LONDON’S TUBE STATIONS USED AS SETS IN FILMS
“ABOUT TIME”
Maida Vale Tube Station – 2013
Maida Vale tube station features in a montage of scenes in the 2013 Richard Curtis film About Time, where the two main characters enter and leave the different platforms via the escalators.
“FAST AND FURIOUS 6”
Aldwych Tube Station and the Nothern Line – 2013
The movie was set in London and includes a scene shot on the Underground. The subway is actually the abandoned Aldwych Station on The Strand. Closed in 1994, Aldwych is the standard go-to station for filming without disruption on the underground. The film is shot in different London (and British) areas. You can also see the frontage of Cannon Place, 78 Cannon Street (along Dowgate Hill), the shiny new block which squats above the rail terminus.
THOR – THE DARK WORLD
Charing Cross – 2012
The film features a quick scene in which Thor finds himself teleported into Charing Cross station.
SKYFALL
Temple and Charing Cross – 2012
Skyfall is the 23rd James Bond film. Featuring Daniel Graig and whose release coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Bond series. Filming began on 7 November 2011 in and around London and some scenes were shot in London Underground stations: an action sequence in which a villain is pursued into the tube network was filmed at Temple and Charing Cross tube stations and on a substantial set recreated at Pinewood Studios.
ATONEMENT
Aldwych Underground Station (2007)
Filmed in England and partly in London (Streatham Hill, London), the filming of the 1940 Balham station disaster took place in the former Piccadilly line station of Aldwych, which was closed in the 1990s.
V FOR VENDETTA
Aldwych Underground Station (2007)
V for Vendetta was partly filmed in London. The scenes that took place in the abandoned London Underground were filmed at the disused Aldwych tube station. To film the final scene at Westminster, the area from Trafalgar Square and Whitehall up to Parliament and Big Ben had to be closed for three nights from midnight until 5 am. This was the first time the security-sensitive area (home to 10 Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence) had ever been closed to accommodate filming.
CREEP
Charing Cross (Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern Lines), Aldwych Tube Station (2004)
“Creep” is a classic London Underground horror film where a woman is locked in the London Tube overnight and finds herself being stalked by a hideously deformed killer living in the sewers below…
LOVE ACTUALLY
Canary Wharf Tube Station (2003)
This romantic British comedy includes some scenes filmed on Canary Warf Tube Station’s escalator.
28 DAYS LATER
Canary Wharf Tube Station (2002)
Two of the characters use a sweetshop in the Underground station at Canary Wharf as a hideout in the early part of the film. The movie includes quite impressive scenes of a totally deserted London.
BILLIE ELLIOT
Jubilee Line (2000)
Most of the film takes place during the 1984–1985 UK miners’ strike, however its epilogue takes place in the modern day, a fact presaged by the appearance of the Jubilee Line extension at its start.
TUBE TALES
London Underground Network (1999)
Tube Tales is a collection of nine short films based on the true-life experiences of London Underground passengers as submitted to Time Out magazine. The stories were scripted and filmed independently of each other. Filming took place on the London Underground network in 1999.
THE FOURTH PROTOCOL
Aldwych Underground Station and Jubilee Line (1987)
Russian agents attempt to detonate a nuclear bomb close to an American base in the UK, and it’s up to Preston to save the day. The Fourth Protocol includes two scenes set on the London Underground. The first features a double-agent being pursued along the Piccadilly Line, despite the scene actually having been filmed on the Jubilee Line. But the second and more striking of the two scenes happens later in the film. This time, the action was shot at Aldwych, with gruff English agent Preston effortlessly dispatching two racist thugs who have been abusing a passenger on the train.
SLIDING DOORS
Embankment, Circle Line (1998)
Starring a sensational Gwyneth Paltrow and John Hannah, the film, which includes scenes filmed on the Circle Line, reflects on the causality of life and alternates between two parallel universes, based on the two paths the central character’s life could take depending on whether or not she catches a tube train, thereby causing different outcomes in her life.
HIDDEN CITY
Goodge Street DLS (1987)
Hidden City serves as a reminder of the history that is tucked away in the real parts of the underground that are no longer used for transport.
SUPERMAN 4 – THE QUEST FOR PEACE
Aldwych Underground Station (1987)
The filming took place in the UK, with various locations haphazardly dressed up to resemble New York City. Most amusing, perhaps, was a sequence that was supposed to take place on the “Metro City Transit” subway, in which Superman stops a runaway train after the driver suffers a heart attack. However, the scene was actually filmed at Aldwych Tube station, and the American posters plastered all over the background are nowhere near enough to mask the distinctive look of the London Underground.
AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON
Tottenham Court Road (1982)
Tottenham Court Road Underground station is among the many London landmarks where the titular werewolf attacks his victims.
DEATH LINE
Russel Square (1973)
Released in America under the more sensationally titled Raw Meat, the film is a London underground horror classic and it’s one of the first films to explicitly depict cannibalism. The last member of a cannibal family visiting Russel Square and Holborn Stations to pick off passengers for food, finally kidnaps and kills an important politician. He’s then hunted by a detective and an American college student and his English girlfriend, who were the last to see the victim in the tube station…
OTLEY
Notting Hill Gate Tube Station (1968)
Directed by Dick Clement, the film features a stand-off between Tom Courtenay and Leonard Rossiter on the deserted Central line platform at Notting Hill Gate tube station. The footage above shows a charming portrayal of Chelsea in the 60s.
DALEKS INVASION EARTH 2150 A.D.
Wood Lane (Disused) – (1966)
This was the second and, to date, last feature film based on Doctor Who. Dr. Who, his niece Susan (Roberta Tovey) and a flustered London bobby (Bernard Cribbins) are whisked into the future via the Doc’s TARDIS police box. In 2150, London is under siege from the extra-terrestrial Daleks, with whom Dr. Who has crossed swords in the past. The Daleks intend to convert the earth into a huge spaceship by activating the planet’s metallic core.
UNDER NIGHT STREETS
(1958)
A documentary which takes a look at the 1950s London Underground and the work that goes on during the night.
PASSPORT TO PLIMCO
District Line Tunnel/Train (1949)
Passport to Pimlico is one of the most charming comedies of the late 1940s. As a result of wartime bombing, an ancient parchment is uncovered, proving that the Pimlico section of London belongs to Burgundy, France. Long taken for granted by other Londoners, the tiny Pimlico populace decides to take advantage of its “foreign” status.
METROLAND
(1910)
A 1910 film showing a voyage along the Metropolitan Railway from Baker Street, London to Amersham showing the fields that would soon house suburbia…
Feature image copyright: Annie Mole
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