BROOKLANDS ON TV
BEHIND THE SCENES
Volunteers at the famous old venue to be featured on the box
One of Britain’s most treasured motorcycle and car racing heritage sites is the subject of a new television series that’s due to be aired early this year. We got the inside information...
UKTV has commissioned a new 10-part series, Secrets of the Transport Museum , due to be shown on its leading factual channel, Yesterday, early this year. Produced by Middlechild Productions, the series goes behind the scenes at the Brooklands Museum in Surrey and follows the skilled and enthusiastic volunteers who work to preserve the array of historic racing motorcycles, cars and aeroplanes that have a permanent home there. The series will be narrated by English comedian, actor and TV presenter Sanjeev Bhaskar.
For years Brooklands has been visited by many and varied TV and film production companies, all of them eager to get the site or parts of the collection onto our screens. Productions from Antiques Roadshow to The Crown and The Classic Car Show, along with countless documentaries, have all shown parts of the collection, prompting Brooklands’ members and volunteers to modestly claim some association with the action on the screen.
However, it’s the museum collection and its volunteers that are the primary focus of this major new documentary series, which will showcase the major wheeled and winged machines, as well as documenting some of the most important historical events associated with the famous location.
Located near Weybridge in Surrey, Brooklands opened in 1907 as the birthplace of motor racing – the world’s first purpose-built banked racing circuit. It was the brainchild
‘THE MUSEUM VOLUNTEERS ARE A PRIMARY FOCUS’
of entrepreneur Henry Locke King and became the site of the very first British Grand Prix in 1926, going on to host major motorcycle races and speed record attempts right up to the onset of World War II.
The circuit was then closed, with the focus of the site switching to military aircraft production. Sadly, by the end of the war, the circuit had fallen into disrepair and was never returned to its former glory.
In 1987 the Brooklands Museum Trust was formed and the place has become one of the most important heritage sites for motorcycle, car and aviation engineering in the world. It also houses some of the most important motorcycles and cars of the past 100 years
Andrew Eastel, Creative Director for Middlechild Productions, said: “From the moment you arrive and get sight of their incredible collection, you realise Brooklands is a very special place. We are so lucky to have been granted such unique access, to be allowed this close to the inner workings of some of the most important vehicles of the 20th century. “The staff and volunteers not only painstakingly protect our transport heritage, but inject so much life into every car, bike, plane and bus, with their unparalleled knowledge of transport history. Getting to work with the UKTV team again has been wonderful, too – Yesterday is the perfect home for this series.”
Middlechild’s series producer Andrew Walmsley explained how the series was commissioned and some of the challenges to filming during 2020: “The idea of exploring what it takes to maintain heritage transport came about following a discussion with Lady Judy Mcalpine, President of the National Transport Trust, who referred us to Brooklands Museum Director, Tamalie Newbury.”
Very soon, Middlechild production was committed to the a ‘year in the life of Brooklands’ project. The concept was developed further by Eastel and, prior to being pitched to UKTV, Walmsley was back at the museum in the autumn of 2019 in order to film volunteers working, as part of the proposal.
Walmsley added: “I was convinced that the site, its incredible vehicles and amazing volunteers would be perfect for viewers of the Yesterday Channel, but it is incredibly difficult to get commissioned and it was wonderful to find that the channel shared the same enthusiasm for the subject matter and came back quickly with the news that filming could begin.”
The key to a successful series is diversity of content and what the industry refers to as ‘jeopardy’. We have all seen a group on TV, struggling to meet a deadline. However, it was Middlechild that faced its own dilemma during the difficult summer lockdowns of 2020, as there would be no series if the museum was closed. It was with a sense of relief that they learned they could start shooting in the museum as volunteers and visitors were returning after lockdown. Covid presented a number of practical challenges, such as sanitising microphones and managing paperwork. Walmsley also said, with less events and what was perceived to be a finite number of exhibits, there was some initial concern about the amount of content needed for 10 hours of TV. However, as the cameras began rolling during August 2020, it was immediately clear that they would have more than enough material. The series will feature 10 main feature subjects plus 30 other projects and events, including; The Aircraft Factory, Mike Bannister and the Concorde Simulator, and the Vickers Vimy. The story of the Barnato-hassan and Napier Railton cars is told against the backdrop of the banked circuit at the Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire, where the museum’s recreation of Freddie Clarke’s 1938 recordbreaking performance on a Triumph Tiger 80 motorcycle was also taken for filming. Motorcycle Team Member and owner of the Freddie Clarke Triumph, Perry Barwick, said: “The filming gave me a unique opportunity to ride the bike as it would have been ridden at Brooklands. For reasons of comfort, I’d fitted conventional handlebars and altered the seat position when riding at Brooklands outreach events. After filming, I gained a better understanding of the riding stance and discomfort that the rider must have experienced on the outer Brooklands circuit.”
Also on track was Motorcycle Team Member Michael Digby, on his Triumph L/21 who will also feature in the TV show rebuilding the engine of a Triumph L2/1 barn find. Motorcycle Team Members were filmed working on several of the museum’s motorcycles including the British Motorcycle Charitable Trust’s 1920 Martinsyde Newman and 1930’s Doug Earle Cotton JAP.
*Martin Gegg is one of the museum’s volunteers and serves on the Member’s Committee