Isle of Wight Farm
Isle of Wight Farm was a filming location for the Doctor Who season 1 story The Reign of Terror [+]Loading...["The Reign of Terror (TV story)"].
It was notable as the site of Doctor Who's first location filming, with filming for the same episode "Guests of Madame Guillotine" also taking place at White Plains later that same day.[1][2] The scenes were shot on 35mm film[1][3] by Peter Hamilton's camera team[4] and contained no dialogue, depicting the Doctor walking through the French countryside on his way to Paris. The only actor featured was walk-on Brian Proudfoot doubling for the absent William Hartnell who was instead occupied with the first day of rehearsals for "A Race Against Death", the fourth episode of The Sensorites [+]Loading...["The Sensorites (TV story)"].[2][3][4]
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
Filming[[edit] | [edit source]]
Preparatory work[[edit] | [edit source]]
It fell to production assistant Timothy Combe to locate a suitable site.[4] On 6 June 1964, he wrote to the Principal of the National Provincial Bank Training Centre in Chalfont St Peter, Mr Stevens, in which he thanked him for the suggestions of potential locations and informed him that one of them, Isle of Wight Farm, would be selected. Combe also invited Stevens to attend the filming on the morning of 15 June, though he proved to be unavailable due to work commitments.
On 8 June, a minibus with a roof rack was hired from Coomer Garage to transport passengers and equipment to the location on 15 June, with 18 June also provisionally booked in the event bad weather scuppered the first planned date. Combe also secured the services of Mrs Laird of South Oxley for the on-site catering on this day.
Brian Proudfoot was sent the schedule for the day of filming on 9 June while production secretary Ann Earl also wrote to Mr Collins of the Facilities Department to tell him of the upcoming filming locations. The following day Earl hired photographer Charles Walls of Focus Ltd to take pictures of the fields and forest locations on 15 June which would later be used as studio caption slides.
On 11 June, a planning meeting was held for the location filming and the filming to take place at Ealing Film Studios. Among those attending were director Henric Hirsch, film cameraman Peter Hamilton, designer Roderick Laing, lighting supervisor Howard King and technical manager Neil Campbell.[2] The next day on 12 June Proudfoot attended the camera rehearsals for "Hidden Danger" to practice imitating William Hartnell's walk in preparation for the location filming.[2][3][4]
Day of filming[[edit] | [edit source]]
The location filming took place as originally planned on 15 June 1964. Brian Proudfoot was required to arrive at BBC Television Centre by 8.30am for make-up and costume dressing before leaving by minibus at 9.15am.[2] Filming at Isle of Wight Farm began at 10am and lasted one hour until 11am. Filming then continued at White Plains from 2.30pm.[1][2]
Later that day, Timothy Combe wrote to Mrs Gordon and her son, who were responsible for giving the production team permission for filming at Isle of Wight Farm, thanking them. Ann Earl also wrote to the Television Accountant to confirm that Brian Proudfoot could now be paid, adding that his presence during rehearsals on 12 June was deserving of an added fee.[2] He eventually received a fee of five guineas for his appearance in the episode while Mrs Gordon was paid ten for the use of Isle of Wight Farm, the production team having spent most of the day at the farm and also using her telephone.[3] Mrs Laird charged £11-10-0 for her work during the location shoot.[2]
Post-filming[[edit] | [edit source]]
Isle of Wight Farm was still owned by the same Gordon family as of 2001[update]. However, much of the area featured in Doctor Who had been destroyed in the years since 1964 by the construction of the M25 motorway.[3]
