Not a lot on TV tonight so I decided to investigate BBC iPlayer and take a look at "The Secret Agent", a very slow moving drama, but it was the end of the first episode that "annoyed" me.
The principle character boards a train to Kent in 1886, the loco's in the "Southern Railways" terminus look distinctly 1930's, but the biggest gaff is when they show a shot of the engine and tender, I am sure I see on the tender the "Cycling Lion" BR crest.
Not only that, but in a subsequent long shot the carriages are in BR Carmine and Cream, and the station has Carmine painted fascia boards and detailing, it all looked very LMS !
On the heels of "Trainspotting live" it would seem the Beeb do not care for detail or historical accuracy.
If you have iPlayer, please check this out and tell me I'm wrong !
I reckon you're doing well if subsequent shots show the same train...
I have to feel sorry for any film/TV company who portray steam railways of vintage eras as to try and have the right thing in the right place in the right livery must prove to be an absolute nightmare due to the availability of correct stock and the owners of said stock agreeing to possible repaints etc. Non railway buffs wouldn't know any difference but to those in the know the only options are 'get it right or don't show it', it would seem.
It's only when you have a programme like 'Heartbeat' when things come together with a great overall effect.
A slow moving drama sounds like a contradiction in terms :D we started watching the programme but gave up because it was so slow moving, we never even got to the railway bit of the episode.
I would have thought the Bluebell Railway would have suitable stock and stations for the era.
Pretty much all to programmes and many films are very weak at portraying railways correctly.
Even When showing a current era existing station on Doc Martin they managed get it wrong. The doc was shown waiting to catch a train to London from Bodmin Parkway but was waiting on the platform for trains to Penzance. Other members of the family couldn't understand why I was so annoyed. I reckon it was because the film crew couldn't be bothered to take their equipment across the bridge.
You complain about the railway scenes but don't you realise that the people involved are also replacements and not actually those involved in the scenes.
he whole thing is what is called fiction and should be watched for (sometimes) strange amusement only
If you think "The Secret Agent " is slow you should see Foyle's war,
like watching a state funeral. Back to topic in dramas the train is incidental
to the plot and most people aren't bothered or don't know if the rolling
stock is appropriate or not. One of my alltime favourite movies,
The day of the Jackal shows the Jackal boarding a diesel hauled train
and when it arrives in Paris it's electric hauled, but it doesn't matter
in the story.
Quote from: jonclox on July 24, 2016, 10:12:45 AM
You complain about the railway scenes but don't you realise that the people involved are also replacements and not actually those involved in the scenes.
he whole thing is what is called fiction and should be watched for (sometimes) strange amusement only
Must admit I was a trifle annoyed in "Braveheart " when William Wallace was
taken to London on a pendolino, I'm sure they weren't introduced until after
his execution..........
Quote from: jonclox on July 24, 2016, 10:12:45 AM
You complain about the railway scenes but don't you realise that the people involved are also replacements and not actually those involved in the scenes.
he whole thing is what is called fiction and should be watched for (sometimes) strange amusement only
Oh. Going away from trains. I was told that, although it seemed a little far fetched, the Dukes of Hazzard was actually a documentary.
The Dukes of Hazard was a documentary. But it was a cool car. ;) ;D
I was so incensed by this that I actually wrote to Anne Robinson of Points of View to complain about his very same thing, but all I received was a letter back from Jeremy Vine criticising me for my lack of attention to detail and historical accuracy because she was from the wrong era of Points of View.
Quote from: d-a-n on July 24, 2016, 11:17:36 AM
I was so incensed by this that I actually wrote to Anne Robinson of Points of View to complain about his very same thing, but all I received was a letter back from Jeremy Vine criticising me for my lack of attention to detail and historical accuracy because she was from the wrong era of Points of View.
To be fair to Jeremy Vine I think he was right. Wasn't it Cliff Michelmore doing Points of View in the 1880s? ;D
And holiday 69 :D
I've seen (US) dramas where it's a 747 on take off and a 737 when it lands, remarkably clever in flight down sizing.
Foyle's War is horrendous for accuracy, although I like the characters the historical inaccuracies drive me mad: Royal Navy officers with moustaches; troops at slope arms with rifles on the wrong shoulders to mention just a couple.
One TV progam I remember that seemed to have got it right was a telefilm about the life of Oscar Wilde, played by Stephen Fry.
The scene where he leaves London by train to flee to France was very convincing.
I think there was also a scene with a train in the recent film about the artist Turner (played by Timothy Spall) that didn't look ananchronistic.
Best regards,
Joe
Cliff Mitchelmore crossed his fingers on live BBC TV as Apollo 13 splashed down in 1970.
Did it for me. A legend.
Quote from: Bealman on July 24, 2016, 11:30:51 AM
And holiday 69 :D
1869? Nah - that was Judith Chalmers :sick2:
Quote from: JRS747 on July 24, 2016, 11:33:18 AM
I've seen (US) dramas where it's a 747 on take off and a 737 when it lands, remarkably clever in flight down sizing.
Dramas can be excused things like this to a certain extent, but it's when "factual" programmes do it that it gets silly. Lost count the number of times on 'Air Crash Investigation' when they're discussing accidents involving a 737, a 707, an Airbus, etc and Clare gets all annoyed that the in-cockpit re-enactment is nearly always a Hawker Siddeley Trident :D
Paul
Quote from: Bealman on July 24, 2016, 11:48:58 AM
Cliff Mitchelmore crossed his fingers on live BBC TV as Apollo 13 splashed down in 1970.
Did it for me. A legend.
And when they returned successfully he wrote the hit song "Congatulations !" and went on to win the Eurovision song contest.
Truly a renaissance man.
Best regards,
Joe
NewportNobby, Joe and Sprintex..
;D ;D
Nothing new here. Even William Shakespeare (of my locality) included a mechanical clock in Julius Caesar set around 44BC. Everybody knows it was still the era of the sundial wristwatch! :-)
Quote from: woodbury22uk on July 24, 2016, 12:34:58 PM
Nothing new here. Even William Shakespeare (of my locality) included a mechanical clock in Julius Caesar set around 44BC. Everybody knows it was still the era of the sundial wristwatch! :-)
Solar power !
Quote from: woodbury22uk on July 24, 2016, 12:34:58 PM
Nothing new here. Even William Shakespeare (of my locality) included a mechanical clock in Julius Caesar set around 44BC. Everybody knows it was still the era of the sundial wristwatch! :-)
Not quite correct------------ it was the age of the wrist held clepsydra running on 2stroke oils
Off topic but still the Beeb, a few years ago during the broadcast of the Trooping
of the Colour, the commentator said and now over to Hyde park for a 21 gun
salute by the Kings Troop of the Royal Arse Hortillery.
Quote from: jonclox on July 24, 2016, 01:55:15 PM
Quote from: woodbury22uk on July 24, 2016, 12:34:58 PM
Nothing new here. Even William Shakespeare (of my locality) included a mechanical clock in Julius Caesar set around 44BC. Everybody knows it was still the era of the sundial wristwatch! :-)
Not quite correct------------ it was the age of the wrist held clepsydra running on 2stroke oils
A condition which is treatable these days thanks to modern antibiotics.
I reckon out there there's a fountain pen forum full of complaints along the lines of "
In the latest Downtown Abbey episode Lord Blunderberry signed the document with a pen which was first produced in 1936 with that particular nib colouring!!! OMG!!!!". Having lived in the general real world of commercial pressures for a while, I reckon we'll have to live with faux pas like the 17:38 to Basingstoke departing from plaform 10 when in reality it never departed from a platform higher than 9 3/4, unless the programme in question is specifically about trains, in which case all bets and gloves are ff.
Quote from: railsquid on July 24, 2016, 05:43:32 PM
Quote from: jonclox on July 24, 2016, 01:55:15 PM
Quote from: woodbury22uk on July 24, 2016, 12:34:58 PM
Nothing new here. Even William Shakespeare (of my locality) included a mechanical clock in Julius Caesar set around 44BC. Everybody knows it was still the era of the sundial wristwatch! :-)
Not quite correct------------ it was the age of the wrist held clepsydra running on 2stroke oils
A condition which is treatable these days thanks to modern antibiotics.
I reckon out there there's a fountain pen forum full of complaints along the lines of "In the latest Downtown Abbey episode Lord Blunderberry signed the document with a pen which was first produced in 1936 with that particular nib colouring!!! OMG!!!!". Having lived in the general real world of commercial pressures for a while, I reckon we'll have to live with faux pas like the 17:38 to Basingstoke departing from plaform 10 when in reality it never departed from a platform higher than 9 3/4, unless the programme in question is specifically about trains, in which case all bets and gloves are ff.
Oi! you leave Blastingstroke' its pens and all who sail in them departing from platform 5(Readin only) alone and get back to squiglet watchin
Quote from: jonclox on July 24, 2016, 01:55:15 PM
Quote from: woodbury22uk on July 24, 2016, 12:34:58 PM
Nothing new here. Even William Shakespeare (of my locality) included a mechanical clock in Julius Caesar set around 44BC. Everybody knows it was still the era of the sundial wristwatch! :-)
Not quite correct------------ it was the age of the wrist held clepsydra running on 2stroke oils
I see how young Willy Shakespeare got confused now - "2stroke or not 2stroke that is the question".
... 99, 100, 101, hey, do self tappers count as rivets in this application? ??? :P