On The Buses was the creation of the writing duo Ronald Wolfe & Ronald Chesney. It was rejected by the BBC, but it's extraordinary success on ITV makes the former's decision rather foolish. Indeed some found it vulgar in that Reg Varney's Stan Butler was chasing after young clippie's young enough to be his daughters, and it was cheeply made but this didn't deter audiences from loving it. It ran for four years from 1969 to 1973. A testament to the enormous populartity of the series is that three big-screen spin-offs were produced by Hammer. They were On The Buses (1971), Mutiny On The Buses (1972)and Holiday On The Buses (1973). They all retained the regular TV cast and the first of the films became the most popular British film of 1971. Made for only £97,000, it's takings even outgrossed the James Bond film of that year, Diamonds Are Forever.
The situation comedy revolved around the home life of bus driver Stan Butler (Reg Varney)who lived with is overly devoted mother (played by Cicely Courtneige in the first series, but replaced by Doris Hare at the start of the second series and remained thereafter), his none-to-bright sister Olive (Anna Karen) and his idle brother-in-law Arthur (Michael Robbins). The situation comedy also focused on his friendship with his lechurous conductor Jack (Bob Grant) and their uneasy relationship with their petty and miserable Inspector Blake (Stephen Lewis), known to them as Blakey. Then there was the womanising antics of both Stan and Jack, quite often it would go all wrong for Stan because his family never approved of the girls he brought home.
Michael Robbins left the series just prior to the last series, the writers came up with the scenario that Arthur finally walked out on Olive, and that they were looking to divorce. Reg Varney would soon leave with the hope of becoming a star of films in specials, but this turned out to be unsuccessful and little was heard of him after that. In the story Stan went to work in a bus factory in the Midlands, and Inspector Blakey became the main attraction as he moved in to the Butler household as a lodger. Towards the end, Ronald Wolfe & Ronald Chesney gave up their position as the series' house writers, and later scripts were supplied by cast members Bob Grant and Stephen Lewis as well as people like George Layton.
On The Buses is my favourite sitcom because it's one of the very few which have made me laugh. I also like the way it portrayed the working class background and the characters, especially Arthur (Michael Robbins) were marvelous, I will never forget them!
