On the Buses

[KEV67]

My last name is Varney, so people often used to mention Reg Varney when I was growing up. I never watched it, but I heard about it quite often. My brother was called Reg by all his work friends, even people who had never heard of On the Buses. Often they were surprised when they found out it was not his name. Therefore I thought I would see what all the fuss was about and bought the complete series on DVD. My observations so far:

 

• I did not realise it was in black and white
• It is not as racist and sexist as I thought it would be
• It is quite gentle comedy
• Stan Butler is supposed to be thirty but he looks nearer fifty
• It is a very strange domestic set-up; Stan lives at home with his mother, his sister and his brother-in-law
• The trade unions are always on strike
• The inspector is nearly always right

 

In the episode I watched this evening, Stan applied for the position of assistant inspector, so he could buy a new coat for his mother. He would get £2 extra a week, and the coat cost about £14. It would take him six months to pay off at ten bob a week. That is an expensive coat. I think you have to multiply by somewhere between 50 and 100x to get the equivalent in today's money. Becoming assistant inspector makes Stan extremely unpopular with his colleagues, because his job is to enforce rules. Some of the rules are important, such as ensuring the buses do not leave early, but others are petty. Stan makes the mistake of being too pedantic. I did think it was unfair of the inspector to sack him after the first day, but then he had little option, because he had upset the boss. Still, I thought the inspector is unpopular, because he enforces the rules, but it is not his job to be liked. Someone has to ensure the important rules are enforced or everyone would take liberties, especially in a job like bus driving. I don't know if the inspector becomes more unreasonable in later series. Maybe he does, but then they all deliberately wind him up.

[Madeleine]

I remember watching this, and remember it in colour, maybe they were later episodes that were made in colour.  The actress who played Olive lived in my area, but sadly died in a house fire not that long ago. I agree Stan did look much older than thirty!

[KEV67]

I looked up Reg Butler. He was born in 1916 so he was 53 when On the Buses started. 53 and living at home with his mother and grown up sister and her husband. However, the actress playing his mother was old enough because she was born in 1893. So she was 76 when it started. 

[Madeleine]

Even now they're not bothered about actors' real ages vs the age they're playing, there's a new drama on ITV where the actress playing another character's mum is only 2 years older than him in real life!  So that won't be very convincing.

[KEV67]

The actors in The Inbetweeners were about 8-10 years older than their characters. In On the Buses, Reg's sister Olive looks like she is in her 30s. Her husband looks late 30s at least. Reg is 23 years older than his character. I thought 30 was quite old to still live at home with your parents. I know housing is very expensive these days. I did not think it was quite so expensive back then. I think Reg should have tried a bit harder to keep his promotion. He will be retiring in another 12 years, and he doesn't look like he has much to show for his decades of bus driving. 

[Madeleine]

Guess it's called artistic licence, it's only a TV show! Probably best not to take these things too literally.  In the Mel Gibson film version of Hamlet, Glenn Close played his mother, and in real life she was only 12 years older than him, although I suppose that might have been possible.  And Angelina Jolie was only a few years older than Colin Farrell when she played his mum in Alexander, but I guess star power won out over more realistic casting.  

Edited August 11, 2023 by Madeleine

[KEV67]

In the next episode Stan is put in charge of the canteen. He appoints an Indian driver's wife to be the cook, only the drivers have never had curry before and are all gasping for water. Only the inspector takes it in his stride because he served in India during the war. He can even talk Urdu. Honestly, he's wasted being a bus inspector.

 

Last episode of series 1, Stan and his friend unwisely challenge two female clippies to a darts match. There is a bit of horseplay which would get you marched to HR in these enlightened days. Before the match Iris nobbles Stan by getting him drunk and getting him excited, telling him her landlady is away. Obviously Stan and his friend are £5 down by the end of the evening. Iris was going to make it up to Stan, but he can't take advantage, because he had to take his mother home.

[Madeleine]

i imagine a lot of shows from that era will look incredibly dated, but at the time it was how things were.