TV locations for the Famous Five series

Discuss the television and film adaptations of Enid Blyton's stories.
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Gary Russell
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

Post by Gary Russell »

Yeah but I could be wrong (although I don't think I am). And it's entirely possible the NF carpark we used has been flattened out/tarmaced/erased completely by now
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

Post by number 6 »

Cheers Gary! That's a good point regarding the Car parks. However, I seem to recall the DPF owner saying nothing has really changed since filming...except for vegetation growth! Wonder if this included the CP's as well? Hmmm...I'll see if I can find out. In the meantime, it'll give me something to think about for a while! Thanks again for your input. Brilliant! :D

PS- Curious to know whether you have any personal photos from your time on the set of the F5? I seem to recall Julie Davis (Jo) showing me some of hers when we chatted at the 2010 EB Society day. It would be nice to see them if you have any. :P
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

Post by timv »

Thanks for the information regarding filming, Gary. It's great that you can remember all that detail, and this helps to narrow down the locations. The car park near Ferny Crofts is flat, and at the moment it does not have any trees on the edge (or stumps of former trees) to match the scene in the film - though it is very overgrown around the edges and bushes now obscure the views. Pig Bush car park is the most'up and down' to match Gary's description, but has no current trees at the edge nearest the moor either - though this may have changed in 40 years. The car park by the station and the start of the DPF drive is flat, but is at the bottom of a sloping drive from DPF - would the scene seem seem sloping if the children and camera crew had just driven down the road from DPF to park by the side of the road where it still slopes a bit, before they got to the actual (flatter) car park?

Using a still of the closing scene of Five Go to Mystery Moor, 5 minutes 42 seconds into Part 4 on YouTube, I think (as far as I can tell from the fuzzy picture) there's a higher chance of the scene being at the car park at the start of the road from the station to Decoy Pond farm than at FC or PB. The distant line of trees behind the children's heads looks to me like the line of Pig Bush woods seen looking S from this point, and it is an unbroken line from left to right - if we were at Pig Bush carpark looking NW to Beaulieu Road Station we would have one clump of tall pine trees for the wood by the car park to the left, then open ground in the centre, then a lower range of trees around DPF entrance to the right (which is in a dip not level with the station/ DPS drive entrance wood). There is a faint blur of what I think is the dip on the B3056 between Beaulieu Rd station and Partridge Bush in the distance on the right in the film, and by the right-hand boy (Julian?)'s head there are two blurs which look to me like the clump of trees at Partridge Bush and the one by the dip (where No.6 took his most recent photo). The two blurs are quite close together but not in line - I have checked that they look like this from the top (N) end of the car park nearest DPF. They are exactly in line at a point about 50 yards up the road to DPF from the car park - so we are somewhere down the road nearer the station. This is putting a lot of weight on faint blurs in the film still, but it is the best I can make of it for the moment!

The one thing that bothers me about this scenario is the angle of the road in the left hand corner of the picture, which seems to be not level enough from right to left. I will need to check this location again (and hope this does not alter my opinion of where the shot was taken), and ditto the Ferny Crofts car park. From memory, I think a view W across the moor from FC car park to the edge of the moor and the line of trees (seen in the distance in the film) would look different to what it does in this film. But I can't be certain of this yet, not least as the view is now obscured by bushes.
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

Post by number 6 »

Thanks, timv. I think you've nearly cracked it! :D Since I visited the area in July/August, I've always been in favour of the Beaulieu road inclosure CP (Denny lodge CP) as being the most likely place of the start position for the end title sequence. All seems to more or less fit. Gary told me that there were no buildings in the vicinity of the CP when filming took place, so I assumed that it couldn't have been the CP I've already stated. I looked at the small pine copse location (see photo), but I was never convinced, although something keeps drawing me back to the spot! Then I turned to FC, but this was only in hope, as I didn't actually get as far as that CP on my last visit. Now, after thinking over Gary's last post for a while, I've now gone back to my original gut feeling that it's filmed near the Beaulieu rd inclosure CP! The location is somewhere in the triangle between DPF, Pig bush & Beaulieu rd CP. I'm sure of that. :D
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

Post by Gary Russell »

I'm finding all this CP talk very confusing - the CP was *behind* us, no filming took place in/on the car park. It's where we parked the cars and vans. In the closing titles shot, our backs are to the camera. The camera's "back" is towards the car park, although iot was not immediately behind the camera, but I can't recall whether right or left.

It's very simple.

Imagine a road (and I think it was the B-something or other). One one side of that road lots of NF gorse and stuff with a slightly bumpy NF car park. In the middle of that road, pointed away from the CP side, is a film camera. That film camera is looking at the backs of four stupid kids and dog standing on the grassy verge opposite. Less than an foot beyond that verge is a slight dip, probably a lengthy ditch. Beyond that is flat NF gorsey moorland. And off we walked. When I say there were no buildings nearby, I mean in the direction we walked in on "our" side of the road. Were there buildings on the CP side of the road? Not that I recall, but I can't 100% state that fact. Was it close to DPF, yes I *believe* it was in the *general vicinity* because I'm pretty sure we used the same CP as a base at some point filming a normal episode and Mystery Moor seems to be ringing bells in my head - most likely for the gallopping horse scenes.

One day Tim and Adi we should just sit down and watch all 26 eps together and see how much we can piece together. But i suspect there'll be some things we might make educated guesses at but never have a definitive answer for. I fear the wetched closing sequence is one of those. Unless by some miracle I can track down the relevant paperwork in some tv vault somewhere. And after many years' of trying, that seems increasingly (and frustratingly) unlikely
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

Post by number 6 »

Apologises for the confusion & frustration caused, Gary. I've always taken on board everything you ever told me & tried to act accordingly to the info provided. I knew the car park was behind you & that no filming was done there. I was just simply trying to establish the whereabouts of the car park where the cars & vans were parked. If that was located, then all the moorland scenes looking away from the CP, & the verge, road, etc, that you've mentioned, would hopefully all fall into place as a result. A good detective always starts at the scene of the crime, as they say!
:|
Last edited by number 6 on 08 Sep 2017, 14:39, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

Post by number 6 »

Thought I'd include this pic. The lady on the left (purple top) is Jane, the owner of Decoy Pond farm. Her memories of the filming of Mystery Moor are incredible! She gave me great insight into the episode & where scenes were filmed, ie galloping scenes & the ones at Partridge bush, etc.
I've yet to e-mail Jane, to thank her for her time, patience, understanding & for the encouragement she gave me.
She's certainly a very nice lady, for sure! :D

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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

Post by number 6 »

Just found these photo's on an old disc! This is a view from Castle Hill, near Burley Street, Showing background scenery from the Hike episode. I can't remember even taking it! :D

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(PS: To the person on this thread who sent me a PM requesting my new e-mail address. Sorry, but unfortunately I deleted the PM by mistake a few weeks ago & I can't remember who sent it me! Many apologises. Please PM me again! )
Last edited by number 6 on 20 Sep 2017, 18:23, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

Post by number 6 »

Found these on another old disk. Three pics showing Burley village, which doubled as Castaway in the Smugglers Top episode. A different question for Gary. What kind of reaction did you all get from the locals/tourists during the filming in the village? I've often wandered this! :D

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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

Post by Gary Russell »

TBH I don't have any recollection of that being an issue at all - the ADs manged the public so well, that I don't recall really being aware of them most of the time. Other than Burley, Leape Beach and Hurst, I don't think that was really ever an issue. A majority of the places we filmed were so secluded/private that bar the odd car, the public were mostly unaware we were ever filming in their midst. I guarantee I will remember something next week to prove myself completely wrong though...
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

Post by Jack400 »

Thanks for your reply, to number 6's post, Gary. What is an "ADs"?- probably a silly question... :oops:
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

Post by Gary Russell »

Sorry - no, not a silly question at all.

Assistant Directors.

In those days you had a 1st AD who basically ran the set on behalf of the director. The 2nd AD was usually in charge of props. The 3rd AD would be in charge of actors and extras and, with their team of runners, things like crowd control, stopping cars etc. That's not how it works today but how it was designated back in 77/78
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

Post by number 6 »

Cheers, Gary! Always interesting snippets from you. :D Just another quick question...I can remember an interview in the 'Look-in' magazine from the 70's, which stated that you & Michele used to listen to music together whilst not filming. I know she was heavily into David Bowie, but what other kind of music did she/yourself like to listen to?
I can recall how surprised & delighted I was when I read in the same interview, that you were also a fellow Stranglers fan! I was young, about 12 at the time, & thought I was the only one around (Billy no mates) who liked the band! :D
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

Post by Gary Russell »

Hard question to answer as someone today with over 7000 CDs and vinyl albums, I have a lot of favourites. But at the time of filming S2, my nightly falling-asleep-listening-to-music-while-burning-joss-sticks ranged between Bowie, ELO, Pistols, Blondie, Stranglers, Talking Heads, X-Ray Spex and John Peel (although we were supposed to be asleep long before Peel begun, that *never* happened). I don't know that Jennifer or Marcus were that heavily into music. Michelle was listening to Bob Dylan a lot, and it was her who got me into Roxy/Bryan Ferry. But oddly enough whilst music was megaimportant to me by 1978, I don't recall ever sitting down and discussing it greatly with the others. I wouldn't miss TOTP every Thursday night, whereas they other guys rarely watched it with me.
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

Post by number 6 »

Blimey! That's an incredible collection! How do you choose what to listen to? I'd have to shut my eyes & randomly pick out a CD. Otherwise I'd be there all day! :shock:
I think the Look-in interview mentioned that Jenny liked Pink Floyd & Barclay James Harvest at the time, but nothing was ever mentioned of Marcus's likes/dislikes in music! Maybe he was too busy toning his torso up for the next days filming, rather than waste time listening to music!! :lol: (Sorry Marcus..only joking!) :D

Been watching the weekly TOTP's from 1983 on BBC4 (?) until it ended a few weeks ago. Now the 1984 ones are on. It's been quite interesting really. It's brought back some great memories. It's surprising how many songs I knew, but couldn't name the artist! Some I couldn't remember at all. :|
Last edited by number 6 on 14 Sep 2017, 23:37, edited 1 time in total.
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