GB 2005 1hr 38mins Dir: Charley Stadler Starring: Gary Oldman and Cassandra Bell
Traitors, killers and lovers collide in London
This rather strange action comedy features scenes filmed at London Paddington station, with Class 332 EMUs, FGW HST sets and Class 180 ‘Adelante’ DMUs visible. There is a particularly good shot of an arriving Class 332 ‘Heathrow Express’ EMU, a curious thing, seeing that Elena Alaya then boards an HST for her journey to the airport! Despite this, as her train pulls out there is a good view of rear power car No.43004 Borough of Swindon, still in Great Western green and gold colours when all else around was in First Group purple and white.
So, what have we here? This is a shot of the concourse of London Paddington looking out through the glass wall of the lawn from the old sushi bar, which also appeared in Back in Business (2007) (qv). The steps in the foreground form the entrance down to the Bakerloo Line of the Underground whilst in the far background, an HST is in platform 4 and a Class 332 EMU is in platform 6.
In this more conventional view of Paddington from the footbridge, HST sets stand on the right in platforms 1 and 2, a pair of Class 180 ‘Adelante’ DMU’s are in platforms 3 and 4, and a Heathrow Express EMU is in platform 6 on the far left.
A ‘Heathrow Express’ Class 332 arrives into platform 7 at Paddington. The driver has already switched on the tail lights! The author remembers the production company spending a whole afternoon at Paddington station, with a number of takes using Heathrow’s dedicated platforms 6 and 7. However, the majority of this footage never made the film.
In another view from the footbridge at Paddington, a First Great Western HST stands in platform 2
Gary Oldman looks on as an HST departs from Platform 2, taking Elena Alaya to the airport of all places. The power car on the rear is No.43004 Borough of Swindon, still in First Great Western green and gold.
Although designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, much of the decoration and architectural detailing to Paddington station was carried out by his associate Matthew Digby Wyatt. This detailing included the delicately curved ironwork of Moorish-style Arabesque tracery within the vertically glazed gable screens at each end. Here we see the glazing behind the footbridge at the Bristol end of the train shed roof…..
….momentarily turned into hearts by the production company through the use of CGI!!
