Here Come the Double Deckers

Here Come the Double Deckers
Here Come the Double Deckers!
Format Children's television series
Created by Harry Booth
Roy Simpson
Glyn Jones
Starring Michael Audreson
Gillian Bailey
Bruce Clark
Peter Firth
Brinsley Forde
Melvyn Hayes
Debbie Russ
Douglas Simmonds
Nigel Barker
Country of origin  United Kingdom
 United States
Production
Running time 30 minutes per episode
Broadcast
Original channel ABC
BBC One
Original run September 12, 1970 (US)
8 January 1971 (UK) – September 3, 1972 (US)
30 April 1971 (UK)

Here Come the Double Deckers was a 17-part British children's TV series from 1970-71 revolving around the adventures of seven children whose den was an old red double-decker London bus in an unused works (junk) yard.

Contents

The show

A co-production between British independent film company Century Films and American TV company 20th Century Fox, it was a children's comedy adventure sitcom. The shows (without adverts) were about 21 minutes long.

The programme made its debut on September 12, 1970 at 10:30 am ET in the US on ABC, and at 4:55 pm on 1 January 1971 in Britain on BBC One. In the US, the series was rerun on Sunday mornings during the 1971-72 TV season on ABC from September 12, 1971 to September 3, 1972, in the same time slot.[1]

Each week saw the gang in a separate adventure including episodes based around a runaway home made hovercraft, a chocolate factory and invading 'Martians' with guns that shot out chocolate candy, a disastrous camping holiday, collecting tin foil for a guide dog, becoming pop moguls with their protégé 'The Cool Cavalier' and a haunted stately home.

The cast were unknowns apart from Melvyn Hayes, an established adult actor, and Gillian Bailey, fairly experienced for a child actor. Bailey is now head of the drama department at Royal Holloway University. Peter Firth has gone on to a prominent acting career, appearing in Equus, The Hunt for Red October, Tess, Pearl Harbor and Spooks. Co-star Brinsley Forde later became the lead singer in Aswad.

The series was originally scheduled for 26 episodes, but production ceased after the 17th.

The entire series was released on 1 November 2010 on DVD in the UK.[2]

Cast

Children

Guest stars

Episodes

  1. Tiger Takes Off (Tiger accidentally goes for a trip on a hovercraft Brains created.)
  2. The Case of the Missing Doughnut (Doughnut eats an invisibility formula Brains invented.)
  3. Get a Movie On (The gang make a film to enter a contest.)
  4. Starstruck (The gang are chased by security around Elstree Studios, as they look for a movie star's runaway dog.)
  5. Happy Haunting (Albert takes the gang to a stately home for a day out.)
  6. Summer Camp (The gang camp in a field with a middle aged couple who get the worst of it.)
  7. The Pop Singer (The group try to launch The Cool Cavalier's pop career with a disco.)
  8. Scooper Strikes Out (Scooper is knocked out by a baseball and dreams he is with Alice in Wonderland.)
  9. Robbie the Robot (Brains invents a robot which is sent to rescue Tiger's tiger from a neighbour's garden, and later becomes the hit of the television show Inventors' Club.)
  10. The Go-Karters (A biker sabotages the gang's go-kart, as a result of which Spring ends up in court after a high speed police chase.)
  11. A Helping Hound (The gang unsuccessfully try to help a woman threatened with eviction to decorate her house, but help comes when Tiger receives a large cash reward for finding a lost dog.)
  12. Invaders from Space (Men in spacesuits are advertising a new sweet called Planet 7, but the gang think it is an alien invasion.)
  13. Barney (The gang befriend Barney, a one-man band who keeps getting moved on by the police.)
  14. Man's Best Friend (The gang put on a show with aluminium foil as an entry fee to buy a guide dog for the blind.)
  15. United We Stand (The owner of the yard that the gang use wants to turn it into a car park, but the kids sabotage his meeting with the Mayor.)
  16. Up to Scratch (Billie has to look after a dog named Scratch which runs off after a man with a flea circus turns up.)
  17. A Hit for a Miss (The boys fall for substitute teacher Miss Petit, which makes Billie jealous, and help her put on a show for an old folks home.)

Original soundtrack

Music played a prominent part in the programme, with an original soundtrack sung by the cast and written by Harry Booth, Melvyn Hayes and Johnny Arthey. The music was composed and directed by Ivor Slaney. An 11-track album of this was issued on Capitol Records in 1970 and re-issued as a CD in 2007 with liners notes by David Noades.[3]

  1. It's a Day and a Half (from episode 5)
  2. To the Countryside (from episode 6)
  3. Good Day at Yellow Rock (from episode 3)
  4. With a Little Bit of Love (from episode 17)
  5. I Gotta Get Through (from episode 7, sung by Anthony May)
  6. Get On Board (Title song)
  7. Life Is a Wonderful Thing (from episode 7)
  8. Grannie's Rocking Chair (from episode 6)
  9. One Man Band (from episode 13)
  10. Welcome to the Party (from episode 8. Peter Firth [Scooper] was the only one of the gang singing in this. Jane Seymour, Melvyn Hayes and others cast members sang too.)
  11. Fat Ladies (from episode 17)

DVD release

All the episodes are presented as originally broadcast, but Happy Haunting contains the usual "See you next week" line instead of the trailer for Summer Camp.

Here Come the Double Deckers!

Label: Second Sight
Release Date: 1 November 2010
Catalogue N°: 2NDVD 3187
Availability: Out now

Two-disc Region 2 DVD set containing all 17 episodes.

Special Feature:

  • 'Double Decker Memories' featuring interviews with Brinsley Forde and Michael Audreson.

Go for a Take

Debbie Russ appears as herself/Tiger in the comedy film Go for a Take (1972), which was directed and co-written by Harry Booth. The film stars Reg Varney and is set in a film studio. Evidently, Here Come the Double Deckers is one of the shows in production within the fiction of the film.[1]. Unfortunately, the original stuffed tiger prop had been lost shortly after filming had been completed on the series, so a look-alike had to be used.[4] Production was at Pinewood Studios and on location.

References

  1. ^ The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television, by Wesley Hyatt (Billboard Books, 1997)
  2. ^ http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003WUXIYK?tag=thedoudec0d-21&camp=2902&creative=19466&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B003WUXIYK&adid=15DGXBG8765AY4KTSGWN&
  3. ^ http://www.cherryred.co.uk/other/product.php?display=DECKCD102 Original TV Soundtrack
  4. ^ Official web site

External links

v · Children's programming on the American Broadcasting Company in the 1970s
First-run animated series
The New Casper Cartoon Show (1963-1970) • The Smokey the Bear Show • The Cattanooga Cats Show (1969-1971) • Hot Wheels (1969-1971) • The Hardy Boys (1969-1971) • Skyhawks (1969-1971) • The Adventures of Gulliver (1968-1970) • Fantastic Voyage (1968-1970) • Will the Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down (1970-1972) • The Road Runner Show • The Funky Phantom (1971–1973) • The Jackson 5ive (1971–1973) • The Osmonds (1972-1974) • The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie (1972-1974) • The Brady Kids (1972–1974) • Kid Power (1972-1974) • Yogi's Gang (1973-1975) • Super Friends • Lassie's Rescue Rangers (1973-1975) • Goober and the Ghost Chasers (1973) • Mission: Magic! (1973-1974) • Hong Kong Phooey (1974-1976) • The New Adventures of Gilligan (1974-1977) • Devlin (1974-1976) • These Are the Days (1974-1976) • The Tom and Jerry Show (1975-1977) • The Great Grape Ape Show (1975-1976) • The Oddball Couple (1975-1977) • Jabberjaw (1976-1978) • The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour • The Mumbly Cartoon Show (1976-1977) • The All-New Super Friends Hour • Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics (The Scooby-Doo Show • Laff-A-Lympics • Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels) • Fangface (1978-1979) • Challenge of the Super Friends • The All-New Pink Panther Show (1978-1979) • The World's Greatest Super Friends • The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show (Mighty Man and Yukk • Rickety Rocket) (1979-1981) • Spider-Woman (1979-1980) • Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo
First-run live-action series
American Bandstand (1957-1987) • Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp • Here Come the Double Deckers (1970–1972) • Lidsville (1971–1973) • Curiosity Shop • Korg: 70,000 B.C. • The Lost Saucer • Uncle Croc's Block (1975-1976) • The Krofft Supershow (1976-1978) • Junior Almost Anything Goes (1976-1978) • ABC Weekend Special (1977-1997)
Rebroadcasts
George of the Jungle (1967-1970) • Bewitched • Jonny Quest (1970–1972) • H.R. Pufnstuf • The Monkees (1972–1973) • Speed Buggy • Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!
Schedules
1969-70 • 1970-71 • 1971-72 • 1972-73 • 1973-74 • 1974-75 • 1975-76 • 1976-77 • 1977-78 • 1978-79 • 1979-80
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