Welcome to our website for the 1963 BBC MCR21 OB Van

Summary

Robin Writes:- I remember this show vividly! Billed in RT as a live report at a brief stop for drivers and cars on The RAC Rally. In reality we saw no cars at all as they were delayed and as we went off air after VT inserts and a load of woffle, all the cars arrived, much to the fury of the production team! The joy of live events tv Robin writes:- OB inserts featured in this new series of Cilla. They were done on the cheap on the back of other, usually sport OBs in a nearby location. So racing from Worcester and Cilla insert later, also from Worcester. Format was that Cilla would announce live that cameras were in such a street in x town and if you live there come out in the street and say hello to Cilla live. Cue floodlights, PA system and microphones. People came out and were interviewed down the line live. Robin writes:- They were OB inserts for The Engelbert Humperdinck Show also starring the Young Generation dancers. These were directed by Stewart Morris. The first was on 24[rig] and 25th January at Horsted Keynes station [renamed Generation Gap] on The Bluebell Railway in Sussex. It involved a steam train entering the station with Engelbert “driving” it and as it stopped all the carriage doors opened and the YG dancers emerged and did a routine on the platform with Eng singing foreground. It was not a happy shoot with many timing problems of getting the train to arrive fast and stop on a precise mark. Then after numerous takes the engine needed refilling with water from a distant tank with another massive delay. We were all glad when it was over. Second shoot with the same cast was unbelievably on the main car production line at Vauxhall’s Luton car plant on 6-7th March. How they agreed to it I’ll never know but it involved more singing and dancing in and out of the moving production line with all the workers more interested in the dancers than putting the cars together! We saw lots coming off the end of the line with leaks and faults. Ah happy days! Robin Wri...