Location, Location, Location! (Part Two)

A few weeks earlier, we had also tried to track down the location used for Auderly House in Day of the Daleks. I had read somewhere that it was in Brentford, Middlesex, so we endeavoured to find a suitably large house in the area. We tried Syon House in Syon Park, but realised very quickly on arrival that it wasn’t the correct property at all as it looked more like a castle than a house. We decided that we should continue searching for a house in a park, as the story clearly shows the property to be set in substantial grounds. We then ventured a little further from Brentford and decided to try Gunnersbury Park near Ealing, where according to the A-Z map there appeared to be a large house set in generous grounds. As we approached what we eventually learnt was the Gunnersbury Park Museum, we were both a lot more confident that we had found Auderly House as the landscape of the grounds appeared to be very similar, and the house was indeed large, white, and of the correct period. But alas, when we finally reached the museum, we again realised that we had failed to locate Auderly House, even though as can be seen from the photo, it does bear a striking resemblance to the genuine property. My mistake had been assuming that the location used in Brentford was for Auderly House, whereas it had in fact been for the tower blocks that can be seen towards the end of the story when the Doctor emerges from the manhole (the actual location used for the main house is Dropmore House at Burnham, near Slough).

The last location that we attempted to find was the lay-by used in Logopolis which was supposedly the Barnet Bypass in North London, although the location was never mentioned in the story. The actual location used was on the A40 at Denham in Buckinghamshire, but alas we never found the actual spot. I was looking out for the bridge that goes across the dual carriageway that can be seen in the background when watching the first episode of Logopolis, but could not seem to locate it. Rather annoyingly, I subsequently saw a photograph of the lay-by as it is today, and the bridge can still clearly be seen, so I think we must have been driving down completely the wrong road in the first place!

I also managed to visit one of the overseas filming locations a couple of years ago whilst I was on holiday in Lanzarote. The scenes from Planet of Fire which feature the volcano were filmed at the Timanfaya National Park on the island which I didn’t manage to visit, but I did get to see the Mirador del Rio, which was used for the living quarters. These were the ‘stone-like’ rooms in the scenes with Malkon and Timanov at the beginning of the story, and featured the abstract metal sculptures fixed to the ceiling that I always assumed were light fittings!

Next Episode: Fan-vid productions – The Terror Zone!