1980s TV Series-Airline
 

I am trying to get a DVD of the 1980s TV series "Airline" starring Roy Marsden as a young ex-RAF pilot starting up his own airline after de-mob which was called Ruskin Air Services. I wondered if anyone has any ideas?

I don't think the series has ever been released on home video, either VHS or DVD. It's a great shame as it was an enjoyable programme. I quite liked "Buccaneer" too from around the same period (c. 1980) which featured a Britannia of Redcoat Cargo Airlines.

B****R!!, but thanks anyway.

Just did a search and I dont think it has been released . I do know you could get old broadcasts from BBC , maybe worth dropping them a line.

....but I think it was Yorkshire TV, not a BBC job

It was Yorkshire TV. We shot at Lytham, Rufforth and Blackpool because they were nearby.

YouTube has film clips from the series, so there are still some examples around.

It was seeing the clips on Youtube that reminded me what an excellent series it was and how I would like to see the complete series again.

IMDB has a little information on this series, including why it was never put to DVD.

>>>>
Planned originally as the first third of a 30-hour saga tracing an independent airline's progress from 1946 to the 1980s, Airline (ITV, 1982) lasted only nine episodes after Greatorex fell out with producers Yorkshire Television. ... scrapped because of financial problems and a major row between Greatorex and YTV over unauthorised script re-writes.

The final straw in an increasingly frustrating business for Greatorex came when he was forced into a legal battle over the rights to his characters and the original idea for Airline: YTV had sold on rights to the British Airports Authority and their ad agency J. Walter Thompson, resulting in a series of unauthorised (Greatorex claimed) TV commercials.
<<<<<<<<<

&#x22;Airline&#x22; (1982)

And Wilfred Greatorex was the Writer:

Wilfred Greatorex - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Didn't they buy a Connie for the second series; the one which is now at Wroughton?

There was a discussion about this on the Key Forum a couple of years ago as several people wanted this on DVD. Yorkshire Television were contacted and said they had no plans to release the series on VHS or DVD. However one forum member had recorded the series on VHS and had offered to make copies on DVD for anyone. If you can trace that thread, you might be in luck!

There was a second series planned, using the Connie at Wroughton, but in the end nothing came of it. Great shame as the first series was very good.

And the Dak (fictitious G-AGHY) used in the first series was ex RAE West Freugh (TS423?) which had a radome on the nose when it arrived at Farnborough. The original plan was to use it as spares for KG661 (which became ZA947 then later transferred to BBMF when Transport Flight was disbanded) which arrived about the same time, but it was sold to Aces High instead; I last saw the radome at the Booker Museum.

The programme being discussed was supposedly based on 'Mike' Keegan. I seem to recall that some unfortunate in BAF ops decided to ring him during one of the transmissions. This was not appreciated!

I had understood that Mike Keegan was the "technical adviser" for the series, which did look remarkably as though it was based on him with a touch of Freddie Laker.

The portrayal was unrealistic to those who knew him due to the fact that in those days turning the air blue with every utterance on TV was less common than now, indeed frowned upon.

And no fictional character could ever be quite such a s**t as MK achieved in real life.

Back to the thread; I wondered if running down Jeremy Keegan might locate a copy tucked away. A quick google yielded this as the top response, which might well be him.

Over to you!

"Didn't they buy a Connie for the second series; the one which is now at Wroughton?"

Yes , Aces High bought L-749 c/n 2553 N7777G in March '82 and transported her from Dublin Airport, where she had sat since March '74.

Dick Millward was the technical adviser and did a very good job. The L749 was transported by sea and road from Dublin and I very much doubt that it could have been made airworthy bar huge expense.

Ah; Dakota.

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1262895422

Must have been taken at Hal Far with the clear blue sky.

I just found this:

http://www.ruskin-air-services.co.uk/

Filming at Blackpool Airport
 

I think it was around the time of the filming that I was taking my HGV driving course (the second half of September 1981), and the P&O subsidiary for whom I worked leased a section of a peri-track at Squires Gate, and had it marked out as en exact replica of the manoeuvring area used at the driving test centre.

I remember watching the series on TV not long afterwards, and seeing that unloading in "Berlin" was clearly taking place on a 1970s HGV test pad, complete with all the tyre marks. I've a vague recollection that our little shed used for storing the traffic cones, also made an appearance!

There was a hangar alongside the track (on the Squires Gate Lane side)with 'Westair' painted on the roof - wasn't it re-lettered to show 'Ruskin Air Services', or have I imagined that over the passage of time?