Sherlockian Sojourns #64: As Seen on Screen – Back to Bristol

An event as part of Bristol’s ‘Slapstick’ festival took me back to my father’s birthplace. However, to make the trip worthwhile I decided to visit some filming locations from ‘Sherlock’ missed on a previous sojourn (as well as sites from the most recent episodes of ‘Doctor Who’).

Catching a coach from Victoria Coach Station, all was going well until we got onto the M4, where a sign indicated that due to an accident all three lanes were closed ahead. The driver therefore left the motorway, making his way across country to rejoin the motorway just past Slough. Therefore, I arrived at Bristol Bus and Coach Station an hour later than planned.

A fifteen minute walk brought me to Broad Street where two buildings provided interiors in ‘Sherlock’ – the Old Guildhall which provided a St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Morgue Corridor in ‘A Scandal in Belgravia’ and the former site of a branch of the Bank of England which featured as the Bank being robbed in ‘The Sign of Three’.

On the other side of the road was ‘Chez Marcel’, a crêperie (unfortunately due to time constraints, I couldn’t creep in, have a crêpe, then creep out again), which appeared in the final of the three ‘Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials’, ‘The Giggle’, as the exterior of the Toyshop where Stooky Bill is bought and where the Doctor and Donna confront the Toymaker.

 

A short walk up Broad Street was Corn Street where the exterior shots of the Orpheum Theatre in ‘Without a Clue’ were filmed.  (I had visited Hackney Empire which provides the interior the year before). The street also appears in the very Sherlockian ‘Doctor Who’ episode, ‘The Snowmen’.

  

At the end of the street, I reached the junction with Clare Street and St. Stephen’s Street, where the Doctor and Donna first see the Toymaker who dances with the Doctor on the instantly recognisable black and white tiles in ‘The Giggle’. The Doctor is also seen standing by the nearby St. Stephen’s Church.

Moving to my next stop. I passed three sites from ‘The Abominable Bride’ visited on my previous sojourn – Queen Square where the Ricoletti Balcony was located, The Famous Royal Navy Volunteer Public House which appeared as the Criterion Bar, and the courtyard of Bristol Cathedral where the second attack took place.

I also made a detour to a building which features in two classic ‘Only Fools and Horses’ locations – the exterior of the Wine Bar in ‘Yuppy Love’ (where Del later falls through the bar, filmed elsewhere), and the exterior of the 1-2-1 Casino and Club in ‘Fatal Extraction’.

I then reached the statue of my namesake, Archibald Leach, known professionally as Cary Grant.

     

It was then time for my longest walk, and after twenty minutes reached 6 Berkeley Square where filming had taken place for an as yet untransmitted ‘Doctor Who’ episode featuring Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor.

A three minute walk brought me to Bristol Museum and Art Gallery which featured in Jodie Whittaker’s last episode, ‘The Power of the Doctor’, being where Ace investigates a missing painting for UNIT in a London Art Gallery.

Walking to my next stop, I found that the Bristol branch of Forbidden Planet was closed due to a fire above the store, but continued past it to Park Place where Ruby gets off the bus in ‘The Church on Ruby Road’.

 

Continuing up the road, I entered Frederick Place, where Ruby and her family (and the mysterious Mrs Flood live). The TARDIS landed by the junction with Wetherell Place.

Retracing my steps, and passing the Victoria Rooms, which featured as a courthouse in ‘The Sign of Three’, I made my way back to the harbourside area, and Watershed, Bristol’s independent cinema and creative technology centre.

After about half-an-hour’s wait, I was allowed into the cinema for my booked event – ‘Same Time Tomorrow’ – a celebration of the late Barry Cryer, featuring his son (and biographer) Bob Cryer sharing memories and anecdotes. In his latter years, Barry collaborated with Bob on three projects all related to the indomitable 221b housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson – a book ‘Mrs Hudson’s Diaries: A View From the Landing at 221B’ (2014), a Christmas show at Wiltons Music Hall ‘Mrs Hudson’s Christmas Corker’ (2014), and BBC Radio 4’s ‘Mrs Hudson’s Radio Show’ (2018) which comprised two episodes and featured Bob as Inspector Lestrade.

Following the event and a Q&A, I joined a medium length queue to get my book (which was also called ‘Same Time Tomorrow’, Barry’s sort of catchphrase) signed by Bob. The queue moved very slowly, with Bob encouraging attendees to sit down at the signing table with him to have a chat with him about his Dad as he signed. Finally it was my turn, and Bob was ecstatic on seeing my copy of ‘Mrs Hudson’s Diaries’.

“So, you’re the other person who bought it”, said Bob, signing it with the message ‘If the game’s afoot, what are the rules ?’, then my copy of ‘Same Time Tomorrow’.

They chatted about Sherlock Holmes, with Bob revealing that they are attempting to mount a second series of ‘Mrs Hudson’s Radio Show’, given the amazing interplay between Patricia Hodge and Miriam Margolyees in the first series.

I then asked for a photo with Bob, which another attendee kindly took.

Thanking Bob and shaking him by the hand, I made my way back to the Bus and Coach Station, picking up food from a nearby supermarket on the way. I was half-an-hour early for my coach, but it left early, and even arrived in London fifteen minutes early.