ON CHESIL BEACH

GB
2017
1hr 50mins
Dir: Dominic Cooke
Starring: Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle

In 1962 England, a young couple find their idyllic romance colliding with issues of sexual freedom and societal pressure

This coming of age drama was adapted from Ian McEwan’s 2007 novella of the same name and features a period scene filmed at Alresford station on the Mid-Hants Railway with a train arriving hauled by ex-LMS ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0 No.45379.

The railway sequence used Alresford station on the Mid-Hants Railway, seen here from a less than familiar angle
Anne-Marie Duff and Adrian Scarborough on the platform at Alresford with ‘Black Five’ No.45379 in the background. The station is masquerading as Henley-on-Thames. Note the mock Western Region station totem on the wall to the left of Adrian Scarborough’s hat.
The locomotive passes close to the couple as it draws its train into the platform
This overall view of Alresford has been artistically filmed through the lattice work of the station footbridge
In a later scene, Saoirse Ronan leaves Alresford station having alighted from a train. Note the Henley on Thames station sign on the wall with its chalked notice advertising the ‘last service to Twyford 18:02’. Although this is an interesting prop this is somewhat erroneous. The film is set in 1962, but 24 hour clock public and working timetables were not introduced by British Rail until 14 June 1965 (apart from Western Region, which introduced the 24 hour clock one year earlier).