Hi guys, I recently came across Marc's website as it was linked to from Hacker News (if any of you know what that is).
This reminded me of a little mission I went on: in the episode that Straker gets married, he pulls over the car to a lay-by and the happy couple mess around (IIRC). There is an anachronistic element to the scene: a public footpath sign no less!
After some sleuthing, I found out exactly where the location was. Needless to say, it has changed massively in the 60 years since. There is now a massive bank of earth alongside the road which has made pulling over impossible (by design?). The footpath sign is still there though! And the trees look similar.
The lay-by location is rather odd in that it is the start of a footpath from the main road. There are no connecting footpaths. This makes it a nightmare to reach. On my first attempt I just pulled over like Straker did, only to get beeped at by a local who was wondering what I was doing (maybe I should have created steam under my bonnet!).
On the second attempt, I parked up properly at South Mimms services (soon to be adjacent to a massive data centre) which was not present in 1968, nor was the M25 that it is attached to.
There is a 2 mile walk through a nature reserve (bizarrely) and past some very expensive houses to the filming location and it is a walk which I recommend on its own merit if you are in the area.
By the way, I don't think this location was on this year's Fanderson UFO tour which makes it all the more special.
Enough chat; the photos!
OS_map.png1.jpg3.jpg4.jpg5.jpg6.jpga.jpgb.jpgc.jpgP.S.
I emailed Marc a few more photos and he is welcome to do what he would like with them.
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