Five in Millions

From Cheshire to Cornwall, Lincoln to the Rhondda, a round-Britain tour via British Rail’s parcel service.

A bike to Cheshire and a vacuum cleaner to South Wales, a cheque to Lincoln, a paper to a Cornish hotel, vital research equipment to Manchester. They all get from A to B via British Rail’s parcel service. This is a late addition, by British Transport Films, to the tradition of the GPO’s Night Mail (1936) and BTF’s own Oscar-nominated Thirty Million Letters (1963): public service promo as large-canvas portrait of a nation interconnected by public utilities.