The Book Tower

As a child in the late 1970s I used to pass the derelict shell of Merton Park Film Studios in South West London on my way home from school. On particularly daring occasions, a few of us would climb over the wall and boldy trespass, charging round the huge empty building that was once the birthplace of detective dramas and low budget science fiction films…

The local area always seemed perfect for the low budget imagination. Wimbledon Common was ripe for alien invasion (and there was a film called Invasion made in 1966 starring Edward Judd). There also appeared to be countless sleepy little train stations ready for a secret rendezvous; Merton Park station itself often featured in the Edgar Wallace B-movies. Locations for chases either on foot or by car were rich pickings. Vast metal footbridges soared over twin railway lines for running about on, police cars would race up and down Kingston Road with sirens rattling away. I don’t live in South West London any more, but whenever I see these old films I love spotting the Merton Park locations.

Merton Park Studios closed business in 1967, beaten into submission by its rival: television. But television’s been kind to Merton Park over the years, repeating Edgar Wallace Presents and the other Edgar’s (Lustgarten) The Scales of Justice in late night slots. Actors including Michael Caine, John Thaw and Stanley Baker owe their early film appearances to Merton Park.

I suppose you can really find film locations wherever you look. I now live in Bristol in the West of England and interestingly, for me at least, Bristol has often been used as a double for London in films. For example, the Richard Burton film The Medusa Touch, although claiming to be set in London, was really filmed in Bristol in 1978 – the Cathedral at College Green doubling up for Westminster Abbey. I drive past College Green in Bristol every day and always think of Richard Burton causing havoc in The Medusa Touch.

Bristol also provides locations for the TV series Casualty, and has in the past for Shoestring and The Young Ones. I found out about The Young Ones connection when I was doing some work for a local website, and since then I’ve discovered that it’s become something of local folklore. Some friends often argue with themselves over whether a particular episode (featuring the Young Ones leaving a pub in a scene lasting about two seconds) was filmed outside The Cock O’ the North or not. That’s the pub opposite Waitrose, by the way.

According to the Internet Movie Database, Bristol also provided the location for Darling, Only Fools and Horses and Robin of Sherwood. And let’s not forget the seminal doom and gloom 70s children’s series The Changes. So it was with some interest that I approached the new drama series on E4, Skins, when I read that it was set in and around Bristol.

All I can say is oh dear, oh dear. Apart from some very unimaginative location work, Skins was franky awful and the only highlight for me was spotting Harry Enfield as an angry dad (a character I depressingly identified with). Are teenagers really that irritating?

So I returned to my memories, desperately trying to locate clips from Edgar Wallace Presents on YouTube. Alas, all I could find was the other Edgar (Lustgarten) introducing The Scales of Justice but without any sound. I’ve resorted to this exciting trailer for The Medusa Touch, with additional French subtitles. Have I gone crazy? Come on, it’s Friday night.

Yes, that’s a brief glimpse of a Bristol street. And something not quite right at Bristol College Green. Sorry – I mean Westminster Abbey.