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Hornby Documentary for TV


luckymucklebackit
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Hi all - a source on another forum tells me that filming is in progress for a documentary about Hornby. This will be presented by James May and should be on the box sometime next year. Will be interesting to see if this is a dewy eyed history of "Britain's Favourite Model Train Brand" or if it will be a more in depth investigation of the trials and tribulations that has beset the company over the past few years.

 

Jim

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Thanks for the tip.

 

The trials and tribulations from the early-1960s to now would take a fair bit of explaining, and potentially send many viewers into a coma, so if it’s only one programme, they might have to be summarised a bit! James May has previously summarised the changes very well at overview level, talking about the change in market from boys to ‘sad old blokes who want to play trains’, and including himself in that.

 

The other ‘litmus test’ is whether the degree of ‘ripping-off’ of German toy trains in the very early years of the Hornby story gets proper attention.

 

I await with interest.

 

Kevin

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There's been a lot of filming for this - I first spotted the crew at the London Toy Fair in January, and they have been out and about a lot since then. It's going to cover the group, not just the railway side. They were last spotted filming at the IPMS show a couple of weeks ago.

 

My guess is that since the company is co-operating with them, anyone drooling for a hatchet job is likely to be disapointed. Anyone looking to see behind the scenes and get to know a little about the work required to bring models to market will probably find it interesting. 

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  • RMweb Gold

Agreed, and I reckon May is a safe enough pair of hands; he has a genuine enthusiasm and 'feel' for this sort of thing.  Presented by him, it is likely to be focussed on the brand's presence in the public consciousness, the only RTR manufacturer everybody in Britain has heard of even if they know nothing else about model railways.  A good number of them still think it's Hornby Dublo, though...

 

Though it you wanted to make a soap opera about an RTR model railway producer, there's plenty of twists and turns in the Hornby storyline!

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  • RMweb Gold

No, he's done The Reassembler shows for the Beeb since then.

 

Weren't JM's toy story TV series aired on BBC4.

I'm sure the Toy Stories series were prior to "Clarkson gate" and the great Top Gear exodus; and I got the feeling that the Reassembler series were recorded before then but broadcast after.

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