A major track replacement operation at Harrow on the Hill threatens to disrupt the weekday service, while at Leicester Square on a busy Saturday night a woman is pushed on to the live tracks. In the last 10 years, passenger numbers on the Tube at the weekend have doubled. This is the story of how the Tube copes with our changing expectations of the weekend.
Every day on the Underground 60,000 journeys are made and not paid for costing London Underground 20 million a year in unpaid fares. Diane McConnell and Denese Brunker are two of the Tube's longest-serving ticket inspectors and are known as the Cagney and Lacey of the Underground. We follow Diane and Denese, and other plain-clothes revenue inspectors on the Tube, as they pursue fare evaders across the network. We find what happens to the evaders and how all the money from tickets is being spent.
For Tube drivers, their worst fear is somebody jumping or falling in front of their train. We follow what happens when this fear becomes a distressing reality for two drivers. And we meet the crews of the Tube's specialised emergency response units as they're scrambled to deal with any eventuality on the Underground, from accidents and injuries to mysterious obstructions on the line. Plus how the Tube and its dedicated British Transport Police officers cope with the demands of the Notting Hill Carnival.
The number of passengers on the Tube has gone up by a third in the last 10 years. David Waboso, London Underground's head of upgrades, thinks he has the answer. But new trains on the Victoria Line keep letting him down because of a problem with the doors - and a newly-installed signal fails, causing huge delays. At Tottenham Court Road station, supervisor Barry Griffiths is keeping the crowds moving - in the midst of huge rebuilding works which will make the station six times bigger. But will his customers be impressed with the results?
Rush hour is the Tube's biggest test but it can be too much for some passengers. Station Supervisor Bob Weedon at Bank has to deal with five injuries and faintings in a row during one rush hour crush. Chief operating officer Howard Collins must muck in when a power failure on the Jubilee Line threatens to disrupt the evening peak. And the Tube's most unusual employee, a hawk called Toyah, is put to work on pigeon patrol.
Every night, 10,000 workers descend on the Tube to maintain, repair and clean it. We follow this invisible overnight army as they work against the clock in the four-hour window when the power is off. From hard-working Bulgarian cleaner Vladimir, who is amazed that the British government pays for people not to work, to 23-year-old Harry leading his gang of fluffers picking fibres and lint from the tracks. Meanwhile pest controller Mick is called to a smelly problem at Hounslow Central, while emergency response worker Roy gets inside one of the Underground's disused ghost stations, Down Street.
In 2013 London Underground is 150 years old. The world's first underground railway is spending its anniversary year celebrating its own history. They're sending a steam train back underground, and there's a Royal visit to prepare for. On the tube, history is everywhere - it's down every tunnel, in every tunnel, in every sign and design, and in the lives of the unsung people who built it and run it today. Following on from BBC2's The Tube series, this programme tells the story of the underground through the eyes of the people who work for it. Farringdon station supervisor Iain MacPherson reveals why his station - the original terminus - was constructed in the 1860s, and recalls the dark days of Kings Cross in the 1980s. Piccadilly line driver Dylan Glenister explains why every Edwardian station on his line has its own unique tiling pattern and how, in the 1930s, the construction of new stations expanded the borders of London. And there's Head of Design and Heritage, Mike Ashworth, whose predecessor pioneered the art of branding in the 1920s and Customer Service Assistant Steve Parkinson, who was part of a wave of new recruits from the Caribbean from the 50s. With privileged access to disused stations and rare archive footage, this is the tube's hidden history, revealing why it was first built and how it has shaped London ever since.
