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Bbc 'gangsters' 1976

Barr_Beacon

Barr_Beacon

The Prodigal Brummie
I couldn't find this on the site but I think it's worth a mention (apologies if it is listed elsewhere).


For me the television drama works on many levels; it has an interesting storyline (feel free to disregard the music but I still quite like it) and it gives an amazing account of what Birmingham used to look like. Series one was filmed in 1976 in the sizzling summer that year and in one brief shot you can see the grass in front of the Council House where people sun bathed in their lunch breaks. The nine minute Youtube film shows an amazing amount in such a short space of time from driving a car down Colmore Row before turning onto New Street, to how Broad Street appeared before the radical changes took place. I loved the little things included like riding on the top deck of the bus to standing outside Boot's the Chemist on New Street. There's so much to see on the DVD of the series, if you take the trouble.
I definitely think 'Gangsters' should be a worthy inclusion in any social history / geographical resource about Birmingham in the mid-seventies.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gangsters-...&qid=1518605128&sr=1-1&keywords=gangsters+dvd
 
i agree with you BB the opening has shots of icknield st and the old toilets which are still there and other places around birmingham..a mate of mine has the series on dvd

lyn
 
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Back in the 70's the private club I used Rolf Day the comedian that appeared in about six of the episodes and can also be heard on the opening credits was also a member of the club. Although a nice enough bloke I don't think his brand of humour would get him very far today. Though thinking about the series I suppose he was chosen for the material that he used. Mind you he did organise a very good stag night for the members of the club along with some of the market lads and members of the police force at the Grapes pub in town which was well attended.
 
phil just as a matter of interest and to test my memory where was the grapes and is it still there

lyn
 
Lyn

The Grapes was in Hurst Street, but sorry in my alcoholic haze I got my pubs mixed up. It was in fact the upstairs function room in the Victoria on the corner of Station Street and John Bright Street.
 
Lyn,

well there I go again it was Hill Street not Hurst Street and Navigation Street is off Hill Street. I tell you my brain must still be pickled from back then.
 
well i am just glad to know my memory is not that bad after all phil...if i am right sadly the pub has now gone....no surprises there...thanks phil

lyn
 
I'm pretty certain it's Highgate Park in Balsall Heath. If you look carefully at the segment filmed in the park you can see the one of the green copper turrets of The Rowton Hotel on Alcester Street to the right of the screen.
 
I've just taken a look at the clip, yes it is Highgate park and the are sitting at the top of the playground are looking down toward Alcester Street roughly in front of the steps down the bit of a ramp possibly on the road that runs through the park from Salop Street to Moseley Road (with gates at each end) there used to be benches all along there as I remember it or perhaps they had been moved a little further down at sometime because it does look like they are further down than I remember.
 
I have a box set of the complete two series. At least I own it. I am waiting for it to come back from loan. I thought the second series was poor compared with the first series. I actually know the two little Sikh girls who acted as the children of an illegal immigrant now they are grown up. It was quite a shock to them when I showed them a screen shot. They told me they never saw the finished films as their parents would not allow them to stay up that late. I am surprised that the BBC released it on DVD as it would never be shown again on TV in these more political correctness days.
 
Astoness said:
i agree with you BB the opening has shots of icknield st and the old toilets which are still there and other places around birmingham..a mate of mine has the series on dvd

lyn
Click to expand...

Lyn if my memory is right , it moves from Icknield St to the multi storey car park on the corner of Cambridge St and Summer Row opposite The Shakespeare cnr Lionel St. My Brother in law worked on the erection of that u shaped car park it was only supposed to be temporary it must have been up 30 years , anyway when Mr Kline (Maurice Colbourne) was chased around that car park not many people got much sleep in Cambridge Tower , as I've said before my Mother lived on the 14th floor of that block, she could hear every skid, screech of the tyres while they were filming
 
Barr_Beacon said:
I couldn't find this on the site but I think it's worth a mention (apologies if it is listed elsewhere).


For me the television drama works on many levels; it has an interesting storyline (feel free to disregard the music but I still quite like it) and it gives an amazing account of what Birmingham used to look like. Series one was filmed in 1976 in the sizzling summer that year and in one brief shot you can see the grass in front of the Council House where people sun bathed in their lunch breaks. The nine minute Youtube film shows an amazing amount in such a short space of time from driving a car down Colmore Row before turning onto New Street, to how Broad Street appeared before the radical changes took place. I loved the little things included like riding on the top deck of the bus to standing outside Boot's the Chemist on New Street. There's so much to see on the DVD of the series, if you take the trouble.
I definitely think 'Gangsters' should be a worthy inclusion in any social history / geographical resource about Birmingham in the mid-seventies.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gangsters-...&qid=1518605128&sr=1-1&keywords=gangsters+dvd
Click to expand...

Yes I'd agree with the social history aspect , possibly along with The Peaky Blinders
 
Williamstreeter said:
Lyn if my memory is right , it moves from Icknield St to the multi storey car park on the corner of Cambridge St and Summer Row opposite The Shakespeare cnr Lionel St. My Brother in law worked on the erection of that u shaped car park it was only supposed to be temporary it must have been up 30 years , anyway when Mr Kline (Maurice Colbourne) was chased around that car park not many people got much sleep in Cambridge Tower , as I've said before my Mother lived on the 14th floor of that block, she could hear every skid, screech of the tyres while they were filming
Click to expand...

thanks williamstreeter i must try and watch some more of that series may spot some more places of interest...

lyn
 
mw0njm. said:
Eddie Fewtrell - Birmingham Mail

we used to worry the fewtrells would get us
Eddie Fewtrell: Truth about me and the Krays and ... - Birmingham Mail
Click to expand...

Thanks for the two references. I have watched the Battle of Snow Hill in 'Gangsters' several times and I am still not sure who was fighting whom.

Talking of the Allegra reminds me of the joke. 'What are the two man made objects which can be seen from outer space?' 'The Great Wall of China and the gap between the bonnet lid and frame on an Allegra'.
 
Before we get a rap over the knuckles for turning this thread into a joke sheet about the Allegra can I just say that the folding bike was your 'Get you home guarantee'.

I did once explain to someone that I thought the Allegra was the second worst looking car on the road. When asked to say what was the worst, I said the Allegra Estate.

Having said that I knew several people who had Allegras and where happy with them although one who had one of the early ones did take the square steering wheel off and replace it with a round one.
 
Swerving wildly back on topic . . . .
The opening few minutes of the film fascinated me. The different attitudes that people had then, the different way people spoke, (I do believe I heard Frank Skinner in there for a second).
I liked it, the delectable Diane Abbot would LOVE it !
 
they would be no good for a getaway car, you let the clutch up fast. no wheel spin,the sub frame mountings broke. and if you went over a big pot hole the rear window.broke, or fell out as the body twisted.
 
Swerving back off topic, I think the trials and tribulations of the cars and motorbikes that have been produced over the years in Birmingham are an important part of our past.

We look back in fondness and with a sense of nostalgia at these times that actually shaped our lives in a significant way. I bought my first car, a second-hand Ford Escort off a guy in Rednal. It was completely clapped out, sawdust in the gearbox job. It was a significant blow to a young lad, I had spent all my hard-earned cash on this car, I was cleaned out.

I did manage to rebuild the engine, steep learning curve in road side mechanics, the joys of the Ford engine and the Haynes Manual. I also learned a lesson in the duplicity of human nature.
 
ford escort what a great car.mk1 or two. i used to build them. from scratch. now that was a good getaway car.
 

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Home mechanics was a hobby within its self them. Today, cars are so sophisticated they have to plug them into a computer and repairing them is well beyond the means of the average householder.

I was actually taught car mechanics at school in Aston on the corner of Priory Road
 
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