In the mid 1980s, catering salesman Jim Ferguson (Alex Hyde-White), living in present-day New York City, is involuntarily transported to 1917, where he saves the life of dashing Royal Flying Corps pilot James "Biggles" Bigglesworth (Neil Dickson) after he is shot down on a photo recon mission.

He is visited by Biggles' former commanding officer, William Raymond (Peter Cushing), who is now an Air Commodore living in the Tower Bridge in London.

Financed by Universal Pictures, a script entitled Biggles Sweeps The Skies was written by Chris Bryant and to be filmed in Algeria.

James Fox was tapped to play Biggles and even appeared in promotional material,[8] until the film was cancelled, due to budgetary and location problems.

[9] In February 1976, Peter James bought the rights to the Biggles stories, but the film remained in development hell for several years.

[10] In December 1979, Dudley Moore, who had just become a star with 10, said he agreed to play Biggles and make the film in Europe after he finished Arthur (1981).

[12][13] In April 1981, a newspaper report said that the film would be produced by Kent Walwin of Yellowbill Productions, with a script from Jack Briley.

[14] Walwin had plans to make a series of Biggles adventures, stating: We were looking for something with the quality of Bond, not just aesthetically in terms of what we could create, but financially.

[15]In February 1982, it was announced that Biggles would be played by Jeremy Irons, coming off the 1981 television serial Brideshead Revisited.

[17] He had read the Biggles books as a child, was attracted by the unconventional story, and was available after a deal to direct a James Bond film fell through.

Early versions of the script were written by Michael Fallon and called for an adventure film in the mould of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

[28] The film includes a scene where Biggles lands a helicopter (a Bell 206 JetRanger G-BAKF) on a flat wagon on a moving train.

The 1917 weapon testing ground scene was shot at the Beckton Gas Works, which, a year later, was used for scenes in Full Metal Jacket and had been the location for the pre-title sequence in the 1981 Bond film, For Your Eyes Only, in which, coincidentally, Marc Wolff had also performed similar helicopter stunts, and it was seen during the finale of Brannigan.

[42] Biggles received a royal charity premiere on 22 May 1986 at the Plaza Cinema on Lower Regent Street in London.

[44] A novelisation by Trevor Hoyle writing as Larry Milne was published, as was a picture book by Peter James to tie in to the release.

[45] The film was met with mostly negative reviews from the British press, who criticized the story, acting and disregard for Johns' original works.

[52] Just like the film, the soundtrack drew mixed reviews because of its experimental themes which seemed out of place in a period adventure and heavy use of synthesizers.

[54] As a tie-in to the film, a video game with the same title was released in 1986 by Image Works for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum.

[55] The game was based on the Film's storyline and featured four different missions, including flying combat sequences with biplanes, a rooftop chase, searching for the secret weapon in a trench setting and first-person helicopter gameplay.