everything you have heard about this movie is true.

A Disappointing Continuation

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I know that they show debuted in 1970 but I think that in Scotland we did not get Here Come The Double Deckers until early 1971 when it aired on Friday afternoons- possibly in the classic 5 to 5 Crackerjack slot- though on its reruns it was very much a staple of Saturday mornings. It disappeared for year after the late seventies before it turned up again, on Saturdays and on ITV in the early 1990s.The premise of the show was an appealing one - a gang of children who meet up in a junkyard that is filled with all sorts of , well, junk as well as what remains of a red London bus. The gang of seven has a natural leader, Scooper, ( with Spring as his second -in-command), a mother hen, Billie, a nerdy clever-clogs, Brains, a butt of the jokes called Doughnut, and a mascot figure, the much younger Tiger. There was one other Double Decker, Sticks, whose role was less defined - he was American and that was it for him. The one adult who appeared in almost every episode was Albert who was a street sweeper who seemed to be the kids main contact with the outside world. The children existed in a world that was their own- they seemed to have no parents, siblings or school and many of the episodes are confined to the yard and the street outside. Two of the best episodes were when the gang venture into the wider world - once when they visit a country house that seems to be haunted and another when they enter a go-cart designed by Brains in a race against some young bikers. I was surprised to learn that there were only 17 episodes made although reading the synopsis of each I realise I can remember bits of almost all of them. The two worst episodes were the one when they encounter a protest singer and reinvent him as 'The Cool Cavalier' and another where Tiger befriends a One Man Band who eventually plays the Royal Variety Performance. The good episodes were funny and spirited but the bad ones were cloyingly sentimental.The show was set in London and aside from Sticks - Bruce Clark- the cast and guest actors were all British but at times the show has a distinctly American feel. Confectionery is referred to as 'candy' and not 'sweets' as it would have been in early 70s Britain whilst in one episode Scooper returns to the the lair from a game of football in the park carrying a helmet used in the American version of the game- in 1970 American Football was hardly known in Britain with the round ball game if anything even more popular than it is now. The music and the relentless cheeriness of the actors never quite sat right with me in grey, cynical Britain and the tone was more Southern California than Sarf London.And yet despite the misgivings I had then (and now) it is hard not to think fondly of the show. The cast was often better than the material- Peter Firth (Scooper) became a fine actor in adulthood and Gillian Bailey ( Billie) as the feisty, tomboyish Billie was a decent actress too- and the casting of a black actor- Brinsley Forde as Spring- was a bold move for its time. Here Come the Double Deckers was very much of its time I suppose but it was fun all the same.

Man I had such a crush on her. I seem to remember that it came on in my area at the time on Sundays at 11AM. I would get ticked if the minister ran a little long, or my folks wanted to stop and visit after the service. Gilli was so much cooler than the 'dumb girls' that I went to school with. Of course in 1970 I was 9, and she would have been 15, so there you go. She could sing, dance, hang out with the guys and not be obnoxious. Looked up her photo on the fan site and found that she matured to a good looking though not overwhelming beauty. Couldn't find any pictures in between DD times and now though. Thanks for the memories. A 10 for those.

What an absolute gem of a programme this was. It doesn't seem to have been repeated on British TV, but Youtube has the start sequence http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7Etul2mGxU 70's kids programmes were never better than this! The programme had an excellent 'feel good factor', the plots were totally geared to kids and it seems a shame that they didn't make more. Peter Firth (Scooper) has been a very successful actor, with Brinsley Forde (Spring) going on to form 'Aswad'. None of the other actors have done much beyond the early seventies. There does not seem to be too much information on the net regarding this programme, which is a real shame as I am sure that a lot of 40 year olds would like a trip down Memory Lane

I hated this show as a kid - I was about 11 in 1970 - I remember being acutely embarrassed by it. I haven't thought about it for years and was prompted to look it up here after a post on one of the message boards, but I remember that even at the time it struck me as being so phony - like a kid's version of the whole phony "Swinging London" scene.I was surprised to find it was made in the UK because I have the memory of it being so American. Even back then it felt to me like an American idea of what British kids would be like. (Sort of like a lot of bonzaid Dick Van Dykes from Mary Poppins.Even worse than it's American gloss I remember hating it for the fact that it had Melvyn Hayes in it. I'm sure Melvyn is a very nice man and gets on well with his neighbours but there was something about him that made me want to throw the TV out the window and scream obscenities at it as it plummeted to the ground. Especially in that damn commercial where the girl in the mini-moke takes an apple from his stall.Argh!