THE HOSTAGES

GB
1975
58mins
Dir: David Eady
Starring: Robin Askwith and Jayne Collins

Escaped convicts break into a remote farmhouse and take three children hostage when their parents are in the nearby town

This Children’s Film Foundation adventure has a scene that was filmed at Taplow station on the Great Western main line. The station’s former covered footbridge features prominently, and a couple of express services pass, but only the coaching stock is visible.

The blurred oil lamp on the rear of the last carriage can clearly be made out as the passing express opens the scene at Taplow
The train has now passed, giving us an excellent glimpse of the now demolished building on the down main platform
Robin Askwith is being questioned by a policeman in the ‘downside’ car park at Taplow. Of particular note is the little wooden hut in the background and the period poster on the footbridge advertising Golden Rail tickets.
Robin Askwith legging it across the footbridge at Taplow. This magnificent structure was sadly demolished in 2018, but its memory lives on via this website!
There is no escape for Robin Askwith as he finds a copper coming the other way. The footbridge is also seen in Circus (2000).
Our final view of Taplow shows the rear of a passing express as seen from the footbridge