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The 'Boy on the Bike' advert has recently been voted as Britains most iconic and heart-warming advert* and has now been lovingly re-mastered frame-by-frame by the British Film Institute for the digital age. Furthermore, we have added a brand new recording by the Ashington Colliery brass band, a new voice and we've brought the end of the ad up-to-date with our current pack. We are extremely proud of the result and that Hovis'® 'Boy on the Bike' is fondly remembered.
* Research was conducted in Great Britain via OnLineBus, an Internet omnibus survey administered by Kantar. A sample of 1,258 GB adults aged 16+ were interviewed by online self-completion from 11/04/2019 - 15/04/2019. The sample was weighted to represent the adult population of Great Britain age 16+.
We went up to Ashington and met up with the fantastic brass band; some of whose relatives played in the original recording. We wanted them to repeat the stunning sound of the original ad, a hard task to achieve but we think they cracked it. We hope you agree!
“You combine the appropriate music with the appropriate picture and you've got lift off”
Sir Ridley Scott, Director
You may not know this but famous Hollywood producer Ridley Scott produced the original Hovis® 'Boy on the Bike' and he's immensely proud of that fact. Here he discusses a fun fact about Gold Hill.
The British Film Institute set about 'cleaning' the advert frame-by-frame in order to restore the original colour and contrast, which had become faded out over time. The result is spectacular and really brings the 'Boy on the Bike' back to life.
“Because of the remastering work there is a modern revamp [of the advert] that harks back to tradition”
Steve Foxon, BFI Curator Non Fiction