HIDDEN CITY

GB
1987
1hr 42mins
Dir: Stephen Poliakoff
Starring: Charles Dance and Cassie Stuart

A writer and researcher try to locate some wartime films which may hold the key to a long forgotten mystery

This relatively weak political drama was at least memorable for using some very unusual locations in London. There are some scenes filmed in an old London Underground deep-level shelter that is used for document storage and a number of scenes filmed in the abandoned Kingsway tram tunnel, with particular emphasis on the Holborn stop.

Charles Dance and Cassie Stuart with the former tram tracks leading down to the Kingsway Tram Tunnel behind them. This is the extant northern entrance to the tunnel on Southampton Row, just to the north of Holborn Underground station.
The couple are silhouetted against the entrance in this view looking out of the tunnel and up the ramp. This is now the only surviving entrance as the southern ramp in Lancaster Place, at the opposite end of the tunnel, was converted into a vehicular bypass in 1964.
Good clear evidence of the former Holborn tram stop within the tunnel
In the story, the researchers are directed from the tram tunnel to the ‘shelter on Tottenham Court Road’, which is the Goodge Street Deep Level Shelter built during WW2.
The shelter today is used for document storage. The shelter that appeared in the 2004 horror Creep (qv) is said to have been the similar one at Belsize Park.