On The Buses

[johnnychips]

Older members may remember this comedy programme about a bus driver played by Reg Varney, and this quote just brought it to mind:

Buses would sometimes show just "Service" or "Town Service" in On The Buses

All I can really remember was that the buses were green and the imaginary place it was set was called ‘Luxton’. Of course there was an evil inspector called ‘Blakey’ with a Hitler moustache. I can’t even remember the other actors’ names or their characters’ names.

Does anybody know where it was filmed, what buses they used etc.? I presume Reg Varney had to do a PSV test.

No doubt I could Google all this, but I just thought other members might be interested.

 

[hexagon789]

Older members may remember this comedy programme about a bus driver played by Reg Varney, and this quote just brought it to mind:

All I can really remember was that the buses were green and the imaginary place it was set was called ‘Luxton’. Of course there was an evil inspector called ‘Blakey’ with a Hitler moustache. I can’t even remember the other actors’ names or their characters’ names.

Does anybody know where it was filmed, what buses they used etc.? I presume Reg Varney had to do a PSV test.

No doubt I could Google all this, but I just thought other members might be interested.

Supposed to be Luxton & District Route 11.

The buses used were Eastern National Bristol Lodekka FLF6LXs diesels with 70-seat bodies.

Varney did attempt to obtain a PSV licence but failed and he was not insured for driving in the series, so professional drivers were used for filming on public roads.

Ironically, Bob Grant who played Jack Haper, Stan Butler's conductor in the series was a bus driver in real life!

He took the job to help pay his way through his RADA course.

 

[Cesarcollie]

Supposed to be Luxton & District Route 11.

The buses used were Eastern National Bristol Lodekka FLF6LXs diesels with 70-seat bodies.

Varney did attempt to obtain a PSV licence but failed and he was not insured for driving in the series, so professional drivers were used for filming on public roads.

Ironically, Bob Grant who played Jack Haper, Stan Butler's conductor in the series was a bus driver in real life!

He took the job to help pay his way through his RADA course.

and the depot was the former Eastern National Wood Green depot - long since gone, but round the corner from the LT (now Arriva) garage.

 

[LAIRA]

Supposed to be Luxton & District Route 11.

The buses used were Eastern National Bristol Lodekka FLF6LXs diesels with 70-seat bodies.

Varney did attempt to obtain a PSV licence but failed and he was not insured for driving in the series, so professional drivers were used for filming on public roads.

Ironically, Bob Grant who played Jack Haper, Stan Butler's conductor in the series was a bus driver in real life!

He took the job to help pay his way through his RADA course.

I thought the buses were ex Eastern National KSW's

 

[Jonathan Lynch]

Lodekkas were used in the TV series which were green. The Eastern National KSW's were in the first two films.

 

[hexagon789]

I thought the buses were ex Eastern National KSW's

The TV series used Lodekkas in green, the films did use KSWs and painted red.

 

[Titfield]

http://www.onthebusesfanclub.com/

Has a lot of info.,

 

[robertclark125]

Worth mentioning that in the film triology the company was called Town and district.

 

[Geordie driver]

I often used to tell people that the reality of bus working was a bit like a very X rated version of " On the buses", even down to the wonky toothed lothario that was the conductor Jack.

 

[duncanp]

I think some of the outdoor scenes for the "Cemetery Gates" terminus were filmed at Lavender Hill Cemtery in Enfield.

 

[philthetube]

Older members may remember this comedy programme about a bus driver played by Reg Varney, and this quote just brought it to mind:

All I can really remember was that the buses were green and the imaginary place it was set was called ‘Luxton’. Of course there was an evil inspector called ‘Blakey’ with a Hitler moustache. I can’t even remember the other actors’ names or their characters’ names.

Does anybody know where it was filmed, what buses they used etc.? I presume Reg Varney had to do a PSV test.

No doubt I could Google all this, but I just thought other members might be interested.

Reg Varney would not need a PSV providing no paying passengers were carried, however I can imagine that the insurers would not be happy with a non licenced actor driving highly paid actors about.

4 episodes currently available on ITV player.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Reg Varney would not need a PSV providing no paying passengers were carried, however I can imagine that the insurers would not be happy with a non licenced actor driving highly paid actors about.

4 episodes currently available on ITV player.

You'd have to downseat the bus to 16 passengers to make it D1 though? I am fairly sure the classic bus exemption is very recent - and in any case it wasn't a classic bus when it was filmed, it was just a bus!

 

[Strathclyder]

I recall one or more of the buses used in the TV series or movie (can never remember which or if it was both) managing to survive into preservation. Can never remember if it was one of the movie KSWs, one of the TV Lodekkas or one of both.

 

[hexagon789]

I recall one or more of the buses used in the TV series or movie (can never remember which or if it was both) managing to survive into preservation. Can never remember if it was one of the movie KSWs, one of the TV Lodekkas or one of both.

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

 

[Gloster]

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.’

 

[Busaholic]

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.’

She only died recently - the last of the regular cast to do so by some years. She also had a regular part in the BBC TV comedy series in the early 1960s the Rag Trade alongside Peter Jones, Miriam Karlin and a very young Barbara Windsor, with whom she remained lifelong friends despite their very different political views (Karen Labour., Windsor Conservative). 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: watch if you can the sketch he did with Tommy Cooper on YouTube with them both pretending to box the other while trying hard not to collapse with laughter. He died too young.

By the way, Stan and Arthur did get off the no. 11 route at least once in the series, as they are sent out on a long 'country' route one weekend day when a dense fog descends! So far as I know, I have every episode, plus the films, on DVD, but they're trapped in my attic!

 

[Ken H]

She only died recently - the last of the regular cast to do so by some years. She also had a regular part in the BBC TV comedy series in the early 1960s the Rag Trade alongside Peter Jones, Miriam Karlin and a very young Barbara Windsor, with whom she remained lifelong friends despite their very different political views (Karen Labour., Windsor Conservative). 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: watch if you can the sketch he did with Tommy Cooper on YouTube with them both pretending to box the other while trying hard not to collapse with laughter. He died too young.

By the way, Stan and Arthur did get off the no. 11 route at least once in the series, as they are sent out on a long 'country' route one weekend day when a dense fog descends! So far as I know, I have every episode, plus the films, on DVD, but they're trapped in my attic!

Quite a few of them are free to watch on dailymotion.com. The search is rubbish so use Google. Playback quality can be questionable.

 

[RT4038]

You'd have to downseat the bus to 16 passengers to make it D1 though? I am fairly sure the classic bus exemption is very recent - and in any case it wasn't a classic bus when it was filmed, it was just a bus!

This was not the rules when the series was filmed though. Driving buses licenced as a Heavy Motor Car (i.e. not for hire or reward), with as many passengers as the vehicle was certified for, was possible on a car driver licence in those days. Rules changed in the early 90s I think? (Could have been late 80s?)

 

[DunsBus]

This was not the rules when the series was filmed though. Driving buses licenced as a Heavy Motor Car (i.e. not for hire or reward), with as many passengers as the vehicle was certified for, was possible on a car driver licence in those days. Rules changed in the early 90s I think? (Could have been late 80s?)

Reg Varney did have a PSV licence. However he wasn't insured to drive the buses used in the series and in the films so professional drivers were used in these scenes.

 

[philthetube]

This was not the rules when the series was filmed though. Driving buses licenced as a Heavy Motor Car (i.e. not for hire or reward), with as many passengers as the vehicle was certified for, was possible on a car driver licence in those days. Rules changed in the early 90s I think? (Could have been late 80s?)

Correct, I am not 100% sure where driving it while being paid as an actor, carrying other actors would fit within the law.

 

[341o2]

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

 

[Simon75]

I think some of the outdoor scenes for the "Cemetery Gates" terminus were filmed at Lavender Hill Cemtery in Enfield.

Correct. Series 1 to 6 were filmed mainly around the Wood Green/North London area, studio was at Wembley. Series 7 was filmed in the south London studios of the LWT at South Bank.

Worth mentioning that in the film triology the company was called Town and district.

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.

 

[DunsBus]

The third film, Holiday On The Buses used Crosville open-top Bristol Lodekka DLG817 (XFM229). As it was still.in service at the time the film was made, some creativity was involved to get the shots where it supposedly meets a watery end after getting stuck on the beach. The bus itself was driven off the sand after filming that scene - the shot of it partially submerged used a wooden prop, with a glass plate used for the shot of it fully submerged.

 

[Wuz]

Older members may remember this comedy programme about a bus driver played by Reg Varney, and this quote just brought it to mind:

All I can really remember was that the buses were green and the imaginary place it was set was called ‘Luxton’. Of course there was an evil inspector called ‘Blakey’ with a Hitler moustache. I can’t even remember the other actors’ names or their characters’ names.

Does anybody know where it was filmed, what buses they used etc.? I presume Reg Varney had to do a PSV test.

No doubt I could Google all this, but I just thought other members might be interested.

As a student I worked for Eastern National in the summers of 1969 and 1970. One of the FLFs was a BN Basildon bus and was always kept in great condition, except for some sticky marks were the Luxton stickers had been on the side. Also Cemetry Gates and possibly a couple of other fake "destinations" were after the end of the Basildon normal destinations on the blinds.
I believe you might be able spot the BN or a WG plate on one of the buses in a TV episode.

 

[Roger1973]

This was not the rules when the series was filmed though. Driving buses licenced as a Heavy Motor Car (i.e. not for hire or reward), with as many passengers as the vehicle was certified for, was possible on a car driver licence in those days. Rules changed in the early 90s I think? (Could have been late 80s?)

I think it must have been around 1991. That's about when I first worked for a bus operator and while it didn't directly involve me, there was a lot of rushing around getting engineering staff through their PCV test so they could drive 'not in service' buses which had previously been OK on a car licence (I think there were some exemptions, but operator had decided to get most staff licenced.)

As an aside, one of my parents was involved in a bus preservation group in the 1980s - one of the members worked as a full time bus driver, but technically he could not drive the preserved (non PSV / 'heavy motor car') bus, because he only held a moped licence and a PSV licence - at that time, you did not need to hold a car licence first.

Correct, I am not 100% sure where driving it while being paid as an actor, carrying other actors would fit within the law.

Now, I'm not so sure, but pre-1991, I think he would have been OK without a PSV licence (although opinion on the thread seems divided as to whether he held one) - drivers of works / contractors buses were paid, and driving other workers around, but at that time could do it without a PSV licence and without the bus being operated under a PSV Operator licence.

 

[Ligeraceaster]

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.’

A rather sniffy entry from cinema biogs as usual; while hardly artistic they were popular enough and many actors don’t get anything like that in their career.
They are horribly dated now of course but then they are 50 years old and pretty much all television that old is very dated.

 

[Snow1964]

This was not the rules when the series was filmed though. Driving buses licenced as a Heavy Motor Car (i.e. not for hire or reward), with as many passengers as the vehicle was certified for, was possible on a car driver licence in those days. Rules changed in the early 90s I think? (Could have been late 80s?)

Back at time of filming there were still people who had never done a driving test, but had got a licence when they were first introduced.
Anyone already driving before 1934 didn’t need to do a test.

My grandfather drove until mid 1980s, never done a test, and during WW2 was on RAF recovery where they took long Queen Mary trucks to recover crashed planes.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

A rather sniffy entry from cinema biogs as usual; while hardly artistic they were popular enough and many actors don’t get anything like that in their career.
They are horribly dated now of course but then they are 50 years old and pretty much all television that old is very dated.

I find them pretty cringeworthy TBH. That Bob Grant (Jack) was c.40 was bad enough but Reg Varney (Stan) was in his 50s and leering after young "dolly birds" - I'm not certain it was remotely PC in it's day and certainly not now (ps - I am not part of the Guardian reading, Tofu eating, Wokerati). Even compared with stuff like the Carry On films, it's a bit naff.

Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse absolutely nailed it in their spoof Omnibuses

 

[robertclark125]

Look on YouTube for a channel called "on the buses database ", has some location videos and then and now videos.

 

[duncanp]

I find them pretty cringeworthy TBH. That Bob Grant (Jack) was c.40 was bad enough but Reg Varney (Stan) was in his 50s and leering after young "dolly birds" - I'm not certain it was remotely PC in it's day and certainly not now (ps - I am not part of the Guardian reading, Tofu eating, Wokerati). Even compared with stuff like the Carry On films, it's a bit naff.

Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse absolutely nailed it in their spoof Omnibuses

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)