On The Buses: The Complete Series (Box-set) (DVD)

On the buses is a classic situation comedy that first aired in the late sixties early seventies.

The series consists of 74 half hour episodes and is based around a typical working-class family. Stan works as a bus driver for the Luxton & District Traction Company and lives at home with his over bearing mum, sister Olive, who also works for a short-time on the buses and her husband Arthur who work in the ticket office at the Railway. ...
...Their bus is never out on time and rarely stops to pick up passengers and even when they do take onboard passengers the journey is rarely pleasant.

The characters are superbly written and attempt to depict in a comical way what life was really like. Although the character of mum was originally written for Doris Hare the first series sees it played by Cicely Courtneidge, due to other commitments on Doris' part. Later in the series ... more

On the buses is a classic situation comedy that first aired in the late sixties early seventies.

The series consists of 74 half hour episodes and is based around a typical working-class family. Stan works as a bus driver for the Luxton & District Traction Company and lives at home with his over bearing mum, sister Olive, who also works for a short-time on the buses and her husband Arthur who work in the ticket office at the Railway. Next door lives Stan's conductor Jack Harper.

Stan's home-life isn't the best it could possibly be; money's tight, food sometimes short and Olive and Arthur will not stop arguing. Sometimes he's happy just to go to work, that is until he walks through the depot doors and sees Inspector Blake, affectionately called Dracula by Jack and Stan, turning round and going home then seems like the best option.

Stan and Jack are together notably lazy and generally cause chaos around the depot, chatting-up the clippies and the canteen staff and pinching odds and sods from around the garage. Their bus is never out on time and rarely stops to pick up passengers and even when they do take onboard passengers the journey is rarely pleasant.

The characters are superbly written and attempt to depict in a comical way what life was really like. Although the character of mum was originally written for Doris Hare the first series sees it played by Cicely Courtneidge, due to other commitments on Doris' part. Later in the series both Arthur and Stan also leave, which does somewhat spoil the rapport between the existing characters. The storylines however remain as funny as ever and once you've heard "I 'ate you Butler" once you'll never forget it.

In my opinion on the buses is a classic. It's funny without the need to be vulgar and the comedy both subtle and slapstick. It is definitely a comedy series that should be seen by everyone

CAST
Stan Butler - REG VARNEY
Mum - Cicely Courtneidge & Doris Hare
Olive - Anna Karen
Arthur - Michael Robbins
Jack Harper - Bob Grant
Inspector Blake - Stephen Lewis 

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