31 replies to this topic

[DJH]

Can anyone remember this one? It's driving my wife and me nuts trying to remember what it was called. A house wife and her local garage mechanic build a Mini sports sedan, suffered various set backs and family problems, but, eventually she gets to race it. Included footage from Brands Hatch in the final episodes I recall, where she defeated a bloke in a Vauxhall Firenza. Anyone else here old enough to recall what the series was called? TV drama series, not a doco. Might have been called " Over The Edge " or something....John

[alansart]

It was called Driving Ambition and was made in 1984.

Featuring Rosemary Martin as Donna Hewitt who had her shopping rounabout turned into a Maguire Mini!

The Mechanic come builder was actor Gavin Richards who also appeared as the mad Italian in Allo Allo and has been in all sorts of things ever since.

The Vauxhall driver was Nicky Henson.

... Oh and the program was total rubbish

[GePe]

I seem to think the series was called "Driving Ambition" and one of the stars was the actor who played the Italian officer in Allo Allo.

[Andrew Kitson]

It featured Peter Baldwin's Mini ( not a Maguire car though, was it? ) and Tony Davies' Transpeed Firenza, which is still out racing now and then, saw it at snett last year. John Maguire can be found at all of the BTCC meetings. He's one of the BTCC scrutes working with Peter Riches.

[Paul Hurdsfield]

Yep it was Peter Baldwins Mini.
The series was as crap as everyone on here thinks ;)
The short racing sequences we're ok, when you consider we didn't get that much car stuff back then :

[ErleMin]

Lyrics of the signature tune repeated the words "over the edge" - maybe that's why you think it was called that.

[RTH]

I was in it, or rather my Ensign LNF3 was. I spent a whole day on the set at the disused Handley Page aerodrome near Radlett in Herts. and gave them a lot of stills and other info.
It was 8 part one hour drama series for the BBC and we filmed it in the summer of 1983 it went out in '84 I think. Simon Hadfield was there too with a Lotus 47.
The script was improbable to say the least and the dialogue toe curling. It was all too embarassing to say you had been involved at the time.

Most memorable bits, the catering on site was to a fantastic standard, vast numbers of people were involved. they paid very well and the assistant floor manager was really nice ....I wonder what happened to her, I never saw her name on any productions afterwards( and I can still remember it now ).

[Mistron]

did some stills not appear on here a while back - maybe in the 'Photos from the paddock' thread?

[DJH]

Wow, I'm amazed anyone else on the Forum can remember the show. It was a B grade stinker, but, anything on the box remotely involving motorsport was a "must watch" for me back in those days. Thanks for all the info fellows, my brain can go back to sleep now.........John

[Kingsleyrob]

Originally posted by RTH
and the assistant floor manager was really nice ....I wonder what happened to her, I never saw her name on any productions afterwards( and I can still remember it now ).

Blimey Richard, sounds like

Rob

[RTH]

She was in the top photo in the hooped T shirt with the sun hat and sun glasses, Rob. She was in the credits as first assistant Director. I see now from the credits she went on in the same position in 1985 to work on 'Blott on the Landscape '

Staggering to think this is now 26 years ago!

The american pick up was a high speed camera mount to film the mini from the front up and down the runway.

The director Michael Simpson told me he hated doing low budget films where you only had the one vehicle to crash in each scene , so had to do it in just the one take !



Other than some stills I don't suppose more than 10 mins of material that actually went out was achieved that day . This was actually an in house BBC production, there must have been 60 BBC staff plus half a dozen actors and about 50 film extras for a crowd scene.

Gavin Richards played Ken Lark the former successful racing driver who had become bitter twisted and resentful in the film ( he was actually a really nice bloke )

[DJH]

Nice to see those production photos from "Driving Ambition" Richard, I guess that may be Rosemary Martin leaning against the Mini in one shot and the ute in another.
Do you have a closer shot of her? There doesn't seem to be a picture of her anywhere on the inet.
I was sorry to read on Wikipedia that she'd passed away in 1998, at a fairly young age for these times, only sixty two Y.O. It shows there that she had a very long and impressive list of T.V. and film credits, quite an enduring acting career............John

[fines]

Originally posted by RTH
Other than some stills I don't suppose more than 10 mins of material that actually went out was achieved that day .

Ten minutes is actually a lot, and indicates "soap opera" standard!;) Quality TV productions on locations are considered "hurried" if they yield more than 5 minutes a day.

[RTH]

Yes you are right John that was Rosemary Martin in the two above pictures as you say, who played Donna Hewitt.
In the one below the woman in the shiny gold racesuit was Anne Carroll who played Jen Robinson

Above the BBC van you can see some chaps on a high level hydraulic camera mount.

What you don't see are the dozen blokes of the lighting crew , who were playing football all day as it was mid summer, but they had to be there.
There must have been a fleet of 15 Sierra estates and 2 40 ft articulated catering trucks and a converted coach which was the wardrobe with costumes even for the film extras in the grandstand scene.



Mandy Hadfield in my Ensign



Gavin Richards playing Ken Lark with Simon Hadfield's Lotus 47

They are going to build a gigantic Railway terminal and goods marshalling yard all over this fabulous old aerodrome in lovely countryside now, as it is also close to the M1 and the M25. It was the scene of aircraft manufacture and wartime base.

[RCH]

Remember it, it was pretty dreadful, wasn't Ray Winstone seriously miscast as the son?

There was also a later TV series about a rally driver in a 6R4 if I remember rightly, equally naff but it's so unusual for the TV companies to actually set a drama around motorsport that you have to watch!

[RTH]

Originally posted by RCH


There was also a later TV series about a rally driver in a 6R4 if I remember rightly, equally naff

That was called 'The Winning Streak' and went out in 1985 A family owned garage group, Austin Rover Dealer Savage Motors, a younger son contesting the National breakdown rally in a Ternco oils Metro 6R4 plus all the usual backbiting, the infidelity and marital angst which was staple to any drama at that time....no forgetting the shoulder pads , the billowing blouses and the big hair and the women just as bad!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0400058/

[RTH]

Driving Ambition series details

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0884470/

http://www.ten-tenth...hp/t-27700.html

Full list of cast and crew

http://www.imdb.com/...470/fullcredits

DRIVING AMBITION


Notes
Eight-part serial about a middle-aged housewife who is obsessed with making her mark in the man's world of fast cars. Script by Paula Milne. BBC1 tx 1984/03/03 - 1984/04/21 (Sat) 8 eps. x 50 mins.


Episodes
A CLASS OF THEIR OWN (21/04/1984)
Big torque (14/04/1984)
The thin red line (07/04/1984)
The Late breaker (31/03/1984)
Manifold depression (24/03/1984)
Five O'Clock shadow (17/03/1984)
Dream Machine (10/03/1984)
A LITTLE DIFFERENTIAL PROBLEM (03/03/1984)

[Kevan]

Originally posted by RTH


That was called 'The Winning Streak' and went out in 1985 A family owned garage group, Austin Rover Dealer Savage Motors, a younger son contesting the National breakdown rally in a Ternco oils Metro 6R4 plus all the usual backbiting, the infidelity and marital angst which was staple to any drama at that time....no forgetting the shoulder pads , the billowing blouses and the big hair and the women just as bad!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0400058/

It featured the early prototype 6R4 rather than the final homologated version, in blue and yellow 'Ternco' colours. http://img47.imagesh.../ternco1ez5.jpg

I think the 'action' stuff was a combination of footage filmed on various national events in 1984 and some specially-shot stuff- accident scenes etc. I was looking through some old Autosports recently and found a pic of a Mk3 Escort (Group A RS1600i at a guess?) which ran on some stages of the '84 National Breakdown in 'Savage Motors' colours for filming purposes. From very vague memory, the rallying part of the plot centred around younger son making a comeback with a new car and sponsor (Ternco and the Metro) after a big career-threatening accident or something like that?

[ianselva]

Slightly OTT but I remember seeing a TVS production in about 1974 which followed the on-track learning curve of Patrick Cobb - vaguely related to John Cobb . It was filmed mainly at Thruxton and Brands.
Does anybody remember that ?

[Pullman99]

I remember both series, although I don't think I watched every episode.

The Winning Streak was quite accurate, I would suggest, in portraying a family owned motor business and I suppose that there was also an historic motoring link in casting Dinah Sheridan (Wendy McKim in Genevieve) as the matriarch of the drama, Frances Savage. The real driving of the 6R4 was done by Colin Malkin and I spoke with him about this at the Coventry Motoring Festival in 1985. The production company had also commissioned a "replica" 6R4 using a standard (could have been 1 litre) Metro complete with fake (top-end) engine visible. I think that it was this car that apperaed at the Coventry parade. Was this the car on E-bay recently?

Of such minutiae are minutes (hours, more like) filled; but occasionally it generates tangents that are truly fascinating!

[RS2000]

I think the Ascona 400 (of the "bad" guy) that rolled off the road was also a fake - standard Ascona with a body kit, although a real one was used otherwise.

[Simpatico]

Does anyone have a pic of the leading lady Rosemary Martin? I remember the series but can't bring her face to mind, and had no idea she had died. If I recall the series started out well and was quite entertaining, but descended into the formulaic angst/turgid affair soap style crap.

[RTH]

This is just some of the film and TV she appeared in !

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0553013/

[Kevan]

Originally posted by RS2000
I think the Ascona 400 (of the "bad" guy) that rolled off the road was also a fake - standard Ascona with a body kit, although a real one was used otherwise.

There were a couple of pages about the filming of the series in Autosport during October '85, and yes, the Ascona that was rolled was a fake- built up as a replica of Vince Wetton's car which was used in the filming.

[GePe]

Talking of awful TV programmes that featured motorsport does anybody remember "The Brothers" ?
I think that is what it was called and centered around a transport business run by the Hammond family.
I seem to recall that the youngest brother tried his hand at motor racing. Very vague memories but Roger Orgees Dulon formula ford featured at Oulton Park?
As somebody else said - you had to watch it if it featured motorsport as there was so little on then.

[RTH]

David Hammond ( Robin Chadwick), definitely a Formula Ford

http://en.wikipedia....i/The_Brothers_(TV_series)

[Phil Rainford]

Originally posted by GePe
Talking of awful TV programmes that featured motorsport does anybody remember "The Brothers" ?
I think that is what it was called and centered around a transport business run by the Hammond family.
I seem to recall that the youngest brother tried his hand at motor racing. Very vague memories but Roger Orgees Dulon formula ford featured at Oulton Park?
As somebody else said - you had to watch it if it featured motorsport as there was so little on then.

Correct ......the testing and race footage was all Formula Ford however some paddock footage saw the eldest brother looking over Alan Jones Formula Atlantic March ( 1975 ) as FA was the headline race at the Oulton meeting they were filming.

The fact that I can remember it so well backs up your point that there was so little motorsport on in the 1970s.

PAR

[Mallory Dan]

If it was Jones' March, Phil, it must have been 1974 not 75...

[Phil Rainford]

Originally posted by Mallory Dan
If it was Jones' March, Phil, it must have been 1974 not 75...

Just testing.....;)

PAR

[Alan Cox]

The Red Lion at Little Budworth used to have photos on the bar wall of the cast of The Brothers, who stayed there when doing the filming at Oulton Park.

[paulsenna1]

I remember Gabrielle Drake looking rather beautiful in the Oulton paddock.

[RTH]

Originally posted by paulsenna1
I remember Gabrielle Drake looking rather beautiful in the Oulton paddock.

http://www.leninimpo...ke_gallery.html