On 23rd October 2009, BBC4 'Nation on Film' showed a specially produced hour long documentary on the early work of BTF featuring several former staff members (including Billy Williams, John Legard and John Krish). The BBC website has a dedicated web page. The original flyer is shown below. Elizabethan Express was shown straight after the programme.
 BBC4's 'Nation on Film' also showed another hour long documentary called 'Youth Hostelling: The First 100 Years' telling the story of youth hostelling, which was founded in 1909 in Germany and was established in Britain in 1930, through fascinating archive films discovered in a storeroom at the Youth Hostel Association's headquarters in Derbyshire.
The BTF production of 1965 - Hostellers - is featured and shows Ken Moody - the original 'star' of the film re-uniting with former BTF assistant editor and director of the film - Gloria Sachs - at the site on the canal at Selby in Yorkshire where the Sabrina was moored - the first floating Youth Hostel Hostel in Britain. The programme is repeated frequently on BBC4. |
Many screenings of various BTF titles took place by the BBC from the 1950s (often as Trade Test Trasmissions on BBC2 in the late 60s / early 70s) and independant television companies. These are the known screenings. The webmaster welcomes correspondance regarding transmission dates of BTF films on terrestrial TV stations:-
An Artist Looks At Churches - Southern (ITV) 1/4/1971
Between the Tides - BBC2, 19/04/73
Bridge 114 - BBC-2, 17/03/64
Capital Visit - (extract ) on Blue Peter, 06/08/59
A Day of One's Own - BBC-2, 18/03/64
Diesel Train Ride - BBC-2, 03/10/68, 27/01/69
A Dream Of Norway - BBC-2, 11/03/68, 03/08/68
The Elephant Will Never Forget - Granada and Yorkshire TV, 02/09/68.
Farmer Moving South (A Winter Journey) - BBC-TV, 29/11/52, 23/01/53, 06/01/54
Giants Of Steam - BBC-TV, 21/05/63, 26/07/63, ??/??/79
Glasgow Belongs to Me - Thames TV, 21/06/71
Heart Is Highland - BBC-2, 19/03/64
A Hundred Years Underground - BBC-TV, 6/12/1963
Joe Brown at Clapham - BBC1, 30/08/66
John Betjeman Goes By Train - BBC-TV
"John Piper" (May have been "An Artist Looks at Churches"), BBC-2, 14/03/64, 20/03/64
Journey Into Spring - BBC2, 07/05/66 - extract shown on "Picture Box" - ITV Schools, 6/3/75
Just Like the Rest of Us - ITV 27/07/84. Part of the 'British Achievements' week (described in The Times and TV Times as a "British Railways Board film")
London's Country - BBC-2, 14/03/1964
Ocean Terminal - BBC-2, 19/03/64
Off The Beaten Track - ?
Omnibus For All - BBC-2 05/07/67, 27/11/67
Overhaul - BBC-2 14/03/64, 13/07/67, 01/12/67
Plumb Loco - BBC2, 25/1072
Railways Forever - BBC2, 01/06/72
Reshaping British Railways - 1963
Scene from Melbury House - BBC2, 11/11/73 and BBC1, 02/07/78.
Signpost - BBC-TV 1955
Sing of the Border - Thames TV, 30/06/71
Snow - BBC-2 29/10/69, 2/8/1976, 02/05/92
Thity Million Letters - BBC-1, 24/09/64
The Travel Game - Rediffusion London, 1967
Water Birds - BBC1 Wales, 12/05/71. (a filler before a Plaid Cymru PPB)
Wires Over The Border - BBC-2, 2/8/1976.
Journey Into Spring - It seems that the transmission of at least part of this particular BTF film on that ITV Schools programme 'Picture Box' went on for quite some time, going by TV Times listings from March 1988, some 13 years after the transmission reported above.
BTF films have been screened on satellite / cable TV. The Artsworld (subscription) channel showed a series of films from the BFI archive in its "The Art of Cinema - Treasures of the BFI" programme in 2002. The BTF films shown were:-
Blue Pullman - 12/7/2002 & 13/7/2002
A Day Of One's Own - 19/7/2002 & 20/7/2002
A Farmer Moving South - 19/7/2002 & 20/7/2002
Holiday - 28/6/2002 & 29/6/2002
John Betjeman Goes by Train - 12/7/2002 & 13/7/2002
Filmfour, another subscription channel, has shown at least two BTF films as part of their commitment to show short films as fillers between main features:-
Cyclists Abroad - 17/1/2003
Terminus - 3/8/2003, 26/11/2003
BTF footage features in the December 2003 screened three part series 'The 50s and 60s in Living Colour' on ITV1. Part three featured extensive footage from 'Blue Pullman' and 'All That Mighty Heart'.
However, most people will remember Channel 4 as being a considerable user of BTF films as 'fillers'.
British Transport Films on Channel 4, 1985-1999
Original contract of 52 films ran 1985-92; out of these East Anglian Holiday, The Heart is Highland, The Heart of England, The Lake District, London’s Country, Peak District, Scottish Highlands and Underground Centenary were abandoned and never shown. The Heart is Highland and London’s Country were shown later.
1993-96 contract was for Down to Sussex, Cyclists’ Special, A Dream of Norway, Joe Brown at Clapham, Lancashire Coast and North to Wales (supposedly for only six films but An Artist Looks at Churches must also have been included, which would have made it seven).
1996-99 contract was for The Heart is Highland, Cyclists Abroad (never part of any previous contract), Coasts of Clyde, London’s Country, An Artist Looks at Churches and North to Wales; possibly three other films but I have no evidence of any others being shown. [Robin Carmody in conversation with Barry Coward of F.A.M.E./Beulah]
Here is the Channel 4 broadcast schedule, kindly submitted by Barry Coward pIus additions discovered by Robin Carmody, including all the S4C transmissions as found in The Times, The Guardian and The Observer.
All That Mighty Heart – 31.05.88, 29.01.90
An Artist Looks at Churches – 14.11.85 (S4C 16.02.86, at 7.00 pm), 20.11.90, 20.03.91 (S4C billed for both 09.04.91 – at 12.30 am – and 21.06.91), 26.04.93, 03.09.93 (S4C 14.09.93), 12.02.94, 12.12.94, 13.08.96, 09.01.97, 21.09.97 (not billed in Radio Times or The Times but is billed in The Guardian), 24.10.97 (S4C 30.10.97), 13.03.98
Any Man’s Kingdom – 27.10.90, 22.04.91 (S4C 27.08.91, at 11.25 pm)
Away for the Day – 03.11.90 (S4C 17.02.91, at 12.15 am), 24.06.92 (S4C 06.07.92)
Between the Tides – 14.09.87 (S4C 03.10.87, at 10.10 pm), 05.08.92
Blue Pullman – 13.02.88 (S4C 03.03.88), 20.11.89 (S4C billed for both 11.02.90 and 10.03.90), 12.08.90 (S4C 01.10.90, at 11.55 pm)
Coasts of Clyde – 22.10.91, 17.08.92 (S4C also 17.08.92), 01.08.96, 30.06.97, 02.04.98, 20.10.98
Cyclists Abroad – 19.08.96, 01.05.97, 13.07.98
Cyclists’ Special – 11.05.92, 22.07.93, 07.06.94, 09.01.95, 02.09.95
Dodging the Column – 28.11.85, 09.01.91 (S4C 16.01.91, at 11.35 pm), 04.02.92 (S4C 24.02.92)
Down to Sussex – 21.10.87 (S4C 23.10.87), 10.06.90 (S4C 14.06.90), 20.05.92, 04.08.93 (S4C 02.09.93), 03.11.94 (S4C 11.11.94), 26.04.95, 21.09.95
A Dream of Norway – 09.09.90 (S4C 11.10.90, at 10.55 pm), 13.12.91, 18.06.92, 30.06.93 (S4C 02.07.93), 28.07.94 (S4C 11.08.94), 05.01.95 (S4C also 05.01.95), 13.09.95 (was scheduled for 31.07.95 but not shown)
East Anglian Holiday – never shown
The Elephant Will Never Forget – 23.06.88, 16.08.91
Elizabethan Express – 07.11.85, 25.09.90 (S4C 28.09.90), 29.01.92 (S4C 13.02.92)
The England of Elizabeth – 07.11.85, 24.05.88 (S4C 07.06.88), 02.12.89 (S4C 05.12.89)
Every Valley – 25.09.90, 24.07.92 (S4C also 24.07.92)
Great Britain-A Travel Guide – 27.08.92 (S4C 23.09.92)
The Heart is Highland – not shown in 1985-92 contract; eventually shown 21.10.96, 04.03.98 (S4C 20.03.98)
The Heart of England – never shown
Holiday – 14.11.85, 18.11.87, 24.06.90 (impossible to find S4C showings of this because of the film’s title)
A Hundred Years Underground – 22.05.88 (S4C 12.07.88)
Joe Brown at Clapham – 27.09.90, 17.06.92, 01.07.93 (S4C 09.07.93), 17.10.94, 04.05.95, 18.10.95 (S4C 09.11.95)
John Betjeman Goes by Train – 31.10.85, 23.09.90
Journey into History – 23.12.86, 14.10.87 (S4C 06.11.87), 26.06.92 (S4C 03.07.92)
Journey into Spring – 19.12.85, 12.08.87 (S4C 10.09.87, at 6.30 pm), 06.08.88 (S4C 16.11.88)
The Lake District – never shown
Lancashire Coast – 01.10.90 (S4C 09.01.91, at 12.05 am), 24.07.91 (S4C also 24.07.91), 13.04.92 (unscheduled filler in the late evening), 26.07.93, 18.03.94 (S4C 08.04.94), 26.07.94, 09.08.95, 04.07.97, 26.06.98 (S4C also 26.06.98)
The Land of Robert Burns – 27.02.91 (S4C 02.03.91, at 11.15 pm), 30.07.92
Letter for Wales – 16.06.88, 21.06.90 (S4C 05.07.90), 25.09.90
Let’s Go to Birmingham – 17.03.88, 27.09.90 (S4C 02.10.90), 01.01.91
London’s Country – not shown in 1985-92 contract; eventually shown 07.10.97, 01.04.98, 02.07.99 (S4C 20.07.99)
North to the Dales – 24.10.85, 26.05.88
North to Wales – 20.06.91 (S4C also 20.06.91), 09.05.92, 15.07.93 (S4C 18.07.93), 02.02.94, 17.12.94 (S4C also 17.12.94), 04.07.95, 20.04.97 (5.25 am!), 25.03.98 (S4C 30.03.98), 03.05.99 (S4C also 03.05.99)
Ocean Terminal – 30.06.88, 05.04.90
Overture One Two Five – 09.02.88, 29.09.90 (S4C also 29.09.90), 05.07.92 (S4C 11.07.92)
Peak District – never shown
Round the Island – 17.12.87, 31.03.90 (S4C 25.06.90)
Rush Hour – 21.11.85
Scotland for Sport – 10.08.88, 17.04.90 (S4C 28.04.90), 25.07.92 (S4C also 25.07.92)
Scottish Highlands – never shown
Snowdrift at Bleath Gill – 31.10.85, 11.11.87, 30.09.90 (S4C also 30.09.90)
Terminus – 28.12.85, 19.11.87 (S4C 23.12.87), 30.09.90 (S4C also 30.09.90)
Thirty Million Letters – 03.12.87 (S4C 20.12.87)
This is York – 02.06.88 (S4C 30.08.88), 30.09.90 (S4C 02.10.90), 25.01.92 (S4C also 25.01.92)
This Year-London – 09.06.88 (S4C 05.07.88, at 10.35 pm)
The Travel Game – 26.11.87
Underground Centenary – never shown (might have been planned for 31.03.90)
Under Night Streets – 28.11.85
Under the River – 21.09.87 (S4C 25.09.87, at 10.05 pm)
West Country Journey – 27.12.87 (S4C 27.01.88), 16.09.89 (S4C 25.10.89, at 9.30 pm), 18.09.91
Wild Highlands – 05.05.88, 23.07.89 (S4C 10.08.89)
Wild Wings – 23.06.88.