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In the book he drives a Railton, but I'm pretty sure it's not one of them. I thought it may be a Rover. Can anyone identify it?
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..haven't watched it yet (recording it), but if it's the one in the publicity photos (AAP 764) it's a Wolseley 14/56.
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In last Sunday's episode he'd changed to a newer Wolseley (KVX). Both of them were in Foyle's War, driven by the delectable Honeysuckle Weeks. That was on ITV so there's probably an agency which finds owners willing to lend their cars.
The BBC would have had trouble finding a Railton I suspect.
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>> the delectable Honeysuckle Weeks.
I had such a crush on Honeysuckle Weeks.
That means nothing of course, because I would marry Miranda Hart in an instant! (I know - mad isn't it!)
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There are agencies who search out cars for historic shows. I have been approached several times but always declined. One of our club members let the makers of ' One of our dinosaurs is missing ' use his 1920 Long Four tourer. They changed the colour and did a terrible job changing it back.
As an aside to the SSGB enquiry, we had Midsomer Murders on ITV3 last night and there was a flashback scene to the African Bush. There were a couple of very brief shots of a black saloon which looked very much like a Jowett Javelin. I was half nodding off at the time but I know mine was in it;s pyjamas in the garage !
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>>The BBC would have had trouble finding a Railton I suspect.
Here's one I once had the privilege of driving: www.shuttleworth.org/collection/railton/
A straight eight!
Saw another the other day.
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Just seen M Murders too - the first time I saw it it looked like a Javelin, but it appeared again for a moment and I thought perhaps more like something American circa 1940. There were quite a few fastbacks of that era.
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A Railton was an American Hudson fitted with UK bodywork.
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They always make the mistake in period dramas of having all the cars and lorries in pristine condition.
A coal lorry would be streaked in real coal dust, not a bit of painted-on makeup.
Many of the vehicles would have been belching smoke, or rattling, or have dented mudguards.
Also in any snapshot year a lot of the vehicles would have been much older than the target year, not struggling to qualify because technically they were later models.
The same with house interiors. Ordinary people in 1940 or whenever did not go out and refit their homes with 1940 furniture and fittings. Many would still be Victorian hang-overs, and often pretty tatty too.
Combined with the almost universal use of colour, makers have a struggle to portray realistic scenes. Instinctively we view the past (ie pre 1955) as happening in black and white, so it is difficult, almost impossible, to make a viewer feel he is really back in time.
I never now feel, on stumbling out into the daylight from watching even a really good film, that I am rejoining the real world - I have never left it.
I remember from years ago it took some time before that weird feeling left me, of having been somewhere else.
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The same with house interiors. Ordinary people in 1940 or whenever did not go out
>> and refit their homes with 1940 furniture and fittings. Many would still be Victorian hang-overs,
>> and often pretty tatty too.
That's a good point, I've never really thought about it like that before.
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>> The same with house interiors. Ordinary people in 1940 or whenever did not go out
>> and refit their homes with 1940 furniture and fittings. Many would still be Victorian hang-overs,
>> and often pretty tatty too.
>>
I remember in the early 1980s visiting some large private house in Scotland with my parents. The decor was of the 1850s-1910s period and the carpets were threadbare and worn...
So the comment is entirely accurate.. Kitchen tables often looked and were clapped out.. as were the chairs.. and the cutlery and plates..
I grew up in post war rationing and it made people very keen to ensure everything they owned lasted and lasted and lasted...long after rationing ended.
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Avant...The Javelin body was closely based on the Lincoln Zephyr of about 1938..but smaller. I only saw the programme for a few seconds, so it could well have been a Zephyr.
Locos and trains seem to cause a lot of problems with film makers. They shouldn't, because the railways are probably the most recorded and studied of industries. There will always be someone who can tell you the loco that pulled the 1730 out of Little Chuffington on a random date in 1907.
I was impressed by the Downton family being able to roster a 1954 British Railways standard loco for their Scottish trip !
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I guess for all tv shows it can be a large cost of getting exactly righted weighted against how many people will notice they've got exactly the right car or train.
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Absolutely. It's the plot and acting that count in a drama not the props.
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>> Absolutely. It's the plot and acting that count in a drama not the props.
>>
But that's just my point -
Any car made before 1940 would do for a 1940 street scene.
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Archer's son asked if Archer's car was to be a Jaguar...surely, they only appeared after the war ? Brilliant series though, spoiled only a little by the use of the wrong type of Spitfire in the opening sequence. Well made.
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>> Archer's son asked if Archer's car was to be a Jaguar...surely, they only appeared after
>> the war ?
>>
SS cars were producing attractive and sporty cars before the war - Alan Clark was a great fan, always maintaining that his SS100 could beat any car from the lights for the first 50 yards.
After the war "SS" ceased to be an attractive brand name, so the company was rechristened Jaguar.
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>> Absolutely. It's the plot and acting that count in a drama not the props.
Up to a point.
If you write a drama about the RAF expeditionary force in France before the Battle of Britain then historical accuracy requires the fighter aircraft to be Hawker Hurricanes. But if you need enough airworthy planes of that era to make up a flight, never mind a squadron you can only find Suprmarine Spitfires.
'Wrong PLanes' is then added to the charge sheet along with any other alleged historical innacuracy, like denying the myth that 'or boys' were all paragons of virtue.
As the makers of LWT;s 'Piece of Cake' discovered 30 yrs ago.
Of course if they did it now CGI would fill the technical gaps.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 13 Mar 17 at 21:10
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Not really if it's a historical documentary that's one thing. If it's a drama then no one is going to worry too much. Of course you'll get people getting in a twist because it should have been the mk76b with the undercarriage 3/5 of an inch wider. However producers aren't really going to take notice of that type of thing, unless it's about objects rather than people.
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Very much the equal of Man in the etc etc - what it lacked in the loving care and attention to the sets etc in the former it has more than made up for in the adherence to the book, and the fine acting, especially Sam Riley and Lars Eidinger, who played Huth...sinister or what ? Thanks BBC for a superb rendition.
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Just got to the bit in the book about Archer going to the Detention Camp - the author describes the car as a Railton !
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SS GB. What's that car Archer's driving? - tyrednemotional
