Metro-Land

DVD Extras

• The Metropolitan Line In The News
• Including footage showing the Metropolitan Line extension to Stanmore (1932), the 1946 crash at Northwood, the Metropolitan Line Centenary Parade at Neasden (1963), the last working steam train on the line (1971), the 1999 and 2000 Steam on the Met events and the centenary of the Uxbridge branch (2004)
• 24-page illustrated booklet written by the programme's producer, Edward Mirzoeff
• Digitally remastered.

Film Details

Cast

John Betjeman

Technical Details

Star Review

“This is a good parcel of English soil in which to build home and strike root, inhabited from old, as witness the lines of camps on the hill tops and confused mounds amongst the woods, the great dyke which crossed it east and west, the British trackways… The new settlement of Metroland proceeds apace, the new settlers thrive amain.” So the Metropolitan Railway Company promoted Metroland, the term coined for the outer reaches of its lines, in the early thirties, and here, in one of Sir John Betjeman's most celebrated films, he focuses on the culture and spirit of the place. Betjeman often referenced the area in his poetry ('Harrow-on-the-Hill', 'Middlesex', 'The Metropolitan Railway'), and here he pays reflective tribute to the tranquil world of his youth, which gradually transformed into a bustling suburbia with the first steam underground engines. In this charming and valuable document, Betjeman ponders the contrasts between old world and new as he stops at the Pinnier village fair, plays a round of golf in Moor Park, strolls along the Neasden nature trail and visits numerous historical building along the line.

MovieMail on 15th July 2006

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Film Description

A celebrated film made by the BBC, in which Betjeman examines the culture and spirit of Metroland, the term coined for the outer reaches of the Metropolitan Railway in pre-war Britain.

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