London's Burning
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| London's Burning | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Running time | 60mins |
| Creator(s) | Jack Rosenthal |
| Starring | James Hazeldine Glen Murphy Sean Blowers Katharine Rogers Samantha Beckinsale Ross Boatman |
| Country of origin | UK |
| Original channel | ITV |
| Original run | 7 December 1986–25 August 2002 |
London's Burning was a television drama programme produced by London Weekend Television. It focused on the lives of Blue Watch firefighters in the busy, fictitious area of Blackwall, East London. It was broadcast between 1986 and 2002 on ITV and currently airs in Canada on digital television station CBC Country Canada. It was very obviously based on the London Fire Brigade, with the LFB's Dockhead fire station being used as the principal location.
Contents |
[edit] Telemovie
Jack Rosenthal's original two hour tv movie 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.
[edit] 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, William J. Sharkey, and Gerry Poulson as well as some extremely talented directors such as 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. Though 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 1-3 have been released on DVD by Network Video in the United Kingdom, with other series hoped to follow soon.
[edit] 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 charcacters deteriorate, after being buried alive under a collapsed wall whilst at a spectacular warehouse fire. Series 4's climax won the programme its record rating of 18.86 million viewers (Source: British Film Institute).
[edit] 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 troublesome youths 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.
[edit] 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 a 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, smash through a glass roof and land in the basement. 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.
[edit] 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 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 did not achieve anything near to what London's Burning used to in 1991-1997 and was axed after just seven weeks.
[edit] Set
The earlier series used Dockhead Fire Station on Mosely Street, about half a mile from Tower Bridge, as the exterior for Blackwall. The Jacob Street studio is opposite, housing a full scale reproduction of the mess, built by Colin Monk. Later on in the series, the exterior of Leyton Fire Station was used.
[edit] External links/references
- Fan site with detailed episode guides
- 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 1852837314
