Educating Rita

Frank at the entrance to an unnamed College in an unspecified city in northern England (Liverpool in the play).

Looking towards Grafton Street. Entrance to Trinity College, Dublin on the left. Dame Street is to the right.

Facade of Frank's College in 'northern England.' Trinity is to the right. The Bank of Ireland seen in 'First Great Train Robbery' is across College Green to the left.

The tour buses are constant, making it difficult to get a clear shot.

Rita on the verge of a new life. She hesitates, not out of shyness - or even trepidation at the fact that Dracula author Bram Stoker was educated here... The Front Gateway to Trinity College can be seen in 'Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx'.

...but out of fear of being run down by the tourists. The medieval Book of Kells is a huge attraction. Entrance to Trinity at College Green. The Bank of Ireland is seen through the door.

Rita asks for directions...

...to Frank's chambers.

Steps to Frank's rooms visible between the two stars

Frank's chambers, with the distinctive medallion-framed window to the right of the door. Several sources cite this as the Graduates' Memorial Building.

Rita on her way home discusses 'Howards End' with another student. The Custom House, seen in The Quare Fellow, to the centre.

Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin. Dublin Corporation refused David's request to remove the trees, a nuisance preventing a matching shot! So much for paying taxes on time.

But where there's a will...

...there's a way to accomplish a match! Stitch two together! The Custom House on Custom Quay. Tall building to the left is Liberty Hall. The banners attached to the rails advertise the 'forthcoming' international tall ships event of last July.

On the Street where he lives...

Burlington Road, Dublin.

Home - but not necessarily where the heart is!

Burlington Road. David says it's the only house with that distinctive garage.

Rita's salon. David still working on this one. There was a Dunn's fishmonger (left through the window) in Smithfield at the time, while the lettering for the existing Mannings bakery chain is different to what's seen here.

What can't be seen here is the gun (or equally deadly charm) David has trained on Michael and Gretta of Zoom Hair Studio - same name as in 1983 - forcing them into a re-enactment. (Their sense of fun is apparently matched by talent, as internet testaments from happy customers prove). 1, Manor Street, Dublin 7. Tel: (01) 671 0540.

The accents here may be North England, but David tracked this one down to prove that those heard beyond the window are of...

...Dubliners blithely unaware of the pretenders in their midst. The little shop with the big reputation: Zoom Hair Studio, 1, Manor Street, Dublin 7. Tel: (01) 671 0540.

Running to the college with exciting news for Frank - except she's going the wrong way onto Dame Street! Trinity is behind her at this point (to our left). This is what happens when you're brainwashed into believing you're in Liverpool when in fact you're chasing around Dublin.

The old Burton building that Rita rounds sits on the corner of South Great George's Street (left) and Dame Street (facing ahead). The 'Venue' on the extreme left of picture is the former 'Twenties' restaurant of the film. The courtyard behind the latter is where the two pubs used in the movie are located.

To make matters worse, here she's suddenly on the opposite side of Dame Street, and though she's now heading in the right direction, the side she had been on is closer to the college (unless she means to stop by The Bank of Ireland building to check out the location for The First Great Train Robbery, in which case she's on the right side.

The Dublin Citi Hotel, corner of Dame and Fownes streets. With all the construction going on, this was the only angle available to David. Workers off-camera stubbornly refused to move the barricades. Another example of non-cooperation by City employees! He should have flashed his Reelstreets credentials.

On the street where SHE lives...

Hogan Avenue, Ringsend, Dublin. The vans were cited for interfering with a Reelstreets' Irregular's pursuit of evidence!

Rita heads home following her second College session. Misery Hill, Dublin, a continuation of Hanover Quay. The location can also be seen in 'Term of Trial' and 'The Face of Fu Manchu'.

A massive transformation! Hard to imagine it was the site of a refuge for lepers in the middle ages and, in later centuries, the place where the corpses of those hanged for piracy and other nefarious deeds were hung in chains and displayed, for up to a year, as a warning to others!

Scene was shot from Cardiff Lane, looking east.

A reverse now shot, from Forbes Street looking west towards Cardiff Lane. Bord Gais (Gas Board) Theare on the left, Grand Canal Square Hotel, right. The name plaque for Misery Hill has been consigned to the dustbin of history and, although the street still exists in City records, it no longer appears on any map (that I can find!) The complex is apparently now known as Grand Central Square. No 'misery' in that!

The plaque reads 'Broad Heath Terrace', a ploy to fool us into believing we're in the north of England. (There's a Broad Heath Terrace in Widnes, south east of Liverpool). However, the location can be seen in 'Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx' . . .

. . . and ReelStreeters know better because this is the railway bridge on Macken Street, Dublin. Rita's house on Hogan Avenue is just feet away to the left.

Rita approaches her house with the blue door.

8, Hogan Avenue, Ringsend, Dublin. An endangered species, because half of the houses in this immediate area have been demolished and replaced by huge new business and apartment buildings, conforming with the greater surrounding area. It's only a matter of time.

Rita takes a bus to Frank's house for the party, except the driver apparently got lost. He's on Grafton Street here, heading towards Frank's COLLEGE, mere feet away! David identified the street.

Grafton Street, Dublin. No more Woolworths, sad to say. HMV has taken up residence!

A dejected Rita heads to the pub, located, the filmmakers tell us, 'around the corner' from her house...

...but David's camera exposes their lies! The Dame Tavern, 18, Dame Court (behind the Venue, formerly Twenties). Light years, in real estate terms, from Rita's neighbourhood, it's only yards away from Trinity. This particular pub was used for the exterior shot only.

The 'interior' of Rita's 'pub. This time The Stag's Head, across from the Dame Tavern.

The Stag's Head, Dame Court. The filmmakers chose to use this, instead of the Dame Tavern, for interiors. One possibility is because it's a hangout for Trinity students.

Rita enters The Stag's Head, ostensibly The Dame Tavern, ostensibly Rita's neighbourhood pub. The smoke and mirrors (not the pub!) suggest that Houdini mentored Lewis Gilbert!

Why David is worth the big money. The Stag's Head, Dame Court.

Her sister's wedding!

Church of the Holy Family, Aughrim Street, Dublin.

Another angle. Church of the Holy Family.

Other movies filmed in the area include My Left Foot, Michael Collins and The Boxer.

A determined Rita returns to College

Trinity, of course. A closer look at the steps to Frank's chambers and that medallion-framed window

(The reference number for this new scene group should begin er015, but things got a bit jumbled). Frank drives Rita to her new digs.

Crosthwaite Park West, Dun Laoghaire, Dublin.

Her new digs.

17, Crosthwaite Park West, Dun Laoghaire, Dublin.

Frank drives off. Note the zig-zag railing in foreground.

Crosthwaite Park from No. 17. Red car to right sits behind the zig-zag railing.

Rita's unnamed 'Summer School'. Those trees and bushes have grown to obscure the view from the bicycle path. The solution to these arboreal obstacles is simple: carry a chainsaw at all times. (I wonder about my brother!)

University College, Dublin. Belfield campus.

The 'France' that Frank takes a vacation in...

...looks suspiciously like Ireland. St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, County Kildare.

While other sources cite only Maynooth as the location for Frank's French holiday, David's old-fashioned gumshoe methods scored the information that the restaurant scene was filmed...

...some ten minutes away at Castletown House (1722) in Celbridge, County Kildare. A coup for Reelstreets! (Wait! Somebody check David's car for the sign!)

The ladies chat while Brian contemplates, and Frank reads Rita's letter.

What's this "L'escargot with Irish potatoes"...?

Frank picks Rita up at a 'Liverpool' station in Dublin. The entrance on top of the ramp at Pearse Station (formerly Westland Row Station). Also seen in The Quare Fellow.

The ramp (which at its entrance height would have reached to about the centre bar of the large window on the left, then sloped down to just short of the far corner) is gone, but the station still operates behind this annex to Trinity College.

Looking west along Pearse Street from the top of the now demolished ramp (another example of movies being a priceless resource of images past, and the value of Reelstreets as an easily accessible archive for them). The last building in the block behind Frank is the pub that faces Patrick McGoohan as he exits the ramp in The Quare Fellow.

If David was any good, he would have bought or rented a crane to take a matching shot. First, no chainsaw, now this... That block with the pub at the far corner miraculously unchanged, save for some paint jobs.

Frank approaches Rita's 'Twenties' restaurant. It's changed hands a couple of times since, but Twenties was its real name in 1983. The building on the far corner is the Burton one we see Rita running around in er005. As mentioned, the courtyard behind the restaurant is where the pubs are located.

Just as the frequently cited Maynooth is only part of the France equation, so too is the claim on all other sources I've seen that Dobbins Bistro is the restaurant Rita works in. No mention is made of Twenties, which not only had its exterior utilized for the movie, but its real name kept intact and photographed for the scene. However, images on Dobbins own website show a completely different interior to that seen in the movie, so it's either undergone a complete remodelling, or they've moved shop.

Frank about to enter Twenties and challenge Rita about her attendance at college. Note the entrance to upstairs offices behind the woman in the picture. Unchanged down to the wrought iron sign.

A new name and facade. The 'Venue', 24, Dame Street. David and his children remember it from the time it was 'Twenties'. It pays to have agents on the ground!

Trish attempts suicide

17, Crosthwaite Park, West.

Rita leaves Trish at the hospital.

More trees and fences. I'm beginning to think that Dublin Corporation is behind a conspiracy to thwart Reelstreets! Looking south-east on Grand Canal Street. Entrance to Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital on the right.

Strangely, Rita's local north England hospital...

...was also the Brennan family's Dublin hospital! Sir Patrick Dun's was opened in 1808 and ceased hospital services (according to Wikipedia) in the 1980s. I hope my appendix didn't get lost in the move!

Looking east on Sir John Rogerson's Quay, across from Cardiff Lane.

Big changes!

The students emerge from Cardiff Lane onto Sir John Rogerson's Quay. Gasometers as far as the eye can see, and I had thought there was only one in the area at the time! Movies once again prove their value as a resource and, I'll keep saying it, Reelstreets as an archive.

Amazing. The only gasometer left in the whole docklands area is on the South Lotts Road in Ringsend, and that was converted into what Wikipedia describes as unsold, overpriced apartments.

Rita bumps into Denny and his new wife.

Another gasometer bites the dust. Joy Street, Ringsend, Dublin. This is another location (separate from Rita's old area) not mentioned anywhere else. Solid detective work by David knocked this one out.

A transformed Rita has a strained conversation with her mindless ex.

1A, Penrose Street, Ringsend, Dublin - just off Joy Street.

Rita walks sadly away after seeing Frank off. Dublin Airport. (Now picture pending).

Not a match, but David's contact at Dublin Airport says that while the film's corridor still exists, it has been remodelled for other functions and closed to the public. Picture (for which many thanks) of nearby replacement walkway was taken by that Airport employee and forwarded to David.