London's Burning

Just discovered the entire series on Sky, so started to watch it again. Just finished Ep 3 of Series 1 - I guess seeing it again makes me realise how much London has changed since 1987 and from when this was filmed. A lot of the acting is really wooden and poor, and the scripts focus too much on their personal lives instead of actual emergencies.

Another thing noticeable is how awfully unattractive most of the wives & girlfriends & partners of the Blue Watch firefighters are - I guess the low budget is partly to blame.

But it's also interesting to see how the London Fire Brigade evolves over the course of the series - in terms of vehicles, equipment, uniforms etc. and makes you really appreciate how hard things were for them back in those days - so kudos and hats to them - for the excellent job they did back then and they do today & everyday to keep us and London safe!

London's Burning came out when i was a baby but when i was 6 or 7 I started watching this and fell in love with the later ones from when Andrew Kazamia was cpt it was amazing i still the show today my favorite people in this was Greg Blake, omg grey always made me smile and i cryied when departed it after nearly dying. Billy carole webb and sally. When the show came to the end i was hurt as the show made wanna be a fire fighter like my cousin but that never happened. This show will have a massive part of my life forever. There songs from actors steven houghton, John Alford and heather Peace still sit in my cd collection great so love them so much.

I like the series very much.. Especially the great actors and the great stunts, of course! Here in Finland we follow the series 96-97 season (after Bayleaf´s leaving and Hallam´s death)

London's Burning was a show about the firefighters of Blue Watch based in London. It was originally a one-off TV movie made in 1986 and this was the series that followed.

London's Burning has provided viewers with some of the best drama/special effects and a fantastic dose of drama in the firefighter's personal lives. From the first series, London's Burning kept topping itself as the firefighters coped with bigger blazes and more and more personal problems. Here in the UK in real life, only one in five calls is for a fire-most firefighters deal with road accidents and rescue operations and London's Burning showed all this.

There have been some memorable characters throughout such as Poison Pearce (nicknamed because of his poisonous tongue) and Sicknote (nicknamed that for obvious reasons). There has been a constant change of characters and senior officers throughout and it has provided many tears at times. It has been a good show.

The 2002 series was rubbish though. Some of the popular characters such as Station Officer Coleman and Divisional Officer Griggs were gone and replaced by some unconvincing characters. There also seemed to be more sex and drama and less fires. The show might as well have been renamed London's Having Love Affairs.

The 2002 series was probably the last and I hope it is. However, videos of the earlier shows are available and worth checking out.

After 9/11, the producers thought they could cash in on the hero status of firemen. They junked the episodes already made and remade the 2002 series - and it was rubbish! They alienated the existing fan base and failed to attrach new fans, so that it plumetted in the ratings. Yet another example of a long-running favourite being destroyed by producers who "updated" a successful favourite. ITV has done this so often, you wonder why they don't learn!