Locations
Location filming played an important part in the very early days of Supermarionation when the production team commissioned a light aircraft in order to film aerial footage of the sky and clouds which could then be used for back projection shots in Supercar. However, it was during the making of Thunderbird 6 that location shooting on the Gerry Anderson productions really came into its own as Derek Meddings took his visual effects team out into the nearby countryside to film both the model and full-sized Tiger Moth aircraft in flight.
In early 1968, during production of the Joe 90 episode The Unorthodox Shepherd, the production team took their cameras to Harefield in Buckinghamshire and shot both exterior and interior footage of the local church to double as St. David’s, parish church of the Reverend Joseph Shepherd. A puppet of the villain Mason accompanied the crew to Harefield for appearances on the footpath outside the church, footage of the church graveyard established the entrance to the counterfeiters’ crypt-based forgery operation and interior insert shots were filmed inside the church. After a heavy snowfall, the location crew returned to the church to shoot footage of the snowbound St. David’s for the episode’s closing Christmas scene.
The Unorthodox Shepherd paved the way for The Secret Service, both in its plot-line of a man of the cloth who is not all he seems to be, and its use of location footage inserted into the studio-shot interior sequences. On The Secret Service, a second unit headed by director Ken Turner was responsible for finding the buildings and houses that would appear in location footage, and also the sections of country road along which the vehicles (mostly Gabriel, Father Unwin’s Model T Ford) would be seen travelling. For these exteriors, the actor and entertainer Stanley Unwin was often seen doubling for the puppet Father Unwin, driving Gabriel, walking about with his suitcase, and looking out of the window of the Vicarage in the opening title sequence.
Sadly, after 13 episodes, The Secret Service was cancelled and this spelled the end for Gerry Anderson’s Supermarionation as he moved forward with live-action productions such as UFO and The Protectors. On both of these series, location filming was essential to prevent them from becoming entirely studio-bound, and opened the shows up to some of their most exciting action sequences. Location shooting proved less important to Space:1999 as the Moon-based format required the majority of filming to take place within the confines of the Pinewood Studios shooting stages. However, on the rare occasions when the directors felt that location footage was a necessity, the actors and camera crew would spend several days in nearby Black Park or the backlot areas of Pinewood adjacent to the Park, both of which made ideal sites for lush, verdant, alien planets. More recently, Space Precinct too was almost entirely shot within the confines of Pinewood’s L&M Stages, although certain short sequences were filmed outside on the Pinewood lot.
This Location Guide lists twelve of the more important filming locations seen in the Gerry Anderson series, most of which are within about half an hour’s drive of the series’ various production studios in Slough, Borehamwood and Iver.
Seen throughout The Protectors as Harry Rule’s mews apartment in London
- The Protectors – 2000 ft To Die
- The Protectors – The Numbers Game
- The Protectors – Triple Cross
- The Protectors – A Kind Of Wild Justice
- The Protectors – One And One Makes One
- The Protectors – Balance Of Terror
- The Protectors – King Con
- The Protectors – The Big Hit
- The Protectors –
…With A Litle Help From My Friends - The Protectors – For The Rest Of Your Natural…
- The Protectors – Talkdown
- The Protectors – A Case For The Right
- The Protectors – Vocal
- The Protectors – WAM Part One
- The Protectors – Zeke’s Blues
- The Protectors – The Tiger And The Goat
Seen prominently in five episodes of The Secret Service as the London HQ of British Intelligence Service Headquarters Operation Priest.
- The Secret Service – A Case For The Bishop
- The Secret Service – The Feathered Spies
- The Secret Service – Last Train To Bufflers Halt
- The Secret Service – School For Spies
- The Secret Service – May-Day, May-Day!
- UFO – Destruction
(London)
Seen prominently in four episodes of UFO as the offices of the International Astrophysical Commission.
- UFO – Conflict
- UFO – Court Martial
- UFO – Close Up
- UFO – Confetti Check A-O.K.
- The Protectors – Wheels
(The Bank)
- The Protectors – Triple Cross
(The home of Kofax) - The Protectors – Sugar And Spice
(The Radcliffe School for Girls) - The Protectors – Wheels
(The home of Manning) - The Protectors – Trial
Seen prominently throughout UFO as the Harlington Straker Film Studios at West Harlington in Wessex, secret HQ of Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation.
- Doppelgänger
(Eurosec HQ) - UFO – Title Sequence
- UFO – Identified
- UFO – Computer Affair
- UFO – Flight Path
- UFO – Survival
- UFO – Exposed
- UFO – Conflict
- UFO – The Dalotek Affair
- UFO – A Question Of Priorities
- UFO – Ordeal
- UFO – The Responsibility Seat
- UFO – Court Martial
- UFO – Close Up
- UFO – Confetti Check A-O.K.
- UFO – E.S.P.
- UFO – Kill Straker!
- UFO – Sub-Smash
- UFO – The Sound Of Silence
- UFO – The Cat With Ten Lives
- UFO – Destruction
- UFO – The Man Who Came Back
- The Protectors –
…With A Little Help From My Friends
(The Hotel Excelsior) - The Protectors – The Insider
(The Film Studios)
- The Protectors – The Numbers Game
(The Old Barn) - The Protectors – Chase
(The Contessa di Contini’s Log Cabin) - The Protectors – The Bodyguards
(The home of Ralph Corder)
- The Secret Service – School For Spies
(Stonehouse Hospital) - UFO – The Long Sleep
(Harville Hospital)
Heatherden Hall & Gardens
- Doppelgänger
(Jason Webb’s nursing home) - UFO – The Psychobombs
(Park) - UFO – Mindbender
(The grounds of Harlington Straker Studios) - UFO – The Long Sleep
(The grounds of Harville Hospital) - Space:1999 – The Bringers Of Wonder part 2
(Earth)
Double Lodge
- UFO – Timelash
(The main entrance of Harlington Straker Studios)
Studio Lot
- UFO – The Cat With Ten Lives
(Spaceport Security Point & Harlington Straker Film Studios lot) - UFO – The Man Who Came Back
(Harlington Straker Film Studios lot) - UFO – Reflections In The Water
(Harlington Straker Film Studios screening theatre & lot) - UFO – Timelash
(Harlington Straker Film Studios lot) - UFO – Mindbender
(Harlington Straker Film Studios screening theatre & lot) - UFO – The Long Sleep
(Harville Hospital Intensive Care Unit entrance) - Space Precinct – Double Duty
(Demeter City Storefront) - Space Precinct – Flash
(Demeter City Street) - Space Precinct – Divided We Stand
(Demeter City Alley & Fire Escape) - Space Precinct – Two Against The Rock
(Demeter City Waterfront) - Space Precinct – Predator And Prey
(Demeter City Scrapyard) - Space Precinct – The Witness
(Demeter City Street & Alley) - Space Precinct – Hate Street
(Demeter City Docks) - Space Precinct – Smelter Skelter
(Demeter City Street) - Space Precinct – Deathwatch
(Butler’s Farm)
Studio Backlot
- Space:1999 – The Full Circle
(Planet Retha) - Space:1999 – Journey To Where
(Earth: 1339) - Space:1999 – A Matter Of Balance
(Planet Sunim) - Space Precinct – Deathwatch Conclusion
(Site R Bunker)
- UFO – Identified
(Woods) - UFO – Computer Affair
(Woods in Canada) - UFO – The Square Triangle
(Woods near Lingbury) - UFO – The Sound Of Silence
(Stone Dean Farm Estate and Lake) - UFO – Reflections In The Water
(Atlantic Ocean off Cornwall) - Space:1999 – The Full Circle
(Planet Retha) - Space:1999 – The Rules Of Luton
(Planet Luton) - Space:1999 – The Bringers Of Wonder part 2
(Earth)
- Joe 90 – The Unorthodox Shepherd
(St. David’s Church) - UFO – The Square Triangle
(Jack Newton’s grave)
Seen prominently throughout The Secret Service as Father Unwin’s parish church in Chertsey.
- The Secret Service – Title Sequence
- The Secret Service – A Case For The Bishop
- The Secret Service – To Catch A Spy
- The Secret Service – Recall To Service
- The Secret Service – Errand Of Mercy
- The Secret Service – May-Day, May-Day!
- The Secret Service – More Haste Less Speed