Revisiting Remembrance - Part 3

The final part of my visits to the locations of Remembrance of the Daleks are to streets between Waterloo  and Southwark stations.  Easy to find and largely recognisable 25 years on from filming, they set the scenes for the Renegade Dalek base and fighting between the factions in episode 4.

As with many London locations in Doctor Who, the site has been regenerated and warehouses and empty looking buildings have been made habitable.  The warehouse of the Ratcliffe's building firm has been cleaned up and some walls and fences altered, but is still recognisable.

Directly opposite the yard is the small door through which the Doctor and Ace hide from the Daleks.  The lamppost is gone but the 'beware of the dog' label on the door has left a mark.

Turning right out of the yard to face west on Theed Street, a rather anachronistic tower building can be seen in the distance, and is distinctive in the photo today.  Remembrance is littered with such anachronisms...

Escaping Ratcliffe's yard the Doctor and Ace run south down Windmill Street with a Dalek following...

As soon as the Dalek is gone, the Doctor and Ace run down the street which looks very similar today other than the removal of some bollards.

The tunnel at the end of the street in the pictures above are the setting for the Dalek confrontation in episode four.  Renovations to the left are significant, but the corner of the building is recognisable.

While buildings behind the Imperial Daleks are again very similar in appearance today as in the story.

Lastly is the final confrontation on Theed Street between the Black Dalek and the Doctor.  The Black Dalek turns left out of Ratcliffe's yard to look East and see the black van of the Countermeasures group arriving.

The Doctor approaches the Black Dalek from the van.

"I have defeated you. You no longer serve any purpose."

From Southwark, to Hammersmith and Willesden, Remembrance of the Daleks has several heavily used filming locations that are well recognisable today and satisfying to visit.  Maybe one day I'll make it to the Kew Bridge Steam Museum, aka the scrapyard of I M Foreman.

Revisiting Remembrance - Part 2

The second main location featured in Remembrance visited is the school used as the Imperial Dalek landing point, currently the Macbeth Centre in Hammersmith.  The school features a lot on the story but many camera angles are very similar.  The opening short of the story is from outside the school in the road where the detector van is parked.

Just behind this the Tardis lands and the Doctor and Ace walk towards the school.

While the Doctor investigates the school Ace meets Mike in the cafe and they walk back together...

The inside of the school gate isn't seen clearly until later on when Ace and the Doctor arrive to see the soldiers fortifying the entrance.

The main school yard on the far side of the school serves for most of the action.  Sheds on one side can be seen when the Doctor investigates the space shuttle landing marks on the ground.

The main buildings are largely unchanged where the Dalek shuttle lands.

The same building seen again from the side when the Doctor slides down to the shuttle.  As is common, the actual location appears smaller in real life than it appears on screen.

A last location that is worth a mention.  A short distance from Hammersmith on the Circle line is Ladbroke Grove. Here the funeral parlour, where the Doctor left the Hand of Omega prior to the story, is a short walk from the station.

Revisiting Remembrance - part 1

It's almost hard to believe that the 25th anniversary itself is now 25 years old making Remembrance of the Daleks around the halfway point of Doctor Who history.  Watching it again recently, I can see why it's among the more popular McCoy stories, and is genuinely good stuff.  It's one of the Daleks' better outings which cannot really be said of Silver Nemesis as a celebration with the cybermen.  There are several main locations used in the story and as they are relatively local I found myself taking a detour to a couple.  The first being Willesden Lane cemetery, or Paddington Lane cemetery.

The cemetery is used for several scenes throughout the story, where the Doctor buries the Hand of Omega.  At the entrance to the cemetery is where Mike Smith leaves the phone box and is followed in by enemy Dalek agent and Headteacher, played by Michael Sheard.

There are two chapels on site, the first by the entrance is seen as the Headteacher attacks Mike...

But is killed by his Dalek masters.

At the back of the cemetery is the Hand of Omega grave site itself.

Everything in the cemetery seems a little more overgrown compared to the TV story, I'm not sure if it's the passing of time or the time of year, perhaps it all looks more green in the summer.  There's currently a lot of earthworks taking place in the grounds and some graves have been moved.

After Mike has reported back to him, Ratcliffe investigates the cemetery...

And finds the Omega grave, later observed exhuming the Hand by the girl.

Just beyond the Omega grave is the grave from which Ratcliffe takes the metal rod to test the site.  Now this grave is particularly sunken but recognisable.

 The cemetery is seen just once more in the story for Mike's funeral in which the main chapel is featured.  Currently it is has been fenced off with notices warning of falling masonry and stands unused.