PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING - NIGHT MAIL

Night Mail by Public Service Broadcasting.

Shot by director Rob Hackett and his marvellous crew on a chilly early September night in deepest Essex.

Thanks a bundle to Rob & crew, and also to the museum owners for letting us meander along their railway lines all night long! Credits are also due to Alex Kemp & Lucy Badger for the edited version of Night Mail that the marvellous Mr B projected onto various walls, floors and trains. We hope you like it, anyway.

Test Card Recordings, 2013.
Under exclusive licence from Jacamar Ltd.
Contains samples from 'Night Mail', © Royal Mail Group 1936 and used with the kind permission of the BFI & the British Postal Museum and archive.

CREDITS
Director and Producer: Rob Hackett
Director of Photography: Andrew Rodger
1st Assistant Camera: Chris Murray
Gaffer: Matt Smith
Production Manager: Rachel Gundesen
Projectionist: Gerred Blyth
Editor: Jonah Maddox
Runner: Brendan Carr
Night Mail Source Video Editing: Alex Kemp & Lucy Badger
Commissioned via Radar Music Videos
Thanks to June and John Jolly and Mal MacDonald

J. Willgoose, Esq. and Wrigglesworth sample old public information films and archive material and set them to new music. Live, the films are screened simultaneously as laptops are fiddled with, drums are pounded, theremins are wafted at, guitars are bashed and banjos furiously plucked. Teaching the lessons of the past through the music of the future.

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[atilllathehun]

I thank the lord that even at my age (58) I can still discover fabulous music like this . Just epic.

[leeosborne]

Just how brilliant is this?!? As an avid letter writer and rail enthusiast, who lives in Scotland, it's about as perfect as it gets. Iconic imagery and poetry from a historic film, combined with some brilliant music. God, it brings a lump to my throat every single time.

[donnannery]

Isn't it just great to hear something innovative and not mass produced. PSB deserve recognition for thinking outside the box brilliant music perfectly produced.

[RetroKevo]

Love this. I've worked for Royal Mail for 37 years and still do. Sadly it's been run down so much since privatisation. A Skeleton of what it used to be. Sad times.

[sarahhobbs]

Night mail was a film made during the 1930's to advertise the GPO mail trains. The footage in this video is taken from that film.

[GabroPlayz]

This is just extraordinary to watch and listen! As a travel enthusiast, this really does hit hard.

This band of just three musicians reminds you of great triumphs and achievements from the past. This track about the mail train (no pun intended) is so brilliant it is both inspiring for future endeavours while sadly nostalgic to a past that no longer exists. For all the music made by PSB and not just for Night Mail, they tell important stories of real people that are often forgotten. These stories about ordinary people doing important, extraordinary and often forgotten duties, lives on now thanks to PSB and their combination of excellent and thoughtful music and editing. Good show!

EDIT: Three musicians, not two. I apologise!

[dunbarfinger]

They were really obsessed with lettuce back then. Lettuce for the rich, Lettuce for the poor...

[therealdrof]

Remember learning this poem 30 years ago in school. Excellent to hear it transformed like this.

[KGMDMusic]

As a postie for 35 years I love this track.

[jackfaulkner]

This is lovely, and it's like Auden/Britten meets krautrock, which when you think of Auden in Berlin it's not utterly far removed. I think these chaps make some the best British music at the moment. 

[IanHarrisonGB]

We basically learned this poem by heart when I was in school in the UK in the early 70s. Still brings back memories.

[Ghola]

This is the night mail, crossing the border. Bringing the cheque and the postal order 💜💜 I imagine you two gentlemen walking through the train yard to a building, where you put on your space suits, as you continue your journey. Such beautiful music

[AngelalLloyd]

Fantastic- we saw the end of the 1936 original film on TCM this morning - came to you tube to see the whole film- this one came after - - fabulous.

[Longi]

These guys are so cool. Their ability to evoke nostalgia and the "feeling" of a time that has passed with music and vocal excerpts is just so awesome. I love this track and The Now Generation from the album.

[paulcrisp]

This kind of music takes you back with a sense of nostalgia, of a generation from yesteryear. Wonderful wonderful wonderful. April 2021 PSB FOREVER 🇬🇧👍🇬🇧👍🇬🇧👍

[samuelelsby]

It must just have the best outro ever…”now!” then building and finally dropping to rhythm guitar chords.

[bungle]

one of the best tracks ever created by PSB.... this is bloody geneus!

[Lucasimo]

PSB at Glastonbury this year. AWESOME. I was at the front loving every minute.

[lewiscastor]

Saw psb in Nottingham supporting Kaiser Chiefs and was pleasantly surprised. Big fan now!