The holiday jet ‘crash’ that greeted neighbours overlooking the M60

People living close to the M60 motorway were stunned to see what appeared to be a crashed jumbo jet - but all was not as it seemed

05:55, 15 Apr 2026

Neighbours overlooking the M60 were greeted by the sight of what appeared to have been a terrible aeroplane crash(Image: David Hoole)

Imagine waking up and looking out of your bedroom window, only to see the twisted remains of a jumbo jet sprawled across the motorway. That was the scene that greeted Audenshaw residents 26 years ago.

The alarming sight of cars crushed under the buckled fuselage of a FlyWays holiday jet scattered across the M60[1] was, thankfully, not an accident but there on purpose. The aircraft cash was part of an expensive and elaborate set for the TV show[2] Always & Everyone.

Later renamed A&E, the show was ITV's rival[3] to the hugely successful medical drama Casualty on the BBC[4].

Produced by Granada Television[5], the show starred Martin Shaw, Niamh Cusack, David Harewood, and Jane Danson, who is better known for playing Leanne Battersby in Coronation Street.

Click here[6] to get the biggest stories straight to your inbox in our Daily Newsletter

Always & Everyone (A&E) ran for four series between June 1999 and August 2002. The show - which was rebranded as A&E in series three - was set in the Accident and Emergency department of the fictional St Victor's city hospital in Manchester.

Despite its relatively short run and not quite matching Casualty's audience numbers, the show scores pretty well on IMDB, with an average rating of 6.9 from 71 reviews.

The cast of Always & Everyone

One review on the site reads: "This series has proved to be very popular with a lot of people and I understand why. It is simply a well acted, gripping, exciting on the edge of your seat show!! it may take time to get used to, but in its own way is the UK's answer to ER!"

Another says: "Brilliantly acted with very fine scripts.

It's got pace and excitement, taking on some social issues but not in a heavy-handed way. It's the best series of this type to come out of Britain and should be seen."

One of the show's most dramatic and no doubt most expensive episodes to create involved the aeroplane motorway crash.

In series two, episode nine, entitled 'Mayday, Mayday', the staff at St Vincent's had to deal with the aftermath of a jet overshooting the runway and crashing into a busy motorway.

The drama surrounds the emergency services trying to save the lives of the survivors trapped in the plane, including a six-week-old baby, a seven-year-old schoolgirl, and a woman suffering from an aortic rupture.

A scene from the motorway aeroplane crash episode 'Mayday, Mayday' in the ITV drama Always & Everyone in 2000

The set was built on the Middleton-Denton section of the M60 motorway, which was finally completed and opened to the public in October 2000.

After a YouTube video was uploaded explaining that the set was part of a TV drama, one person who claimed to have been part of the show's production team explained what happened on set.

YouTube user @marni1971 said they filmed the episode in March 2000 during "A week of the most freezing cold night shoots."

They added that after the night shoots were taken, the fuselage was taken to Granada Studios on Quay Street to film the interior shots the following week.

Always & Everyone episode saw a passenger aircraft overshoot a runway and crash land on a motorway

They added: "If I recall, the MAN fire engines were loaned as payment for the gift of the fuselage after the episode wrapped. We also had a whip round on set for the Air Ambulance.

"Also I don't remember the specifics but the engines were from a different aircraft.

If you look closely you can see the tail was propped up with scaffolding."

The aeroplane prop on set was actually the fuselage of an old Hawker Siddeley HS-121 Trident 2 aircraft.

Several online sources say that after filming, the fuselage remains were donated to the Manchester Airport Fire Service and used for training.

Plane crash set on the M60 for TV drama 'Always & Everyone' in 1999.

Ex British Airways Hawker Siddeley HS121 Trident 2E G-AVFG(Image: Neil Lomax)

Many people living in Audenshaw still remember seeing the aeroplane crash TV set close to their homes back in 2000.

Images of the aeroplane on the motorways have been posted on the popular Audenshaw Past & Present Facebook group, with many people commenting to say they remember seeing it.

James Mawdesley said he remembered seeing the aeroplane, adding: "I live on Trafalgar Avenue, and we'd jump over the fence with our bikes as kids, ride up to Denton junction and back then get chased off by the M60 workmen."

Terence Howell posted: "I remember seeing it set out before the motorway was opened and watched the TV program, but it did not show it properly for all that work."

Rosanna Hardwick wrote: "I remember being really young and my mum taking me to see this."

While Kerry Louise posted: "I remember looking out of my bedroom window to this one morning!!"

References

1. ^ M60 (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
2. ^ TV show (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
3. ^ ITV's rival (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
4. ^ BBC (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
5. ^ Granada Television (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
6. ^ Click here (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)