100 Years of MG – On Screen

Here are just some of the MG’s roles on film and television -

T-Series

An MG does not have to enjoy extensive screen time to be memorable – think of the TD driven by an alien-possessed Barry Lowe at the beginning of Quatermass 2. Possibly the finest T-Series Midget film appearances are opposite Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney in Two for the Road and Heights of Danger. The latter is an utterly thrilling children’s film about a TD defeating a Riley RMA driven by cads in a griping rally.

WA

There are three reasons for viewing the 1948 B-feature Penny and the Pownall Case. A) It features an incredibly young Christoper Lee. B) It has an early role for Diana Dors. C) Another star is a 1939 MG WA Tickford Drophead Coupé.

MGA

The A has the dubious distinction of appearing in two not very good B-films; The Horror of Party Beach (no comment) and Out of the Shadow, directed by a young Michael Winner. Fortunately, the MGA enjoyed a far more distinguished screen career with the genuine Lancashire Constabulary Traffic Car of the Friday Night episode of Z-Cars and, perhaps best of all, its Area Car appearing at the end of Whistle Down the Wind.

MGB

MGBs made memorable cameos in The Champions and The Avengers; the Dead Man’s Treasure episode is especially memorable for the white Roadster with a Bermuda Hardtop. A later ‘Rubber Bumper’ B starred in The New Avengers, with Joanna Lumley driving the British Leyland press car MOC 232 P. The producer Brian Clemens used the MG off-screen but was initially unable to engage reverse, and had to request the Pinewood Studio security guards to push it out of the parking bay. Eventually, Clemens discovered the gear lever knob was from another BL model with a different transmission. But this writer’s favourite MGB screen moment is in The Ipcress File, with the Roadster piloted by Nigel Green’s Major Dalby. “Listen to me…only to me…”.

MGC

The C guest stars in the Killers episode of The Avengers, and co-stars with Bette Davis and Michael Redgrave in Connecting Rooms. However, this writer recommends the 1969 ATV series Fraud Squad, with Detective-Inspector Gamble driving an MGC Roadster in the opening credits.

Midget

Licensed to Love and Kill may be one of the worst films not only of 1979 but of all cinema history. However, it does boast the highly memorable scene of a Jaguar E-Type Series III transforming into a 1961 Midget Mk. I for no readily explained reason. That said, MG enthusiasts might prefer That Kind of Girl, which is not exactly a film masterpiece but does star the factory demonstrator YBL 165.

Magnette Z-Series

A ZA enjoys a reasonable amount of screen time in the 1957 Francis Durbridge thriller The Vicious Circle but the Z-Series Magnette’s finest cinematic hour is in The Deadly Affair. It may not have been in prime condition but played a crucial role in possibly the finest ever adaptation of a John le Carré novel.

Magnette ‘Farina’.

The joys of the 1960s British B-Film – ham acting, performers stood awkwardly on their chalk marks and low-budget car chases. The Magnette Mk. IV in Shadow of Fear is quite wonderful to behold as it pursues the hero’s Austin-Healey Sprite at a speed of approximately 30 mph. At one point the director inserts footage of a Jaguar E-Type to intensify the drama. We should also note the Mk. III in Night of The Prowler, a second feature with an approximate budget of 2/6d.

1100

The US racing drama Redline 5000 features a very appealiong red ‘1100 Sport Spedan’ while the duotone home market ADO16 in Children of the Damned sports a ‘BMC 797 A’ number plate.

Metro 6R4

Some readers with very long memories might recall The Winning Streak, the 1985 Yorkshire Television series about a family of Austin-Rover dealers who engage with the world of rallying. The former Autocar editor Tony Howard was the series advisor, and the programme arranged to use three Metro 6R4s. One was the genuine article, the second was a standard Metro with additional GRP decorations and the third was another non-6R4 used for filming scenes inside the cabin. In addition, The Winning Streak also featured a –

Montego

Whatever else The Winning Streak may have been, it was splendid publicity for Austin-Rover.

Metro

The Metro’s finest hour was almost certainly the BBC series Howard’s Way, an everyday story of yacht building, big hair and even bigger shoulder pads in the Solent. The silver MG Metro 1300 also seemed to out-act several cast members. One fascinated critic wrote: “Tom Howard, in particular, had a knack of clutching the tiller while fixing the horizon with a steely gaze as if there might be an autocue out there somewhere”.