On The Buses was a British sitcom created by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney. The pair had already had successes with The Two Ronnies, The Rag Trade and Meet The Wife for the BBC. The BBC rejected this offering and so the pair turned to ITV. The show was accepted and although the critics disliked it, the show was a huge hit with the viewers.

In the series Stan Butler works as a bus driver for the Luxton & District Bus Company. He lives at home with his bingo loving, widowed and overbearing mother, his frumpy sister Olive and his lazy brother in law Arthur. The bane of Stan's life is Inspector "Blakey" Blake who is often checking up of them and threatening them with the sack for lateness and untidyness. His catchphrase is "I 'ate you Butler!".

On The Buses was a primetime ITV sitcom and 74 half-hour episodes were made. Also popular were the spin-off feature films made by Hammer (On The Buses, 1971; Mutiny On The Buses, 1972; Holiday On The Buses, 1973). Holiday On The Buses was Britain's top box-office film at the time, surpassing even the James Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever.

Like several other London-made ITV sitcoms of the era, the format of On The Buses was sold to American television, where it was remade by NBC as Lotsa Luck , running for 24 episodes in 1973-74. Lotsa Luck failed to succeed and has never been screened in Britain.

Cast

• Cicely Courtneidge - Mum (first series 1969)
• Bob Grant - Jack
• Doris Hare - Mum (1969-73)
• Anna Karen - Olive
• Stephen Lewis - Inspector Cyril "Blakey" Blake
• Michael Robbins - Arthur
• Reg Varney - Stan Butler

Episode List

• Series 1
  • The Early Shift
  • The New Conductor
  • Olive Takes A Trip
  • Bus Driver's Stomach
  • The New Inspector
  • The Canteen
  • The Darts Match
• Series 2
• Series 3
• Series 4
• Series 5
• Series 6
• Series 7