TV locations for the Famous Five series

[tghewett]

I have just joined having just managed to get hold of the 1970s Southern TV (Koch Media) collector's edition DVD set. I read some of the books when young and was a child when the series was broadcast and loved the intrigue. Since we lived near the New Forest we spent quite a lot of time there, but it tended to be north of the A31 dual carriageway (which was single carriageway back then, and tended to get terrible jams in the weekends in the summer as did the approach to Lyndhurst from Cadnam - at least 3 mile-long queues) - they seem to have never filmed anything in that northern half, which is a shame, but we did occasionally go to Lepe, Beaulieu and Buckler's Hard as well, so got our feet wet in FF territory to a degree.

It is great to see so many filming locations identified here, and a real boon to be able to pull up so many of them in front of one's own eyes online - that idea would have been pure science fiction back then, as were mobile phones ("somebody's locked us in the lighthouse", "have you got your mobile?", "oh yes here it is, perhaps I should tell someone!"... it'll be interesting to see how the BBC writers handle that one with the new series coming up next year - more opportunities for location hunting no doubt).

I can contribute two newly-identified locations, new as far as I can tell from searching through this thread at least: they are at the start of Five Get Into A Fix (FGIAF, in case anyone is searching threads in this way), where they are in the car en-route to Wales. Dick looks through binoculars to his right at a mountain view, commenting about sheep on the hillside - this is in the Brecon Beacons on the B4560 Beaufort to Llangynidr mountain road, the grid reference being around SO151173, the StreetView link being https://maps.app.goo.gl/66AerXfjNic3TRY28. Dick offers Anne the binoculars then looks out in the other direction. This shot is taken from the unclassified road between Llangattock and the B4560 a short distance away, looking at the Llangattock escarpment, location SO187153, StreetView https://maps.app.goo.gl/GjXSVctBA6gtcw9E6. It has been previously suggested that the latter shot was of the Eglwyseg Mountain near Llangollen, but StreetView definitely confirms it to be the very similar Llangattock Escarpment.

I strongly suspect the cast were not in the vehicle for these shots, the ones mentioned above involving Gary and Jennifer clearly being taken in a place with no hills of note visible, so they would likely have been unable to help in locating them.

It is a joy to see the DVD picture quality being way in excess of anything possible when broadcast and amazing to see the film stock being in such good condition, certainly considerably better than the Jon Pertwee Worzel Gummidge series, also shot on film by Southern TV at much the same time (actually very close to where I lived as a child) but repeated many times more to the film stock's detriment by the look of things. Unmentioned, at least in this thread, is that this series also made regular use of Exbury House, it being where many of the notorious (and incredibly fun to watch) food fights took place. How they managed not to totally destroy the rooms used I don't know.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Welcome to the forums! I also watched the series as a child and have bought the DVD set.

Exbury House has been discussed quite frequently, with some members making several visits to the house and the general area.

[FiveFanDownunder]

Greetings tghewett,

Thanks for a great post. I am 100% convinced you are right with both spots. The layout of buildings in the centre of the first shot, a power pole on the road, a wooded area to the left of the shot ... everything matches. And in the second shot, the landforms are a 100% match ... but that lovely handcut ( I'd say ... no expert ) fence is no more.

If you are particularly good at locating places with few clues from a second or two of footage, then there is a little barn in the 'Hike' episode that has nothing to do with any of the rest of the footage as far as we can tell. I haven't got the photo to hand, but it's been posted about a few times on the forum.

Many thanks indeed for your post, and well spotted.

Tim, with the call sheets for S2 I imagine that there is no mention of gathering footage in these spots; I assume this would be file footage ...?? We don't have a call sheet for Secret Trail to see if the shots of Two Trees ( Bursledon ) were listed on the production paper work ... just wondering.

What a nice surprise to have a new post from a new TV series fan. I agree with you; I have the German dvd and managed to rip the footage as a backup copy, it is fabulous to be able to look at things in lovely detail. We saw Worzel a lot here in Aus, but I have not anything by way of DVD from that series. Great memories.

[tghewett]

FiveFanDownunder,

Thanks for a great post. I am 100% convinced you are right with both spots. The layout of buildings in the centre of the first shot, a power pole on the road, a wooded area to the left of the shot ... everything matches. And in the second shot, the landforms are a 100% match ... but that lovely handcut ( I'd say ... no expert ) fence is no more.

If you are particularly good at locating places with few clues from a second or two of footage, then there is a little barn in the 'Hike' episode that has nothing to do with any of the rest of the footage as far as we can tell. I haven't got the photo to hand, but it's been posted about a few times on the forum.

In fact I have cycled these roads, though not quite as far as where the first shot was taken - coming over the top of Llangattock Mountain from Beaufort I turned off down the Llangattock road where the second shot was taken (a great downhill run, giving around 400m of descent as the B4560 is one of the highest roads in Wales... exhilarating), so this gave me a head start in identifying the locations.

Regarding the barn there isn't much to go on, but some of the screen grabs in this thread cut off the right of the image, this showing what looks like a couple of power line poles and strong hints of other buildings, so it is probably part of a farm rather than out on its own.

[timv]

Great discovery about the mystery Welsh hillside locations; many thanks for this sleuthing. The locations are on Ordnance Survey Landranger map 161, co-ordinates as stated - shot 1 at 151 (vertical numbering of squares) and 173 (horizontal); shot 2 is at 153 (vertical) and 187 (horizontal). The locations are south of Llangnidyr, which is up a valley west of Crickhowell, and further west of Abergavenny ie in northern Gwent (ex Monmouthshire). I have been through Abergavenny many times en route from Cardiff to Hereford and Hay, but never up this side-valley.

The callsheets for series 2 of the 1978 FF series as they survive cover filming from 19 June to 20 July 1978 and from 1 to 18 August 1978. The first section are for: Fix (very little); Fall into Adventure; Wonderful Time; Run Away Together; Together Again (incl the Gatewood House filming), Demons Rocks, Trouble, and Down to the Sea (incl the Park Farm filming of 'Penruthlan farmhouse'). The second section are for: Wonderful Time, Fall Into Adventure, DR, Run Away Together, and Together Again.

Unfortunately, the details which I have for Fix (thanks to Gary for all of these callsheets) are only for one day of shooting, at the 'Shepherds Hut, interior' and the 'Mine/ Tunnels'. Both of these were done on 19 June 1978 and are listed (as locations A and B for that day) at 'Exbury', as per usual for indoor shots. No indication of any other Fix locations in the surviving material , so let's hope some more turns up - but if usual practice was followed the other Fix shooting would probably be at around the same time as the surviving portion, and 19 June 1978 would not be the first day of shooting as the early sheets for these days are not listed as no. 1.

The Dancing Ledge shots for Go Down To The Sea, by the way, were done on 21 June 1978 - though some may have been taken at an earlier date as well, with the data lost, it's more likely that all would be done on one day given the long journey to Purbeck for the crew. I think that some of the shots of the children by the rocks at 'night' looking at the smugglers in the cove as well as the long distance shots of them by their bikes looking down the hill at the cove were actually done at DL, as well as the shots of them on the steps down to DL and the ones of Yan on the rocks.'

[timv]

NB: The first callsheets which we have are for 13 - 16 June 1977, ie the filming of Mystery Moor at Decoy Pond Farm on Yew Tree Heath and some of the shots taken on the Heath. I do not know if we have all the MM callsheets, but we do appear to have those for Smugglers Top as filmed at Burley at the end of June 1977.

Other location notes:

We have the callsheets for filming on 18 and 22-23 May 1978 at Hurst Castle for the Demons Rocks episode; I have looked at these again and I note that the filming vehicles are listed as being instructed to park at the Keyhaven carpark by the ferry, ie opposite the Gun Inn. The catering truck was also to park there, and people were to be ferried to Hurst Castle and to return to Keyhaven for meal breaks. 'Genny no. 2', whatever that means, was 'already at Hurst' - a production term for some of the equipment??

The 'White' and 'Red' lighthouses were to be used, as stated in the callsheets headings; the latter was to be set up as the 'living quarters', ie the DR lighthouse interior. The 'red' lighthouse is the red-coloured light-tower on top of and part of the main , Victorian defensive buildings at Hurst castle used by the military, so the rooms attached to it would be the military garrison living rooms below the tower - larger than the room at the top of the 'white' ie free-standing main lighthouse. As our trip there with Gary checked , the room at the top of the white lighthouse is really small - and there are no living-quarters there , only a bare room.

The callsheets exist for the filming at Mudeford for Demons Rocks episode on 15 May 1978, locating 'Jeremiah Bogle's cottage' as 'Gentle Calm Cottage, Mudeford Quay' and the 'inn' as the Haven House Inn, Mudeford; for the 31 May 1978 filming of Trouble, 'Mr Perton's gates' are identified as 'Pylewell Park gates' near Lymington (ie the NW gates onto the corner of the main road to Sowley and Shotts Lane); for the 1 June 1978 filming of Trouble, the 'ruined shack' where the convict hides his clothes is a 'set built at Exbury'. The Owls Dene kitchen filmed on 6 June 1978 is listed as 'West Cliff Hall Hotel, Hythe'.

For 12 June 1978, the Fix locations list: 'Old Towers interior' as Exbury; 'Jones' kitchen' (ie the farmhouse kitchen) as 'The Bothy' at Exbury (now believed demolished); for 13 June, the 'Countryside, the Five and Uncle Quentin in car' is Hinchelsea Moor near Brockenhurst; 'hillside on farm' (ie Julian and Dick walking through the sheep field on top of a hill) is 'Warborne Farm, Walhampton' but in fact is the field opposite the main gate of Walhampton School on top of Walhampton Hill - did Warborne Farm, half a mile or so to the N, own this?? One notable reference is to 'Jones' farm barn' as Lower Exbury Farm barn, as there is no other record of LEF being used for Fix. Worth checking? 'Jones farm kitchen' is 'The Bothy' again.

One unclear note is how the Together Again early shots of the Five in a train looking out at the scenery en route to Kirrin came to include shots of Arundel Castle in Sussex , though the Five appear to leave the train at Marchwood Station as per usual (unless this is Arundel station??). The shot of Arundel was taken from the train on the stretch of track up from Ford Junction (where the Arundel to Horsham line breaks off from the main S coast line to Worthing and Brighton) to Arundel, about 2-3 miles from A - I have been this way many times and recognise the view. The origin of the Arundel shots are as mystifying as the origin of the Welsh location shots in Fix; presumably a bit of Southern TV stock footage??

[tghewett]

'Genny no. 2', whatever that means, was 'already at Hurst' - a production term for some of the equipment??

"Genny" is a techies' shorthand for a generator, for the lighting presumably. I've never heard one in the background though.

[FiveFanDownunder]

Hi Tim,

Thanks for taking the time to go into such detail. Those call sheets are priceless really. So good that Gary kept them.

Lots of good thoughts there; I am assuming file footage for the shots you mention, but was interested to see if they were recorded at all in the paperwork. Gary frequently noted that the call sheets for Series 2 were complete, but perhaps it is the inter-twined nature of the production in series 2 that makes them harder to pin down. I would love the missing series one sheets to turn up ( who wouldn't ) as they will throw light on some of the less clear spots in Hike and Trail and maybe even note on which day the camera went up to Bursledon to film those creepy shots of "Two Trees". I don't think that was file footage; it would have had to have been captured in a very narrow timeframe between the fire and demolition ...

LEFarm is definitely used in those shots where the boys confront Morgan on the tractor, these are EXT, I can't recall any INT other than the kitchen. Isn't the Bothy the corner property in Exbury village that became the Plough for Kirrin Island? I always thought the kitchen must have been filmed inside.

The Together Again station is definitely Marchwood; Nic Prosser has recalled on Facebook a day where all the series 2 railway scenes were done in one hit with a number of directors and costume changes ... they must have chartered a passenger train as the line was closed to pass traffic by then I am fairly sure ... that being series 2 should have a call sheet somewhere ...

Wonderful info thanks.

FFD

[timv]

For series 1, the callsheets which I have, via Gary, are:
number '0', 'Test': 9 June 1977, Mystery Moor
no. 1, 13 June 1977, MM at Yew Tree Heath/ Decoy Pond Farm
nos. 3 to 5, 15 - 17 June 1977, MM at YTH and Boltons Bench, Lyndhurst
nos. 6 and 7, 20 and 21 June 1977, Smugglers Top at Burley.
no. 8, 22 June 1977, ST at Inchmery Marshes (ie marshes scenes at ST) and at Exbury House (interiors).
nos 9 and 10, 23 and 24 June, ST at Exbury.
no. 11, 27 June, ST at Exbury.
nos 12 to 14, 28 to 30 June , ST at Exbury.

nos. 23 to 25, 13 to 15 July, Adventuring Again.

no. 29, 21 July, Caravan at Gatewood/ Blackwell Heath.

no. 37, 2 August 1977, Camp.
no. 68, 14 September, Billycock Hill.

This gives an idea of what we have and where the gaps are, though not of how many scenes and episodes were covered by the missing days. I will check and see if I have been sent any extra 1977 material that has turned up, by Gary or Adrian, as this may be in different places on my computer; I have been juggling this research with assorted material I am working on for four different publishers plus an on-off internet blog and articles so something might easily get lost!

[FiveFanDownunder]

Hello dear locations friends,

I have been in touch with people at 'Historic England' via their web site in an attempt to identify possible demolished or altered buildings or outbuildings in three of the oft-used spots of the 70s series: Blackwater House, Lower Exbury Farm and Lepe Farm. This was a large part because of the mystery thrown up around Billycock Hill, where the children stroll past that open barn, a barn that has so far kept itself very well hidden! Reminiscent of both Exbury and Lepe Farms, but stubbornly not evident in any imagery past or present that can be found.

Although much of the Historic England's archive is available to view digitally, there are thousands of pictures that aren't, and our out-of-the-way spots in the New Forest may not be high up on the list of things to digitise I imagine. The three locations I asked for were treated as separate enquiries, each with its own turn around time, and I am now the proud owner of several spreadsheets detailing the exact listings of material help for these three spots.

Ordering a physical copy of prints is a bit pricey ( especially if one is to consider exchange rates and postage ) but there is an option to view materials at no charge, assumedly in London somewhere if that is where this organisation is based.

I am happy to offer these sheets to anyone here who might be interested, they didn't cost me anything except for time, and imagery taken at the right time ( during or just after filming in the late 70s/early 80s ) may prove very useful and might just throw up something interesting. That's if you're like me and you find this stuff fascinating.

Can't post files here, but can email anyone via the board if you've an email registered, or send me a private message. If you did end up going for a look at an image and were able to take a sneaky pic with an ipad, I'd love to see of course ...

I sent GPS co-ordinates for each spot, and the search radius was 500m, enough I hope to cover each spot.

***

From Historic England :

Re: Lower Exbury Farm ( 50.787591, -1.403594)

Using the location you provided, I based the centre of the search on grid reference 442137, 98839 and searched a radius of 500m. I have identified the following aerial photographs which cover your area of interest.

Specialist oblique records: 44 Military oblique images: 0 Vertical images: 17

Re: Bucklers Hard ( 50.774032, -1.414493 ) 3/0/17
Re: Lepe Farm (444147, 99266) 5/0/17

Exbury must have had more interest perhaps as a result of its role during the war??

It seems I must have one more in the pipeline according to the last email I got, probably Newlands.

[ness]

I have just had a look at my article, written many years ago, with the intention of replying to people-then saw there were 3000 odd posts, so I can't!! But just to say thank you for all your lovely interest and comments, and if I find any more sights I will add as I go on!! So glad it's enjoyed by so many others like me!!

[FiveFanDownunder]

Look what you started Ness ....

[MarkL]

Feels like I spend days slagging of work just reading this thread. Really cool and interesting. FiveFanDownunder did a great job with the YouTube videos as well, really enjoyed them.

[FiveFanDownunder]

Thanks Mark,

Some of the locations people I met here here kindly allow me to use photos of theirs in the videos, and I try to give credit where it's due, including to this forum.

Unfortunately I am busier than ever and video making is on the back burner.

When I first read through this forum, I was stunned as to all the work that had been done. Unfortunately I missed Tim's early articles in the Journal, but that's life. I think one of our O.G. location spotters had a picnic at Gatewood somewhere only a year or two after the seventies series was made!!

My plan is a New Forest visit in 2027 or 2028, so we will be able to say '50 years ago today ...' when we stand in some of those spots. The I'll have my own photos at last. There are a few friends made via the wonders of the internet whom I hope to meet finally during that trip, including a few locals who might be offering me a tour. The question is: who do we ask to get permission go rafting on Sowley Pond? And who has a horse we can ride at Denny Wood? And will someone give us permission to hop the wall at Lodge Farm etc etc. I think you can see what I have in mind ...

[SteveB]

Hi all, having recently introduced myself in the 'Introduce Yourself' section, I thought it only right that i pop over and say 'Hi' here, seeing that it was this thread that i have found so interesting since finding it a couple of weeks ago. I went through all of that over in the 'Introduce Yourself' section, so will not put you all through it again!

Having just spent a couple of evenings looking through this thread - just to check i was not repeating another post, I was wondering if any of you had looked back through the historic images on Google Earth when it comes to Kirrin Cottage (Blackwater House)? Having found the location myself on Google Earth it became so obvious just how much it had changed since the 70's. So i started to turn the clock back, nearly giving up any hope of finding an image more similar to what we see on the show. But, when i got back to 1999 i found what i was hoping to see, the front of the cottage looking pretty much like it used to be. Not the best of quality, but not bad for the time. But at least Uncle Quentin or the police were able to park their cars right outside the front door!