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Clockwise from top left: The Bridge; The End of The F***ing World; Endeavour; The Crown
Clockwise from top left: The Bridge; The End of The F***ing World; Endeavour; The Crown Composite: BBC/Filmlance International AB/Carolina Romare; Netflix; ITV
Clockwise from top left: The Bridge; The End of The F***ing World; Endeavour; The Crown Composite: BBC/Filmlance International AB/Carolina Romare; Netflix; ITV

The car's the star: how much can you tell about a TV show from its motor?

This article is more than 6 years old

Do The Crown’s Rolls-Royces match its stately glamour? Are Maltese’s Alfa Romeos perfect for a sleek but slightly unreliable drama? We take TV’s fleet for a test drive and see where they steer us

It came to me – in a flash of brilliance – while watching the first episode of the Walter Presents Swedish crime drama Before We Die. Our hero, grumpy cop Hanna, is chasing the black pick-up – in which her colleague (and lover) Sven is tied up – in her Volvo estate. Being a Volvo estate, it’s obviously not going to set anyone’s pants on fire, but it’s safe and reliable, and accelerates steadily through the gears and the bleak Nordic landscape, until it’s flying – literally as it happens – off the road and into a field. And this is pretty much exactly what happens with Before We Die: it’s a reliable Scandi drama that doesn’t screech away from the lights but gains in pace and powerful momentum. Do you see? It is a Volvo estate of a drama. And all you need is few more examples and you have yourself a theory: you can tell what kind of drama it is simply by looking at the cars that appear in it.

The Crown – Rolls-Royce Phantom III

There are lots of lovely vintage motors in the top-of-the-range Netflix show, including Series 1 Land Rovers, Humbers and Rileys. But the four-wheeled star (five if you count the side-mounted spare) is the 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III in burgundy and black. It is stately in pace, and quiet, but with plenty of power when required. Beautifully crafted, expensive, but not ostentatious and showy. Who cares if Queen Elizabeth didn’t actually have a Phantom III? Hers was – still is – a 1950 Phantom IV. The racier moments in series two of The Crown, involving Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones, are echoed in their own chosen transport, a beautiful vintage Triumph motorcycle, astride which they fly through London.

Maltese – Alfa Romeo Giulia

The Alfa Romeos go beautifully with detective Maltese’s moustache. Photograph: Fabrizio Di Giulio/Fabrizio Di Diulio

This is another in the Channel 4 Walter Presents slot, though this time brought from sunnier Mediterranean climes: Sicily of the 1970s, the golden age of Cosa Nostra. Hotter cars than Hanna’s Volvo, too. There are lots of cars to excite the nostalgic enthusiast in Maltese: Lancias, Minis and Beetles, big black Mercedes taxis. But the stand-out stars are the Alfa Romeos. The title character, detective Dario Maltese, drives one, a boxy black Giulia, and it goes so very well with his moustache. Unreliable (is that the car backfiring or someone getting shot?), unpredictable, but sexy, and fun – the car, the man, the show. Will you stick with it? Who knows, but why not enjoy it for the moment?

The Bridge – Porsche 911S (1977)

This olive-coloured icon has almost as many fans as the Scandi drama it appears in. There are multiple online forums dedicated to figuring out what model of Porsche it is: we think it’s a 1977 Porsche 911S. Either way, Saga Norén’s difficult but talented detective bombs around murder and abduction cases in a car that’s more sculpture than motor vehicle. The car’s handling wasn’t the smoothest, though. A review at the time of its release described cornering thus: “The inside front tire was high in the air, the outside front was grinding with understeer and both rear tires were alternately sticking and sliding wide.” That slightly unhinged nature is a perfect fit for a police sleuth who doesn’t care for social graces or giving her co-pilots a smooth ride.

Endeavour – Mark I Jaguar

Of course, Morse famously drove a red Mark II Jaguar. But in Russell Lewis’s prequel, which has just started its fifth series on ITV, Shaun Evans’s young Endeavour Morse and Roger Allam’s Inspector Fred Thursday glide around town – you know which one – in a black Mark I. That works – Mark I Morse in a Mark I Jag. Same idea, just earlier version thereof and less colourful. And what would you expect from a drama featuring either model? Classy but neither very exciting nor innovative. Conservative, quintessentially English ... Hey, like Hanna’s Volvo, our theory gains momentum.

The End of the F***ing World – Mercedes W123 (230E)

The beige Merc – murky and uncertain – was perfect while it lasted in this wonderful dark comedy … The End of the F***ing World. Photograph: Courtesy of Netflix

At the end of the first episode of this wonderful dark comedy, 17-year-old James walks up to his douche dad, punches him in the face, and nicks his car. He and rebellious classmate Alyssa, set off together; who knows where to, who knows why – James thinks he’s a psychopath and is intending to kill her. The car, a beige-coloured 1980s 230E Mercedes, which did seem to be a perfect dad car, immediately becomes incredibly cool: the perfect car in which to set off on a surreal road trip. Even the colour is right – murky and uncertain, open to interpretation. They write it off in the second episode, and have to continue their adventure by other means, but while it lasted, it was perfect. Watch TEotFW btw, if you haven’t already, it’s brilliant.

Love – Mercedes W114

Classy looks and 70s luxury … the Mercedes in Love. Photograph: Suzanne Hanover/Netflix

Speaking of cars that are ideal for douches, or hipsters at least, the German workhorse – favoured by dictators in the 1970s – has a special place in the TV car pantheon. In Love, Mickey drives around in one of these while Gus, mopes around southern California in the other ubiquitous LA vehicle, a Toyota Prius. You could argue the instinctive and unpredictable Mickey suits the 70s cool of the Merc, while Gus is far too buttoned-up to ever risk driving anything other than a hybrid. The annoying nature of Love’s characters has been widely noted, but Mickey’s car, with it’s simple but classy looks and 70s luxury, makes the whole package a lot more palatable.


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