Fwd: UFO Filming Locations

UFO fan Mark Henderson recently visited London, and while he was
there he visited several UFO filming locations. Here is his report
of what he saw (posted with permission)

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Here are the UFO Filming Locations I visited while in London last month. In
most cases, I have taken video footage of them wherever possible, to simply
compare it with that seen in the series.

THE COMPUTER AFFAIR
Black Park Country Park, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire
Black Park is a Country Park open to the public, and is run by Buckinghamshire
Council. Free entry. It is conveniently located backing onto the rear of
Pinewood Studios, just a few miles North-West of London, and a couple of miles
north of Slough, where we were staying. You can't without a degree of
difficulty get close to Pinewood Studios, from in the Park area, because the
whole of the Park is "thickly wooded !!". Where have we heard that before?
However Pinewood Studios were filming something the day we visited Black Park,
but the Park is huge, and so you'd never notice unless you explored as we did.
At the entrance to the Park there is a restaurant and facilities. Adjacent to
them is a large "hoarding" which lists the names of all the TV shows and movies
which have been filmed in the Park. Yes - before you ask UFO is there as is
Space 1999, and a few others including Bond movies. The area used for the scene
where the SHADO soldiers are in combat with the aliens is at the top of the
Queen's Drive, just at the back of Pinewood Studios. The sound of birdlife in
that park of the Park is strikingly similar to that heard in the scene in the
episode.


THE SQUARE TRIANGLE
Queen's Cottage, Queen's Drive, Black Park Country Park, Iver Heath,
Buckinghamshire
This is Liz Newton's house. It is located at the extreme North end of Queen's
Drive in Black Park. You can only see part of the upper area and roof of this
building, because it is surrounded by trees and bushes, but it is recognisable
from the episode. There is a gate upon which is a sign "PRIVATE PROPERTY".
Although the cottage is in the Park area, the main access to it is via a road
on the West side of it, and not through the Park. I tried to go through the
gate to take better video footage of it than I could get from the gate, but a
lady with 2 large dogs came out so I gave up.


THE SOUND OF SILENCE
Black Park Lake & Black Park Country Park, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire
Yes - the famous setting for "The Sound of Silence". Black Park Lake is
situated right next to the Park entrance. All the footage of the Lake area
shown in "The Sound of Silence" is situated on the West side of the Lake. The 3
notable ones being:-

Scene 1. Culley sitting in front of the shack - The shack is no longer there,
but there is a bench situated almost exactly where it stood. I videod my wife
sitting down on the bench taking a rest, while I encouraged my 2 daughters to
play Gito Santana's part as 2 aliens hiding in the trees trying to spook their
mother in the remake of "The Sound of Silence"!! Am I mad or what?

Scene 2. Russell & Ann Stone horseriding - again on the North West side of the
lake. You can stand at the exact spot where this is filmed. Esp. where Stone
and his sister are teasing one another about taking a swim in the lake, just
before the horse gets spooked by Gito Santana again. Easy to see why they chose
these spots - they are in small clearings behind which it's "thickly wooded!"
and ideal for Gito Santana to conceal himself. The direction in which they go
out of shot takes you up the Queen's Drive which is the main track through the
Park.

Scene 3. Foster and Ann Stone at the Lakeside. - This is close to the above,
and you can still clearly see the overhanging trees on the side of the Lake.
There are large nesting grounds for ducks in this part of the Park so it's no
surprise when Foster is startled by one on the Lake.


TIMELASH (esp)
Pinewood Studios, Pinewood Road, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire.
You can drive straight past the Studio Entrance in Pinewood Road. Pinewood Road
is featured prominently in "Timelash" as the road where Straker's car is
attacked by the UFO. The Studio Entrance is seen as Straker and Colonel Lake
arrive at the Studio. You can see the Studio Lot where much of "Timelash" is
filmed from the road but it's a couple of 100 yards back from the road.


THE LONG SLEEP
Piccaddilly Circus, London
Where Catherine and Tim meet. Traffic there busier than ever, but I believe
they've recently moved the statue of Eros from where it stood when the episode
was filmed. I think James Gibbon posted something in your SHADO mail list about
this recently. Perhaps you should ask him again.

Tower Bridge, London
We took a boat trip from there up the River Thames as Catherine and Tim did in
"The Long Sleep". Most of the old wharf areas have been redeveloped, but the
ships seen across the river are still there.

Dromenagh Farm, Seven Hills Road, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire
The farm where the UFO lands. This has changed a lot. The roadway which runs
along the front of the farm entrance has been "tarred". The entrance to the
farm has been moved about 15 yards to the East of where it is in "The Long
Sleep", and the original entrance blocked up by a large wall. As you pass the
new entrance, 15 yards to the East, you have to look back at an angle to see
anything of the farm buildings, and from what I saw, they've changed quite a
lot. Looks like the whole frontage of the buildings have been refurbished.
Sadly I didn't get any footage of this location because we were in a heavy
rainstorm at the time, and therefore couldn't venture out of the car without
drowning myself and the video camera!

Hollybush Lane & Billet Lane, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire.
This is where Catherine runs out onto the roadway after leaving the farm. She
actually runs out of Hollybush Lane from the East onto Billet Lane. Looks
almost as it did in "The Long Sleep", except for a small builder's yard area on
the West side of Billet Lane, at the end of Hollybush Lane.

Billet Lane, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire
This is where Catherine is standing when she gets a lift in the Ford Transit
van! Looks the same as it ever was. It is about 25 yards North of Hollybush
Lane where she ran out from.

Langley Park, Billet Lane, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire
This is located on the North West side of Billet Lane. This is where the Ford
Transit van turns off the road before the driver (John Garrie) tries to rape
Catherine. The area where he stops the truck is actually the public car park!!
You can clearly see the shape of the landscape at this point. A bit of clever
filming makes you think that this is further along the road he is driving, but
it is not. It is actually further back in the direction from which he came
before he gave Catherine a lift. They must have moved the filming back up the
road to the North and then shot the scenes in the Park. All of the scene of the
attempted rape are filmed in Langley Park. You can clearly see the rhododendron
gardens in the Park during the chase. Catherine is running in an Easterly
direction just before she runs into the road in Billet Lane.

Billet Lane, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire
This is where Catherine runs into road and is knocked down by Straker driving
the Mustang.


THE PSYCHOBOMBS
Albion House, Common Road, Langley, Slough
There are 4 large apartment blocks here. Brockway House, Albion House, Byron
House and Linden House, which is never seen.

Scene 1. Linda Simmons comes out of Albion House, gets into her car and drives
off. The building seen at the rear left of shot at an angle is Brockway House,
as seen looking North West.
The smaller building that you just catch sight of on the ground left of center
is Slough & Mendip Community Centre.
She drives round the East side of the building. This is actually a service road
which doesn't go anywhere but to the end of the block. Briefly in the episode,
you can see a grass area to the right of shot as Linda Simmons turns left. This
is Harvey Park, a local park area. There a 3 differences here. All the young
spruce and birch trees seen in the scene are now fully grown. Slough Council
have a laid an additional small car parking bay area just at the front of the
grass. The large Ford Truck factory which was behind Harvey Park in 1970 (at
the most distant point of the shot as Linda Simmons turns in front of the grass
area which the producer obviously did his best to keep out of shot) was
demolished in 1998.

Scene 2. This is where Foster goes to question but she's not at home. Foster
comes out of Albion House, and goes to his car. The building seen at the rear
left of shot at an angle is Brockway House, as seen looking North West. The
smaller building that you just catch sight of on the ground left of center is
Slough & Mendip Community Centre.

Scene 3. This is where Foster meets Linda Simmons. The scene starts off from
within the SHADO car. The building seen at the rear left of shot at an angle is
once again Brockway House, as seen looking North West. The smaller building
that can be seen more clearly on the ground left of center is Slough & Mendip
Community Centre.
I couldn't work out how they'd filmed the shots showing Foster and Linda
Simmons talking in the street. The apartment block to the left appears to be
there (Byron House),
but the flats in the background aren't. Jeff Smart beat me to it - in the close
ups they moved the shot 100 yards or so to the North side of the Albion House.
Linda Simmons comes out of the South side doorway of Albion House. The
apartment block seen on the left of shot IS actually Albion House, the one
she's came out of, but at the North end. The building in the background is
Brockway House as seen looking West. The smaller building just to the front of
Brockway House that you can just see is once again Slough & Mendip Community
Centre, as seen looking West.


Hope this is interesting enough for you. If you've any questions please give
let me know.

Mark Henderson

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> UFO fan Mark Henderson recently visited London, and while he was
> there he visited several UFO filming locations. Here is his report
> of what he saw (posted with permission)

Lucky guy!

Many thanks to the General's name sake for this very interesting info.

I have just won an ITC locations guide called Avengerland through Ebay. It
includes the location details of UFO.

Sheila

Still UFO Crazy crazy crazy crrraaazzzzy!