Got to London Bridge Underground Station
- Earls Court to Westminster on the District Line
- Westminster to London Bridge on the Jubilee Line. This is only line I have travelled upon that has a barrier at the platform edge with doors that open when a train is present. A good safety feature but only on recently constructed/renovated lines.
The guide was there about 10:45 for an 11:00 start and the tour companies solution to finding the people is unique. He was holding a Sonic Screwdriver in the air over his head so everyone on the tour could find him.
His name was Dewi (Welsh for David) and he answer to either. Like a lot of these guides he is an actor and does this when acting work is scarce.
Also the instructions on where to meet were very good (Much better than the bus company).
He waited for everyone to arrive (A couple missing probably due to underground works going on over the weekend). He also checked that everybody had travel cards as there is a single bus journey in the tour and made sure everybody had a water bottle due to the temperature.
London Bridge station is directly under The Shard which the headquarters of the villians in The Bells of St. Johns.
They are currently reconstructing the station as it is a very busy station (Underground and National Rail).
He took us in tow using the Sonic Screwdriver and started the tour.
Suffolk Cathedral was used for the exteriors of the cathedral in The Lazarus Expirement.
The interiors were filmed in Cardiff.
Not Doctor Who related but a replica of the Golden Hind
The Clink Prison Museum was used as a location during the filming of the 'Talons of Weng Chiang'. He talked about the controversy that surrounded the choice of the actor to play the chinese magician. He was made up to look chinese and several other role went to non-chinese actors who were made up.
The Globe Theatre which was rebuild and has two connections. The first is it's use as set the 'The Shakespeare Code' and also that Sam Wanamaker who started the project is the father of Zoe Wanamaker (Lady Cassandra). Sam Wanamaker fled from the United States during the McCarthy era.
Sam didn't live to see the completion of his work.
Thatched roof's are not permitted in London. The only way that the Globe can have a thatched roof is that a sprinkler system is installed on the thatch and the entire building is sprayed with fire retardent.
This building was also used in the Talons of Weng Chiang. It was saved from demolition because it has a plaque stating that Sir Christopher Wren stayed there while building St. Pauls Cathedral. Apparently this is totally false.
A full length of The Shard from the Jubilee Pedestrian Bridge which spans the Thames.
The view up the St Peters steps to St Paul's Cathedral. These are the steps the cybermen walked down in 'The Invasion'.
This manhole was where a cyberman emerged from the sewers in that same episode. Although the footage of the cyberman emerging and walking down the street was removed as he looked too human.
The Bells of St. Johns where the doctor is drinking a cup of tea. This was chosen because you can see both St Paul's and The Shard from the top of the building. If you want a cup of tea in that Cafe it will cost you about 5000 pounds. It is only open if you book the entire cafe for a private event but apparently the view is superb.
A shop we passed with a number of Doctor Who items in the window. Not enough to get a better photograph.
This building has been used as the entrance to Number 10 Downing Street in a number of films and televisions show including Doctor Who. It is a very simple set dressing to make it look exactly link 10 Downing Street.
The London Eye. I am still trying to decide whether to take a ride on it. I might get a ticket instead for the view from the top of The Shard instead.
The Tower of Big Ben (The bell is Big ben not the tower) which was destroyed in the 'Aliens in London'. Apparently all of the shots were models.
This the Hayward Gallery which was used during the filming of 'Frontier in Space' back in the Jon Pertwee era. There is a local art show on at the moment.
And onto the last few places. All are from Remebrance of the Daleks.
This building was part of the junk yard. It had a balcony and stairs back then.
This was from the scene where the Doctor and Ace are hiding from the Daleks. Apparently the present owner is french and although the Real Estate Agent told here about the Doctor Who connection she didn't understand the significance.
The guide told us that she is very nice and is happy to have people turn up on this tour every Sunday and look at her door.
The next stop was under the railway bridge which was used in filming. The BBC pyrotechnic's people loved this show as it allowed them to show off but they managed to destroy a Dalek when blowing down the gates in one scene.
Although they had informed the police of what they were going to do the bomb squad was called out only to find two squads of Daleks and BBC camera crew instead of the terrorists that they were expecting when informed of the explosions.
We walked back to Waterloo station for the finish of the tour.
Going to Paddington tomorrow to pick up my rail tickets to Cardiff (Booked online) and might do some shopping Paddington.
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