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
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) January 8, 1971 (UK) – September 3, 1972 (US) April 30, 1971 (UK)

Here Come the Double Deckers was a seventeen-part British children's TV series from 1970/1971 revolving around the adventures of seven children whose den was an old red double-decker London bus in an unused works (junk) yard.

Contents 1 The show 2 Cast 2.1 Children 2.2 Guest stars 3 Episodes 4 Original Soundtrack 5 Trivia 6 Comparisons 7 Go for a Take 8 References 9 External links

[edit] The show

A co-production between British independent film company Century Films and American TV company 20th Century Fox, it was a comedy adventure sitcom similar in look and feel to other late 1960s / early 1970s sitcoms such as The Monkees, The Partridge Family and the Banana Splits. The shows (without ads) 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 January 1, 1971 in Britain on BBC One. In the US, the series was rerun on Sunday mornings during the 1971-1972 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/seeing-eye dog, becoming pop moguls with their protege 'The Cool Cavalier' and a haunted stately home.

The cast were unknowns apart from Melvyn Hayes who appeared as Albert the Street Cleaner. Of the younger stars, 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 original scheduled for 26 episodes, followed by a further series, but production ceased after the 17th due to financial difficulties and alleged irregularities.^{[citation needed]}.

Due to legal issues the show has never been available on video (except in France) or DVD.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Children

• Michael Audreson - Brains, a classic early TV portrayal of the geek type.
• Gillian Bailey - Billie
• Bruce Clark - Sticks (The only American in this group)
• Peter Firth - Scooper, the leader
• Brinsley Forde - Spring
• Debbie Russ - Tiger (who also had a stuffed tiger called Tiger)
• Douglas Simmonds - Doughnut

[edit] Guest stars

• Melvyn Hayes - Albert (All except episodes 4, 9, 12, 13, 15 to 17).
• Ivor Salter was in many of the episodes, usually as a policeman (PC Williams?).
• Julian Orchard, Jack Haig, Roy Evans in episode 2.
• Norman Vaughan in episode 3.
• David Lodge, Bob Todd, Liz Fraser in episode 4.
• Clive Dunn, Pat Coombs in episode 5.
• Betty Marsden, Hugh Paddick, George Woodbridge in episode 6.
• Anthony May in episode 7.
• Jane Seymour, Bunny May, Tim Barrett, George Benson, Ruth Kettlewell in episode 8.
• Frank Thornton, Michael Sharvell-Martin in episode 9.
• David Hutcheson, Jimmy Gardner, Robin Askwith in episode 10.
• Graham Stark, Nora Nicholson, Nicholas Phipps, Jennifer Daniel in episode 11.
• Sam Kydd, Dervis Ward, John Horsley, Michael Brennan in episode 12.
• Julian Chagrin in episode 13.
• Pat Coombs, Derek Royle, Jack Haig, Bob Todd in episode 15.
• Timothy Bateson, Ann Lancaster in episode 16.
• Georgina Simpson, Brian Hayes, Damaris Hayman, John Clive, Lucy Griffiths, Bryan Hunt in episode 17.

[edit] 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 around Elstree Studios, as they look for a lost dog).
5. Happy Haunting (Albert takes them to a stately home for a day out).
6. Summer Camp (They 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 the 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.)
10. The Go-Karters (A biker sabotages the group's go-kart, so Spring ends up in court after a high speed police chase.)
11. A Helping Hound (The gang unsuccessfully try to help a woman decorate her house, but a lost dog comes to their aid.)
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 (Barney is 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.)

[edit] 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.^[2].

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)

[edit] Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (July 2008)

• Only in the start title are the kids seen riding a double decker bus which is done with a stationary model and back projection of either Whitehall, Tower Bridge or Pall Mall.
• Melvyn Hayes is also listed as the 'Dialogue Director' in the end credits. He worked with Harry Booth on the screenplay of episode 3 and wrote the screenplay for episode 14.
• Episode 4 features the kids at Elstree Studios (called Century Film Studios) where the show was made, where they cause havoc on various sets.
• Episode 4 features children from the Italia Conti Stage School.
• Episode 5, as Albert turns up in a hired car, the kids call out to him before they can see him.
• Episode 5 ends with a trailer for episode 6 instead of the usual: "See you next week!" from the kids.
• Episode 9 has Brain's robot entering an inventor's competition at Century Television Studios.
• Episode 13. Barney mentions Umslopogaas (a Zulu character from H. Rider Haggard's stories).
• Episode 14 is dedicated to Guide dogs for the Blind. 30 sacks of aluminium foil can be sold to buy one guide dog.
• Episode 14. Most of the gang of kids are about the same height as Albert (Melvyn Hayes) with Scooper a few inches taller than him.
• Episode 16, the gang sing: "Old McDonald had a farm" which does not appear on the soundtrack vinyl album or CD.
• Episode 17 for the "Fat Ladies" song, the boys all wear drag while Billie and Tiger dress up as boy soldiers.
• Episode 17. The last episode ended with the usual: "See you next week."

[edit] Comparisons

Prior to Here Comes the Double Deckers, the series creators had also produced a similar film series that ran in ABC Cinemas, called "The Magnificent Six and a Half," which ran from 1968 to 1972. The series was also seen briefly in the United States in syndication in the early 1970s. Both Audreson and Forde were regulars in this version as well.

[edit] 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]. Production was at Pinewood Studios and on location.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Doubledeckers.com fan site
• Video clip of introduction theme