Bayswater Road was a filming location for the Doctor Who season 2 story The Chase [+]Loading...["The Chase (TV story)"].
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
By late April 1965, it had been decided that the serial's final episode "The Planet of Decision" would include two brief live-action film sequences and a photo-montage sequence which showed Ian and Barbara back on Earth after parting ways with the Doctor. As a late addition to the script, filming for this section of the episode was not handled by the director of the rest of the The Chase, Richard Martin,[1] but by Douglas Camfield, director the following serial The Time Meddler [+]Loading...["The Time Meddler (TV story)"][1][2] as part of pre-filming for that story.[2]
On 28 April, Camfield's assistant Cordelia Crawshaw sent a memo to Pauline Mansfield-Clark requesting that she book William Russell and Jacqueline Hill for a photocall on 6 May to take the stills for the montage. Around the same time, Crawshaw confirmed to Joan Jefferies of the Photographic Department a request made by Camfield for her to do the rostrum camera work for this sequence.[1]
After completing rehearsals for the serial's second episode "The Death of Time" earlier that day,[3] Hill and Russell met with Camfield and the session's photographer at BBC Television Centre at 2pm on 6 May.[1][3] According to the itinerary prepared in advance, the Bayswater Road area, specifically the Queensway station end of Hyde Park, was their fourth and final stop of the day. They arrived there by taxi having already taken pictures at the Albert Embankment, Trafalgar Square and Regent Street. Planned stills to be taken at this location included a phone box sequence, a Round Pond sequence and a leaping sequence in addition to pictures of boats, ducks, the 'Health and Strength' statue, the Serpentine, fishing, rowing, and Ian and Barbara running for a bus. Expenses incurred during the session included a £0-5-0 tip to a stallholder, £0-2-6 for fruit, £0-2-0 for peanuts, £0-3-0 for hot dogs,[1][3] a £1-0-0 tip to the hired driver, and £0-10-0 for two Serpentine boat tickets.
However, it is unlikely that this itinerary was followed exactly.[1] Indeed, the shot of Ian and Barbara had in fact already been secured on Regent Street.[3] Additionally, not all of the planned shots featured in the montage included in the recorded episode.[1] Pictures on Bayswater Road included in the twenty-three second sequence as broadcast depicted Ian and Barbara finding a real police box, as opposed to the Doctor's TARDIS.[3] Some shots were also taken of Ian and Barbara in the adjacent Kensington Gardens, through the Black Lion Gate located on Bayswater Road.[2][3]