Again, this is another area where I would appreciate your help! The only two instances of MB300s appearing on British television that I am aware of are:

• Advert for pure new wool circa 1995 featured a white W186 in the background. I saw this advert just once, but was not in a position to record it.
• Episode 9 of the German TV series Heimat.

Three years ago I had fallen asleep in front of the TV after a frantic session of 'zapping' through channels on 'Astra' in search of something worth watching. I then awoke, unsure if still dreaming, to see the interior of a W186 on the screen. Quickly I slammed-in the nearest VHS tape to hand and thus captured the only images of a 300 that I have seen on the small screen. Having recorded about five minutes of the German film presented, I vowed to find out more information about what I had observed.

A little detective work on the Internet enabled me to link the director credited at the end of the film, Edgar Reitz, with perhaps his most famous creation, Heimat, in particular episode nine relating to events in the Hunsruck town of Schabbach 1955-1956. Searching further led me to the website of ReindeR Rustema which celebrates both Heimat and its successor Der Zweite Heimat. Reinder offered me his complete assistance culminating in the loan of a copy of episode nine in its entirity.

In summary, episode nine relates to Maria's youngest son 'Little Hermann' whose secret love affair with the older Klärchen is discovered by his protective mother Maria and Hermann's older brother Anton (the MB300 appears throughout the film as a symbol of Anton's business success). The episode ends on New Year's Eve 195 when Hermann takes Anton's MB300 without consent to drive to Boppard to meet Klärchen for what must be the last time.

Irrespective of the MB300 connection, Heimat is powerful television drama at its very best and I commend it to anyone. When time and hardware allow, I will produce quality screenshots on this page but, for now, below are rough screenshots taken from my original and hurried copy.

Once again, thanks to ReindeR Rustema for his assistance with the material for this page.

Comments and queries to: Stuart Lamb