THAT’LL BE THE DAY

GB
1973
1hr 31mins
Dir: Claude Whatham
Starring: David Essex and Rosemary Leach

A school dropout leaves home and drifts through a succession of dead-end jobs until he finds an outlet for his frustration in rock ‘n’ roll

This musical drama was partially filmed on the Isle of Wight and in one scene towards the end, David Essex leaves Meaders Road in Ryde and heads towards St. John’s Road. The parapet of the railway bridge over the Island Line is visible in the background and in the railway cutting below there is a partial view of a Class 485/486 EMU in BR blue. Albeit brief, this is so far, the only known incidence of any part of the Island’s railways appearing in a feature film, although the old Pier Tramway did make a brief appearance in the 1960 movie There Was a Crooked Man (qv). That’ll Be The Day proved a success and was followed by the 1974 film Stardust (qv).

Spot the train. It is to the right of David Essex’s arm in this shot facing St. John’s Road in Ryde, on the Isle of Wight. St. John’s Road station is out of shot to the left whilst the spire belongs to Holy Trinity Church, now a community centre.
This cropped image shows the train somewhat more clearly. It is one of the island’s Class 485/486 EMU’s in BR blue which, in turn, was a former LUL ‘Standard’ Stock train.