Welcome to the ‘Oh Doctor Beeching!’ page on ‘Bradley’s Basement’.
♪ Oh Doctor Beeching, What Have You Done? ♫
‘Oh Doctor Beeching!’ is a lovely quaint TV sitcom series about trains, railways and an English rural village. It was created by David Croft (co-creator of ‘Dad’s Army’; ‘You Rang, M’Lord?’ and ‘Hi-De-Hi’) and Richard Spendlove. The series features a star-studded cast of comedy actors including Paul Shane, Su Pollard, Jeffery Holland, Julia Deakin and Stephen Lewis (Blakely from ‘On The Buses’).
This is a series about nostalgia and a historical setting of old-fashioned steam railways in how they declined in the 1960s. I love the old-fashioned steam trains and railways that happened back then. A nostalgic kick gets in me when I watch this TV series, as it inspired me to write ‘The Fifth Doctor by Tim Bradley’ story ‘The Railway of Time’.
I fondly remember going on trips with my parents to the Seven Valley Railway before some Christmases. Most of the series was filmed there including the Ardley railway station acting for Hatley station. The characters are enjoyable to see with their Northern accents and eccentric ways.
The series is set in 1963 at Hatley Railway Station. A small community of people live in Hatley running the railway station including Jack Skinner; his wife May and his daughter Gloria with Ethel Schumann and her son Wilfred. There’s also Harry Lambert the signal man and also the cleaner Vera.
With British railways under threat from closure by the infamous Dr. Beeching, Hatley station gets a new stationmaster Cecil Parkin, who is determined to make this station stand despite the changing times. With comedic disasters and eccentrics occurring, will Hatley station survive the Beeching axe?
I really like the series set in 1963 and the historical aspects of Dr. Beeching being responsible for closing down the steam railway stations at the time. The atmosphere of 1963 is about change and David Croft and Richard Spendlove depict this element in the series well with its touches of comedy.
‘Oh Doctor Beeching!’ is a wonderful, nostalgic comedy series about trains and railways. It’s something to settle down and enjoy over a nice cup of tea. It makes you want to visit and go and have a ride on an old steam railway trains. I highly recommend this comedy series to get you out of a bad mood, especially when things aren’t going right. This comedy series is just pleasurable viewing.
Here on ‘Bradley’s Basement’, I will add my reviews on each of the two seasons from the ‘Oh Doctor Beeching!’ TV series.
Here’s a link to a list of who’s who in the ‘Oh Doctor Beeching!’ TV series.
Below is a list of my DVD reviews of the episodes in the TV series.
Click on the links to see and read my reviews.
Enjoy! 🙂
MY ‘OH DOCTOR BEECHING!’ REVIEWS
‘Oh Doctor Beeching!’ (TV series)
- Series 1
- Series 2
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