Think of the film ‘Summer Holiday’ starring Cliff Richard and you hear that song and you think of holidaying in sunny foreign climbs in a Route master bus…wrong! In actual fact the bus used in the film ‘Summer Holiday’ was an AEC Regent III RT double-decker bus. But such is the popularity of the Routemaster bus design in British pop culture, that anything vaguely similar is assumed to be the Routemaster.
The basic premise of the film, is about a number of bus mechanics who are working in the London Transport bus overhaul works in Aldenham, Hertfordshire. During a wet miserable summer, the main protagonist, a character called Don played by Cliff Richard manages to persuade his employers to loan him a London Transport bus. Don along with his friends convert the bus into a mobile home of sorts with the intention of driving cross Europe to Greece taking in the south of France en route. Along the way they meet various characters with numerous opportunities to sing.
The film was a huge success at the box office and was the first directorial outing for Peter Yates and was produced by Kenneth Harper. Written by Peter Myers and Ronald Cass with a star cast of Cliff Richard as Don, Lauri Peters as Barbara, Melvyn Hayes as Cyril, Una Stubbs as Sandy, Teddy Green as Steve, Pamela Hart as Angie, Jeremy Bulloch as Edwin, Jacqueline Daryl as Mimsie, Madge Ryan as Stella, Lionel Murton as Jerry, Christine Lawson as Annie, Ron Moody as Orlando, David Kossoff as Magistrate, Wendy Barrie as Shepherdess as Wendy Barry, Nicholas Phipps as Wrightmore and The Shadows as The Shadows.