On the Buses

On the Buses
Title card used from series 3 to 6; the animated titles were introduced in series 2.
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Ronald Chesney Ronald Wolfe
Written by	Ronald Chesney Ronald Wolfe Bob Grant Stephen Lewis George Layton Jonathan Lynn
Directed by	Stuart Allen Howard Ross Derrick Goodwin Bryan Izzard
Starring	Reg Varney Bob Grant Anna Karen Cicely Courtneidge (1969) Doris Hare (1969–73) Stephen Lewis Michael Robbins (1969–72)
Opening theme	"Happy Harry"
Composer	Tony Russell
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	7
No. of episodes	74 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	25 minutes
Production company	London Weekend Television
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	28 February 1969 (1969-02-28) – 20 May 1973 (1973-05-20)
Related
Don't Drink the Water
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

On the Buses is a British television sitcom that was broadcast on ITV from 1969 to 1973. It was created by Ronald Chesney and Ronald Wolfe, who wrote most of the episodes. It spawned three spin-off feature films and a stage version. Despite the writers' previous successes with The Rag Trade and Meet the Wife with the BBC, the corporation rejected On the Buses, not seeing much comedy potential in a bus depot as a setting. The comedy partnership turned to Frank Muir, head of entertainment at London Weekend Television (LWT), who loved the idea; the show was accepted, and despite a poor critical reception became a hit with viewers.

The series is centred on the working-class life of Stan Butler and Jack Harper, who are the crew of the Number 11 bus at the Luxton and District Motor Traction Company. The action mostly takes place at the Butler home and at the bus depot.^[1] Network On Air describes the show as having a "bawdy, comic postcard humour and resolutely working-class outlook", and notes the series became "one of the most popular British comedy series of its era, if not all time."^[2]