 156 and a pacer was filmed from above

Something similar happened on "Rail Away" where they couldn't decide against a HST and a 225.

 

[Mvann]

The BBC's adaptation of 'Wind in the Willows' broadcast in 2007 featured Mr Toad, disguised as a washerwoman, trying to get on a train at an English country station hauled by a distinctly German or Austrian looking steam locomotive.

I'm assuming that scene was shot on the Nene Valley Railway.

As for as I know, it wasnt filmed at nene valley.