Please help a student: List of classic car TV shows
Discussion
Hello all, my wife teaches television production at UAL, and one of her students, a bright young bloke from China, wants to make a degree film about the British classic car scene, to be aimed at Chinese viewers, classic cars not being a thing in China. I suggested to my wife that her student should watch a bunch of UK classic car TV shows, but I do not watch such shows and am not sure which ones to suggest. My wife is a proper telly industry person but knows zip about cars and car shows. I gather that there are progs such as Wheeler Dealers, The Car's the Star and so on. I am aware of the Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfield car shows from US TV.
All suggestions of shows gratefully received - either current or available on youtube or archived on streaming services. Many thanks.
All suggestions of shows gratefully received - either current or available on youtube or archived on streaming services. Many thanks.
Just about any TV series from the sixties / seventies (even eighties), as a means of explaining WHY cars are now considered "classic", ie the origins of the cult.
Examples could include The Sweeney (Fords in various guises), The Saint (Volvo P1800 and latterly Jaguar XJS), The Avengers (Lotus Elan / Jaguar XJ12 C), Life on Mars ("Fire up the quattro!") etc.
Examples could include The Sweeney (Fords in various guises), The Saint (Volvo P1800 and latterly Jaguar XJS), The Avengers (Lotus Elan / Jaguar XJ12 C), Life on Mars ("Fire up the quattro!") etc.
Breadvan72 said:
Excellent stuff, many thanks Doofus
May has taken over from the late Setright as the leading social and cultural historian of the car.
Talking Pictures, great idea - it is a fab channel - some real hidden gems on there as well as familiar films.
As ‘thoroughly good a chap’ as James May is I’d struggle to place him in the same bracket as LJK Setright. Or Russell Bulgin. If you read an old copy of Car the elegance of their writing makes it painful to read pretty much anything today. May has taken over from the late Setright as the leading social and cultural historian of the car.
Talking Pictures, great idea - it is a fab channel - some real hidden gems on there as well as familiar films.
Maybe younger George Bishop or ‘Steady’ Barker.
But a digression....
‘Car SOS’ is another classic fave, plus ‘The Car’s the star’ and the programmes done by Mark Evans.
Breadvan72 said:
Hello all, my wife teaches television production at UAL, and one of her students, a bright young bloke from China, wants to make a degree film about the British classic car scene, to be aimed at Chinese viewers, classic cars not being a thing in China. I suggested to my wife that her student should watch a bunch of UK classic car TV shows, but I do not watch such shows and am not sure which ones to suggest. My wife is a proper telly industry person but knows zip about cars and car shows. I gather that there are progs such as Wheeler Dealers, The Car's the Star and so on. I am aware of the Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfield car shows from US TV.
All suggestions of shows gratefully received - either current or available on youtube or archived on streaming services. Many thanks.
Is he going to visit your barn, and interview you?All suggestions of shows gratefully received - either current or available on youtube or archived on streaming services. Many thanks.
Yertis said:
Breadvan72 said:
Hello all, my wife teaches television production at UAL, and one of her students, a bright young bloke from China, wants to make a degree film about the British classic car scene, to be aimed at Chinese viewers, classic cars not being a thing in China. I suggested to my wife that her student should watch a bunch of UK classic car TV shows, but I do not watch such shows and am not sure which ones to suggest. My wife is a proper telly industry person but knows zip about cars and car shows. I gather that there are progs such as Wheeler Dealers, The Car's the Star and so on. I am aware of the Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfield car shows from US TV.
All suggestions of shows gratefully received - either current or available on youtube or archived on streaming services. Many thanks.
Is he going to visit your barn, and interview you?All suggestions of shows gratefully received - either current or available on youtube or archived on streaming services. Many thanks.
tapkaJohnD said:
If the student wishes to research the 'classic car scene' he should mention what came before, veteran and vintage motoring, when the film "Genevieve" and the Brighton Run may be useful.
John
Good idea, I have already explained to him the various terms used for various ages of car, and the fact that the term classic car has no generally agreed meaning! John
jon-yprpe said:
As ‘thoroughly good a chap’ as James May is I’d struggle to place him in the same bracket as LJK Setright. Or Russell Bulgin. If you read an old copy of Car the elegance of their writing makes it painful to read pretty much anything today.
...
May does not write as well as Setright, but he has I suggest taken over the mantle as a thoughtful explainer of how cars fit into the wider social and cultural setting. ...
He'll need to look at how what have become classic cars fit into our national mythology – movies like 'The Italian Job', their role in the 'swinging sixties' (Mini, E-Type etc) and how that mythology continues to shape our personal self-image, and by extension our national self-image. For me the one single thing I can put my finger on is the car chase in an episode of The Prisoner, between and E-Type and an Elan (neither of which I have, or will ever, own. 
) which is absurdly 'British'.
) which is absurdly 'British'.https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCl9I7RgD0i7JZ58CK17...
Why we do it. How we do it. And as a bonus, how to film it.
Why we do it. How we do it. And as a bonus, how to film it.
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