UP THE CREEK

GB
1958
1hr 23mins
Dir: Val Guest
Starring: Peter Sellers and David Tomlinson

A well-meaning but accident-prone naval officer is put in charge of a mothballed vessel with a disreputable crew

This comedy was shot largely at the now completely redeveloped Columbia Wharf in Grays, Essex, and in several of the early scenes on the quayside various wagons can be seen, along with a couple of rail-mounted cranes. There is also a short comedy sequence filmed at the entrance to Bricket Wood station in Hertfordshire. The film was immediately followed by Further Up the Creek (qv), which has a little bit more in the way of railways. Thanks to reelstreets for the screen captures.

This is the jetty at Columbia Wharf in Grays. The naval corvette on the right is the star of the show, and is the former HMS Berkeley Castle. She was scrapped at Thos W Ward’s scrapyard in Grays not long after filming, and had already been ‘parted out’.
The sign reads Palace Wharf, but this is Columbia Wharf again, and a couple of railway wagons are visible to the right of the arriving car
Captured nicely between David Tomlinson and Peter Sellers in this shot is a rail-mounted steam crane
Some of the ship’s crew arrive outside Bricket Wood station in a 1955 Ford Consul Covertible Mk1
Another view of Bricket Wood station from slightly further back