public, TV reviewers and historians have generally held the show in lower regard. In its section on situation comedies, The Guinness Book of Classic British TV describes On the Buses as ITV's "longest running and most self-consciously unfunny series". TV reviewer Victor Lewis-Smith later criticised the then head of London Weekend Television, Frank Muir, for green-lighting the programme, which Lewis-Smith called "the wretched On the Buses". The Daily Telegraph journalist Max Davidson, discussing 1970s British comedy, listed On the Buses as one of the "unfunny sitcoms of the time", while The Guardians David Stubbs referred to On the Buses as "a byword for 70s sitcom mediocrity". On The Buses is sometimes used as an example of the sort of sexism that was rife in society in the 1960s and 1970s, occurring after the freedoms of sexual liberation, but before the rise of feminism; in particular, the derision towards one of the main female characters (Olive Rudge) for being unattractive, and the fact that younger attractive bus staff would be regularly looking to have sex with the two main middle-aged male characters (Varney and Grant, who by the time of the release of the first film in 1971, were 55 and 39 respectively). Some episodes of the show also featured a black character referred to as Chalky, which might be construed as racist by modern standards. Films The three spin-off films were produced by Hammer Film Productions. They are On the Buses (1971), Mutiny on the Buses (1972), and Holiday on the Buses (1973), set in a holiday camp. On the Buses became Britain's top box office film of 1971. The films were set in a different canon to the series – in the films, Arthur and Olive manage to have a child despite their apparently sexless marriage and Arthur's 'operation' – the exact nature of which was never explicitly revealed. Arthur's operation is mentioned in the first film, but later Olive gives birth to their baby son. The three films follow a loose story arc which shows their son (Little Arthur) growing up. Olive is pregnant with a second child at the end of Mutiny, but no mention of this was made in the third film, Holiday, set mainly in a holiday camp. The bus depot becomes that of The Town & District Bus Company instead of The Luxton & District Traction Company. The buses in the films are mostly