| London's Burning | |
|---|---|
| Format | Drama |
| Created by | Jack Rosenthal |
| Starring | James Hazeldine Glen Murphy Sean Blowers Katharine Rogers Samantha Beckinsale Ross Boatman Jo Stone-Fewings Steven Houghton Heather Peace Anthony Green |
| Country of origin | UK |
| No. Drama is the specific mode of Fiction represented in Performance. Jack Rosenthal CBE ( 8 September 1931 - 29 May 2004) was an English Playwright, who wrote 129 early episodes James Hazeldine ( 4 April 1947 - 17 December 2002) was a British Film, stage and Television Glen Murphy MBE (born 1957 is a British actor He is perhaps best known as George Green between 1988 and 2002 on the television drama London's Burning Sean Blowers (born in 1961 is a British actor He is well known for playing John Hallam in London's Burning from 1988 to 1996 and he has also been in Samantha Jane Beckinsale (born 23 July 1966) is an English Actress famous for her role in London's Burning and her role "Rocky" Ross Boatman (born in 1964 in King's Cross London) is an English RADA -trained actor professional Poker player and a Jo Stone-Fewings (born in Hereford in 1967 is an English actor Steven Houghton (born 1971 is a British Actor and Singer. Born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, Heather Peace (born June 6, 1975 in Bradford) is an English actress Anthony Green (born April 4, 1970) is a British actor Early life Green was born on in Blackburn, East Lancashire UK The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located of episodes | 171 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV |
| Original run | 7 December 1986 – 25 August 2002 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
London's Burning was a television drama programme produced by London Weekend Television and focused on the lives of Blue Watch firefighters. The following is a list of episodes from the " London's Burning " series Independent Television (generally known as ITV) is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters set up under the Independent Events 43 BC - Marcus Tullius Cicero assassinated 1696 - Connecticut Route 108, one of the oldest highways Year 1986 ( MCMLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar) Events 1248 - The Dutch city of Ommen receives city rights and fortification rights from Otto III the See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic See also Watchstanding A watch system watch schedule or watch bill is a method of assigning regular periods of work duty aboard ships and some other Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous Fires that threaten civilian populations and property to rescue people from car accidents collapsed While the station in the series was named Blackwall, which is the name of a small area in East London, the series was largely filmed around Bermondsey and Rotherhithe in South East London, and real local street names were often used. This entry concerns the area of London known as Blackwall For the type of merchant sailing ship first built there and named after it see Blackwall Frigate Bermondsey (ˈbɜːmənzi or /ˈbɜːməndzi/ is an area in modern London on the southern bank of the river Thames, and presently part of the London Borough Rotherhithe is a district of central south-east London in the London Borough of Southwark. It was broadcast between 1986 and 2002 on ITV and currently airs in Canada on digital television station CBC Country Canada. Year 1986 ( MCMLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar) See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Independent Television (generally known as ITV) is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters set up under the Independent bold (sometimes referred to as CBC bold) is a Canadian English language category 1 Digital cable Specialty channel owned It was based on the London Fire Brigade, with the Brigade's Dockhead fire station in Bermondsey being used as the principal location. The London Fire Brigade ( LFB) is the statutory
Series 1–7 have been released on DVD by Network DVD in the United Kingdom. DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is Network DVD is a DVD publishing company (founded in 2004 that specialises in classic British television. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located
Contents |
The series
Telemovie
Jack Rosenthal's original two hour TV movie, Directed by Les Blair was broadcast on ITV on 7 December 1986. Jack Rosenthal CBE ( 8 September 1931 - 29 May 2004) was an English Playwright, who wrote 129 early episodes Leslie "Les" Blair (b 23 October 1941, Manchester, England, UK) is an English television, film Independent Television (generally known as ITV) is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters set up under the Independent Events 43 BC - Marcus Tullius Cicero assassinated 1696 - Connecticut Route 108, one of the oldest highways Year 1986 ( MCMLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar) The recent fire at Bradford City F.C. partially inspired the screenplay, along with a personal friend of Rosenthal's.
Series 1-3
The show was developed as a weekly episodic drama, beginning on 20 February 1988. Events 1472 - Orkney and Shetland are left by Norway to Scotland, due to a Dowry payment Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar) Paul Knight was appointed as the show's producer. Knight appointed some very experienced writers such as Anita Bronson, David Humphries, Simon Sharkey and Tony Hoare as well as some extremely talented directors such as Gerry Poulson, Gerry Mill, John Reardon, Keith Washington and Alan Wareing. The camera crews had to be so committed and at the same time cautious when working with fire. However, the emergencies or "shouts" would not only be fires, but would be a range of incidents from cats up trees to major road accidents. A normal London's Burning episode would run for a duration of 50 minutes (one hour with advertisement breaks). In the first series (1988), the second series (1989) and the third series (1990) only 8 episodes were commissioned.
Series 4
In 1991, LWT commissioned 10 episodes for Series 4 which would become the most popular series of the drama. Paul Knight had long ago appointed Brian Clark as the Fire Brigade Advisor and, along with the writers and directors, decided on a huge climax to the fourth series with a major storyline that would see the psychological state of one of the main characters deteriorate, after being buried alive under a collapsed wall whilst at a spectacular 20 pump warehouse fire. Fire Brigade redirects here For the general term please see Firefighter. Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and Series 4's climax won the programme its record rating of 18. 86 million viewers (Source: British Film Institute). The British Film Institute ( BFI) is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to encourage the development of the arts of film television Series 4 was also the time for a Special Feature programme, showing how the stunts are performed in Series 4, which was originally aired on 8th September 1991. Events 70 - Roman forces under Titus sack Jerusalem. 1264 - The Statute of Kalisz Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar.
Series 5
Viewers were now always promised a huge 'shout' every series. The next huge shout was in Series 5 (1992) with a tragic accident at a fairground. A spinning wheel ride was jammed by a troublesome youth (played by Liam McGuire) armed with a pole. Consequently, this led to the ride collapsing, causing a huge fire and people trapped in crushed metal. That series attracted 17 million fans.
Series 6-10
In the early nineties, the ratings averaged 17-18 million viewers. The show suffered in 1995 (Series 8) as ratings fell to 16 million viewers. The shouts were still as exciting but more people became 'too comfortable' with the show and needed a shock now and again to keep the programme fresh.
Paul Knight decided it was time for a real shock — a tragic exit for one of the main characters who had starred in the show for nearly ten years. The man who was to be killed was Sub Officer John Hallam — a dedicated and loyal member of the watch and the London Fire Brigade. Hallam was killed off in 1996 (Series 9) during a huge warehouse fire where he and his colleague Leading Firefighter Geoff Pearce (one rank under Hallam) were attempting to rescue four teenage girls on an unstable gantry 80 feet above a blaze in the basement. Hallam held the gantry steady for Pearce as he walked across it with one of the girls. As Hallam crossed onto it, chains supporting the gantry cracked and the gantry tore apart leaving Hallam dangling off the end bars. He pleaded with Pearce to help him but Pearce was unable to help and had to watch Hallam fall 80 feet, to land on a metal floor, which subsequently collapsed and sent Hallam plunging through a glass roof to his death. This developed a storyline of Pearce feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt after the accident which would lead to him considering a transfer. The whole Series 9 struck gold for Paul Knight with 16. 8 million viewers (Source: British Film Institute). The British Film Institute ( BFI) is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to encourage the development of the arts of film television
Series 10 (1997) was the last series produced by Paul Knight who went on to produce episodes of The Knock. The Knock was a UK television drama running from 1994 to 2000, which portrayed the activities of Customs officers from
Series 11-14
London's Burning continued on into 1998 with a new producer: David Newcombe. His producing techniques of killing off most of the original characters through Series 11 gave the show a bad name and the ratings slumped to around 8 million. The format was totally different, with the show becoming more of a soap. A soap opera is an ongoing episodic work of Fiction, usually broadcast on Television or Radio. The theme tune originally composed by Simon Brint and Roddy Matthews was ditched for a more 'modern' tune. The phrase theme music usually refers to that of a radio program, Television program, or Movie. In 2002 London's Burning was axed from the schedules (the final episode being broadcast on 25 August 2002) and was soon replaced by Steel River Blues in 2004. Events 1248 - The Dutch city of Ommen receives city rights and fortification rights from Otto III the See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Steel River Blues is a British Television Drama serial first broadcast in September 2004 on ITV. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " Steel River Blues was not as successful as London's Burning used to be during 1991-1997 and was axed after its first series.
Locations
The earlier series used Dockhead Fire Station at 8 Wolseley Street, London SE1, as the exterior for Blackwall. The Jacob Street studio is opposite, housing a full scale reproduction of the mess, built by Colin Monk. MESS ( Multi Emulator Super System) is an Emulator for many game consoles and computer systems based on the MAME core
Dockhead is still an operational fire station, but is due to be demolished by the London Fire Brigade to allow its redevelopment and modernisation; a planning application is due to be submitted during 2008[1]. Currently the exterior can be clearly seen and has changed little since filming, although the Swan and Sugar Loaf pub which featured as the firefighters' local has since been converted to flats. The location is about 800 metres from Tower Bridge, or around 10 minutes' walk.
Later series used the exterior of Leyton Fire Station and the (soon to be converted into flats) Oliver Twist pub opposite. Leyton is an area of East London and part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest.
External links/references
- London's Burning at the Internet Movie Database
- Tibballs, Geoff (1992) London's Burning: Behind the Scenes with Britain's Favourite Firefighters. London: Boxtree. ISBN 1-85283-731-4
- London's Burning Tribute Site fan tributes
- Blackwall Fire Station London's Burning Web Site
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