AMBULANCE SERVICE FILM UNIT - How it all started

By the sheer nature of the film business where everyone is self employed and moves from film unit to film unit the word soon got around that St John at Kingston could provide an authentic ambulance portrayal package and the demand grew and grew.

With the advent of the Charities Commission, it was rules by them that St John was running a business within a charity and Kingston Division was ordered by their headquarters to abandon this service.

As the members at Kingston enjoyed the film work, Mike Newbold decided to privately purchase an ambulance, and run the operation as a non-profit making hobby totally outside of St John Ambulance. Ambulance Service Film Unit was born.

The first independently owned vehicle was an ex London Ambulance long wheelbase Bedford CF with a Wadham body registered number WYY 759T which was returned to original London livery. The film world demanded more and more accuracy, and slowly a collection of authentic light blue London Ambulance uniforms was built up, and the London fleet was strictly monitored for any alterations to livery, uniforms or equipment which were immediately incorporated into our presentation package.

The early days film productions using ASFU services were mainly Special Branch, The Sweeney, Dempsey and Makepiece, The Professionals, Miss Marple, Inspector Morse and many, many more.

When the film directors learnt that most of our operatives were actually Paramedics and Ambulance personnel requests regularly followed for medic cover on location for stunts and high risk explosions and the like, a trend which continues today.

Vehicle acquisitions continued which closely followed the London fleet -Bedford CF's in the early days, and Leyland DAF's later on.

The eye for detail and authenticity continued, new uniforms were purchased to keep the image up to date, indeed ASFU had Paramedics appearing on The Bill television programme in the new Green jump-suits fully badged and exactly authentic the same day that London Ambulance Service actually introduced them into service. This was even more remarkable as The Bill is filmed some 6 weeks in advance.

Changes in vehicle styles were closely monitored, even to the extent of converting a second-hand Leyland DAF van to a Customline Ambulance, so that the new shape vehicle appeared on television within days of the prototypes appearing in service on the London streets.

In a time of great change within the Ambulance service, vehicle liveries were consistently updated, and any changes were immediately updated on our vehicles. ASFU were the first to have yellow stripes, green and white chequer livery, and now the green and yellow battenberg livery, in some cases actually beating the professional services!

This enthusiasm for exactness continues today which places Ambulance Services Film Unit as the only dedicated Unit in the country providing exact detailed presentation of ambulances from whichever NHS service needs to be portrayed.

Credits