Monday, 18 August 2014

TEARS FOR THE DOCTOR: SOUTHERNDOWN



You might want to get the tissues out for this one.  Imagine you are standing on a beautiful beach with the man you love.  You have just declared your feelings for him, and he in turn begins to reciprocate, but just as he is saying your name he disappears from view, being just a hologram.  This was the heartbreaking end to probably the best ever pairing of a Dr Who and assistant, played by David Tennant and Billie Piper respectively.  The production team evidently thought highly of the beach in question as a filming location: it was used in several other episodes including Journey's End, which saw Rose being joined by her successor Donna (Catherine Tate). 

File:Southerndown beach.jpg
Southerndown beach. Photo by Chris Cardew, via Wikimedia Commons.

In the series, the beach was Bad Wolf Bay in Norway, but in real life it is Southerndown Beach in Ogmore Vale near Bridgend, Vale of Glamorgan in South Wales.  The beach forms part of Dunraven Bay, backed by cliffs formed from sedimentary rocks and popular with surfers.  The bay was designated a piece of Heritage Coast in 1972.  At low tide there is an extensive expanse of sand and pools.  The headland to the south of Southerndown Beach is the site of Dunraven Castle, built in 1803 on the site of earlier constructions, and demolished in 1963.  Nearby Ogmore-by-Sea is a seaside village at the estuary of the River Ogmore.  There are some large caves by the mouth of the river, which is probably where the village got its name, 'og' being the Welsh for 'cave'.  Just off this stretch of coast is the treacherous Tusker Rock, which has been responsible for a number of shipwrecks over the years, not helped by the fact that this reef is completely covered at high tide.   

Map of the area.