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).
 | |
| 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.
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