Great Western Coffee Shop

on a related note, twofour productions are currently at temple meads filming a documentary series about fwg. don't have any further details, but you'll no doubt see the camera crew if passing through the station...

The BBC have confirmed transmission dates for a new series - The Railway: Keeping Britain on Track

King's Cross - BBC2 9pm Tues 12th Feb 2013
Summer Madness (Leeds) - BBC2 9pm Tues 19th Feb 2013
Standing Room Only (Reading) - BBC2 9pm Tues 26th Feb 2013
West Coast Main Line - BBC2 9pm Tues 5th March 2013
Railway on My Doorstep (Communities) - BBC2 9pm Tues 12th March 2013
Scotland - BBC2 9pm Tues 19th March 2013

A six-part series of one-hour programmes titled: The Railways: Keeping Britain on Track. on BBC2. Network Rail, TOCs, BTP and suppliers and contractors have all been involved in making this observational documentary, which will shine a light on the people who help keep the railway running, and the challenges they face.

This series has been almost two years in the making following an initial meeting with Network Rail^s media team. They had been approached by a number of documentary makers and decided that the time was right to take a calculated risk and let the BBC in to give the general public, stakeholders and funders, an insiders^ view on the size and complexity of the railway and the challenges faced.

Whilst initial introductions were made to a number of people across the business, the TV production team were free to contact and film with anyone that was happy to be involved. Dozens of people across the industry from signallers and station teams to route managing directors and programme managers contributed to more than 90 hours of filming in stations, depots, on track, in offices, construction sites, route controls and signal boxes across the nation. The series is narrated by Kevin Whately of Lewis and Inspector Morse fame.

Given the safety restrictions of filming on the railway, it was arranged for the TV people to attend a Personal Track Safety course to acquire the necessary permits to film trackside and they were supplied with the safety clothing such as hard hats and hi vis jackets etc. They had contacts with national and route control teams and access to key people in Network Operations who manage access to the railways. Whilst safety restrictions meant they could not have free reign on the railways or construction sites, every effort was made to give them access to film where they wanted to.

The six episodes are:

King^s Cross
How does one of Britain^s busiest stations operate? This episode follows the East Coast and Network Rail staff running the station, the challenges they face in train dispatch, how they interact with passengers during times of disruption, dealing with recruitment, and the issue of fares and the cost of running the railway. It was filmed over the last three months of the recent redevelopment, so viewers also get to see a very positive example of where some of the money they pay in fares is spent.

Summer madness (Leeds station)
Filmed over the summer months in and around Leeds station and the Yorkshire area, this episode covers a real mix of issues and people from the industry including station staff, train drivers, BTP officers, our maintenance teams and York route control. It covers the Real Ale Trail (Northern); how route control deals with, and the impact of trespass; NR^s trespass campaign, how NR reacted to the flooding, compensation, cable theft; and the tragic death of a young lad at Rossington.

Standing room only (Reading)
A chance to showcase the work at Reading and the people that are delivering the project, including behind the scenes planning meeting about closures (T-6), the Cow Lane Bridge slide and the building of a new platform 10. The episode also features how our mobile operations managers work, handling a dead dog on the line and a suicide at footpath crossing. The cost of delays is highlighted again and we see the impact of delays caused by a freight train cutting through a cable ^ both passengers^ experience and NR teams fixing it. Excess Baggage at Paddington also features along with customer service for elderly and disabled passengers at the station.

West Coast Main Line
On the trains at Euston with Virgin staff dealing with passengers, including with Liverpool and Everton fans heading for the FA Cup semi final and final; Customer service at Manchester Piccadilly with NR^s station team; out with Asset management and Babcock doing track renewals where we get to understand the pressures to get work done in a tight timeframe so not to impact on service next day. The capacity issues and the case for HS2 is also made subtley by the narrator.

Railway on my doorstep (how the railway impacts on communities)
Another real mix of people and issues are covered including the economic impact of reopening of the Ebbw valley railway, both for passengers and jobs. It looks at how station staff in Liverpool and Cardiff cope with crowds when sporting events and parades are on; fare dodging; training new staff; trespass; rubbish clearances trackside and off-track; the impact of high winds on services on the ECML at King^s Cross station; and how NR have dealth with the concerns of people in Steventon in Oxfordshire as we upgraded the level crossing.

Scotland
The final episode looks at the railway north of the border. It follows a track worker in the West Highlands, one of the remotest parts of the network; maintenance teams known locally as ^ice men^ who work at night to keep the tracks clear of snow and ice during winter; and see how NR replace track outside Edinburgh Waverly as well as operations at Glasgow Central.

Just a reminder in case you have forgotten (I had!), this starts tonight at 21:00 on BBC Two.

...especially the MD who seemed very keen to give the impression that he was on first name terms with absolutely every employee of East Coast.

Last night's viewing - The Railway: Keeping Britain on Track, BBC2

In a quiet way, The Railway: Keeping Britain on Track was about the grinding nature of management. And I don't mean the grind for managers of trying to manage things, but the grind for those beneath them of being managed. So on one hand, you had Steve, with his "vision" of providing the "seamless journey experiences" and his urgent talk of the work everyone needed to do "going forward".

And on the other hand, you had his employee Steve, one of the beleaguered information team who have to bear the brunt of passengers' rage when the seams come unstitched. And I don't suppose Steve Number One is really a villain ^ even if his can-do ebullience might make you want to push him under a train on a stressful day ^ but you couldn't help but feel that Steve Number Two would happily settle for a bit less jargon and a bit more action.

Steve Number Two is a mournful chap, explaining the necessity of wearing a clip-on tie with a melancholy air that suggests he has seen human beings at their worst and may never smile again. But the interesting thing about Laura Fairrie's film was that not everybody's spirit had been similarly eroded by the daily friction with the travelling public. Bruce, for example, was still remarkably cheerful: "I haven't met anyone who was really bad," he said, when asked about commuter rage, "but I've met some very nice people in very bad moods."

This more philosophical approach seemed wise. There was more than one instance here of people's capacity to take personal affront when the world doesn't rearrange itself to suit their convenience ^ late passengers incredulous that trains hadn't waited for them, others disgusted that the system somehow hadn't foreseen that someone would choose to go under a train rather than on it.

If you were waiting for a coherent account of why Britain's rail network seems to struggle you would have waited a long time. Like a lot of these kind of observational documentaries The Railway at times seemed to suffer from ADHD. You'd think you were on the brink of some kind of systemic explanation, but then it would get distracted. "Hey! Look. It's a man with a red balloon!" There's an avidity for characterful oddity that can get it in the way of any larger understanding. But people and characters do come through strongly, most touchingly here the character of Laxman Keshwara, a veteran station manager who reached his retirement during the filming and was very nearly unmanned by the process of leaving the job he loved. Rather sweetly they saw him out with an announcement on the station announcer and a ruck of station employees giving him a goodbye hug. I don't think it's the management he's going to be missing.

Anybody else notice the poster in the East Coast office referring to 'Grand Central taking over'  ;D

I feel sorry for staff there having to put up with a real life David Brent. Their faces in that presentation said it all.

I feel sorry for staff there having to put up with a real life David Brent.

I was unimpressed by pretty much the whole bunch

Anyone else think "Steve Number Two" was incredibly rude when being interviewed?

Be kind to him. It can't be easy for him, up there at the blunt end.

I was unimpressed by pretty much the whole bunch - and, frankly, bored throughout. But I watched to the end. Is it a series? If so, my Tuesday evenings have magically become free for the next few weeks. (Well - next Tuesday I am at the Emirates, anyway, for some real action)
Last time I looked forward to a series, was the Tube. On the day of the first programme I was at a meeting at 55 Broadway and was told that senior management had seen the whole series, and approved it for showing. I knew then that it was going to be a very anodyne plug for the Underground. (Although, in truth, I did watch much of the series). Cynical?, well at my age I allow myself that.

Next week: Great Western :)

Starring role Ollie?

Been a while since you've been on TV. 'The Gadget Show' wasn't it?  :P ;) ;D

televisual entertainment

Comments I've read on other boards include: that it was just FGW propaganda as it only showed delays not caused by them and didn't focus enough on the overcrowding; and in regards to the signal failure, why does it take x men to do something in 5+ hours one man could do in 20 mins plus the NR worker smoking at work is very unprofessional.

Finally, if Hayley had a series of her own, I think it would be ideal for ITV2!

The fatality, where was it? (I didn't recognise the area, but obviously on one of the branches).

Don't see why Networkrail had to accept the delay minutes i would have thought it was the freight operator whose wagon wheels cut the cables.  After all the wires were well out of the way of the wheels if they were on the track.

Just illustrates the stupidy of the delay minute attribution process.

on a related note, twofour productions are currently at temple meads filming a documentary series about fwg. don't have any further details, but you'll no doubt see the camera crew if passing through the station...

Channel 5 commissions Twofour and GroupM Entertainment to produce ob doc First Great Western


3-06-2013

Twofour and GroupM Entertainment have been commissioned to produce a brand new 8 x 60^ ob doc following the working lives of the staff of First Great Western, one of Britain^s largest and most unique train operating companies.

The series will delve behind the scenes to capture the inside story of an industry that continues to grow, featuring a team of dedicated drivers, managers, ticket inspectors, technicians and porters that connect the capital to the far South West.

Packed full of personality, humour and heritage, First Great Western will offer an insight into one of the country^s most iconic companies and a unique prism through which to take a fresh look at everyday life in contemporary Britain.

Melanie Leach, Twofour MD said: ^As a South West based Indie, Twofour has spent over a decade traveling with FGW. The routes, the staff, the silver service dining and, of course, the customers combine to create an organisation that is utterly unique. We^re delighted that they^ve agreed to let us tell their story on Channel 5.^

First Great Western (working title) is executive produced by Dan Adamson and series produced by Gill Hennessey for Twofour and executive produced by Tony Moulsdale and Melanie Darlaston for GroupM Entertainment.

As good as the 'Eddie Stobart' documentary?  ::)

43 minutes of annoying voiceover. 43 minutes of godawful incidental music, often involving a generic rock style. 43 minutes of false jeopardy making everything seem like life and death when it's anything but. The constant use of 'earlier' and 'coming up' clips meaning that the actual 'content' in an episode is rarely more than 30 minutes.

If the FGW series is going to be anything like that then I'll be watching under protest only.

Can't help being amused by the fact that this thread is categorised under 'The Wider Picture' - not for those of us with 4:3 aspect ratio tellies it isn't!