Plug on TV

No, not that sort of plug, or even that one. But we were astonished when, immediately after the last-but-one episode of the Forsyte Saga on B.B.C.-1 (in which we noted that Soames was still using a Rolls-Royce but that Fleur had changed from a 30/98 Vauxhall to a Bullnose Morris), Dr. Finlay appeared with a vintage 11/22 Wolseley tourer and told viewers that this was the car he had learned to drive on, that it was difficult to get out on the driver’s side because of the r.h. gear and brake levers, that the brake pedal was where you find the accelerator on modern cars, and that it was running splendidly, having just climbed slippery hills on location in Scotland which had defeated modern cars. In the background lurked a Bullnose Morris-Oxford.

This unexpected “plug” for vintage motoring shows the hold old cars have on film and TV producers.