About Us

 

In the early days, Tony Oliver, the founder of TLO Film Services, already had a growing collection of military collectables which occasionally found their way into his father’s antique shop, much to his father's annoyance. However, that was nothing compared to the trouble that was caused when Tony started acquiring WW2 military vehicles, which were stored unbeknownst to his father in various storage sheds and his yard. This ultimately led to Tony opening his own shop in Egham and later in Portobello Road. All this time, his stock of militaria and military vehicle collection continued to grow. Thanks to this, Tony was in regular demand for military information, the supply of military uniforms and other military equipment by one of the leading TV and film costumers based in Leicester Square. The progression to also supplying vehicles was a natural next step and TLO was up and running!

 

By 1965, TLO were regularly supplying vehicles to major productions. Including in that year; The Heroes of Telemark, starring Kirk Douglas, Richard Harris and the Dirty Dozen. Late in 1966, Tony was hired by Guy Hamilton, not only to supply all the in-shot action vehicles for his upcoming film but also to act as technical adviser. That production was Battle of Britain, and it provided the springboard for Tony to not only acquire a large number of military vehicles from when they were filming in Spain, but also established TLO as a major player in the action vehicle industry.

 

In 1970, we supplied vehicles for a number of TV series and films, including; Manhunt, Women in Love and 633 Squadron. The following year, TLO continued to grow and add to their portfolio of productions on which they had supplied action and hero vehicles. Their work included; The Persuaders with Roger Moore and Tony Curtis and the original Dad's Army film. One of the highlights of this time was working with Michael Caine again, this time on The Eagle Has Landed.

 

It was in 1978 that TLO finally outgrew their initial collection of yards and storage facilities and after a long search, our current premises at Long Close House in Eton Wick was purchased. Contracts continued to flow in thick and fast, including the memorable TV series 'Allo 'Allo!, where we provided in-shot vehicles for all 85 episodes including Lieutenant Gruber's Little Tank which currently resides in our museum. The mid to late 1980s were too busy to mention all the productions, but to mention a few: The Morecambe and Wise show, Bergerac, The Little Shop of Horrors, Doctor Who, Octopussy, Poirot, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

 

This leads us into the 1990's, where Tony Oliver's son, Mark Oliver, took more of a senior role and led us to become the largest picture vehicle supplier in Europe. During the 90's, we were fortunate to work on; Evita, Saving Private Ryan and Spice World. Looking towards the present day, we have had the pleasure of maintaining TLO's original history in being the picture vehicle supplier for one of the largest wartime films in recent times, Dunkirk by Christopher Nolan. Not only this, but reprising our roles as picture vehicle suppliers on some of the film and television shows we have worked on in our earlier years, such as Dad's Army and Doctor Who.