THE GRAND JUNCTION CASE

GB
1961
30mins
Dir: Peter Duffell
Starring: Russell Napier and Christine Lander

Scotland Yard are called in when the dismembered body of a woman is fished out of the Grand Junction Canal

This short crime film was part of the Scotland Yard series, a series of 39 episodes produced by Anglo-Amalgamated between 1953 and 1961. They are short films, largely half-hour in length, that were originally made to support the main feature in a cinema double-bill. Each film focused on a true crime case, with only the names changed, and featured an introduction by the crime writer Edgar Lustgarten. The Grand Junction Case was No.36 in the series. These films should not be confused with the BBC television series of the same name broadcast in 1960 which are unrelated. The Grand Junction Case features a rather interesting scene with naval frogmen entering the canal from a railway yard. No rolling stock is present but the buffer stops run right up to the waters edge. This was filmed at the old GWR Creosoting Works at Hayes.

Four buffer stops can be seen behind the frogmen in this shot filmed on the banks of the Grand Junction Canal. The wall-to-wall stacks of wooden sleepers belong to the GWR Creosoting Works at Hayes, the only place in the vicinity where a number of sidings ran up to the waters edge. The works closed in 1965, but this particular part already appears to be seeing little use.