Location and film related detail received this week

Dave Buckley has been in touch with us about Love Thy Neighbour and particularly ltn008b-008h, all of which are in front of what was EMI-Canon studios on one side of Shenley Road, Borehamwood, Herts. However, he has additionally referred us to http://avengerland.theavengers.tv/studios/defaut.htm. On that page, select Studio Buildings under Associated British Studios, there can be seen various photos, some of which show the front of the building and the private access road pictured in the stills. If you also look at Studio Map you will see how much of the site is now Tesco's. No doubt, like me, you will then be wandering around the other Studios and Set pictures wondering where all your time has gone.

Dave also mentions two related books. Elstree Confidential by Paul Welsh, MBE which he says is a fund of information about the studios, the films made there and the film stars who appeared in them, together with personal anecdotes. Also, Elstree, the British Hollywood which details all the studios in the area of which there were four in the High Road alone! Thanks Dave for all that background.



I have been in touch with the Thames Police Museum in Wapping with regard to a film I am currently working on and received valued help from its Hon. Curator Rob Jeffries. Besides helping me, he gave some additional information which besides being interesting itself could be helpful to us when researching similar London based films. He said that in 1954, the year I am dealing with, the Met Police would not have agreed to renting out police boats and crews to take part in commercial films so there was a trade in old police launches that could be bought second hand by companies working on the river that could be made to look like police boats. This was the case until comparatively recently when they were making James Bond's The World is not enough. They wanted to use real police officers and boats but the Met declined to take part. This changed when the Met cottoned on that there was cash to be made out of this and Rob was part of one the very first occasions when police launches and crews could be rented out to film companies....(Prime Suspect Six). Thanks again Rob for that.

Richard Lovejoy