Operation Diplomat

Mr (Mark) Fenton (Guy Rolfe) leaves the hospital at the end of the day. 8 Dean Ryle Street, London SW1 Once the Westminster Hospital, now an apartment block known as "8 Dean Ryle Street".

8 Dean Ryle Street as an apartment block.

Passing his nursing Sister Rogers (Patricia Dainton) who is just arriving.

Parking is still permitted.

He walks along the Embankment. This location was seen in 'What a Crazy World'.

Comforting to see that it is all very much the same.

He is passed by an ambulance that draws to an halt. In the background the Anglo-Belgian Memorial. Embankment, London.

The crossing has gone and a cycle lane is very much in the making.

A nurse jumps out saying that they had come from the hospital and could he get in and look at the patient. The right hand side of the Anglo-Belgian Memorial to the left and Savoy Hotel background left.

Could that be the same tree?

After performing an emergency operation at an unknown location Mark is drugged and dumped elsewhere and awakes to find himself on a park bench. Now part of Walton-on-Thames Tennis Club with 31 Hersham Road, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey in the background.

Anne Poole send us this shot of the same place today adding that Is not part of the Tennis Club but a little council owned public park. The benches are now absent but the recessed areas that they sat in are still there. In the case of the bench in the still, it’s become another entrance.

At the end of the day he arrives home. Maitland Court, Gloucester Terrace, London W2. Also seen in 'Whispering Smith Hits London', 'Mantrap', 'Song of Paris' and 'Flannelfoot' and, as David Richards spotted, 'The Saint's Return'.

No longer can a taxi drop you there.

After a friend is shot in his flat Mark goes with Sister Rogers to the home of a patient Mrs Terry who has a clue as to where he might have performed the operation. The old offices of J E Purdie & Son, 34 Bridge Street, Walton-on-Thames in the background. Also seen in 'Glad Tidings', 'Madame Louise', 'Morning Call', 'The Naked Truth', 'Trouble with Eve' and 'The Sleeping Tiger'.

A recent shot from Stephen Dean for 'The Sleeping Tiger' adequately covers this now much changed corner.

They arrive at her home only to find that she has been murdered. Bridge Street near Nettleford studios in Walton-on-Thames. Also seen in 'The Sleeping Tiger'. But Mark believes he finds the clue.

The recent shot from Stephen Dean covering an almost identical shot in 'The Sleeping Tiger' reveals the sad change of scene.

With the “information” he drives off in search of the house and arrives in High Street, Cookham, Berks.

Little has changed except the volume of traffic.

And draws up outside Bell & The Dragon to ask for directions. High Street in Cookham, Berkshire.

Not so easy to just "draw up" these days.

He passes a house and crossroads where he has to decide which direction to go. Phil Bailey came across the junction of Winter Hill, Stonehouse Lane and Gibraltar Lane near Cookham.

Phil also provides this modern view adding "As with so many locations, the trees have grown a good deal in the intervening 60+ years; the house is still there but completely obscured."

Without any success he returns home where nurse Lisa Durand (Lisa Daniely) who was present at the operation is waiting for him. Maitland Court, Gloucester Terrace, London W2. Included again because I like to enjoy the properties that were demolished to make way for the building of the hotel.

See what I mean?

The patient has had a relapse and requires immediate attention. Once again Mark is taken at gunpoint by ambulance. Gloucester Terrace, Maitland Court out of shot to the left and Lancaster Terrace at the rear. The same terrace seen in 'Whispering Smith Hits London'.

Part of our purpose is to record change.

The ambulance draws up at the house. Unknown location but probably Warren House, Warren Road, Kingston-Upon-Thames but a personal visit is necessary to establish the exact part.

On the pretext of needing essential medicine he persuades his captors to take him to the hospital the following morning. View from the house. Probably Warren House, Warren Road, Kingston-Upon-Thames, a personal visit is necessary.

The ambulance arrives at the hospital. Dean Ryle Street, London SW1 Page Street off to the right and left.

More modern structures continue to evolve.

Mark informs the police who make arrangements to follow the ambulance to where the diplomat is being held. Page Street with Thorney Street, London SW1, now infilled and the home of MI5. The arch is still visible from the front elevation.

The rear entrance to Thames House, Millbank.

The police close in. Horseferry Road on the corner with Dean Ryle Street. The obelisk with pineapple topping on Lambeth Bridge can be seen just beyond the left hand building.

A more cluttered foreground but the pineapple is just visible.

The rest of the force approach the ambulance. Dean Ryle Street, looking towards St John’s Smith Square. But this turns out not to be the ambulance they were expecting.

A better view of St John's, Smith Square at the end.

Mark advises the police of the aspects of his journey to the hospital he memorized with a view to establishing the journey path. The first, a clock with a “cracked chime”. All Saints Church, Market Place, Kingston upon Thames.

That tree has sure grown.

Having found this location the police set off with Mark. Market Place, Kingston-upon-Thames. The Market Place was also seen in 'Marriage of Convenience', 'The Lost Hours' and 'The Yellow Teddy Bears'.

No such excitement during my visit.

Now pedestrianised. facing High Street, Kingston-upon-Thames.

Largely re-developed.

“Two sets of traffic lights”, the first set. Richmond Road approaching the junction with Lower Kings Road, Kingston-upon-Thames.

John Saunders enlisted the help of his wife for a team effort to capture the same scene almost 70 years on. They regret that they were unable to await a No 65 bus to match but are able to fill in with the non apparent changes. The building ahead on the left just beyond the junction was a doctor's surgery until a few years ago and probably was back in 1953, but is now a children's nursery. The houses beyond had advertising hoardings even back then. The brick gateposts to the right of shot still exist.

The second set. Fairfield West facing Knights Park.

Adam has kindly sent us this shot of the same location showing some quite significant changes to the road usage.

“Queer whirring sound, That’s it!" St. Petersburgh Mews, London W2

Nowhere near Kingston as the director would have us believe. Gentrified in the intervening years.

“A bridge”. Springfield Road, Kingston upon Thames.

That old gnarled tree still remains but the bridge has been closed to traffic.

“A steep hill” Peter Bywaters advises that this is Upper Brighton Road, Surbiton travelling towards Victoria Road.

Peter send us this photograph of the location today in support adding that since the film was made in Mountcombe Close on the right has been built, he believes around 1963. Further, he says, in the distance left of the screen capture, is a bus stop which a motorcyclist is just passing, beyond that on the opposite side of the road are what appear to be two conifer shaped trees, the bus stop position and two trees can still be seen today.

“The drive is on the right” Kingston Hill just before the turning to Warren Road.

All very much the same save for road markings.

They turn off the main road, park at the entrance gateway and “spread out!”. The entrance to Warren House, Warren Road, Kingston-upon-Thames. Not sure if that gate post is still there.

Other pictures would suggest that the entrance drive has been moved but the post cappings have been retained. Taken from the road as the General Managers permission would be required to take shots within.

Mark and Inspector Austin (Ballard Berkeley) approach the house. Warren House, Warren Road, daylight view.

Warren House from the road suggesting that the entrance drive has been moved to the right.

Those turned stone mullions are very identifiable.

There is nobody there and the house has been cleared. The police make off. The front of what is now an hotel.

Not quite the correct angle as extracted from a shot taken from the road.

Leaving Mark to fend for himself and an even better view of the house

Once again, taken from the road and suggesting that the entrance drive has been changed.

Wade (Sydney Tafler) takes Sir Oliver Peters (James Raglan) and nurse Lisa Durand (Lisa Daniely) to a secret location. The building on the left and The Mitre public house on the right confirms this as looking towards Craven Terrace from Brook Mews North, London W2.

This is taken from what is now Brook Mews North looking towards Craven Terrace and Lancaster Mews. On the far right, The Mitre pub, seen in "Scoop" and "Connecting Rooms", remains as does the lower row of buildings on Lancaster Mews, including Sheila's Sandwich Bar, beloved to cabbies. But there have been some dramatic changes including road realignment and a housing block (out of sight to left) which hindered a more accurate angle. SJ

Looking north-east towards the junction of Gloucester Terrace and Bishops Bridge Road in W2 with Caernarvon House on the Hallfield estate to the left and the spire of Holy Trinity church rising above Gloucester Terrace to the right. Identified by PW.

Caernarvon House is hiding behind the tree on the left. (PW)

Harrison (Michael Golden) who was driving the van arrives at where Sir Oliver Peters and his captor Wade as well as Nurse Lisa are being held until Lisa says she “wants out” and escapes to the roof. The rooftop of Windsor Court looking down Moscow Road, London W2 at the intersection with Ilchester Gardens to the right and the Greek Orthodox Church and St Petersburgh Place with St Matthews, Bayswater to the left.

I am afraid that I could not rise above ground level.

Wade manages to shoot at her whilst she runs down the fire escape, a crowd gathers and she is taken away by ambulance. Moscow Road, London W2 looking at Caroline Place.

Since the in-fill dvelopment we are now looking at Poplar Place, but The Kings Head remains.

Mark, with the police, saves the day, Sir Oliver Peters is saved and the ship that was to take him from these shores sails without him. Tower Bridge, from the Pool of London.

Sir Peter would have to depart by River Bus these days.