Early M11 on 1980's TV

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doebag
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Early M11 on 1980's TV

Post by doebag »

Flicking through the TV this afternoon, found an episode of Tales of the Unexpected with footage of the M11 on it.
IMDb gives the episode release date as March 1980
CBRD gives opening of Cambridge western by-pass as Feb 1980
So I guess it was filmed a couple of months before the last bit of the M11 opened.

Episode on youtube Here

But some of the footage shows three running lanes, which would have been opened well before filming.
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Re: Early M11 on 1980's TV

Post by Truvelo »

It was common for programmes of that era to use unopened roads for filming. The Professionals used a similar looking road for a raid.
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Re: Early M11 on 1980's TV

Post by chris486 »

Truvelo wrote:It was common for programmes of that era to use unopened roads for filming. The Professionals used a similar looking road for a raid.
Would that include some of the M4 by any chance? I have a few films in my collection with temporary termini of what looks like the M4 possibly around Slough - e.g. Villain.

As for the Tale of the Unexpected episode, I watched that by chance a couple of weeks ago - a T reg BMW gets pinched.
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Re: Early M11 on 1980's TV

Post by Big Nick »

I'm fairly sure it was filmed mostly around the Harlow junction, given that the first shot is heading down a slip and between two forests.

They may have had clearance to use only a short section and you do seem to see the same bridge repeatedly. I'd really need the time to sit and study the film to work it out.
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Re: Early M11 on 1980's TV

Post by Burwellian »

It def isn't Cambridge way, the M11 is entirely D2M north of Stansted.
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Re: Early M11 on 1980's TV

Post by Comstock »

Off topic, but I really enjoyed that story. Well worth watching the whole thing.
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Re: Early M11 on 1980's TV

Post by crb11 »

I can identify most of the Cambridge-end scenes. He starts off outside Kings, then walks out of Trinity. The first road scene (with the A10 sign) is the junction of Trumpington Road and Fen Causeway, and the 40 speed limit is within a couple of hundred metres in the same direction (the fence in front of the Leys School). I think I remember this being a 40 limit in the past.

The 30 limit looks like it could be the north side of Great Shelford but haven't looked in detail, and the place he picks up the hitchhiker reminds me of the B1368 around Fowlmere but again it needs further research.

The oddity in the video is where the hitchhiker gets out. Is it a S2 or a D2 - we see cars passing in the other lane in both directions!
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Re: Early M11 on 1980's TV

Post by Big Nick »

I asked an expert on windmills and I have been informed that the ending was filmed just outside Fulbourn, west of Cambridge. The layby is now gone and covered with trees but the treeline where he gathers firewood is still there (marked by a red bin!).

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Ful ... 9907?hl=en
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Re: Early M11 on 1980's TV

Post by nick_dunn »

crb11 wrote: Sat Nov 22, 2014 13:18 I can identify most of the Cambridge-end scenes. He starts off outside Kings, then walks out of Trinity. The first road scene (with the A10 sign) is the junction of Trumpington Road and Fen Causeway, and the 40 speed limit is within a couple of hundred metres in the same direction (the fence in front of the Leys School). I think I remember this being a 40 limit in the past.

The 30 limit looks like it could be the north side of Great Shelford but haven't looked in detail, and the place he picks up the hitchhiker reminds me of the B1368 around Fowlmere but again it needs further research.

The oddity in the video is where the hitchhiker gets out. Is it a S2 or a D2 - we see cars passing in the other lane in both directions!
The episode was repeated last month and I started hunting for the locations before discovering this rather old thread. Very interesting to see how Trumpington Road has changed at the junction of Bateman Street where the 40 sign was.

I believe the 30 sign was at the junction of Wingate Way and High Street, Trumpington. The house seen behind the sign is now completely obscured from the road by trees but its distinctive shape can be seen clearly on a 3D aerial view.

Incidentally, the link at the top of the thread no longer works, but the episode is now here if anyone still wants to view it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTIXirH9Iqs
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Re: Early M11 on 1980's TV

Post by KeithW »

I drove the entire M11/A604 just after it opened, the main difference is the volume of traffic, in 1980 it was rather quiet until you hit Alconbury where it dropped to a single lane to get onto the D2 A1. As I recall it was widened to D3 as far as Stansted some years later. In the early 80s Stansted was rather quiet with a small terminal where you could park almost outside the door. It was good pitstop on my way to Kent. I still miss the Alconbury UFO :)
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Re: Early M11 on 1980's TV

Post by owen b »

KeithW wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 00:59 I drove the entire M11/A604 just after it opened, the main difference is the volume of traffic, in 1980 it was rather quiet until you hit Alconbury where it dropped to a single lane to get onto the D2 A1. As I recall it was widened to D3 as far as Stansted some years later. In the early 80s Stansted was rather quiet with a small terminal where you could park almost outside the door. It was good pitstop on my way to Kent. I still miss the Alconbury UFO :)
The M11 from Stansted south was always D3M to beyond J5 Loughton, except for a short section of D2M where the M25 junction now is where was a lane drop for the then unbuilt off slip to the M25 and a lane gain where the on slip was to be built. I remember as a kid being driven along that section in the late 70s (in a Mk 1 Cavalier Coupe) which was then very quiet.
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Re: Early M11 on 1980's TV

Post by Bryn666 »

owen b wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 07:53
KeithW wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 00:59 I drove the entire M11/A604 just after it opened, the main difference is the volume of traffic, in 1980 it was rather quiet until you hit Alconbury where it dropped to a single lane to get onto the D2 A1. As I recall it was widened to D3 as far as Stansted some years later. In the early 80s Stansted was rather quiet with a small terminal where you could park almost outside the door. It was good pitstop on my way to Kent. I still miss the Alconbury UFO :)
The M11 from Stansted south was always D3M to beyond J5 Loughton, except for a short section of D2M where the M25 junction now is where was a lane drop for the then unbuilt off slip to the M25 and a lane gain where the on slip was to be built. I remember as a kid being driven along that section in the late 70s (in a Mk 1 Cavalier Coupe) which was then very quiet.
That must have been really weird having a lane drop and regain like that, it's a pity we can't extract memories into photographs for these sorts of things.
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Re: Early M11 on 1980's TV

Post by owen b »

Bryn666 wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 10:30
owen b wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 07:53
KeithW wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 00:59 I drove the entire M11/A604 just after it opened, the main difference is the volume of traffic, in 1980 it was rather quiet until you hit Alconbury where it dropped to a single lane to get onto the D2 A1. As I recall it was widened to D3 as far as Stansted some years later. In the early 80s Stansted was rather quiet with a small terminal where you could park almost outside the door. It was good pitstop on my way to Kent. I still miss the Alconbury UFO :)
The M11 from Stansted south was always D3M to beyond J5 Loughton, except for a short section of D2M where the M25 junction now is where was a lane drop for the then unbuilt off slip to the M25 and a lane gain where the on slip was to be built. I remember as a kid being driven along that section in the late 70s (in a Mk 1 Cavalier Coupe) which was then very quiet.
That must have been really weird having a lane drop and regain like that, it's a pity we can't extract memories into photographs for these sorts of things.
It was. I was interested in roads and cars and maps as a child, so a trip on the new M11 in a fancy car was like heaven. That section of the proposed M25 was not shown on most maps at the time I first remember being driven along there, and I remember being puzzled why there was a mysterious short D2M section in what was otherwise D3M. If I recall correctly there were M11 junction numbers from the start, so I suppose maybe I should have twigged there was a missing junction and the lane drop might be to do with it. Similarly I never understood the lane drop further south approaching London, which decades later SABRE has explained to me :) .
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Re: Early M11 on 1980's TV

Post by jackal »

KeithW wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 00:59 I drove the entire M11/A604 just after it opened, the main difference is the volume of traffic, in 1980 it was rather quiet until you hit Alconbury where it dropped to a single lane to get onto the D2 A1.
There's a similar situation on the A428 eastbound at Girton, which will be accentuated when the A421 dual carriageway runs uninterrupted from M1 J13. They did at least have the foresight to future proof the Girton rebuild for the extra lane, though I've heard no mention of whether this will actually be opened with the Black Cat improvement.
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Re: Early M11 on 1980's TV

Post by Bryn666 »

owen b wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:13
Bryn666 wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 10:30
owen b wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 07:53
The M11 from Stansted south was always D3M to beyond J5 Loughton, except for a short section of D2M where the M25 junction now is where was a lane drop for the then unbuilt off slip to the M25 and a lane gain where the on slip was to be built. I remember as a kid being driven along that section in the late 70s (in a Mk 1 Cavalier Coupe) which was then very quiet.
That must have been really weird having a lane drop and regain like that, it's a pity we can't extract memories into photographs for these sorts of things.
It was. I was interested in roads and cars and maps as a child, so a trip on the new M11 in a fancy car was like heaven. That section of the proposed M25 was not shown on most maps at the time I first remember being driven along there, and I remember being puzzled why there was a mysterious short D2M section in what was otherwise D3M. If I recall correctly there were M11 junction numbers from the start, so I suppose maybe I should have twigged there was a missing junction and the lane drop might be to do with it. Similarly I never understood the lane drop further south approaching London, which decades later SABRE has explained to me :) .
Maybe I'm being odd but I'd have thought a temporary 3 lanes through using the hard shoulder would have made more sense, but then equally, during 1976-83 I bet it caused absolutely no bother whatsoever.
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Re: Early M11 on 1980's TV

Post by jackal »

Bryn666 wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:40
owen b wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:13
Bryn666 wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 10:30

That must have been really weird having a lane drop and regain like that, it's a pity we can't extract memories into photographs for these sorts of things.
It was. I was interested in roads and cars and maps as a child, so a trip on the new M11 in a fancy car was like heaven. That section of the proposed M25 was not shown on most maps at the time I first remember being driven along there, and I remember being puzzled why there was a mysterious short D2M section in what was otherwise D3M. If I recall correctly there were M11 junction numbers from the start, so I suppose maybe I should have twigged there was a missing junction and the lane drop might be to do with it. Similarly I never understood the lane drop further south approaching London, which decades later SABRE has explained to me :) .
Maybe I'm being odd but I'd have thought a temporary 3 lanes through using the hard shoulder would have made more sense, but then equally, during 1976-83 I bet it caused absolutely no bother whatsoever.
Nowadays they would just build D3M through the junction for maintenance/traffic management reasons, which is really the best approach.
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Re: Early M11 on 1980's TV

Post by owen b »

Bryn666 wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:40
owen b wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:13
Bryn666 wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 10:30

That must have been really weird having a lane drop and regain like that, it's a pity we can't extract memories into photographs for these sorts of things.
It was. I was interested in roads and cars and maps as a child, so a trip on the new M11 in a fancy car was like heaven. That section of the proposed M25 was not shown on most maps at the time I first remember being driven along there, and I remember being puzzled why there was a mysterious short D2M section in what was otherwise D3M. If I recall correctly there were M11 junction numbers from the start, so I suppose maybe I should have twigged there was a missing junction and the lane drop might be to do with it. Similarly I never understood the lane drop further south approaching London, which decades later SABRE has explained to me :) .
Maybe I'm being odd but I'd have thought a temporary 3 lanes through using the hard shoulder would have made more sense, but then equally, during 1976-83 I bet it caused absolutely no bother whatsoever.
As you say, the road was so quiet it caused no bother any time I went that way, but yes, with hindsight it might have been more logical to have three lanes without the hard shoulder.

This all brings back another recollection. Around 1980, as a family we house hunted in the area and by that time we had heard that there would be a new junction, which was being referred to as the Theydon Bois junction. So we thought Theydon Bois might be a good place to buy a house as there would be local access to the motorway. We didn't realise it would be a motorway to motorway junction with no local access. In the end we moved to Great Dunmow.

Later, during construction of the M25 junction, I remember the roadworks taking traffic around the various partially constructed M25 slips while the M11 mainline was being worked on.
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Re: Early M11 on 1980's TV

Post by Glenn A »

chris486 wrote: Thu Nov 20, 2014 14:49
Truvelo wrote:It was common for programmes of that era to use unopened roads for filming. The Professionals used a similar looking road for a raid.
Would that include some of the M4 by any chance? I have a few films in my collection with temporary termini of what looks like the M4 possibly around Slough - e.g. Villain.

As for the Tale of the Unexpected episode, I watched that by chance a couple of weeks ago - a T reg BMW gets pinched.
Watching The Professionals, they do have some shots were Bodie and Doyle or Cowley overlook a motorway from a bridge in some episodes. My hunch is the M1 if they are looking northwards or the M40 if they are looking westwards. Also most of the out of London location filming was done in the Home Counties.
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Re: Early M11 on 1980's TV

Post by Matthew »

Glenn A wrote: Sun Dec 05, 2021 12:53Watching The Professionals, they do have some shots were Bodie and Doyle or Cowley overlook a motorway from a bridge in some episodes. My hunch is the M1 if they are looking northwards or the M40 if they are looking westwards. Also most of the out of London location filming was done in the Home Counties.
I'd recommend having a gander at Mark 1 website which documents the locations for filming. I had some great fun looking up places which had appeared on Google Maps. As you can expect, some thirty years on, many places look the same, whereas others are completely different.
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Re: Early M11 on 1980's TV

Post by RichardA626 »

Matthew wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 13:33
Glenn A wrote: Sun Dec 05, 2021 12:53Watching The Professionals, they do have some shots were Bodie and Doyle or Cowley overlook a motorway from a bridge in some episodes. My hunch is the M1 if they are looking northwards or the M40 if they are looking westwards. Also most of the out of London location filming was done in the Home Counties.
I'd recommend having a gander at Mark 1 website which documents the locations for filming. I had some great fun looking up places which had appeared on Google Maps. As you can expect, some thirty years on, many places look the same, whereas others are completely different.
The Comic Strip had fun with this, when Bonehead & Foyle visited the Docklands 20 years on & wonders where all the abandoned warehouses had gone!
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