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 12 September 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 12 September 1971 to 3 September 1972, in the same time slot.
Each week saw the gang in a separate adventure including episodes based around a runaway homemade 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. Melvyn Hayes also wrote the episode "Man's Best Friend", co-wrote the episode "Get a Movie On!", co-wrote the series' theme song, and acted as a dialogue coach for the series. 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 (MI-5). Co-star Brinsley Forde later became the lead singer in Aswad.
The series was originally scheduled for 26 episodes (as well as a second series of 26 additional episodes), but production ceased after the 17th.
The entire series was released on 1 November 2010 on DVD in the UK.
Read more about this topic: Here Come The Double Deckers
Famous quotes containing the words the show and/or show:
“The day the world ends, no one will be there, just as no one was there when it began. This is a scandal. Such a scandal for the human race that it is indeed capable collectively, out of spite, of hastening the end of the world by all means just so it can enjoy the show.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)
“Nothing to be done really about animals. Anything you do looks foolish. The answer isn’t in us. It’s almost as if we’re put here on earth to show how silly they aren’t.”
—Russell Hoban (b. 1925)
“Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them,
They say they still can’t see.
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
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I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)