-
Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
That man Portillo.
- Thread starter Phil.
- Start date
- Status
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R
RailUK Forums
QueensCurve
Established Member
- Joined
- 22 Dec 2014
- Messages
- 1,912
Fairly standard for TV programmes on rail issues. They seem to work on the idea that any shot of a train en-route is acceptable as a cutaway.
It would perhaps be unduly costly to follow the actual trains Mr Portillo is aboard.
99% of the viewers couldn't care less.
eMeS
Member
I remember being taken to the Moravian settlement at Fairfield by my first girlfriend back in ~1956. Thanks to Portillo I now understand, slightly, why some distant relative of hers was living there.
but it could at least be the same type of train
NorthernSpirit
Established Member
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2013
- Messages
- 2,184
Made In Leeds did something similar but to do with a film, as their presenter was traveling on a class 142 but upon Garforth alighted from a 185 - I called it out on them to see if anyone else had noticed.
scott118
Member
shakey1961
Member
- Joined
- 21 Dec 2014
- Messages
- 155
When Len Goodman took celebrities back to their childhood homes, or summer holidays they went to, he brought Arlene Phillips back to Southport.
What did the BBC do... tell us all she was arriving by train from Manchester only to show a Merseyrail train arriving from Liverpool.
The continuity was crap. They were driving past many landmarks I know onto a well known place but at some points they were going in totally the wrong direction.
Very annoying.
What did the BBC do... tell us all she was arriving by train from Manchester only to show a Merseyrail train arriving from Liverpool.
The continuity was crap. They were driving past many landmarks I know onto a well known place but at some points they were going in totally the wrong direction.
Very annoying.
Surreytraveller
On Moderation
- Joined
- 21 Oct 2009
- Messages
- 2,810
Nobody except train spotters care.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Corrected that for you
Tetchytyke
Veteran Member
True enough, although you'd never see this sort of thing in a car programme. Man gets in a Lambo, climbs out of a 2CV. Nah.
Surreytraveller
On Moderation
- Joined
- 21 Oct 2009
- Messages
- 2,810
Joe Public cannot tell the difference between an electric and a diesel train. A steam train they may notice. Your average viewer would notice the difference between a 2CV and a Lambrogini. As far as the average viewer is concerned, a train is a train is a train.
crewmeal
Member
How many times do we see actors/presenters boarding one train then alighting from another in the same scene. Poirot comes to mind. Mk1 stock used in a 30's/40's movie? Brief Encounter was about the only true movie that used the correct stock of the day.
EbbwJunction1
Established Member
- Joined
- 25 Mar 2010
- Messages
- 1,565
This isn't new, of course.
"The Last Journey", made on the GWR in the 1930's, switches locos from Kings to Castles to Halls to well, anything (and back again!) on a regular basis - and I understand that they had a lot of possession whilst they were filming!
"The Last Journey", made on the GWR in the 1930's, switches locos from Kings to Castles to Halls to well, anything (and back again!) on a regular basis - and I understand that they had a lot of possession whilst they were filming!
SteveP29
Member
I laugh at the reversed footage they use on GBRJ, seeing trains travelling 'wrong way' on double track, often given away by the red lights leading when shots are from the ground.
edwin_m
Veteran Member
Also the cars will be at the disposal of the crew so they can drive them when and where they like within reason. Portillo has to work with scheduled trains so will be filmed boarding/alighting whatever turns up. They probably only have one film crew available so if he is filmed boarding at station A on a service ostensibly for B, when he is later filmed alighting at B it will actually be from a later train. Or maybe even an earlier one if that is more convenient, with the film being edited into the correct order for the journey.
Yes: exactly this. And, hopefully, that can be the end of the matter.
FileTrekker
Member
- Joined
- 24 Jul 2016
- Messages
- 15
In an interview on NYMR's YouTube channel, Portillo states just that. They send a helicopter out to film trains on the planned routes, but if there's a change in the expected rolling stock, or it's a double unit instead of a single unit, or various possible stock is used on that route, etc.
It's far too expensive to send the helicopter back up again just to make sure that it's the exact same unit type or whatever else.
They do this as the film crew are often on the train with him following around, they're unable (naturally) to film his train arriving, so they'll often film it departing and play the film backwards to give that illusion.
You'll notice it in pretty much every episode.
Last edited:
Indeed, I marvel at what is achieved on such a low budget, filmed by a single cameraman/director and a sound engineer (see the credits). No they don't have filmcrew at each station to film each arrival/departure (and they also only have the opportunity of a single take for these scenes), no they don't have a helicopter available for two months to film every train on which he travels in a series (apart from the cost, aerial shots have to be filmed in good weather) and no its not necessarily filmed in broadcast sequence (so its very possible for Portillo to depart on a Pacer and arrive 2 weeks earlier on a 158, that's Northern for you).
I can only compare this with the filming of a high budget BBC drama I witnessed, a scene of two characters walking down the street in conversation. The street was apparently blocked off for four hours (although I was let through to get to the pub between takes
), as they took over a dozen takes. There were three film crews, a small army of directors, producers and support staff and two lorries for the equipment. All for a scene lasting 30 seconds when broadcast.
Apart from the budget, imagine the reaction if this disruption occured on the railway.
I can only compare this with the filming of a high budget BBC drama I witnessed, a scene of two characters walking down the street in conversation. The street was apparently blocked off for four hours (although I was let through to get to the pub between takes
), as they took over a dozen takes. There were three film crews, a small army of directors, producers and support staff and two lorries for the equipment. All for a scene lasting 30 seconds when broadcast.Apart from the budget, imagine the reaction if this disruption occured on the railway.
Last edited:
Although the home counties station in which the story was set did mysteriously have a fingerboard showing stations to Skipton and Leeds on display
The BBC adaptation of "The Buddha of Suburbia", set in 1970's south London did have some scenes on authentic EPB stock which would have been correct for the time and location (even though filmed during the 1990's). The rolling stock was still there. Needless to say, I found this far more exciting than the rumpy pumpy scenes.
Last edited:
duesselmartin
Established Member
compared to anything we have in Germany, I love the quality of that travel docu.
It is of interest to a wide audience, not just the enthusiast. Portillo is good, although Michael Palin was better.
It is of interest to a wide audience, not just the enthusiast. Portillo is good, although Michael Palin was better.
No it won't be. People will always drone on and try to get the last word in.
Thankyou to the person who answered my simple question, "which station is Portillo seen boarding at".
ha ha bbc cheats
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
i would like more railway history on the programme. I tend to lose interest when Portillo starts trying to make Pork Pies or something like that!
kentuckytony
Member
Still an interesting series for us Yanks...and I could care less but won't.
ian1944
Member
I'm sure that we all have quirks about what isn't right on TV programmes. I have one about vehicle registrations in period pieces (eg Foyle's War, if that's the title). In such times practically every plate was local, but it's obvious that they just leave whatever registration the old vehicle which is being used has, on the grounds that either (a) it never occurs to anyone to do otherwise, or (b) they assume that only sad pedants will notice.
trash80
Established Member
Maybe but maybe they should care more about accuracy, perhaps its where the road to fake news ends.
Wivenswold
Established Member
They should make him travel everywhere in a 1972 stock tube train. As he was so keen to keep them on the Northern Line back in the early 1990's.
- Status