THE WILDCATS OF ST. TRINIAN’S

GB
1980
1hr 31mins
Dir: Frank Launder
Starring: Michael Hordern and Sheila Hancock

The schoolgirls form a union and plan to kidnap girls from other more respectable colleges

The Wildcats of St. Trinian’s was the fifth comedy film set in the fictional St Trinian’s School. It poked fun at the British trade union movement which had been responsible for the recent wave of strikes that culminated in the ‘Winter of Discontent’, but it was not a critical success and no further films were produced. This was a shame because the movie was actually rather funny, and it featured a number of good railway scenes alongside a formidable performance by Sheila Hancock. There are two passing shots of HST’s, and scenes filmed at Slough and Windsor & Eton Central stations with white and blue refurbished Class 117 DMU’s. Windsor & Eton Central has been renamed ‘Embernage’ and Slough plays the part of ‘Victoria’. If you look really carefully in the background of one of the Slough scenes, a freight train can just be seen passing on its way towards London. There is a final scene filmed at the ‘real’ London Victoria with 4 EPB and Class 411 4 CEP EMUs visible in an aerial shot of the platforms. Of the four other St. Trinian’s films, three in the form of The Belles of St Trinian’s (1954), Blue Murder at St Trinian’s (1957) and The Great St Trinian’s Train Robbery (1966) all feature railway content (all qv), the odd one out being The Pure Hell of St Trinian’s (1960). The 2007 release St. Trinian’s was considered a rebooting of the franchise and not a direct sequel yet its sequel, St. Trinian’s 2 The Legend of Fritton’s Gold also features a train!!

An early scene at Slough with a Class 117 DMU in the Windsor branch platform
This view of the platforms at Slough is looking out of the train
This is the first shot of a passing HST, probably a stock image from the BR publicity library
This shot of another Class 117 DMU arriving in to Windsor & Eton Central is in fact rather important, but for all the wrong reasons. Windsor & Eton Central had been a very popular choice for filming over the years, with many memorable scenes filmed at the classic station. By the time of this film, the station had been downgraded to just a single platform at the end of the single line from Slough. Little could really be achieved by filming at Windsor now, and this is the reason for the unusual angle of the platform, there was little else left that belonged to the railway! It would go on to feature just one more time in The French Lieutenant’s Woman (qv).
Joe Melia leans out of a Class 117 DMU as it departs Slough for Windsor. The white livery with a blue stripe was chosen by BR to denote a DMU that had been refurbished. It was quite attractive but short-lived for it was found not to stay white for very long!!
This is all we get to see of the other HST, as it flashes by all a blur. I would bet money on this being the exact same shot shown above, only in reverse!
An overall view of a relatively quiet London Victoria. A 4 CEP EMU is in the centre (in blue and grey) with a blue 4 EPB arriving to its right.
This shot appears to be outside Windsor & Eton Central again