Street Scenes IV: Down the drain

Sewers, pipes and cables are explored in this children’s TV show that shows children what can be seen in – and under – the streets of the city.

London’s sewers, tunnels and tube lines all feature in the ILEA’s series for primary schools about the sights of urban life. We meet sewer workers walking Victorian tunnels – and watch those tunnels dramatically fill with water during a storm. We also see a tube train on the Victoria line arriving at Oxford Circus and a rare glimpse of the “rail mail”, the Post Office railway, now defunct, plus a feature on brass rubbings of “coal holes”. They don’t make them like this anymore.