09 March 2017

slopes on the screen

Anyone remember the mid-eighties?



Back in the day TVS produced its answer to Charlie's Angels. This slightly
ropy spin-off from LWT's 'The Gentle Touch' focused on three tasty lasses sorting
out underground crime in the South East. Those of you who (I'm astounded to discover)
have read this far are by now asking 'WTF has this got to do with slope soaring?'



All tastes catered for-
Leslie Ash aimed at the 'I'm easy' hand relievers
Jill Gascoine dishing out the dom for submissive bishop bashers
and the posh bird for the more sophisticated five knuckle shufflers


Well, in answer to your question, the entire series was produced and edited at the Maidstone Studios,
so they used local spots when out-and-about filming.

And the tenuous link needed to weave this into the sloping world?...let's see if
any of our favourite soaring sites featured as a setting for the action shall we?
(the blue text will link you to the footage)












whooh! look out!....





quick exit from Volvo man, he's over-run his allotted
sloping time and is rushing home to avoid
a bollocking from the missus!









out for an afternoon pootle round the lanes...




well we're on Common Road, but we've missed
the turning into the car park for Blue Bell Hill..... 



one glance up at the sky to look at the retro gliders
and we're rolling off into the ditch!







11 comments:

  1. I recognised Common Road, is the Holly Hill one taken from Bluebell Hill picnic site or is it lower down

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    Replies
    1. I think it's lower down Pete....maybe somewhere on the Pilgrims Way before you get to Eccles?

      https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.3197543,0.4946673,16z

      The bit where the guy has the crash helmet on is filmed by the sharp bend at Aylesford just near the priory. I've added the youtube links into the description as you get a better feel of the locations when you watch the actual footage.

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  2. Yes your right about the crash Helmet, thats looking towards Eccles. Is that a road running down past the guys head in the holly hill one ?

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    Replies
    1. Could be! I might have to go out for a stroll with the photo to see if I can tally it with the location on site....

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  3. Sad that I am I've found the episode on Youtube. The Holly Hill bit is (I think) taken just near the junction between Court Rd and Church St in Burham. In the next clip you can see the S bend in the distance thats Old Church Road.. There's also the Electricity Pylon and what looks to be the paper mill in the distance (In your clip).. The bit I thought might be a road is actually a footpath that leads down to Old Church Road.
    https://goo.gl/maps/uzs583PwaNz

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes you're right Pete, a bit earlier on in that episode you can see the bike is chasing the Escort along Court Road, you can tell by the sweep and curve of it. Of course it's been widened and tweaked now for the new development and link to the bridge. I wonder if you were contributing to the steam at the mill on the day it was filmed?

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    2. ....and the guy watching them from his car is parked on Church Street!

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    3. ...and (this is where I demonstrate just how deeply sad I am) on your Google Street View link, you can see the stump of the tree that is just a sapling behind the woman in the Holly Hill screen grab.

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  4. I can't see any reason why they stopped this quality programme...perhaps it was the lack of gliders that made it fall out of favour?

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  5. The steam is from Townsend Hook at Snodland I was at Aylesford so not in shot :-(
    Yes you can see the tree stumps..
    How on earth did you find these in the first place (and why !!)

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    Replies
    1. The memory of the series came bubbling up from the depths of my mind a few weeks back, but it was pretty quick to check through the episodes on Youtube. I just ran my cursor along the timeline and watched the little preview screen, only took a minute or so do check each episode.....my wife says I need to get out more!

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