1960s musical showcasing Cliff Richard. Four bus mechanics working for London Transport strike up a deal with the company: they do up a one of the company's legendary red double decker buses and take it to southern Europe as a mobile hotel. If it succeeds, they will be put in charge of a whole fleet. While on the road in France they pick up three young British ladies whose car breaks down and offer to take them to their next singing job in Athens. They also pick up a stowaway, who hides the fact that she's a famous American pop star on the run, chased by the media and her parents.
Summer Holiday at its heart is a cautionary tale about the power of cult leaders. At first glance it appears to be a delightful little musical as Cliff Richard (imagine Elvis Presley if managed by Mary Whitehouse) and his little band of friends travel round Europe on a RT bus having a bit of jolly and singing the odd song, but I would urge you to scratch the surface. Upon drilling down into the narrative, it is a lot more suspicious. We begin with Don (Cliff), having somehow convinced Transport For London to part with one of their buses, persuading his work colleagues with all the power of Roger Delgado's Master to work overtime with no financial recompense to fix up a bus they will never use. During this sequence he publicly berates one of the presumably very tired workers for not filling the tank. His most loyal followers then harass a group of women who are on their way to work and destroy their mode of transport presumably in a bid to ensure the women's dependency on Don and
