With a fly-on-the-wall view, cameras followed the many staff members who populated the 24-hour world of London’s Heathrow Airport. It’s amazing just how exciting delayed luggage could be. Not to mention the numerous suspect packages, irate customers, drug smugglers and newly arrived superstars.
The BBC’s Airport was one of the earliest examples of the emerging trend for “reality TV” programming that exploded onto our screens in the mid-1990s.
John Nettles abandoned Jersey and Midsomer to present with his cosily dour tones what started out as a truly fascinating account of life throughout the airport.
As the series progressed, the mechanics of the work at hand took a back seat to the increasingly soapy lives of the personalities encountered, with the likes of bespectacled Aeroflot supervisor Jeremy Spake (pictured below) becoming seemingly more important than the work itself.
Spake left the series in 1999, having become the first true reality TV star. going on to present City Hospital and appear on Holiday and The Toughest Job in the World, among others.
A 2001 spin-off switched the action to Miami Airport, and various Christmas specials expanded the format further.
Predictably, perhaps, ITV unleashed rival series Airline in 1998, which also focused primarily upon members of the airport staff – in this case, of Britannia Airlines and subsequently budget carrier Easyjet.
On 14 July 2008, the BBC broadcast a new 5-part series titled Return to . . . Airport. The show featured interviews with stars of the original series, behind-the-scenes recollections from cast members, and highlights from the original series.
Narrator
John Nettles (1)
Liza Tarbuck (2)
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