ITV drama “Platform Seven” - location?

[SteveyDee68]

ITV recently did a short series called “Platform Seven” - genre wise it’s a mixture of murder/mystery/ghost story.

 

My question is, it is based around Platform Seven of “Central Station” - and there’s been a Class 50 (with passenger stock) and what looked like a class 56 with engineering wagons. In another shot, a pacer unit passed through!

 

So, my guess this was filmed on a heritage line! But can anyone tell me which?

 

Steve S

[Steamport Southport]

Quick look at IMDB suggests Keighley.

 

 

Jason

[SteveyDee68]

Wow! Never thought to look there!

 

Stangely enough, I did think “Keighley” myself based upon nothing other than having visited it when I was about 8 years old!! 
 

Steve S

[Steamport Southport]

Not much details though.

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21266652/locations/?ref_=tt_dt_loc

 

Photo here is definitely the K&WVR platform.

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21266652/mediaviewer/rm1550076673/?ref_=tt_md_2

 

 

Jason

[CWJ]

The KWVR does very well for film and TV work, including some using visiting locos and stock. 

 

https://kwvr.co.uk/tv-film/

 

I do enjoy seeing what these creative showbiz types can do with a familiar location. The recent remake of Swallows and Amazons superimposed footage of the Worth Valley's 4F over the GNR's nearby, but long-closed, Queensbury branch. The loco crew were later heard to boast that they were the first to take a train over Hewenden Viaduct since 1963.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

[SteveyDee68]

And the mystery is solved!

 

It was odd seeing a Class 50 pulling passenger stock on what purported to be a ‘contemporary’ setting - even more so to see a couple of Pacer units!

 

Just watched the second episode and spotted a Class 58 on an engineering train (same wagons as in the previous episode but with a different loco!), so it appears K&WVR have access to more “modern” locos and stock - if by “modern” we mean “recently retired”!

 

Thanks to everyone who has settled my mind on this.

 

Steve S

[The Johnster]

The programme's website says that the 'railside' shots were done on the K&WVR platforms at Keighley, and the roadside shots outside the station building at Kidderminster on the SVR.  I don't know where the stock came from but assume the K&WV were involved.

 

Most railway filming is done on heritage lines because the production company can have complete occupation and control of the movements.  Anyone with experience dealing with or involved in one of these productions will know that the circus comes to town, big time, and the idea of all that in the environment of the 'big railway', already stretched and not resilient against disruptions ordered by silly self-centred entitled little meeja gods too far up their own to see anyone else's pov while they oversee their 'artisic, darling' masterpiece, would clearly be quite impractical and seriously unsafe!  The catering is usually pretty good, though...

 

The original story and the tv adaptation capitalise as a plot device on the point that railway stations are, for the bulk of the general populace that is their readership/audience, largely transited without much awareness of their actual environment; they don't care about the architecture or the history, they are dissassociated.  The unreal place names in the pa announcements and the equally non-existant made-up TOCs, that sound vaguely as if they could be real, increase the dissassociation and the unease that accompanies it.  You don't have to look far to find real stations that are a bit spooky, or imagine the ghosts.  A lot of larger stations (and this one is assumed to have at least seven platforms) have areas where, especially at night, lighting and sightlines enable one to discern areas where it is a bit less well-lit, and less certain, where the veils wear thin; I always used to reckon that, if one looked hard enough late at night towards the higher platforms numbers at Paddinton, for example, one might pick out Broad Gauge vans being unloaded into Royal Mail horse-drawn vehicles and a 'Rover' simmering at the buffers...

 

I enjoyed the series, which I binged, but compromises had to be made in regard to railway realism, and that fact that I don't believe in ghosts (but recognise that that's an easy pov to hold sitting in front of a screen in a warm, lit, home environent with The Squeeze next to me on the sofa, but is a bit different when you're out on your own in the dark on a windy night with the light playing tricks...).  The premise of the story is that ghosts do exist, and one is the central character, and you have to go along with this.

Edited January 30 by The Johnster

[SteveyDee68]

41 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

The catering is usually pretty good, though...

Having “acted” on an episode of “Houdini & Doyle” (yes, that Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle) I can testify that catering is first class and plentiful…

 

Breakfast (cooked!) ✅

Elevenses ✅

Lunch ✅

Tea ✅

Dinner ✅

 

Filming over-ran and I had to leave (in order to catch the last train home!) but even as I was leaving they were breaking for “Supper” and encouraging me to partake!

 

I was booked as a “conductor” of the theatre orchestra but due to miscommunication ended up as a “rich gent” in the audience. It was a very interesting and eye opening experience into how filming TV programmes goes.

 

And so @The Johnster’s point about the “creatives” having complete control over the environment makes sense.

 

I realised pretty quickly from the rolling stock that it must be a heritage railway - actually finding it quite fun to try to identify the (many) different locos: so far, I think I’ve seen Class 20, 50, 56 and 58 locos plus a couple of pacer units.

 

I will have to watch again* and keep a closer ear on the station announcements - I hadn’t noticed they weren’t real places.
 

Steve S

 

* Nothing better to do - on enforced “rest”

[Steamport Southport]

I did a bit of extra work years ago in the 1990s. Got nabbed in the street when they were looking for people who could pass as being from the 1970s!

 

I was part of a baying mob in In The Name Of The Father. The court room scenes were filmed in St George's Hall, Liverpool. Blink and you miss me! Even I struggle to make me out.

 

 

Got signed up by the casting company who said they were casting for a TV drama that will involve filming abroad and probably a speaking role as part of a large cast as they wanted youngish blokes with Northern and Irish accents. Unfortunately I couldn't make it. The programme was Sharpe..... 

 

 

 

Jason

[rovex]

As said above trackside is Keighley on the KWVR. The station forecourt was filmed at Kidderminster on the SVR.

[The Johnster]

My advice to anyone who becomes involved with TV or filming work is to take a good book or ensure that your phone is well-loaded with games, downloaded to the phone if you are not certain of wi-fi availability, and to take as much advantage of the catering as you can including doggybags to take home; you'll be getting the same food as the talent and it'll be top notch nosh; the companys that specialise in production catering are good at this.  You will be required to be instantly available at the beck & call of the gods at all times and kept hanging around, sometimes outside, for extended and unpredictable periods, told by some runner with a clipboard and a headset thay you'll be needed in a few minutes, and forgotten for another few hours; it isn't glamorous, it's mind-numbingly tedious and irritating.  Comfortable shoes are a good idea. 

 

Work to the principle that your involvement will be either cut MP or edited down to meaninglessness, so don't tell all your friends to look out for you when the thing is released. 

Edited January 31 by The Johnster