Made in Bristol - Filming locations around Bristol

Although, there's websites dedicated to filming locations, here's four productions which are of personal interest to me from around Bristol and Dorset in England. 

1. Diagnosis Murder (1975) 
2. The Diary of Anne Frank (1987)
3. The House of Elliot (1992)
4. CBTV (1983)

1. Diagnosis Murder (1975)

About 30 years ago I was watching a film on television and recognised the location as being near to where I lived at that time. There were only a few short clips but for some reason it stuck in my mind. Although I'd forgotten the name of the film over the years, it became my mission to track it down. The only clue I had was that Christopher Lee was in the film.

After checking all the films featuring Christopher Lee I came up trumps! It was 'Diagnosis Murder' made in 1974 and released in 1975. I managed to get hold of a copy of the film and watched it to see if there were other locations I recognised. Seems it was produced by HTV which was a West Country television company at that time. That explains use of locations around the Bristol area.

I've created a number of 'then and now' photographs:

No sign of the red telephone box now. Perhaps another victim of the 1980's telephone box purge.

The Crosshands hotel is situated just to the left of this photograph. The Queen once had an unscheduled overnight stop there on 13 December 1981 during a rare severe snow blizzard.

The Police station in the film is the Bristol Transport depot on Bath Road (also known as Brislington Transport Depot). It was built in 1899 by the Bristol Tram Company and now used for Council vehicles.

Avon & Somerset Constabulary had just been formed at the time of filming and it's possible they shared the facilities at the depot. Alternatively, the film production company paid Avon & Somerset Constabulary for loan of their vehicles? I'm not sure how likely that was, but there are several authentic looking Police cars seen in the film. These days there are companies who can supply authentic looking Police vehicles for film and TV use.

Anyone from Bristol will recognise the former Habitat store situated on Queens Road. Habitat had been there since around 1980. It even had it's own small cafe on the upper floor for a while. I once saw the actor Trevor Eve enjoying a coffee there between filming the television series called "Shoestring".

Not much change in these photographs. Even the pedestrian crossing looks the same.

2. The Diary of Anne Frank (1987)

The Diary of Anne Frank was a BBC television series from 1987. Some of the outdoor scenes were filmed at the Welsh Back in Bristol. Here are some photographs taken while I was watching the filming back in October 1986.

Welsh Back filming in October 1986

 and how it looks today......

I can't recall, but assume the old Bristowe building shown in 1986 was demolished to make way for the new hotel shown in this second photograph above.

Actors preparing for their scene

It's impressive to see the work done by the film crew to transform the front of the Brigstowe building into Amsterdam.

and now.............

Here's a clipping from the local newspaper who reported on the filming (sorry about the creases!).

3. The House of Elliot (1992)

This was one of ITV's most popular period dramas of the time. Outdoor scenes were filmed on Berkeley Square, Bristol. I took some snaps while the extras took a break. I believe they were filming Episode 12 of the second series. This was long before I had my first digital camera so I relied on a 'low-end' auto focus film camera. These were awful compared to the digital cameras of today. You needed a high-end compact camera or SLR film camera to get anything decent. These days everyone's a photographer!

TV Times 1992 - The House of Elliot

and how it looks today..............

Actors taking a break from filming in 1992

The same doorway today

Notice the parking meter in the foreground!

The same property today but the door has changed from green to blue and no more parking meters

I think the above shot is the same place as the 1992 photo with the old car. That would mean the owner of the property with the blue door has removed the door lamp? Unless of course the door lamp was a film prop?

4. CBTV children's TV show 1983

I've added this next one at the end because I'm still researching more information about it. This was taken on a Dorset beach during filming of a short sketch for children's television. I recall that it was something about them finding a bomb on the beach. I've not been able to identify the names of the two male presenters seen in the photograph. If anyone does know then please post a comment on this blog!

After a bit of research I managed to track down the location as Man O'War Cove on the Dorset coast. There's a set of steps leading down to this beach with an old WW2 pillbox near the top. 

1980's TV presenters - Jim Sweeney and Steven Steen

Two people are just visible descending down the steps towards the top left of this photo

Filming a sketch for children's television CBTV in 1983

December 2018 Update
After many months scouring the internet on and off, I finally managed to track down these two presenters! They are Jim Sweeney and Steven Steen. They were hosts on the British Children's television programme CBTV produced by Thames Television 1982-1985. I'll post another update if I manage to identify which episode they were filming in my photographs from 1983.

January 2024 Update

This episode of CBTV featuring the 'bomb disposal' sketch was aired on television 19 April 1983.

Man O War Cove, Dorset, England

Here's a couple of photos from Google which show the same location in 2017. You can see there's been a considerable amount of erosion in that time.

Man O War beach, Dorset 2017

I've also produced a short introductory video about these locations on Youtube: