hillen120

Disappearing London

On Tuesday morning I had the TV on Sky 3 (6am) and saw a programme with Suggs (from Madness) as the presenter – he went around London showing various sites that are either being restored or will soon disappear

What I gather it’s a 6 part series

I have recorded Tuesday (Part 4) Wednesday (Part 5) and will do tomorrow (Part 6)

Has anyone recorded parts 1-3? or even seen them?

I would be interested to know what was shown in these parts

Thanks

Steve Crook

I saw them all when they were shown on ITV, but I can't remember the details of which ones he did in which episodes.
Each episode did have a theme like parks, cafes, markets etc

If they've been repeated once they'll probably be repeated again :

Steve

hillen120

Thanks for that - I didnt realise that it had been on before - so will keep my eyes open

Jack Gurney

Sounds fascinating. Suggs, aka Graham McPherson, the James Mason of 2006? I see no reason why not.

I'm fascinated with architecture and history- and every time I return to London (about every three weeks or so) or my hometown of Birmingham (less often) more of it seems to have been pulled down in the name of 'progress' (which is often confused with 'modernity' in the same way as 'Tibet' is with 'China', if you get my drift.

Thank God these programmes are being made now, otherwise there would be practically nothing left to remind us that anything ever existed.

Steve Crook

London is continually changing. Not every change is for the better, but many are.
I am always amazed at how often you do get a row of buildings of all sorts of ages, some very old, some very new, many in between, and they all seem to fit together very well.

There's a good site at London Footprints that includes a lot of information about walks around London to see this sort of thing.

Steve

hillen120

Thanks for the info on the footprints site Steve

The Disapearing London episode from today will be re shown again on SKY 3 at around 2.30 tomorrow morning and episode 6 (final one in series) will be shown at 6am tomorrow

Steve Crook

HISTORY DOCUMENTARY: Disappearing London
On: Sky Three
Date: Thursday 30th November 2006
Time: 02:55 to 03:20

Suggs takes a dip at the Tooting Bec Lido, one of London's only remaining outdoor public pools, then discovers what goes on in the few surviving cabbie shelters.
(Part 5 of 6, Widescreen, Subtitles)


HISTORY DOCUMENTARY: Disappearing London
On: Sky Three
Date: Thursday 30th November 2006
Time: 06:00 to 06:30

Madness frontman Suggs visits a dilapidated Streatham Ice Rink, then tours the gardens of Witanhurst House in Highgate. Is it too late to save them from destruction?
(Widescreen, Part 6 of 6, Subtitles)

HISTORY DOCUMENTARY: Disappearing London
On: Sky Three
Date: Friday 1st December 2006
Time: 02:55 to 03:20

Madness frontman Suggs visits a dilapidated Streatham Ice Rink, then tours the gardens of Witanhurst House in Highgate. Is it too late to save them from destruction?
(Widescreen, Part 6 of 6, Subtitles)


Enjoy

Steve

dicky2006

Streatham Ice Rink was used in the Edgar Wallace film Ricochet that was directed by John Moxey and you can recognise the bar area from the brochure shown in the documentary. The stars were Maxine Audley, Dudley Foster and Richard Leech.

Steve Crook

I used to be a regular at Streatham ice rink in my teenaged years (a long time ago). Even an accident where I got someone's ice skate blade between my 2nd & 3rd fingers didn't seem to put me off

Steve

mysteriesofedgarwallace

Thanks for that; I'd often wondered the location of it. I've always assumed it to be in south London somewhere; MPP never travelled too far.

Moor Larkin

The first time I ever went to London was in 1976. I found my way to the Docklands, which was all then derelict. I wandered around, taking a fair few pictures with my Kodak Brownie. There was a huge derelict church at Silvertown that looked just like a prop from a movie...... In fact the whole area was like one huge movie back-lot......deserted........

I was trying to fit it into my world-view from my schooldays in Liverpool, looking at pictures of the Thames in text-books, heaving with ships........

Later in my time 'darn sarf', I made my way to Battersea Park to see the funfair that, for some reason stuck in my mind, as had the Power Station. The chimneys were still there but apparently the funfair had been gone for about twenty years.......

Did I feel naive?.......

[code]http://www.flickr.com/photos/29487363@N02/sets/72157606700675506/code]

Steve Crook

The pictures in your school books of the docks heaving with ships was probably taken between the wars. The London docks started to decline shortly after the war. By the early 1960s there weren't many working docks there. And they moved the people out shortly afterwards into the 1960s tower blocks. That's probably why the Silvertown church was deserted.

Had you gone to Battersea Park on your first visit, you would have still missed the funfair. It was there from 1951 (Festival of Britain) to 1974.

You don't have to feel naive. Us Londoners are used to welcoming visitors from outlying villages, like Liverpool
Sometimes we even let you take some of your money back home :

Steve

aphra

I saw the final episode today - the one that included Pre-fabs - and would love to have the whole series. Did anybody record eps 1 to 5? I have a vast library of trades.
Thankyou, Aphra

Soundman

Disappearing London-2nd series starts in early Jan 2006.
1st series Won three Royal Television Society Awards,



Winner of 3 Categories:

“Independent Productions”

“Spirit of London”

“Presenter of the Year “ (Suggs)

keep an eye on Disappearing London.

Thanks for your interest, we enjoyed making it!

hillen120

Oh no, after all the talk about this beofre I missed the first episode in the re run on ITV - Tuesday at 7.30pm

Can anyone help me with a copy of this episode - PLEASE

I did record episodes 4, 5 and 6 last time and would like to have episodes 1, 2 and 3 ( I will remember next week to set the DVD recorder for ep 2)

Please PM me

Thanks