Bob helped me to read by watching this show. As I use to work on a van like Bob and couldn't read. Through the show and working on a van with a driver I started to noticed street names and how they were spelt. Education was a massive let down for me as it wasn't my fault that I could not read or spell Teachers could not be bothered not like it is today. And now I can read and write thanks to this show. R.I.P. Bob.
I remember this programme as a kid ( BBC 1 Sunday tea time ) I think it was great real help for real people with real difficulties,,,, what a shame we now have a benefit culture and there probably wouldn't be funding for something like this anymore 😢
In the mid 1970s I was ten years of age, I loved watching "the telly" as that was "my way" of learning ... No such thing as Dyslexia then! So when this came on, I loved it ... I fully concur with the contributor jasonfury1 on what he said in regard to public service television. On watching this again (and the signature tune) it brought tears to my eye's, as it took me back to 1975 and that 10 year old boy holding onto A Chance to Move On! ... One last point "The Nostalgia of it all" so thank you On The Move!.
Absolutely agree! Thanks to this show…and Sesame Street…I got more education in reading, writing and arithmetic than I ever did at primary school. The educational element of ‘telly’ was so much greater then despite the limited hours and channels. Whatever happened to ‘Public Information films’? You know, the films that taught people the basics of “not being an idiot” ? We could do with some of those now. Despite the bad start I got at a really useless state primary school in working class South London, I went on to become a Consultant Surgeon in the NHS. 😅
My sister and I used to watch this when we were small. We couldn't really believe that grown-ups couldn't do simple words like CAT. But for some reason we loved this programme. I can see now why. It's got a lovely feel to it with some great actors. Irene Handl, Martin Shaw just popped up! Love it when Bob says I'll treat you to another coffee (that's 8 new pence Bob, go easy man). Bit of shame what's happened to the BBC nowadays and the world in general. There's a calmness to the 70s stuff, a lack of pace and urgency that is so refreshing. Theme tune is great too!
Remember this well such a wonderful program and so important. Bob Hoskins, Martin Shaw and Patricia Hayes doing wonderful work which is just as important and vital today. Interesting what they say about bad memories of school. Those of us who went to school in the 60s, 70s and early 80s can remember being treated like sub humans especially if the teachers decided you were stupid and they often backed this up with high levels of physical violence.
It's funny isn't it. When he was talking about freezing when you see a column of numbers. The feelings he described about being embarrassed about having no ability with mental arithmetic and then that embarrassment turning into fear..that's exactly how I felt. I started school in 1975. I'm 53 years old now, and my maths has improved, but I still can't do mental arithmetic. And I remember that embarrassment and fear with a keenness like it was yesterday.
I'd forgotten about this but remember seeing it as a child and being surprised that there were grown-ups who couldn't read or write. It was first broadcast on Sunday 12 October 1975 at 18:05 and repeated on Thursday at 12:15pm and Saturday at 10:25 am. I will have seen it on Saturday mornings on BBC 1 as that's when there was a few kids programmes on back then. I loved being a kid in the 70s!
Just took a look at this as Bob Hoskins has just died. What a fabulous program. Public service broadcasting at its best. Looks and sounds old fashioned but streets ahead of anything around now
Bloody hell! as a kid in the 70s I saw "On the Move". The only memory I have of it is a scene with Bob and Martin loading/unloading a van and the music/song "On the move, on the move, we're on our way again...life is an open book...". (Weird how bits of things stay with you [the "Shake 'n' Vac" advert being another!]). This is the first time I've seen the program again in 40+ years and I only found this by chance!
Being Canadian I had never heard or seen this. What an absolutely brilliant idea. I am not surprised it came from the BBC which I have the most tremendous respect for as a broadcasting no matter how much the Brits may complain about it. I worked at a job where I was required to take written statements from people. I went to a home to take a statement from a man. It was about three pages long. I asked him to read it and make any changes and then sign it. He told me he would not do so until his wife, who was at work, would read it first. I got kind of stroppy with him as it was the end of the day and I was tired. A couple of days later I asked a coworker to pick the statement up for me. He came back and told me that the wife had said her husband couldn't read or write. To this day I still cringe with shame at my behavior towards this man and that is good 25 years ago. I wish I could have written to him and apologized for my boorish behavior. One thing I learned I never EVER assume that everyone can read or write for whatever reason.A very hard and valuable lesson for me.
Oh my goodness! Such amazing memories of a wonderful programme. I was only a kid when this was on but I remember thinking how frightening it must be to be an adult and have trouble with reading, writing or math. I'm sure it helped so many people and gave them the courage to face their fears and push through. It also reminded me of the simpler times in England in the 1970s. I used to run through car parks like the one outside the cafe with the huge potholes filled with rain with my friends on the way home from school. Thanks so much for posting this!!
This reminds me of being a child at home on Sunday mornings back in the 1970s. The theme tune is very memorable. The programme served a great purpose, and I seem to recall many educational programmes that would be shown on BBC1 before and after On The Move.
Like a lot of people here I watched this as a youngster and couldn't believe there were grown-ups who couldn't read very well or not at all. I can just remember not being able to read, going to church as a small boy and not being able to read the hymn book - I found it very frustrating, even as a three year-old. What struck me in the programmes was seeing people who had learned to read saying how it opened a whole new world to them. Years later I had a neighbour who couldn't read. He told me how he knew the shape of words ("York" was short, "Scarborough" was long) but still couldn't read them. He actually seemed quite happy, and he didn't let it affect his life too much.
It does seem bizarre, the idea of adults not being able to read and write, and you have to wonder how much of a hindrance it must be. I remember my Dad telling me that one of his work colleagues was in that position, and his Wife had to read all his mail to him. He did eventually start going to adult literacy classes.
I remember watching it at the time, and always recall Bob Hoskins in it. Funny, we had a joke in our family when Bob got to Hollywood. We'd say 'not bad for a removal man'. LOL. Great title music too. Thanks for uploading.
What a wonderful clip, thanks for posting. Superb theme tune and the ambient music early on with the coffee jar just makes me weep tears of joy, pure nostalgia of better times. Some great actors and actresses here...
This IS public service broadcasting!!! Yes it may be a bit patronising by todays standards, it's the principle. Would this really exist on Netflix or Amazon Prime? It never would because these outlets are not founded on the basis of public service broadcasting. This is what makes the BBC so special, and worth paying the licence fee for
Gosh, that music went through my head for years, or decades. Stuff like this re-invokes the 70s in 1 minute as much as "Life on Mars" can do in entire series. Saw an interview with Donald Gee recently hidden away on Dailymotion, he's a lovely bloke.
...:( When I was a kid in the 70's, Sunday mornings were started with On The Move, brings back lotsa fond memories!....RIP Bob Hoskins - as Helen Mirren said of him today "A great actor and even greater man".
It was indeed 'On The Move' when Bob Hoskins first registered on the nation's TV screens. A sunday evening educational tea-time slot intended for a small but persistent sector of the populace that had reached maturity without having properly mastered the skills of reading and writing. At the heart of the programme was a mini-soap based around two removals men (hence the 'on the move' motif) and their chat in the course of their breaks. Hoskins's side-kick was the genial and kindly Donald Gee, the figure that Hoskins's everyman character was able to come out to as being illiterate and with each week's instalment the audience gained a sense of the struggle for an adult to come to terms with an ignored disability and find the wherewithal to conquer it. If Bob Hoskins had never taken on another role in his life it would have mattered not a jot such was the conviction with which he conveyed the dilemma of his character. A feisty, bullish man about town with a shameful, hidden weakness. I remember one scene when, having enrolled for a reading & writing course, he has to confess to his work-mate that having got there, to the particular school or college, he'd run away in desperation and fear. He explains how the smell of the desks, the noise of the corridors had swelled in his mind and provoked a terrifying flashback. Hoskins put that scene across with such viscerality that I live it in my head to this day, nearly forty years on and never having seen it in the intervening years. I recall also at this point that there was a two-fold purpose to 'On the Move'. One was to reach out to adults of basic or lesser literacy and urge them to return to education, but just as important was to explain to the majority how and why a minority struggled with skills that were so easily taken for granted. The ethos, I suppose, was some people fall through the net, and in Hoskins we saw not a victim but somebody that could have been ourselves. Really, that early role was a template for the rest of his career. He always was that Everyman. Not someone you pitied, not someone you ridiculed or laughed at, but the little man that exists in all of us. The dreamer of a song-sheet salesman in Pennies From Heaven, the gangster in The Long Good Friday, the abused henchman in Mona Lisa and the soft-centred butler in Maid In Manhattan. Hoskins's performances, quite simply, induced audiences into a state of the highest empathy. Bryn's earlier comment about the final scene in The Long Good Friday picks on a defining moment in his career when, as he's been driven away to certain death, his barely contorted face conveys a tragic symphony of emotions. Truly a masterly display of screen acting. Thanks goodness those many performances will endure across the decades though it might be a long time before such a unique diamond in the rough is uncovered again.
Excellent synopsis of the fantastic Bob. Unfortunately as time moves on, there are less and less of the true greats left, and they're not being replaced to the same degree. The world these days is too "PC" and softer than it was - some of the great films & shows of the 70s and 80s would never be made today in the same form, there'd be too much watering down of content to please the wrong people... Thank god for the Internet, where we can at least remember and relive great actors like Bob & co.
Dave Parker Sorry, what part of On The Move could possibly not be made today in this "PC" era? In fact this program totally proves that being nice to people matters (i.e what some people call PC) Everybody involved in these program exudes nothing but class, wanting to HELP people who need help. Has that been lost? You bet it has. Its not PC that has killed this kind of show, it's money, and the race to the bottom largely accelerated by the merchants of trash.
+Stevie Pixs Bob's first big tv break came a year before On The Move hit the screens, it was in the tv series "Thick As Thieves" starring along side John Thaw, pre Sweeney days
I used the book to help with my writing as a kid but I wasn't illiterate. I spotted Norman Rossington, Polly James, Rosemary Leech in that quick opener too but the first chap and the dark-haired girl eluded me. Great theme tune too. It sounded like it was being patronising at times but the level of Adult illiteracy was quite high and it was easy for them to learn.
Wow I'd forgotten about this program, I remember whistling the theme tune at school. Also my dad was a lorry driver and the cafe scene was exactly how they looked back then with all the risque adverts on the wall, as a kid it was an eye opener 😂
I remember Not The Nine O'Clock News doing a parody of this and on their van they had a sign stating "On the Moov" funny at the time but I don't think it would be allowed now.
My brother just remembered this programme. Nice to see it posted here. Got to be honest we both hated it as kids but there was nothing else on to watch. I think it might have been a Sunday? Does anyone remember the adverts for farmers shown Sunday lunchtimes? Ivomec. It kills sarcoptic mange mites! Still remember that. Not the sort of thing you wanted to see eating your dinner!
I had never realised that was Bob Hoskins! I still think of "open your... eyes and look" at 0:31 as one of the high points of any opening credits. I wonder who that beautiful woman was? From 0:36 the lorry and all the arrows travel from right to left, the opposite direction from reading English. I have always found that strange but *still* can't read Arabic or Hebrew... ;)
+Robert Tolhurst I too wondered about the girl at 0.31 and I'm certain it's the Scottish actress Gay Hamilton. I thought at first it might be Celia Johnson's daughter Lucy Fleming but now I'm sure it's Gay Hamilton. Either way it's tinged with slight sadness as they're both now elderly women. Hamilton in her 70s and Fleming in her late 60s. I wish you well.
Bloody hell where did you get this from? I haven't seen this in years. Brings back memories the theme tune, singing along to it and what became of that book reading symbol, must have been abandoned in the 80's. Thanks for posting this.
I been a fan of Bob Hoskins ever since Who framed Roger Rabbit. I am shock he is British, I thought for the longest time he was Italian!!! Fantastic actor
Ah, helping people help themselves... Nowadays we get celebrity chuggers. It's not just nostalgia, but what a shame it is that programmes today do not show the goodness and generosity of spirit that On the Move shows. Bob is brilliant of course, but the whole idea that doing something to help people pull themselves up and succeed is just wonderful. Just imagine how the 2014 On the Move would look.... don't be scared, it won't happen.
This really needs to come back with a re-make. Adult literacy hasn't really got loads better, but if anything the stigma of illiteracy has got worse. This was brilliantly done without being patronising. A lot more of our population has English as an additional language nowadays too, and it could help them.
This programme was on telly on Sunday afternoons. I used to find it almost fascinating in its dullness but generally listened to ths Dooleys-sung feem toon then turned over.
@@royaldux4091 Last orders and everyone else is going into town and "nah I dont fancy it. Going home to watch telly'. If that was your hey day then ...oh gawd
This was a ground breaking programme of it’s day tackling adult illiteracy but I always remember the fatal flaw at the end when the announcer would say “if you are having trouble with reading and writing then write to (address given)….” 🤔
2:20 Wally's New Café at Elton Way, Bushey, Watford WD25 8HH was demolished in the early 90's and is now a restaurant called Imperial China. Did anyone ever go to Wally's New Cafe?
Yet these days we've now got the award winning This Morning team of Holly, Phil, Eamonn, Ruthie, Alison etcetera reminding us that there are hundreds of external services available up & down the country there to help anyone in that position.
Those were the days.. Mr. Benn, Cloppa Castle, Chorlton and the Wheelies, Jamie and Magic Torch, Words and Pictures, Cockle Shell Bay.. I could go on and on. Proper school dinners with Treacle Pudding and custard for after.. No messing about or you got your arse smacked lolq
I loved this as a kid. No joke, I was 3 OR 4 at that time. I just had a brain storm of nostalgia, and rembered about this series, and I had to search, and I found it. I didn't even know it was Bob Hoskins who was in this until now!!
I remember this so well. And, I didn't realise how much a young Donald Gee looks like James Buckley. I had to look up to see if they were related. I don't think so, but they look so similar!
I'm not sure how many episodes were saved. Lots of programmes were simply erased and re-recorded. One way is to look through the BFI archive: www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-national-archive
+amojak The cafe set does look similar to that in 'EastEnders', amojak, but no, it's not the same one. If it's any help, a police cell set used in 'EastEnders' later reappeared in an episode of 'Holby City'; one could tell because it had the exact same graffiti on the wall near the window -- namely an arrow pointing to the window with the words TO THE SEA next to it! :-)
Remember this OK! Trying to rid the stigma of poor adult literacy. Saw this & the BBC schools programme 'Words & Pictures'. Back in the days when Henry Woolf hosted it. Definite similarities between the two.
So many memories of quiet Sunday mornings when this would be shown around noon.
Bob helped me to read by watching this show.
As I use to work on a van like Bob and couldn't read.
Through the show and working on a van with a driver
I started to noticed street names and how they were spelt.
Education was a massive let down for me as it wasn't my fault
that I could not read or spell Teachers could not be bothered not like it
is today.
And now I can read and write thanks to this show.
R.I.P. Bob.
R.I.P. Bob Hoskins
roly478 but I still can't but that's because I'm thick not the education system this program was like watching a foreign language transmission
Brilliant. You answered the question I was going to ask.
I remember this programme as a kid ( BBC 1 Sunday tea time ) I think it was great real help for real people with real difficulties,,,, what a shame we now have a benefit culture and there probably wouldn't be funding for something like this anymore 😢
Ah nice one. He was let down by the system himself coz he was dyslexic so it woulda meant a lot to him.
I'm crying over this. Such a wonderfu memory of the dear old BBC, and so many other beloved actors along with Bob.
I've got Donald Gee's autograph from when he did two Doctor Who's
@Silver Screen And fondly remembered. Such a super cast.
Loved this show as child my parents got me the book. Thank you for a stroll down memory lane.
In the mid 1970s I was ten years of age, I loved watching "the telly" as that was "my way" of learning ... No such thing as Dyslexia then! So when this came on, I loved it ... I fully concur with the contributor jasonfury1 on what he said in regard to public service television. On watching this again (and the signature tune) it brought tears to my eye's, as it took me back to 1975 and that 10 year old boy holding onto A Chance to Move On! ... One last point "The Nostalgia of it all" so thank you On The Move!.
Absolutely agree!
Thanks to this show…and Sesame Street…I got more education in reading, writing and arithmetic than I ever did at primary school.
The educational element of ‘telly’ was so much greater then despite the limited hours and channels. Whatever happened to ‘Public Information films’? You know, the films that taught people the basics of “not being an idiot” ? We could do with some of those now.
Despite the bad start I got at a really useless state primary school in working class South London, I went on to become a Consultant Surgeon in the NHS. 😅
My sister and I used to watch this when we were small. We couldn't really believe that grown-ups couldn't do simple words like CAT. But for some reason we loved this programme. I can see now why. It's got a lovely feel to it with some great actors. Irene Handl, Martin Shaw just popped up! Love it when Bob says I'll treat you to another coffee (that's 8 new pence Bob, go easy man). Bit of shame what's happened to the BBC nowadays and the world in general. There's a calmness to the 70s stuff, a lack of pace and urgency that is so refreshing. Theme tune is great too!
It's Patricia Hayes, not Irene Handl, but I can see why you might make that mistake. Two great character actresses from the same era.
The song was recreated on the TV Themes LP by Adventures of Parsley.
My sister and I, as young children, used to love this simply for the theme tune.
Remember this well such a wonderful program and so important. Bob Hoskins, Martin Shaw and Patricia Hayes doing wonderful work which is just as important and vital today. Interesting what they say about bad memories of school. Those of us who went to school in the 60s, 70s and early 80s can remember being treated like sub humans especially if the teachers decided you were stupid and they often backed this up with high levels of physical violence.
It's funny isn't it. When he was talking about freezing when you see a column of numbers. The feelings he described about being embarrassed about having no ability with mental arithmetic and then that embarrassment turning into fear..that's exactly how I felt. I started school in 1975. I'm 53 years old now, and my maths has improved, but I still can't do mental arithmetic. And I remember that embarrassment and fear with a keenness like it was yesterday.
I'd forgotten about this but remember seeing it as a child and being surprised that there were grown-ups who couldn't read or write. It was first broadcast on Sunday 12 October 1975 at 18:05 and repeated on Thursday at 12:15pm and Saturday at 10:25 am. I will have seen it on Saturday mornings on BBC 1 as that's when there was a few kids programmes on back then. I loved being a kid in the 70s!
Just took a look at this as Bob Hoskins has just died. What a fabulous program. Public service broadcasting at its best. Looks and sounds old fashioned but streets ahead of anything around now
This is brilliant! I have never forgotten the theme music. I searched for this just to listen to the music and ended up watching the whole thing.
Bloody hell! as a kid in the 70s I saw "On the Move". The only memory I have of it is a scene with Bob and Martin loading/unloading a van and the music/song "On the move, on the move, we're on our way again...life is an open book...". (Weird how bits of things stay with you [the "Shake 'n' Vac" advert being another!]). This is the first time I've seen the program again in 40+ years and I only found this by chance!
Being Canadian I had never heard or seen this. What an absolutely brilliant idea. I am not surprised it came from the BBC which I have the most tremendous respect for as a broadcasting no matter how much the Brits may complain about it. I worked at a job where I was required to take written statements from people. I went to a home to take a statement from a man. It was about three pages long. I asked him to read it and make any changes and then sign it. He told me he would not do so until his wife, who was at work, would read it first. I got kind of stroppy with him as it was the end of the day and I was tired. A couple of days later I asked a coworker to pick the statement up for me. He came back and told me that the wife had said her husband couldn't read or write. To this day I still cringe with shame at my behavior towards this man and that is good 25 years ago. I wish I could have written to him and apologized for my boorish behavior. One thing I learned I never EVER assume that everyone can read or write for whatever reason.A very hard and valuable lesson for me.
Sorry Kate but the BBC has changed. No Longer the respected organisation it was
@@WillseyAH, the good old BBC ...Buggering British Children throughout the seventies and eighties 😮
Oh my goodness! Such amazing memories of a wonderful programme. I was only a kid when this was on but I remember thinking how frightening it must be to be an adult and have trouble with reading, writing or math. I'm sure it helped so many people and gave them the courage to face their fears and push through. It also reminded me of the simpler times in England in the 1970s. I used to run through car parks like the one outside the cafe with the huge potholes filled with rain with my friends on the way home from school. Thanks so much for posting this!!
Coffee 8 pence a cup! Those were the days :) Came here to remember Bob from way back. Fantastic guy. Rest in peace
Yeah, I thought that too - 8p!!! Those were the days :)
RIP Bob :(
This takes me back to the late seventies. Brings back happy memories. Bob Hoskins RIP. Live forever
This reminds me of being a child at home on Sunday mornings back in the 1970s. The theme tune is very memorable. The programme served a great purpose, and I seem to recall many educational programmes that would be shown on BBC1 before and after On The Move.
Like a lot of people here I watched this as a youngster and couldn't believe there were grown-ups who couldn't read very well or not at all. I can just remember not being able to read, going to church as a small boy and not being able to read the hymn book - I found it very frustrating, even as a three year-old. What struck me in the programmes was seeing people who had learned to read saying how it opened a whole new world to them. Years later I had a neighbour who couldn't read. He told me how he knew the shape of words ("York" was short, "Scarborough" was long) but still couldn't read them. He actually seemed quite happy, and he didn't let it affect his life too much.
It does seem bizarre, the idea of adults not being able to read and write, and you have to wonder how much of a hindrance it must be. I remember my Dad telling me that one of his work colleagues was in that position, and his Wife had to read all his mail to him. He did eventually start going to adult literacy classes.
'Do you want American, Flat White, Cappuccino, Frappuccino, cream on top, cream on the bottom..'
'Can i just get a fkin COFFEE?'
Absolutely brilliant. I remember this show from when I was a little kid in the 70s. Took me back!
I remember watching it at the time, and always recall Bob Hoskins in it. Funny, we had a joke in our family when Bob got to Hollywood. We'd say 'not bad for a removal man'. LOL. Great title music too. Thanks for uploading.
What a wonderful clip, thanks for posting. Superb theme tune and the ambient music early on with the coffee jar just makes me weep tears of joy, pure nostalgia of better times. Some great actors and actresses here...
This IS public service broadcasting!!! Yes it may be a bit patronising by todays standards, it's the principle. Would this really exist on Netflix or Amazon Prime? It never would because these outlets are not founded on the basis of public service broadcasting. This is what makes the BBC so special, and worth paying the licence fee for
Absolutely.
Gosh, that music went through my head for years, or decades. Stuff like this re-invokes the 70s in 1 minute as much as "Life on Mars" can do in entire series. Saw an interview with Donald Gee recently hidden away on Dailymotion, he's a lovely bloke.
Great theme tune performed by 70's/early 80's pop group The Dooleys.
...:( When I was a kid in the 70's, Sunday mornings were started with On The Move, brings back lotsa fond memories!....RIP Bob Hoskins - as Helen Mirren said of him today "A great actor and even greater man".
0:29 secs on the intro. Mr Martin Shaw! Doyle, judge John deed, inspector gently etc. Yes that is him!
Just watching enemy at the gate with Bob Hoskins in and I remembered as a child watching this and amazing could remember everyword to the theme song!!
It was indeed 'On The Move' when Bob Hoskins first registered on the nation's TV screens. A sunday evening educational tea-time slot intended for a small but persistent sector of the populace that had reached maturity without having properly mastered the skills of reading and writing.
At the heart of the programme was a mini-soap based around two removals men (hence the 'on the move' motif) and their chat in the course of their breaks.
Hoskins's side-kick was the genial and kindly Donald Gee, the figure that Hoskins's everyman character was able to come out to as being illiterate and with each week's instalment the audience gained a sense of the struggle for an adult to come to terms with an ignored disability and find the wherewithal to conquer it.
If Bob Hoskins had never taken on another role in his life it would have mattered not a jot such was the conviction with which he conveyed the dilemma of his character. A feisty, bullish man about town with a shameful, hidden weakness.
I remember one scene when, having enrolled for a reading & writing course, he has to confess to his work-mate that having got there, to the particular school or college, he'd run away in desperation and fear. He explains how the smell of the desks, the noise of the corridors had swelled in his mind and provoked a terrifying flashback. Hoskins put that scene across with such viscerality that I live it in my head to this day, nearly forty years on and never having seen it in the intervening years.
I recall also at this point that there was a two-fold purpose to 'On the Move'. One was to reach out to adults of basic or lesser literacy and urge them to return to education, but just as important was to explain to the majority how and why a minority struggled with skills that were so easily taken for granted. The ethos, I suppose, was some people fall through the net, and in Hoskins we saw not a victim but somebody that could have been ourselves.
Really, that early role was a template for the rest of his career. He always was that Everyman. Not someone you pitied, not someone you ridiculed or laughed at, but the little man that exists in all of us. The dreamer of a song-sheet salesman in Pennies From Heaven, the gangster in The Long Good Friday, the abused henchman in Mona Lisa and the soft-centred butler in Maid In Manhattan.
Hoskins's performances, quite simply, induced audiences into a state of the highest empathy. Bryn's earlier comment about the final scene in The Long Good Friday picks on a defining moment in his career when, as he's been driven away to certain death, his barely contorted face conveys a tragic symphony of emotions. Truly a masterly display of screen acting.
Thanks goodness those many performances will endure across the decades though it might be a long time before such a unique diamond in the rough is uncovered again.
Excellent synopsis of the fantastic Bob. Unfortunately as time moves on, there are less and less of the true greats left, and they're not being replaced to the same degree. The world these days is too "PC" and softer than it was - some of the great films & shows of the 70s and 80s would never be made today in the same form, there'd be too much watering down of content to please the wrong people...
Thank god for the Internet, where we can at least remember and relive great actors like Bob & co.
A beautifully written piece Stevie
Dave Parker Sorry, what part of On The Move could possibly not be made today in this "PC" era? In fact this program totally proves that being nice to people matters (i.e what some people call PC)
Everybody involved in these program exudes nothing but class, wanting to HELP people who need help. Has that been lost? You bet it has.
Its not PC that has killed this kind of show, it's money, and the race to the bottom largely accelerated by the merchants of trash.
+Stevie Pixs Bob's first big tv break came a year before On The Move hit the screens, it was in the tv series "Thick As Thieves" starring along side John Thaw, pre Sweeney days
@@dratoe Totally agree. Greed has now overtaken kindness and empathy (not all though). It's a sad state of affairs we now live in.
I used to watch this when I was a kid in the 70's...I can still sing the song !
I was a small child when this was on, I loved it and the tune, which I used to sing as 'On The Moon'!! So good to see it again!
After all the intro about coffee, I was worried Bob Hoskins might order tea when he arrived at the cafe.
I learnt to read at three years old from this show! It wasn't just for adults :)
And me. I was shocked to learn a few years ago that six to seven million Brits could not read to a basic standard. Time for Beeb to do another course.
The theme is sung by "The Dooleys". They had several chart entries in the later 1970s and early 1980s.
Think I'm gonna fall in love with you?
I was never grabbed by the Dooleys.
Their biggest hit..."You've got me" by The Dooleys
i remember watching this as a kid. RIP Bob!
I used the book to help with my writing as a kid but I wasn't illiterate. I spotted Norman Rossington, Polly James, Rosemary Leech in that quick opener too but the first chap and the dark-haired girl eluded me. Great theme tune too. It sounded like it was being patronising at times but the level of Adult illiteracy was quite high and it was easy for them to learn.
Nigel Stock and Mel Martin
Wow I'd forgotten about this program, I remember whistling the theme tune at school. Also my dad was a lorry driver and the cafe scene was exactly how they looked back then with all the risque adverts on the wall, as a kid it was an eye opener 😂
This was a programme directed at promoting adult literacy, incidentally, it launched the careers of a few well known stars.
This brings back fond memories. I liked the sweet friendship between the two removal men and the upbeat catchy theme tune.
I remember Not The Nine O'Clock News doing a parody of this and on their van they had a sign stating "On the Moov" funny at the time but I don't think it would be allowed now.
I thought the theme song was beautiful and I knew it by heart (I was very small)
I was a child too, and loved the theme, which I used to sing as 'On The Moon'!
My brother just remembered this programme. Nice to see it posted here. Got to be honest we both hated it as kids but there was nothing else on to watch. I think it might have been a Sunday?
Does anyone remember the adverts for farmers shown Sunday lunchtimes? Ivomec. It kills sarcoptic mange mites! Still remember that. Not the sort of thing you wanted to see eating your dinner!
After 39 years I still know all the words to the theme tune.
Martin Shaw was such a babe...great programme. Good memories watching this with my mum as a kid.
The hot summers of the 70's and motorways ....The old days and football in the park and then the chips .
You forgot the racism, bud.
@@RookhKshatriya He didn't, though he didn't bother mentioning it out of respect for your feelings.
@@RookhKshatriya I'll have a word with him and make sure he brings it up next time, OK?
@@banjopink4409 Get picking those vegetables.
@@RookhKshatriya Oh, yes. He forgot ableism too. Oops!
I never knew this existed. RIP Bob Hoskins - he had an earthy style all of his own.
Another interesting BBC show I had no idea about until now.
I had never realised that was Bob Hoskins! I still think of "open your... eyes and look" at 0:31 as one of the high points of any opening credits. I wonder who that beautiful woman was?
From 0:36 the lorry and all the arrows travel from right to left, the opposite direction from reading English. I have always found that strange but *still* can't read Arabic or Hebrew... ;)
+Robert Tolhurst I too wondered about the girl at 0.31 and I'm certain it's the Scottish actress Gay Hamilton. I thought at first it might be Celia Johnson's daughter Lucy Fleming but now I'm sure it's Gay Hamilton. Either way it's tinged with slight sadness as they're both now elderly women. Hamilton in her 70s and Fleming in her late 60s. I wish you well.
@@gnomely1 It is Gay Hamilton. She was also in an episode of Space 1999 called "Force of life". One of the very best of the series.
loved this show..... watched it when pretending to be sick to get out of going to school
Thanks for posting this today.
Bloody hell where did you get this from? I haven't seen this in years. Brings back memories the theme tune, singing along to it and what became of that book reading symbol, must have been abandoned in the 80's. Thanks for posting this.
This is when I first saw him - forgot how many other future stars of the British screen were involved.
I been a fan of Bob Hoskins ever since Who framed Roger Rabbit. I am shock he is British, I thought for the longest time he was Italian!!! Fantastic actor
Ah, helping people help themselves... Nowadays we get celebrity chuggers.
It's not just nostalgia, but what a shame it is that programmes today do not show the goodness and generosity of spirit that On the Move shows. Bob is brilliant of course, but the whole idea that doing something to help people pull themselves up and succeed is just wonderful. Just imagine how the 2014 On the Move would look.... don't be scared, it won't happen.
All government funded, of course. There was a huge adult literacy programme in the early 70s.
I loved this when i was a kid
This really needs to come back with a re-make. Adult literacy hasn't really got loads better, but if anything the stigma of illiteracy has got worse. This was brilliantly done without being patronising. A lot more of our population has English as an additional language nowadays too, and it could help them.
Agree wholeheartedly
This programme was on telly on Sunday afternoons. I used to find it almost fascinating in its dullness but generally listened to ths Dooleys-sung feem toon then turned over.
I used to watch it late at night, after the pub. There also used to be another programme on late which tried to teach skiing of all things!
@@royaldux4091 Last orders and everyone else is going into town and "nah I dont fancy it. Going home to watch telly'. If that was your hey day then ...oh gawd
Tudur Morgan It was on mid-week. I never got home before 4 am, most Saturday/Sundays during the 70's.
@@royaldux4091 70s not 70's
God that bugs me!
Tudur Morgan I knew it would bug you, so that's why I did it.
BTW, to be perfectly correct, it's '70s
They should do a new On The Move Program Again!!!
It really brings back Memories!
This was a ground breaking programme of it’s day tackling adult illiteracy but I always remember the fatal flaw at the end when the announcer would say “if you are having trouble with reading and writing then write to (address given)….” 🤔
1970, Sunday morning on bbc.
***** I meant in the 1970s not 1970s. In 1970 i was still my cradle LOL.
@@AuntyM66 yep it was more early to mid 70s as I remember.
Must be a few years before Martin was in the professionals not a bubble perm in sight !😂
He had to learn to write his address to pass his CI5 exams.
2:20 Wally's New Café at Elton Way, Bushey, Watford WD25 8HH was demolished in the early 90's and is now a restaurant called Imperial China.
Did anyone ever go to Wally's New Cafe?
Thanks for the info! Was wondering if it would still be there and whether they kept the 'new' sign.
It also appeared in an episode of 'Minder'
is that Martin Shaw doing the coffee pot rhyme
Well if this is on then it must be Sunday morning. Haven't seen it for years. Whats on next?? A programme for people learning French or German maybe?
Yet these days we've now got the award winning This Morning team of Holly, Phil, Eamonn, Ruthie, Alison etcetera reminding us that there are hundreds of external services available up & down the country there to help anyone in that position.
Goodness Bob Hoskins was cute when younger...well he was cute when he was older too...handsome fellow...we will miss him
Those were the days.. Mr. Benn, Cloppa Castle, Chorlton and the Wheelies, Jamie and Magic Torch, Words and Pictures, Cockle Shell Bay.. I could go on and on. Proper school dinners with Treacle Pudding and custard for after.. No messing about or you got your arse smacked lolq
A young Martin Shaw also!!
great posting
I loved this as a kid. No joke, I was 3 OR 4 at that time. I just had a brain storm of nostalgia, and rembered about this series, and I had to search, and I found it. I didn't even know it was Bob Hoskins who was in this until now!!
I remember this so well. And, I didn't realise how much a young Donald Gee looks like James Buckley. I had to look up to see if they were related. I don't think so, but they look so similar!
Hamburger and Chips .... 25p :) Those were the days ha ha!
Wow...
Thank you.
how come bob was reading the paper, if he needed adult literacy classes?
He was looking at the pictures!
The other guy, Donald Gee is my dads cousin and writes to him occasionally.
Didn't he used to turn up in Spike Milligan's Q series?
Donald Gee was the actor who played Bob's mate in the truck
RIP. he is dead too :-(
Reminds of Mona Lisa, where Bob says... No, tea!
Ray Doyle …. When he was a very young bearded Martin Shaw
I can still remember the phone number
I wonder who the girl in the headscarf was/is in the opening credits?
I couldn't get her out of my head as a 15 year old!
I think she's an actress called Gay Hamilton.
@@carolebarker2195 You're right - thanks!
@@michaelthompson3102 Welcome !!
I'm not surprised. She is absolutely gorgeous and totally mesmerising. Gay Hamilton.
I wonder if this program ever featured an inverted commer
Great Days On T.V.
Got any more of this?
Who keeps expecting the Magic Pencil to show up? All the way round...
Hi I am wondering if you know how I can look at past episodes as my grandad was on one, be nice to see him on the show
I'm not sure how many episodes were saved. Lots of programmes were simply erased and re-recorded. One way is to look through the BFI archive: www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-national-archive
Who else gets mixed up between Bob Hoskins and Phil Collins?
Exactly what I was thinking, for a moment, I thought he was going to burst into song.
is that the same cafe set as used in eastenders today :D
+amojak The cafe set does look similar to that in 'EastEnders', amojak, but no, it's not the same one.
If it's any help, a police cell set used in 'EastEnders' later reappeared in an episode of 'Holby City'; one could tell because it had the exact same graffiti on the wall near the window -- namely an arrow pointing to the window with the words TO THE SEA next to it! :-)
on the moov was great
Just wait till those guys do a removals job in Europe and they find out that cafe means coffee. 😆
8 pence for a coffee??? Fahkin 'ell!!
Does anyone remember the sci-fi 70’s show where all the children were aliens with blonde hair and silver suits.
Hi John. Yes. It was called The Boy from Space. We used to watch it in primary school. You can find it here on RUclips.
@@annmmac Thank you, that an children of the stones with Ian Cuthbertson I used to watch.
Innocence brilliant days
coffee 8 pence LOL imagine telling them you could now pay up to £4 for a (decent) cup of coffee
Martin Shaw ♥️♥️♥️
Don't you start!
Say goodbye Sid
Sounds like the adult version of Sesame Street.
Do you mean Love Thy Neighbour?
mmmm coffee!!
martin shaw of the professionals. would you ever
Do you mean Judge John Deed?
Suprised martin shaw hasnt blocked this upload he he may well do that when he finds out its out !!
At 0:31 there's a very attractive woman's face. Does anyone know if it's the Scottish actress, Gay Hamilton?
+gnomely1 it most certainly is,a very attractive woman.
+rob “theteethofsuarez” leggett It is Gay Hamilton. She's also in the film The Duelists with Harvey Keitel when you get to see more of her.
Remember this OK! Trying to rid the stigma of poor adult literacy. Saw this & the BBC schools programme 'Words & Pictures'. Back in the days when Henry Woolf hosted it. Definite similarities between the two.
Was that Martin Shaw? lol
With a full-on bush beard and pre- bubble perm 😁
Who' the young guy with the beard, is it Martin Shaw?
Yes it is Martin Shaw