CHRISTIE COMES TO CORNWALL: AND THEN THERE WERE NONE

Aidan Turner fans living in Cornwall must think they have died and gone to heaven.  Not only has the Irish heartthrob made repeated visits to the county for the filming of Poldark – one series in the bag and another to come – but in summer 2015 he turned up on the county’s south coast for the filming of And Then There Were None, a TV adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel of the same name – originally given the rather less PC name Ten Little Niggers - which was aired over Christmas.  Female fans were no doubt particularly thrilled by a scene featuring Turner clad in nothing but a towel. 

The stylish and suspenseful mini-series also included luminaries such as Charles Dance, Miranda Richardson and Sam Neill whose characters form part of a group of people who are lured to an island called Soldier Island under various pretexts.  All of the ‘guests’ have been involved in the deaths of other people during their pasts and escaped justice.  A spooky gramophone recording informs them that they are going to get their comeuppance, and a series of murders ensues until the final scene when only two of the group remain: ex-mercenary Philip Lombard (Aidan Turner) and Vera (Maeve Dermody).  The series was critically acclaimed as a highly atmospheric drama with wonderfully tense scenes, particularly over dinner as the guests all start to suspect each other.

Mullion Island - geograph.org.uk - 371703. Photo by John Garfoot, via Wikimedia Commons.

The island which forms the main focus of the story was inspired by Burgh Island in Devon, but the island used in the TV series was Mullion Island.  In real life the island is a small uninhabited island offshore from Mullion Cove, which is where the scene was filmed in which the ill-fated group of guests are rowed out to the island.  In real life, Mullion Island does not have a mansion such as that depicted in the series: the building used for this was Harefield House in Hillingdon.  In one of the most striking scenes, there is an aerial view of a clifftop with a gaping hole and seagulls circling over it.  This was filmed at the Round Hole at Trevose Head near Constantine Bay on the North Cornwall coast. However, the most dramatic scene of all is the final showdown between Vera and Philip on one of the island’s beaches, with Philip ending up lying in a pool of blood in the shallows having been shot by Vera.  In real life this beach is Kynance Cove, one of the most beautiful spots on the Cornish coast.

Kynance Cove

Mullion Cove and Kynance Cove are very close together, both of them just to the west of Lizard Point, the most southerly place in mainland Britain.  Mullion’s tiny harbour has seen plenty of pirate and smuggling activity in the past.  The harbour was completed in 1895 with its two sturdy walls protecting the harbour from fierce winter gales.  The island is a nesting site for guillemots and kittiwakes, but is not open to the public.  Kynance Cove is a riot of interesting rock formations and golden sand lapped by turquoise sea.  There is a car park above the cove from where a path leads down to the beach, taking in a cafe on the way.  Just offshore is Asparagus Island, so called because wild asparagus used to grow there.  Trevose Head is a short distance from Padstow, and its Round Hole is a natural blowhole, formed from centuries of erosion upwards from caves below.  

Mullion Cove Harbour - geograph.org.uk - 266470. Photo by Tony Atkin, via Wikimedia Commons.

BATMAN: THE NOTTINGHAMSHIRE CONNECTION

The Dark Knight Rises, the final film in the Batman trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan, stars Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne, the billionaire CEO of Wayne Enterprises, whose alter ego spends his time out and about fighting crime dressed in a bat suit, in a bid to avenge the brutal murder of his parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne, when he was a young boy.  The ancestral home of the Wayne family is Wayne Manor, and the exterior of the manor is magnificently depicted in The Dark Knight Rises by the16th century Elizabethan mansion in the suburbs of Nottingham known in real life as Wollaton Hall (the interior scenes were shot at Osterley Park House near London).  In summer 2011 the cast and crew of the film descended on Wollaton Hall along with Bruce Wayne’s Lamborghini Aventador for the exterior shots.  Apparently they left their mark while there: a production truck accidentally backed into an ancient wall and demolished it.   

The Hall was built in the 1580s by Sir Francis Willoughby, and as well as the mansion includes extensive grounds with a deer park and a botanic garden.  The house itself now houses the city’s Natural History Museum, as well as the Industrial Museum, the Yard Gallery and some reconstructed room settings.  Tours of the Hall are available for £5, otherwise admission is free plus parking charges.  Not surprisingly, since the release of the film the Hall has experienced an upturn in visitors, especially foreign tourists.

Wollaton hall from front. Photo by Lee Haywood, via Wikimedia Commons.

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But Wollaton Hall is not the only place in Nottinghamshire associated with Batman.  There is a village in the county called Gotham which indirectly provided the inspiration for the sprawling metropolis in the Batman stories known as Gotham City, which is generally accepted as representing New Jersey in real life.  The story goes that several centuries ago the Gotham villagers acquired a reputation for madness when King John was due to pass through the village.  According to tradition, any road the King travelled on would become a public highway, so the villagers feigned insanity to deter the King. The antics of the villagers were chronicled in various books including The Merie Tales of the Mad Men of Gotham, published in 1565.  The American author Washington Irving got wind of this story and took to referring to Manhattan as Gotham when writing satirical pieces about New Yorkers, and this eventually led to the writer of the Batman stories adopting the name.

Today, all such tomfoolery has been forgotten and the village is a sleepy little spot 2 miles south of the River Trent surrounded by low wooded hills.  However, the village clings proudly to its past and the link to Batman, and in 2013 a sculpture in the form of a weather vane was unveiled representing some of the legends of Gotham which features Batman climbing up the side.  Inevitably, the connection to the Batman stories, comics and films has had side effects, not all of them good.  In 2014 the village sign was stolen, presumably by a dedicated Batman fan.  Last year, however, the village sought to gain some benefit from its fame by urging Batman fans to help save a Royal British Legion building in the village which had fallen on hard times.  Also last year, Gotham Parish Council arranged for Batman and Robin to turn on the village Christmas lights in a bid to raise enough money for vital repairs to the historic Well House, a focal point for the local community. 

Gotham Legends weather vane. Photo by Palmiped, via Wikimedia Commons.

Map of Wollaton.

Map of Gotham.