Scandalous

After the credits the film opens with a rooftop view of Queens, New York including the 'Twin Towers' in the background.

A second shot…..”target, porno film makers”. The Twin Towers remain visible.

Frank Swedlin (Robert Hays) undercover CBC reporter introduces his mission. Unidentified location. Supposedly New York, road furniture would suggest London. Indeed it is given Steve finding the location of the following capture. Southwark Street, SE1 looking north. The tunnel section of Redcross Way is just out of view to the left. The advertisements have now been replaced with a metal coloured light feature. The camera location is likely to be the same as that for the following capture.

He and his team rush off to one of the worst ‘smut factories’. With thanks to Steve Randall who found Southwark Street, SE1 looking at No 34 that thankfully has survived the years.

After the raid Frank sums up the result whilst holding one of the ‘actors’ in the potentially $1m earning film ‘Menagerie a trois’. Unknown location but it looks like a British ‘Give Way’ sign there. Given the two previous locations we are now in the uncovered section of Redcross Way looking across Southwark Street towards the covered section. The white column to the left is that of No 32.

Despite not wanting to go to London his boss and father-in-law Simon Reynolds (M. Emmet Walsh) has the upper hand. Pan Am Airlines World Port, JFK International, Queens, New York City.

His flight lands in London witnessed by showing what was at the time BOAC Terminal at 157-197 Buckingham Palace Road, SW1, now the home of the National Audit Office. Also seen in 'Murder Anonymous'.

There were no drivers in either cab and no one there when I returned later. Very happy for this to be replaced if someone has better fortune.

We go inside the terminal building to see his fellow passenger Fiona Maxwell Sayle (Pamela Stephenson) enter the concourse where he tries to engage her with the story he witnessed during the flight of her taking photographs of drawings made available to her by Uncle Willie (John Gielgud). A notice tells that photography inside requires the prior permission of the National Audit Office.

They make their way to her awaiting car……. The main entrance to the Terminal building. 157-197 Buckingham Palace Road, SW1.

The smokers had all had their 'puff'.

……..and drive off. Terminal building, Buckingham Palace Road looking south.

Someone decided that traffic islands were no longer necessary.

After breakfast together when she agrees to meet with him that evening, she hastily….. Waterloo Place looking north with The Athenaeum Club to the left.

More pedestrianisation.

……..crosses to get into a waiting car, this one containing Uncle Willie where we learn that Frank has been set up. Waterloo Place looking north with the statue of Edward Vlll on horseback far left.

Parked ambulance and 'Boris bikes' reveal the changing face of London from 1984.

Uncle Willie removes his Oriental disguise. “Home Leslie (Preston Lockwood) and don’t spare the horses”. Carlton House Terrace, SW1, No 10 to the right.

I had to accept the ice cream van as a substitute for the Roller.

Meanwhile, Frank makes his way home. Cheyne Walk, London SW3.

Nature has certainly made itself at home here too.

We see him enter 9 Cheyne Walk. Also seen in ‘Goodbye Gemini’.

Now SJ.

That was as high as I could get.

Fiona and Frank meet for dinner while she supposedly awaits instructions. 'The Pheasantry', 152 Kings Road at the time of filming but now a branch of PizzaExpress. The building is Grade ll listed. Also seen in 'The Man Who Had Power Over Women' and 'The Party's Over'.

The Grade ll listing helps to retain its attraction.

They make their way to a noisy club where they dance while Uncle Willie takes photo’s of them together. Great Windmill Street from Shaftesbury Ave. towards the junction with Ham Yard and Archer Street, W1

In daylight without effects. PW

Afterwards they walk and talk beside the Thames until they reach her ‘home’. The Queen’s Walk with the Houses of Parliament in the background.

A much busier river these days.

She uses the key to enter No 23 Kynance Mews, SW7. Kynance Mews is also seen in ‘The Big Sleep’, ‘Twinky, Star!, ‘Who Dares Wins’ among many others.

No 23 SJ

The many additional pots govern where one can stand these days.

Where Uncle Willie spies on them and taking photographs, whilst Lindsay Manning (Nancy Wood), Matt (Kevin Elyot) and Hal (Duncan Preston) are in a van outside spying on Fiona. Kynance Mews.

Now SJ

Clearly 'green fingers' reside here.

At home Uncle Willie develops his photographs. Polesden Lacey, Great Bookham near Dorking, Surrey

Jamie Sturgeon peeked between the same trees for this view of the house.

Frank is asked to ‘meet up’, and whilst expecting blackmail, the negatives are given to him. Aboard the SL ‘Belle’ that regrettably is no longer. Further information and history can be read at www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/register/272/belle

Various shore side properties are passed but this capture perhaps provides a better scene for the location passage. Unidentified.

Fiona watches the negatives float pass her, is that the Maidenhead Railway Bridge in the background?

Frank refuses to run the story on his being conned and walks his way home. South Bank with Houses of Parliament in the background.

The Millennium Wheel is now obscuring the view of Millbank Tower at this angle. SJ

He glances at the door of 23 Kynance Mews as he strolls by.

Once again the greenery is center stage.

The TV is on at Uncle Willie’s and both he and Fiona see that his report on them proposing to con him has been switched and gone live. Polesden Lacey.

This is the back of the house viewed from the entrance to the rose garden. SD

When Frank gets home he finds the place trashed and his wife dead. He later attends a reception in the house given by his employer Simon Reynolds and his wife Pamela (Toby Robins) where she tells Frank that she wants him to find the killer and have him killed. 9 Cheyne Walk, SW3

Pity the van wasn't a car, but it is the luck of the draw when ReelStreets are out on the road.

Going through his wife’s scattered papers he finds many parking tickets for offences in Portobello Road, W11. This is a prop sign appearing in Capture 30 above the premises of 'Parkin Gallery', Motcomb Street on the corner with Kinnerton Street, SW1.

It was both interesting and annoying that I couldn't get the windows to line up correctly from ground level.

Frank goes out to find out more about those parking tickets. Motcomb Street and Kinnerton Street, SW1 found by Adrian Grepnold. Nowhere near Portobello Road.

Captured by SJ

There was just one vehicle parked in the whole street during my visit and you can guess where it might have been.

To find out more about what his wife had been doing he showed a photograph of her to an assistant in one of the shops to see if she knew her. She knows her as Mrs Cochran….……she lives at the flat opposite, No 87 Motcomb Street looking north east towards Wilton Crescent.

Now SJ

A change in foreground from the potatoes.

Fiona turns up unannounced to say she is moving in and Insp. Crisp (Jim Dale) arrives inviting Frank to dinner. 9 Cheyne Walk.

Once again it was as high as I could get.

To be collected for dinner by police car. Cheyne Walk looking towards Cheyne House.

A Porsche stood in for the police car.

A young lad with his radio controlled boat finds what turns out to be Franks gun in the water. Antony Blair identifies the Round Pond in Gunnersbury Park W3.

A summer view of the same location by Antony, taken 42 years later.

With the press assembled outside his house he escapes over the garden wall. Unidentified alley, there would appear to be none between houses in Cheyne Walk.

Arriving at his office, the press are there too. Ewart Studios (later Capital Studios) at 13 Wandsworth Plain, London SW18 (SR)

Scandalous indeed. A Skyscraper is now going up, the studios having been demolished in 2023. (SR)

It is suggested that Frank ‘lies low’ for a time so he is given an airline ticket. Rear of 13 Wandsworth Plain.

As he puts his belongings into his car Insp. Crisp turns up. Rear of 13 Wandsworth Plain.

And ‘invites’ him to the police station. This would have been at the rear of Wandsworth Plain for we are looking at properties on Armory Way, SW18 On the extreme right is/was ‘The Crane’ public house that closed in 2021

Frank and Fiona in some measure of disguise have a ploy to sell Frank’s wife’s jewellery whilst Uncle Willie pretends to be a parking warden. New Bond Street looking north at the junction with Bruton Street, W1 outside ‘Hermes’. The junction also appears in 'Clegg' and 'Just My Luck'.

A taxi rank now dictates where one can stand.

Meanwhile the neighbour at No 8’s dog, ‘Huston’, makes a dash to find a monogramed shirt ‘F.S’ in the bushes opposite. Cheyne Walk.

Identified by Simon James as Cheyne Walk, London, SW3. who took this shot four years later,

I was neither able to access the other side of the hedge or gain any further height.

Now with further evidence, Crisp comes to arrest Frank, who with Fiona, is attempting to sell his wife’s jewellery. New Bond Street looking across to Conduit Street. The junction also appears in 'Just My Luck'.

I said that there was now a taxi rank.

When Crip tries to arrest Frank he and Fiona manage to escape before the burglar barriers trap them, only the police. They make off in his Jaguar down Old Bond Street southwards towards Piccadilly. The showroom of ‘Asprey’, now 'Givenchy', to the right with Grafton Street out of sight. An almost identical shot can be seen in 'Absolute Beginners'.

Pedestrianisation now permits a considered shot.

Naturally they make a ‘hasty get away’. Piccadilly Circus looking towards Glasshouse St left and Shaftesbury Ave. right.

It never has been the same since those iconic adverts were replaced.

Through Parliament Square, SW1

The view from the north side. SJ

Then Admiralty Arch towards The Mall and Buckingham Palace. Note: 2026 this building is currently totally shrouded whilst being converted to a luxury hotel, due to open later in the year.

In the countryside they find a road through common land. Holyport Street, Holyport, Maidenhead, Berkshire. (SR)

A quiet day in Holyport. The house in the distance on the RHS can also be seen in 'Death of an Angel'.(SR)

Pass a pub, the George On The Green, Holyport. (SR)

A traditional 16th century inn bordering the village green, which also features in 'Happy is the Bride' and 'One of our Dinosaurs is Missing'. (SR)

Before turning left at the following T junction.

Holyport Street meets Ascot Road on a fine summer's day.(SR)

They find refuge in Simon’s country home. The Old Place, Lock Path, Dorney, Windsor in Berkshire.

Still there, but one would need a ladder or a drone to get the view in the capture. (SR)

In the night Frank realises who ‘did it’, and asks Fiona to arrange a meeting with Uncle Willie. In the morning she telephones him from a call box. ‘The Bell’, The Street, Waltham St Lawrence, Berkshire.

The Bell today. No call box in sight. (SR)

The venue, a ‘Bow Wow Wow’ concert at the ‘Rainbow Theatre’, 232, Seven Sisters Road, Finsbury Park, N4 looking across to Fonthill Road.

This is taken just inside the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God HQ. SJ

Frank meets with Uncle Willie, but a police raid closely follows and he, Matt and Hal manage to escape in time through a rear door. Isledon Road N4 looking towards Coleridge Road junction.

A view to the south-west. SJ

They are closely followed by the police, but too late. Isledon Road N4 looking towards Coleridge Road junction.

Panning left to bring in the houses on Isledon Road. SJ

Crisp is told that the police have Frank trapped in a flat in the Portobello Road. Motcomb Street with Kinnerton Street, SW1 off. Adrian Grepnold. Motcomb Street also appears in 'Hanover Street', 'The Criminal', 'The Main Van Murder' and partly in many other films.

Same corner. SJ

And there is that annoyingly parked car.

Armed police jump from a van. 12 to 14 Motcomb Street.

Now SJ

I did my best despite that car.

The police Inspector (Richard Hope) tells the armed officer to hold off as Frank will give himself up if he can speak to Insp. Crisp. 13 Motcomb Street.

Pity Arabesque isn't still there. Peck & Soren would've been interested in a visit. SJ.

It certainly ruined the line of this shot.

Crisp is on his way. Unidentified location but the branch of Dixons that they are about to pass suggests to me that this could be The Broadway, Wimbledon, SW19.

In the flat, Frank together with his camera team, entrap Crisp and expose the fact that he had set him up for the death of his wife, with whom he was having an affair, in that very flat. Despite eventually being cleared he had as a result lost his job as a reporter on CBC and the future was bleak. However, Uncle Willie was not over……. The Plaza Hotel, 750 5th Avenue and Central Park South, Manhattan, New York