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If you want to know more about Elstree Studios click on Paul Burton's photo of Elstree at the bottom of this page to link to his excellent web site.
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On the Buses was a highly successful ITV sitcom made by the London weekend franchise holder LWT (London Weekend Television), between 1969 and 1973. Starring Reg Varney, Bob Grant, Doris Hare, Stephen Lewis, Michael Robbins and Anna Karen, this sitcom regularly attracted the kind of ratings that TV executives can only ever dream and drool over these days in this multi-channel world. As a result Hammer Films, the company behind many of the well-known and successful horror films and were themselves based at Elstree from 1967 onwards until 2000, signed the cast for three 90 minute feature film spin-offs.
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The first film, On the Buses, was 'shot' between 8th March and 7th April 1971 for a mere 90,000. This was then followed by Mutiny on the Buses, in 1972, and the final film, Holiday on the Buses, in 1973. The threefilms were all made and recorded at the Elstree Film Studios with the location work being very close in the town of Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, the actual home of the studios. The first film On the Buses was such a big hit that it proved to be the most popular film at the box office of 1971 in England!
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Although a real life bus station (believed to be in Wood Green, London) was used for the exteriors in the television sitcom version of On the Buses, it was Stage 5 at Elstree that was in actual fact used for the exteriors of the bus station in the film versions. The above vid. cap. taken from the film On the Buses, and the aerial shot taken in 1968, both show Stage 5. I personally believe The stages was chosen at the studio for use as a depot on the films as the building, with its concrete area positioned directly in front made, it ideal for doubling as a bus depot
The buildings you can see on the vid. cap. (from the pre-titles sequence of Holiday on the Buses) positioned here, are the old film archive rooms at Elstree Studios, which I believe were positioned near to the cutting rooms and recording studios. All of these buildings were in the old part of the site which was sadly redeveloped by Brent Walker. And a Tescos supermarket is now situated on the land in question.
Incidentally Stage 1, which was also demolished in the early 90s, was also used for interior filming for the first of the On the Buses spin-off films. The photo on theleft is of a plaque which was unveiled at a ceremony organised at the studios by the British Comedy Society. This plaque is displayed on a side wall of the White House cafe building at the front of the studios and near to the security entrance. It hangs next to plaques also displayed by the British Comedy Society. The other plaquespay tributeto the late actor Peter Sellers, and the sitcom spin-off films: Man About The House and Are You Being Served, which were filmed at at the studios in 1974 and 1977 respectively.
An initial aspect that gave the location away for me was the fact that, having seen footage and photos of the studios as they were in the 60s and leading up to the time that the On the Buses films were made, I recognised the area directly around the stage. The buildings, and even the types of trees, confirmed this for me!
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