London's Burning

infobox Television
show_name = London's Burning


caption =
format = Drama
runtime = 60/75/90 minutes
creator = Jack Rosenthal
starring = James Hazeldine
Glen Murphy
Sean Blowers
Katharine Rogers
Samantha Beckinsale
Ross Boatman
Jo Stone-Fewings
Steven Houghton
Heather Peace
Anthony Green
Andrew Kazamia
country = UK
network = ITV
first_aired = 7 December 1986
last_aired = 25 August 2002
num_episodes = 171
list_episodes = List of London's Burning episodes
imdb_id = 0123355

"London's Burning" was a television drama programme produced by London Weekend Television and focused on the lives of Blue Watch firefighters. 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. It was broadcast between 1986 and 2002 on ITV and was also shown in Canada on digital television station CBC Country Canada. In the UK, Discovery's entertainment channel, DMAX have also shown repeats of the later series. It was based on the London Fire Brigade, with the Brigade's Dockhead fire station in Leyton being used as the principal location.

Series 1–8 have been released on DVD by Network DVD in the United Kingdom.

The series

Telemovie

Jack Rosenthal's original two hour TV movie, Directed by Les Blair was broadcast on ITV on 7 December 1986. 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. 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. These series episodes were mostly filmed at Dockhead fire station actually using the firefighters working on the shifts as extras for the programme. A studio over the road from the station was used for crowded mess scenes but they also used the stations actual mess, bay and watchroom throughout series.

'Ding Dong Merrily' Christmas Special

Between series' 1 and 2, a Christmas special was transmitted. The special followed Bluewatch on duty on Christmas Day. The episode was transmitted on ITV, on 25 December 1988.

'Stunts and Stars' Documentary

A special 30 minute documentary, going behind-the-scenes of the ITV drama, was shown in 1991 to mark the launch of the fourth series.

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. Series 4's climax won the programme its record rating of 18.86 million viewers (Source: British Film Institute). 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.

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.Liam McGuire

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).

Series 10 (1997) was the last series produced by Paul Knight who went on to produce episodes of "The Knock".

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. The final series was almost completely based on soap style story lines amongst the crew, with very little fire fighting taking place on screen. The theme tune originally composed by Simon Brint and Roddy Matthews was ditched for a more 'modern' tune. 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. "Steel River Blues" was not as successful as "London's Burning" used to be during 1991-1997 and was axed after its first series.

'Duty Log' Video Special

In 2000 a 90 minute special, going behind-the-scenes of the series was released on VHS video.

Bluewatch

Station Officers

* Station Officer Sidney Tate (1986-1990)
* Station Officer Nick 'Zorba' Georgiadis (Later ADO Georgiadis) (1991-1998)
* Station Officer Chris Hammond (1998-2001)
* Station Officer John Coleman (Later ADO Coleman) (2000-2001)
* Station Officer Mick Callaghan (2002)

Sub Officers

* Sub Officer John Hallam (1986-1996)
* Sub Officer Carol Webb (1996-1998)
* Sub Officer Geoff 'Poison' Pearce (Previously Leading Firefighter Pearce) (1993-2002)

Leading Firefighters

* Leading Firefighter Malcolm Cross (1986-1992)
* Leading Firefighter Dan Barratt (1998-2000)
* Leading Firefighter Rob 'Hyper' Sharpe (2000-2001)
* Leading Firefighter Melissa Clarke (2001)

Firefighters

* Firefighter Leslie 'Charisma' Appleby (1986-1989 & 1994)
* Firefighter Kenny 'Rambo' Bains (1986)
* Firefighter Adam Benjamin (2001-2002)
* Firefighter Greg Blake (1997-1998)
* Firefighter Roland 'Vaseline' Cartwright (1986-1989)
* Firefighter Sally 'Gracie' Fields (1998-2002)
* Firefighter George Green (1988-2002)
* Firefighter Josie Ingham [Later Leading Firefighter Ingham] (1986-1990 and 1991)
* Firefighter Andreas 'Ethnic' Lewis (1986)
* Firefighter Stuart 'Recall' MacKenzie (1992-2002)
* Firefighter Charlie Mead (2002)
* Firefighter Kevin Medhurst (1986-1995)
* Firefighter Frank Mooney (2002)
* Firefighter Jack Morgan (1996-1999)
* Firefighter Chris 'Skip' Newman (1996-1997)
* Firefighter Colin Parish (1990-1993)
* Firefighter Bert 'Sicknote' Quigley (1986-2000)
* Firefighter Billy Ray (1993-1998)
* Firefighter Sally Reid (1993-1994)
* Firefighter Craig Ross (2002)
* Firefighter Tony Sanderson (1988-1990)
* Firefighter Ronnie 'Hi-Ho' Silver (2000-2001)
* Firefighter Kate Stevens (1990-1992)
* Firefighter Joe Walker (1998-2000)
* Firefighter Mike 'Bayleaf' Wilson (1986-1996)

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. The actual station mess was also used in the series as was many other parts of the station and the firefighters in it.

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 [London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, PFI Property Project Progress Report, 14 January 2008] . 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.

External links/references

*imdb title|id=0123355
* Tibballs, Geoff (1992) "London's Burning: Behind the Scenes with Britain's Favourite Firefighters." London: Boxtree. ISBN 1-85283-731-4
* [http://www.classictelly.com/programme.php?Programme=Londons%20Burning London's Burning Tribute Site] fan tributes
* [http://www.londonsburning.co.uk Blackwall Fire Station] London's Burning Web Site

References