SECURE LOCATIONS

Some more location photos I took when I went to the Special Assignment con recently that have a Gerry Anderson connection.

Last time I looked at a couple of locations that can easily be seen used in The Secret Service, this time I begin with a look at UFO, and the area around Pinewood.

Photo: ITV Studios

Pinewood Studios itself has more security than SHADO, and taking any photos of anything inside the perimeter is strictly controlled. This was explained by the very courteous security guards who told me that these days’ things inside the studio are subject to rigorous copyright; however, as it’s easily seen from the road they were happy to let me take a photo of the old Double Lodge gate house which did feature briefly as the main entrance to Harlington Straker studios in the episode, ‘TimeLash’.  The rear is seen more prominently, but until I get a job working on the next Bond film I‘ll just be happy with what I’ve got.

At the other side of Pinewood is Black Park and Black Park Lake. This huge wooded area is open to the public and holds no barriers for the location spotter – unfortunately most of it looks pretty much the same.

Photo: ITV Studios

Not that that spoils anything, it’s still a very serene and evocative place, and you can still imagine an Alien lurking behind one of the trees, or Mark Bradley organising his SHADO men.

Photo: ITV Studios

Black Park and the lake feature in several UFO episodes – Identified; Peter Carlin is doing his own bit of filming in the woods; The Computer Affair; Mark Bradley bags an alien, and a night out with Gay Ellis; The Square Triangle; Two- timing Liz Newton gets away with two murders, but she only remembers one ; The Sound of Silence; An Alien bird scarer has his eyes on a show jumper; and finally Reflections in the Water; Black Park Lake doubles as the Atlantic.

Photo: ITC Studios

Black Park is also used during the filming of Space: 1999. Although it’s predominantly studio bound, Full Circle, The Rules of Luton, and The Bringers of Wonder (Part 2) all feature trees, especially The Rules of Luton!

While I was in the area, I thought I’d check out the old AP Films building in Ipswich Road, Slough.  The old brick building looks fine and is still a thriving tyre business – A far cry from filming Supercar and Fireball XL5.

Photo: ITV Studios

I also visited Stirling Road to see what’s left of the Century 21 building. The simple answer is nothing. The three buildings used have all gone. The similar building still left standing next door wasn’t part of Century 21 as far as I’m aware, so it looks like that part of an era has now been bulldozed. 

Finally, it was a visit to Cookham, and that famed pub. I wanted to visit this quint English village  , more for the fact that some of the location shots for the cult Amicus film, They Came From Beyond Space  took place here  (and, I’m led to believe that the effects, done by Les Bowie were filmed at the former AP Films studio at Ipswich Road) but that’s for another post.

It’s an old story now, but as most die-hard Thunderbird fans know, The Kings Arms pub is the place that ‘Parker’ , or rather his voice was ‘discovered’. Voice artist, David Graham has often described his meeting with the wine waiter named Arthur, who ”dropped his ‘aitches’, and put them back in the wrong place”.

The Kings Arms was regularly visited by the production staff, and Gerry Anderson had David dine there to study his accent.

After some discussion, Gerry decided that Arthur might not take to the idea that Parker's voice was based on his, so, for good or bad  he was never told.