Paul Merton's Secret Stations

Paul Merton’s Secret Stations is a British travel documentary television series, first broadcast on 1 May 2016 on Channel 4. Presented by Paul Merton, the series focuses on some of the little used stations in Great Britain which operate as request stops. Reviews were largely positive but not overly so, focussing on both the subject matter and Merton's contribution to argue how the series elevated itself above other series in the genre.

Genesis

The series was one of a number of new commissions by More4 which focused on "traditional Britain" with series fronted by celebrities.[1]

Synopsis

The series was inspired by travel writer Dixe Wills' 2014 book Tiny Stations, and Wills is interviewed in the first episode.[2] The introduction to the series explains that the railway network of Great Britain has a total of 152 request stops, "tiny, out of the way stations", a relatively small total (around 6%[3]) of the total number found on the network's 21,000 miles (34,000 km) of track. It argues that these are often the most overlooked stations in terms of travelogues, and so deserve to be visited to explore their secrets, many of which will be unknown as they are by definition, not on the tourist trail.[3] Merton visits 17 stations (listed below), some of which are on the same line - and while most are in remote rural areas (by virtue of the fact that request stops are for little used stations), the series also includes some urban locations. During a visit, Merton covers both the history of the station, and of associated people or places.

Stations

Attadale station, the first stop visited in the series
Station Area Country Episode
Attadale Highlands Scotland 1
Beasdale Highlands Scotland 2
Braystones Cumbria England 2
Burnley Barracks Lancashire England 3
Corrour Highlands Scotland 3
Denton Greater Manchester England 3
Drigg Cumbria England 1
Ferryside Carmarthenshire Wales 2
Lapford Devon England 3
Luxulyan Cornwall England 3
Newton St Cyres Devon England 2
Penally Pembrokeshire Wales 3
Pontarddulais Carmarthenshire Wales 2
Reddish South Greater Manchester England 3
Silecroft Cumbria England 1
St Andrews Road Bristol England 2
St Keyne Wishing Well Halt Cornwall England 1

As the first series ended, Dixe Wills writing in a piece for The Guardian said there were still more than enough interesting request stops to justify a second series, pointing to the examples of Bootle, Buckenham, Conwy, Dolgarrog, Dunrobin Castle, Llanfairpwll, Lympstone Commando, The Lakes and Penychain.[2]

Production

The series was made by Brown Bob Productions Ltd for Channel 4, executive produced by Jacqueline Hewer, and directed by Ewen Thomson. The series makes extensive use of aerial filming.

Presenter

Although Merton is primarily known as a comedian and as a panelist on Have I Got News For You, he had also been presenting travel documentaries since 2007.[1] In the introduction to the series he explains he "loves railways and everything about them", and that his fascination with rail travel stemmed from the fact his father was a train driver on the London Underground (Merton himself preferring journeys with a view). Despite his love of train travel, he stated he hadn't known about the concept of request stops until making the series.[3] The spokespeople for the campaign group Friends of Reddish South Station, who featured in the series, praised Merton's level of knowledge and evident research into their campaign.[4]

Broadcast

The series was first broadcast on Channel 4 in the 8pm-9pm slot on Sunday nights.

Episodes

Episode First broadcast
1 1 May 2016
2 8 May 2016
3 15 May 2016
  • Penally railway station - Paul visits the village of Penally on the West Wales Line, in search of the remains of the World War I practice trenches, meeting with some members of the Penally History Group to explore the site, now designated as an ancient monument.
  • Luxulyan railway station - Paul visits the Cornish village of Luxulyan, on the Atlantic Coast Line, to explore the location of what was once the centre of the China clay industry. He visits the parish church, then meets Tom on the Treffry Viaduct, whose family had worked in the industry for several generations, and they explore the remnants of a former china clay quarry.
  • Burnley Barracks railway station - Paul visits Burnley Barracks station in search of the barracks it is named after, only to learn it was demolished to make way for roads, before trying out working at Banny's, Britains first ever purpose built drive-through fish and chip shop.
  • Reddish South railway station - Paul visits Reddish South on the Stockport to Stalybridge Line, to meet a couple campaigning for a better service form the station, which only has one train a week, in one direction, known as a parliamentary service because its only purpose is to forestall the official closure of the line using an Act of Parliament. The couple use it every week so as to be recorded in the official usage statistics, and Paul travels with them on the 5 minute journey to
  • Denton railway station where they all alight; Paul then chats with two brothers who are train enthusiasts who have been recording the train movements through the station.
  • Lapford railway station - Paul arrives at Lapford on the Tarka Line in Devon to visit the former Ambrosia factory next to it, now used as a storage facility by a removals business. Given a tour by manager George, he picks out features linked to Ambrosia; Paul then visits Martin, a military surplus collector on another part of the former factory site, purchasing from him a former Ambrosia milk churn for £20.
  • Corrour railway station - Paul boards the Caledonian Sleeper service in Euston, for the 550 mile journey to the Corrour Estate, visiting Jan, who runs the youth hostel a mile from the station.

Reception

According to Claire Webb of the Radio Times, Merton was "in his element pootling around railways with a flat cap and a boyish grin".[5] Sam Wollaston of The Guardian, attracted to the series by Merton as opposed to love for travelogues, also observed that Merton pootles about, in the process producing a gentle but rather nice addition to the genre.[6] Ben Arnold of the same paper stated that "Beneath a curiously niche premise....is a fairly standard, albeit charming, British travelogue show".[7] Gerard O'Donovan of The Telegraph gave it three out of fives stars, arguing that Merton's role was obviously to wring out something worth saying from unpromising prospects, also observing that he tootled about, concluding that the outcome was worth a look, but was unlikely to become destination viewing.[8] According to the Press Association it was the combination of the obscure subject matter and Merton's comedic style that elevated this series above the many similar celebrity presented travelogues before it, arguing also that it is Merton's sheer enthusiasm for the subject matter that makes it engaging viewing.[9] Matt Baylis of the Daily Express was less enthused, claiming the show's content was not always that interesting and even missed out pertinent details, leading him to lament that the show had not been presented by the expert, Dixe Wills, who featured in episode 1.[10]

References

  1. Solutions, Powder Blue Internet Business. "Paul Merton, station master : News 2015 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". www.chortle.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-08-25.
  2. Wills, Dixe (2016-05-15). "Alight here? Britain's railway request stops". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-08-25.
  3. "Paul Merton on the joy of request stops". Retrieved 2016-08-25.
  4. Johnson, Helen (2016-05-18). "Stockport's 'ghost station' in the spotlight on national television". Retrieved 2016-08-25.
  5. "Paul Merton's Secret Stations - what time is it on TV? Episode 1 Series 1 cast list and preview". RadioTimes. Retrieved 2016-08-25.
  6. Wollaston, Sam (2016-05-02). "Paul Merton's Secret Stations review – a gentle, absurd travelogue". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-08-25.
  7. Wright, Jonathan; Arnold, Ben; Robinson, John; Verdier, Hannah; Mueller, Andrew; Gibbings-Jones, Mark; Davies, Hannah J.; Howlett, Paul (2016-05-01). "Sunday's best TV: Redefining Juliet; Paul Merton's Secret Stations; Undercover". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-08-25.
  8. "Paul Merton's Secret Stations may never make destination viewing". Retrieved 2016-08-25.
  9. "TV Preview - Paul Merton's Secret Stations celebrates the strangest stops on Britain's railways". Retrieved 2016-08-25.
  10. Baylis, Matt (2016-05-01). "Joy of the secret service: The weekend's TV reviewed". Retrieved 2016-08-25.
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