Home > Comedy TV Show > On the Buses

On the Buses

1969

Seasons & Episodes

  • 7
  • 6
  • 5
  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1
  • 0

EP1 Olive's Divorce Feb 02, 1973

It's six months since Arthur walked out on her so Olive,armed with a list of grievances prepared by Mum and Stan,goes to court and is granted her divorce.With Mum going to stay with Aunt Maud Olive is very much the gooseberry as she accompanies Stan and his girl-friend Sandra to the pictures - to see a sexy film about a recently divorced woman - where Olive sits next to a groper. Stan gets Blakey to see Olive home whilst he goes to Sandra's for some rumpy-pumpy but Olive turns up to interrupt him as she has forgotten her house key.

EP2 The Perfect Clippie Mar 04, 1973

With money tight as ever in the Butler home Stan asks Blakey to employ Olive on the buses and eventually he relents. Olive's last excursion into being a conductress was a disaster but now she is completely in charge,super-efficient to the point of annoying, particularly as she has learnt the rule book off by heart and takes Stan to task for his rule-bending.It can't last..

EP3 The Ticket Machine Mar 11, 1973

Mum and Olive run up debts of fifty pounds when they buy things to sell on from a catalogue firm only for Olive to break them. When Blakey refuses to give him his bonus Stan warms to Jack's idea of using a stolen ticket machine to charge for fares that will not be recorded so they can pocket the profits. After Blakey has come to the house and almost sat on the machine Stan decides to confess about the machine but Blakey gives him his bonus.However he has found out about the ticket machine and makes Stan donate the money to the bus crews' charity organization.

EP4 The Poster Mar 18, 1973

A poster of a faceless driver appears at the depot. It is a plan to boost falling passenger figures and advertises a competition with a prize of a hundred pounds to be ... The perfect driver.Jack secretly enters Stan though the other finalists are hunky sportsmen and Stan's family take him to the chemist to buy him a rejuvenating face pack to give him a chance. Will he beat off the well-toned opposition to get his face - and - name on the poster? Of course he will.

EP5 The Football Match Mar 25, 1973

The bus crews are encouraged to form their own staff football team,to take on the Basildon Bashers. Jack and Stan are not enthusiastic but there is a five pound bonus on offer. The depot only has one star player,young Bob,and Stan injures him in training,so he asks Blakey if he can field a substitute - Olive. Blakey feels that women and football do not mix - until he sees the Basildon Bashers. They are an all-female team and they contrive by fair means and foul to give Stan's team a good pasting.

EP6 On The Omnibuses Apr 01, 1973

t's a hundred years since the Luxton Bus Company came into being and fifty years since they got their first motor bus. To celebrate the good old days Blakey organizes an exhibition and,after showing Mum and Olive around some of the museum pieces, Stan falls asleep at the wheel of a bus from the turn of the century,imagining his present-day family and colleagues in previous incarnations. Olive is a militant suffragette,Mum a washerwoman and Blakey is still Blakey,except his nickname is the Kaiser.

EP7 Goodbye Stan Apr 08, 1973

Stan decides he can make more money if he heads North and gets work in a car factory but,rather than hand in his resignation, he gets Blakey to sack him so that he can get a week's wages. He celebrates his last night at home and is unable to eat the fry-up his Mum has cooked him so he sticks it in his uniform pocket,a fact that Blakey discovers when he comes around to collect the uniform. However,as he has been evicted from his own lodgings,he takes Stan's room and becomes the Butlers' new lodger

EP8 Hot Water Apr 15, 1973

Jack and the inspector attempt to fix a water heater.

EP9 The Visit Apr 22, 1973

Blakey invites his mum over to the Butler home now that he is living there. Mrs. Butler is none to happy.

EP10 What The Stars Foretell Apr 29, 1973

The Stars make good reading for Mum and Olive. It says romance is in the air. Who will be the unlucky victims?

EP11 The Allowance May 06, 1973

There's a new clippie at the depot, the militant Jessie. Outraged that the female clippies have to pay to use the public conveniences, while the male staff don't, she lobbies the management for an allowance to cover the cost.

EP12 Friends In High Places May 13, 1973

When Mrs. Butler goes for a job at the depot's canteen, she is interviewed by an old boyfriend, Mr. Simpson who is one of the managers. After she gets the job, Jack and Olive try to use Mum's influence with Mr. Simpson to try and get one over on Blakey.

EP13 Gardening Time May 20, 1973

Blakey and Jack have entered into the depot flower and vegtable competition. The rivalry is fierce as they both try to create the best garden.
7| 0h30m| en
Synopsis

On the Buses is a British comedy series created by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney, broadcast in the United Kingdom from 1969 to 1973. The writers' previous successes with The Rag Trade and Meet the Wife were for the BBC, but the corporation rejected On the Buses, not seeing much comedy potential in a bus depot as a setting. The comedy partnership turned to a friend, Frank Muir, Head of Entertainment at London Weekend Television, who loved the idea; the show was accepted and despite a poor critical reception became a hit with viewers.

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Reviews

Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Onlinewsma Absolutely Brilliant!
StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
maximum1969 Where to start? Poor writing, lame acting and direction. The worst excesses of 1970's "comedy" The jokes, so called, are over played and hammy. The direction suggests that the louder you say a line, the funnier it is!! When you remember that Monty Python was just being born, snd comedies like Dads Army were around, or Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads as two examples. This dross just does not compare. The characterisations just are not funny. Proof again that I.T.V. just couldn't do comedy! Other than Rising Damp perhaps. Avoid,unless you are brain dead, very lonely or think that the height of sophistication is drinking Special Brew lager out of a can with a curly straw.
caledoniancraig-1 In my book On The Buses is the greatest sit-com of all time.It has all the ingredients to make superb viewing such as:- wonderful cast,great acting,superb scripts,memorable moments,one-liners and double entendres.If you are a member of the politically correct society then this classic is not for you.This series ran for 74 episodes and three spin-off films and quite superbly hits all the right notes.Written by the great comedy writing duo Ronald Chesney and Ronald Wolfe it stars Reg Varney (bus driver Stan),the late Bob Grant (bus conductor Jack Harper),Stephen Lewis (Inspector Blake),the late Doris Hare (Stan's mum),Anna Karen (Stan's sister) and Michael Robbins (Stan's brother-in-law) all of whom excel.
ShadeGrenade British working class sitcoms were in vogue in the late '60's and early '70's, such as 'Steptoe & Son', 'Till Death Us Do Part', and, of course, this. Incredibly, the B.B.C. turned 'On The Buses' down even though the writers had devised the highly popular 'The Rag Trade'. London Weekend Television profited by their mistake.'On The Buses' boasted a terrific cast and ( for the most part ) very funny scripts. Viewers cheered as driver Stan Butler and conductor Jack Harper frequently got one over the pompous Inspector 'Blakey' Blake. All over the country, his catchphrase "I 'ate you, Butler" could be heard in workplaces and playgrounds. And as for the sexy 'clippies'...sorry, feminists, but they really did exist, I'm afraid. My favourite characters were the dowdy Olive and her grumpy husband Arthur. Even when the punchlines could be seen coming a mile off, they were usually delivered with panache and immaculate comic timing. Three movies were made, none as funny as the original, and a stage version in Canada in the late '80's. Its impossible to explain the show's appeal to young people, but it struck a chord with millions of viewers, and should not be dismissed lightly.
Guru-17 A truly classic piece of totally un-pc British sit-com. Men approaching 50 'pulling the birds' (Especially Jack!) A genius comedy creation in 'Blakey' and summed up with the much missed Michael Robins' pained smile. Check out the TV series before watching any of the films as they do not do the programme justice.

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