What’s that saying about London buses? You wait ages for one to turn up and then three arrive? Well, the same could be said of trams on television as the past week or so has seen not one, not two but three different programmes on free to air channels in the UK featuring trams – some more than others!
First out of the traps was Susan Calman’s Grand Day Out. This series sees the comedian and television presenter travelling around the UK in her camper van – named Helen Mirren – and visiting various attractions. The episode shown on Friday 19th May was based in Devon and the South Coast and included a visit to the Seaton Tramway where she got the chance to drive a tram with ex-Exeter tramcar 19 being the said vehicle. This episode can be viewed on My5 at the following link: https://www.channel5.com/show/susan-calman-s-grand-days-out/season-5/devon-and-the-south-coast
Then on Monday 22nd May it was a case of blink and you miss it! The latest series of the Michael Portillo fronted Great Coastal Rail Journeys started with a trip which commenced on the Isle of Man and then travelled along the north west coast from Liverpool to the Scottish borders. At the very start of the journey he travelled on the Manx Electric Railway for a short distance into Derby Castle with Winter Saloon 19 doing the honours. That part of the journey though was more or less over before the titles rolled! There was also some Blackpool tram archive footage shown on the second day of the journey the following day. The first episode can be viewed on the BBC iplayer at https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001m7xz/great-coastal-railway-journeys-series-2-1-douglas-to-port-erin
The final appearance by a tram on television was on 5 Action with a new episode of Trucking Heavy featuring what they described as the “most famous tram in the country”. This series features a heavy haulage company transporting various special loads across the country and season 2, episode 8 featured the move of Blackpool Balloon 710 from Fleetwood back to Rigby Road earlier this year. Featuring the lorry travelling between Fleetwood and Rigby Road it also included footage of the unloading of the tram from the truck. This can also be viewed on My5 at https://www.channel5.com/show/trucking-heavy/season-2/trucking-heavy-d0d75e0c-cbd5-4806-8c04-d971533a7a2b