Here Come The Double Deckers Here Come The Double Deckers is a 70’s Children’s TV show which was a joint collaboration between the UK (A Harry Booth and Roy Simpson Century Film Production) and US (David Gerber Productions) and was distributed by Twentieth Century Fox. The show was produced by Roy Simpson and the music was by Ivor Slaney. The theme tune of the show, 'Get on Board', was sung by Harry Booth, Melvyn Hayes and Johnny Arthey. It was filmed at Elstree Studio’s in the UK. The actual studio where filming took place has been redeveloped and is now a Tesco's Supermarket. The aim of the show was to try and recreate a modern version of the 1930’s show 'Our Gang'. Some of the child stars of the show had previously appeared in the 'Magnificent Six and a Half', which was produced by Roy Simpson and directed by Harry Booth. Due to the involvement of US companies, the series was moulded into a show that was also accessible by a US audience and may have been the 1st British TV show to be networked on American TV. Off screen, the main influence the US involvement had was that more money was available to be spent on the show. This was very evident by the sets and the guest used, such as Clive stars Dunn (Grandad), Pat Coombs (Ragdolly Anna), George Woodbridge (Pipkins), Jane Seymour (James Bond), Frank Thornton (Are You Being Served) etc. Interestingly the clothes of the actors were supplied by the American Department Store, J.C.Penney's, and Brinsley Forde (Spring) was one of the 1st black children to star in a British TV Show. The most obvious influence to the viewer was having an American child star as one of the ‘Double Deckers’. All the other ‘Double Deckers’ were British. But the influence didn’t stop there, sweets were referred to as ‘Candy’, they celebrated ‘Thanksgiving’ and some of the ‘Double Deckers’ played Baseball and American Football. The show was supposed to last for 2 series, each consisting of 26 episodes, but due to mixed reviews in the US and a shake-up at Twentieth Century Fox (the main driving force for the show, Richard Zanarch, was fired by his father), the show was brought to a premature end after only 17 episodes. A number of years after the show, Brinsley Forde became the lead singer of Aswad, a well known reggae band in the UK. Michael Audreson (Brains) continued in acting for 10 years, but it was never as interesting as when he was a child star. Since then he has concentrated on writing and producing, and has now gone on to directed his first feature. Story The ‘Double Deckers’ are a group of 7 friends that love hanging out with each other, and are made up of Brains, Scooper, Tiger, Doughnut, Spring, Billie, Sticks. They also like to break into song and dance wherever they go. They have one of the greatest club houses ever, a full sized London double decker bus, which is the reason they are called The ‘Double Deckers’. They like their privacy, so the bus is hidden out of sight behind a huge fence in a junk yard. To get into the junk yard you have to use the secret entrance, which is found by pulling a rope, hidden behind a hole in the fence. A contraption comes to life, lifting up a section of the fence, to let you in. But that’s not the end of it. Once at the bus, there is a door blocking your way which has a combination lock on it, which Doughnut is always forgetting. As you can tell, they are a little security conscious. The only adult that knows that they are there is Albert, the street cleaner, who is a friend of theirs. He even takes them on trips, such as camping. They may look organised (they even hold meetings), but when they all get together, it always ends up in chaos. Such as the time they tried to fix up Mrs Vickers’s house, to ensure she wasn’t kicked out by her landlord. The trouble is they all got in each others way and nearly demolished her house. Also they like hanging around the film and TV studios which is around the corner, the trouble is that they aren’t really wanted there and accidentally destroyed a number of sets. At the end of each show, they would sing 'See you next week'. Here Come the Double Deckers Characters Brains     (played by Michael Audreson) His is the geek of the group and loves to invent or create things. He never dresses scruffily and is always seen wearing a shirt and tie. When he needs to get the gang together (for a board meeting), he sends out a messenger pigeon. The Double Deckers must think he’s important, as he has his own workshop at the back of the bus. But he is always trying to keep Doughnut out of his work shop, as he keeps breaking his inventions while looking for food. He even created an invisibility gel, which Doughnut ate. At least he’s got a person to trial his inventions :) Brains has even built a hovercraft, with help from his friends. He thought he was going to make millions from it. We’re still not sure how he was going to do this, as someone else had already invented it (maybe it was a budget one). It’s a shame that Tiger drove it off before he could test it. But we think his best invention was a robot, who could disco dance...classic. Once he tried to edit the ‘Double Deckers’ movie, that they were entering into a competition. Its a shame he wasn’t any good at it, as it kept jumping to another scene unexpectedly. The audience couldn’t stop laughing while watching it. Poor Brains sank lower in his seat at the theatre and the other ‘Double Deckers’ weren’t happy with him. But they did win an award for it...the best comedy movie.   Scooper     (played by Peter Firth) Scooper is one of the level headed ones of the ‘Double Deckers’. He was chosen to race the Go-Kart that Brains built. A rival, Nigel Parks, lent them some wheels for it, but Scooper put in such a fast lap time that Nigel decided to sabotage the Go-Kart. Scooper has even branched out into management. The ‘Double Deckers’ had found a singer sleeping rough on top of their bus. After talking with him they found out that he wasn’t successful and had fallen on hard times. So Scooper identified that the singer needed to be different than other pop stars, to be successful. So he helped push the singer in a different direction, re-branding him as the Cool Cavalier. He even got Albert to advertise a Disco with the Cool Cavalier taking centre stage. But it looked like no one had turned up for his opening night. In fact they had, its just they didn’t know how to get into the junk yard. Once inside they had one massive party, with the Cool Cavalier wowing the audience. Once, Scooper was hit on the head with a Baseball (they can be dangerous things). When he woke up he was greeted by Alice, and the rest of the inhabitants of Wonderland (such as The White Rabbit and The Mad Hatter). Initially he thought the other ‘Double Deckers’ were playing a joke on him, but quickly realised his mistake. He spotted Albert a few times, as the Door Mouse, a Cook, and the Cheshire Cat. Things then started to get serious, especially when the Queen of Diamonds (not Hearts) kept shouting ‘Off With Their Heads’ to the other ‘Double Deckers’. Luckily he woke up from the bang on the head and found out it was a dream. Tiger     (played by Debbie Russ) Tiger is the youngest member of the ‘Double Deckers’ and goes everywhere with her toy tiger. But this Tiger can get her in trouble. When looking for her tiger, she accidentally switched on the hovercraft they had all made, and off it went with her inside of it. She then caused chaos on the surrounding streets while she tried to keep it under control and even picked up Albert on the journey (he wasn’t happy). Once, she asked Brains to help when she lost her toy tiger over a wall, and the grumpy man that lived there wouldn’t give it back. So he used his remote control robot get the tiger back. Its a shame it scared the man half to death and accidentally pushed him in the pond. Tiger is one of the moodiest out of the group and gives people a scowl if they mention she’s short. She was upset when she was told she was too young to get a job and earn some money to help buy things to fix up Mrs Vickers’s house. So when she found a dog she decided that her ‘job’ was to find its owner. The trouble was the dog caused so much trouble that the other ‘Double Deckers’ were fired from their jobs. She eventually found out where the dog lived and was given a reward. She used the money to hire professional decorators to fix Mrs Vickers house (aww, isn’t that nice).   Doughnut    (played by Douglas Simmonds) Doughnut is the stereo typical fat kid and is always looking for food to eat. He also seems to be the butt of the ‘Double Deckers’ jokes. Once they wouldn't let him on the bus as he didn't say the password (the meanies). So he climbed in via the roof and tried to slide down the fire pole that is installed on the bus. As you can guess, he got stuck and they wouldn’t even help him out (the meanies). Apart from eating, his other hobbies are going round to the local toy shop and trying out all the toys and not buying anything, which really upsets the the shop assistants. Actually he's not welcome in most shops as he's never got any money. He eventually got his revenge on the shop assistants when he ate Brains’s invisibility mixture, by moving things around and scaring them half to death. Spring     (played by Brinsley Forde) Spring likes to lift weights in his spare time and is very strong for his age. When he tried to help Mrs Vickers keep her house, and stop her from being evicted by her landlord, he kept putting holes in things, His luck didn’t get any better when he tried out Scooper's Go-Kart. The brakes failed and the accelerator was stuck on full power. He had a terrible time controlling it and he crashed through the track side barrier and onto the streets. He was then spotted by a policeman on his motorbike, who chased him wherever he went. He eventually crashed into the local duck pond and was arrested. In front of the magistrates he was charged with numerous counts of dangerous driving. The whole of the ‘Double Deckers’ turned out to support him and explained the reason why he couldn’t stop, as the Go- Kart had been sabotaged by a rival Go-Karter. Luckily they believed them and set him free. The police investigated the issue further and the rival Go- Karter was arrested, when evidence of tampering was found at the track side. Billie     (played by Gillian Bailey) She is the eldest girl of the ‘Double Deckers’ and tries to look after Tiger and steer her in the right direction. Billie was the one who suggested that Brains's robot should do something more interesting and so she said it should dance. As Billie likes to dance, she danced along with Robbie The Robot. They were the perfect pair. She auditioned for the Ha Ha Show, but her act wasn't very good, so she kept coming back with a slightly different act, over and over again. She didn't quite take to rejection, when Albert said enough was enough and that she didn't have what they needed (strangely she still appeared in the Ha Ha Show). Sticks     (played by Bruce Clark) He is the only American ‘Double Decker’. He tries to bring a bit of America to the ‘Double Deckers’ and teaches the others how to play baseball and American Football. But during a game of baseball he accidentally knocked out Scooper, when he hit him on the head with the ball. Luckily there was no permanent damage.   Albert     (played by Melvyn Hayes) Albert is a street cleaner, who is a friend of the ‘Double Deckers’ (one of the few adults) and is one of the nicest guys you could meet. He pushes his cart around ensuring the surrounding area is kept clean, but he wasn’t too happy when the wheels on his cart went missing. He eventually found them on the Go-Kart that Brains had made and ordered them to give them back. When he’s not pushing his cart around, Albert is impeccably dressed and likes to take the ‘Double Deckers’ out on trips when he can (do their parents know?). But Albert seems to end up in the centre of the ‘Double Deckers’ hair brain schemes. He even found himself on the bonnet of a hovercraft after Tiger accidentally ran into him while driving it. The poor guy was screaming all down the road, while Tiger tried to work out how to stop it. On another time he was mistaken for a ghost and the owner of the house kept shooting at him, so he seems to be a bit unlucky. One of his dreams was to be in the movies, and it seemed his dream was coming true when the ‘Double Deckers’ asked him to star in their movie. Little did he know that they were only going to use him as Doughnuts stunt double. So as soon as anything dangerous was required, Albert was brought it to complete the scene. He didn’t know what had hit him, and was seeing stars at the end of the shoot. Here Come the Double Deckers Images (click to enlarge) Here Come The Double Deckers T-Shirts - NONE Here Come The Double Deckers DVDs Region 2 (Europe) - Here Come   The Double Deckers DVDs Region 1 (USA) - NONE Here Come the Double Deckers Episodes Series 1 (1970)  1. Tiger Takes Off 2. The Case Of The Missing Doughnut 3. Get A Movie On 4. Starstruck 5. Happy Haunting 6. Summer Camp 7. The Pop Singer 8. Scooper Strikes Out 9. Robbie The Robot 10. The Go-Karters 11. A Helping Hound 12. Invaders From Space 13. Barney 14. Man’s Best Friend 15. United We Stand 16. Up To Scratch 17. A Hit For A Miss Here Come the Double Deckers Video Intro © JedisParadise.com Toys & Gifts T-Shirts Bargain DVDs