TV DRAMA CONCERNING FLYING

From 1977 to 1988, in the UK, there were 4 prominent TV dramas. They were: Flambards, Wings, Piece of Cake and Airline.

The following periods were covered:

1. Pioneering aviation (Flambards - aired 1979)

2. Flying in the early part of World War I (Wings - aired 1977 - 1978)

3. Flying in the early part of World War II (Piece of Cake - aired 1988)

4. Civil Aviation in post war Britain (Airline - aired 1982)

(Note, although these represent a large chunk of flying drama televised in the UK, there were also some very poor programmes - such as the BBC's

"Buccaneer" (1980) - a "rudderless" series about a contemporary airline. It starred Bryan Marshall in the lead role, playing a character called Tony Blair!)

 

FLAMBARDS - consisted of one series, based on 3 books by K.M.Peyton.

 

WINGS. Two series

 

WINGS. Tim Woodward has almost single-handedly captured the Flying Drama

genre, staring as the hero in Wings and anti-hero(?) in Piece of Cake.

 

PIECE OF CAKE was based on the excellent book by Derek Robinson.

Its flying sequences were beautifully filmed (and have since been stolen for

other productions). Derek Robinson's work is exciting but also has serious intent.

He encourages us to question the validity of widely accepted views of history.

His book "Invasion 1940", in particular, provides excellent food for thought.

 

AIRLINE. There was only ever one series of Airline.

Airline covered historical issues, such as the RAF strike at Mauripur and the Berlin Airlift

It also explored the way in which economic pressures can easily lead to bad practice.

Later, a TV advert for Stansted Airport employed the main protagonists from the programme.

At first it looked like an advert for a second series of Airline - how disappointing that it wasn't!

 

Flambards clip uploaded by: garej

Wings clips uploaded by: standallas

Piece of Cake clip uploaded by: vulcanfanman

Airline clip uploaded by: jonroberts123

 

 

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