Dallas - Victoria Principal (1985) - Kai Tak Airport

And so the Ewing girls bid farewell to Hong Kong and we bid farewell to Dallas. This scene is a bit weird because it uses what looks like footage from another airport for the plane taxiing (I don't recognise any of the buildings in the background and they look distinctly non-HK like), but then uses Kai Tak proper for the take off. The images below are of the Kai Tak take off part of the footage.

Dallas - Victoria Principal (1985) - The Regent Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

Back to The Regent as Sue Ellen catches up with Pam on the small walkway that runs along the south/harbour side of the hotel. I'm not even sure you can walk here anymore, I think there are barriers at the far end (background of the top image) that stop people from accessing it now. Most likely to stop passers-by gawping at you while you eat your buffet breakfast.

Dallas - Victoria Principal (1985) - Sheraton Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

Just to mix it up a bit on the hotel front, when Sue Ellen calls J.R back in Texas to find out if he has had anything to do with the Hong Kong wildgoose chase, the HK-end of the phone call was recorded in the Sheraton Hotel.

Dallas - Victoria Principal (1985) - Tin Hau Temple, Repulse Bay

The 'temple' building behind the Tin Hau Statue at the eastern end of Repulse Bay beach is actually the Hong Kong Life Guard Club, but it seems that most people still refer to it as the Tin Hau Temple, so I shall continue that convention. This place has been in so many films and shows over the years due to its quirky, mosaic-tiled statues and sculptures. I've still never been so perhaps I shall make a big effort in the new year and try to get as many comparison shots as possible.

Anyway, in this final Hong Kong-based episode of Dallas (Season 8 Episode 23: Trial and Error) this is where the two friends meet to decide what to do now that the truth about "Mr Swanson" has been revealed to Pam.

Dallas - Victoria Principal (1985) - British Military Hospital Kowloon, Wylie Road

The clinic where "Mr Swanson" is being treated was in reality the British Military Hospital in Kowloon. We've seen this place before on the blog a few times, but this time we see the north side of the main building as the womens' car pulls up and Pam gets out to be met by Mr Wong. The location where the car stops is now occupied by the swimming pool/clubhouse of Parc Palais (the name of the residential development built on the site).

Dallas - Victoria Principal (1985) - Lion's Club Pavilion, The Peak

One of the most popular filming locations on the Peak is the Lion's Club Pavilion. It's probably most famous to readers of this blog for the scene in Bloodsport, but it's been featured in a whole bunch of films and shows over the years. Anyway, in Dallas, this is where the women meet a mysterious man, Mr Wong, who says he can get Pam in to the clinic to find out if the patient, Mr Swanson, is indeed her boyfriend, Mark Graison.

Dallas - Victoria Principal (1985) - The Peak Viewing Tower

The next scene is set up with a repeat of the view from the Peak that was used in the last episode. The women are having lunch at the restaurant in the old, curved Peak Viewing Tower. I believe it may have just gone by the name of "The Tower Restaurant" when this was being filmed but am happy to be corrected.

Dallas - Victoria Principal (1985) - The Regent Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

Back to The Regent, a repeated location only because it is part of another episode, as is my tendency when covering episodes of a show.

Dallas - Victoria Principal (1985) - Electric Road, Causeway Bay

We stay in the general area for this next post as the women wander around the streets. This particular scene was shot on Electric Road at the junction with Wing Hing Street. The vehicular bridge that can be seen in the background is the Tsing Fung Street Flyover. In the background you can see a large sign that says: 金閣茶餐廳餅店. It's a cafe and cake shop.

Dallas - Victoria Principal (1985) - Mercury Street, Causeway Bay

The next episode (Season 8, Episode 22), Dead Ends, also has some Hong Kong scenes, the first of which is a view across to what was a large tenement building located on the corner of Electric Road and Gordon Road. This building has only recently been demolished (2013?) and two new developments ("The Hemispheres" and "Diva") have been built on the site. You can still see it in this old Streetmap imagery.

The large office building in the background (whose top is visible in the top of the first image) is the Citicorp Centre. This means that the camera was placed on Mercury Street looking north and the ramshackle market we see in the first few frames was later redeveloped and rehoused in the purpose-built Causeway Bay Market Building. We're barely on the cusp of Causeway Bay though as the boundary between Wanchai District (which contains Causeway bay) and Eastern District is nearby.

Dallas - Victoria Principal (1985) - The Regent Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

I guess I should be calling this place "The Regent" again following its recent renaming back to the name it had prior to being called the "Intercontinental Hong Kong". The first glimpse we have of it is in Shattered Dreams as Sue Ellen and Pam sit down for drinks and chat to Mr Chen. A fellow Texan then pops up to say hello but is rebuffed by the women.

Dallas - Victoria Principal (1985) - Victoria Harbour

This is the boat deck scene I was referring to in the last post. The Ewings meet with Edward Chan (Philip Chen) again who is tasked with introducing Pam to the patient she believes is Mark Graison, but who has checked into Mr Chan's clinic with the name of "Mr Swanson".

In the background you can see the now demolished Hutchison House and Furama Hotel, as well as the almost-complete HSBC building. In the far distance on the ridge line you can also see the old, curved Peak Tower in Victoria Gap.

Dallas - Victoria Principal (1985) - View from the Peak

The next shot is an establishing shot of the harbour from The Peak as the camera pans across from right to left and then zooms in on one of the boats in the harbour - this sets up the next scene which looks to have been filmed on the deck of a boat. Notice the cranes still on top of the fugly HSBC HQ (top image left hand side) which was finally completed in November of 1985.

Dallas - Victoria Principal (1985) - Kai Tak Airport

Happy New Year to everyone that reads my mumblings. Welcome to 2025 and to kickstart the year I thought I would delve back into my 70s/80s childhood and cover one of the most popular shows at the time. I did watch Dallas when I was growing up, at least to a point, courtesy of my parents' TV habits. I certainly remember the famous "Who Shot JR?" mystery (apparently in 1980. Time flies!) and Terry Wogan referring to Lucy Ewing (Charlene Tilton) as the "poisoned dwarf", but other than that my memories of this show are now a bit dim.

It turns out that during Season 8 (shown in 1985) there were several episodes that included a sub-plot about Pamela Ewing (Victoria Principal) and Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) flying to Hong Kong so that Pam could seek out her missing, presumed dead, boyfriend, Mark Graison.

I initially believed it was a single episode, but it turns out that the Hong Kong sequences, which also feature a rather young looking Philip Chen as their HK-contact, was spread out over three episodes: Shattered Dreams (21), Dead Ends (22) and Trial and Error (23).

The first view of Hong Kong appears to be midway through Shattered Dreams as we see a plane making its landing at Kai Tak and the two Ewing women disembarking onto the apron to board a HATS transfer bus. I guess this was in the days before private planes (for oil millionaires) became a thing.

Philip Chen in da house