Cracker: White Ghost - Robbie Coltrane (1996) - 31 Barker Road, The Peak

As mentioned previously, #31 Barker Road was used a few years after it was last seen on Shadow of China. For those who remember watching Cracker: White Ghost there is the scene when Fitz and crew head to speak to a rather forthright gweilo businessman played by David Bradley. Bradley will be familiar to anyone who has seen him as Mr Filch in the Harry Potter films and is currently most well-known for his role as Abraham Setrakian in The Strain.

The building behind Robbie Coltrane (another Harry Potter connection there) in the lower photo is Barker Villa at #41 Barker Road.

The driveway is fairly recognisable but it looks like the house underwent some ill-advised cladding work since Shadow of China was filmed there, or perhaps the stucco was removed to reveal the brick underneath? Whichever it was I don't think it enhanced the look. You can compare the two shots below to see how the place changed in the space of a few years.

Shadow of China

Cracker: White Ghost

Cracker: White Ghost - Robbie Coltrane (1996) - Various aerial shots around Hong Kong

Finishing up Cracker: White Ghost for the time being (at least while I still grapple with some of the harder to identify locations) with this small post showing some of the location seen from the vantage point of the helicopter whilst it's trying to follow the killer.

The first shot is an aerial view of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department HQ. At least that is the building's use now, but considering that the FEHD didn't exist in 1996 - it was created when the Urban Council was disbanded (it was the first volley in the HK Govt's war on democracy) and the councils former responsibilities were split between the FEHD and the LCSD (Leisure and Cultural Services Dept) - I am not sure what it was before hand. I'm sure some of the longer-term HK residents can provide that information. It's the low-rise building on the right. The buildings next to it are (from r to l) the Victoria Centre and the Sea View Estate.

A little further along the Hong Kong Island coastline provides us with our next bird's eye view over Quarry Bay and the two shiny buildings we can see centre screen are two of the office towers of Cityplaza in Tai Koo Shing.

We move back a bit now and over to the HK-side entrance to the Eastern Harbour Tunnel as Dennis' car heads over to Kowloon side. The shot is in B&W because we are supposedly viewing it through the camera on the chopper.

We move over to Kowloon side now and can see a rather difficult to identify junction, however as the camera pans right, following one of the taxis, it becomes obvious that we are looking at the major junction where Austin Road intersects with Chatham Road South. The giveaway is a brief view of the curved staircase outside of St Mary's Canossian College along Austin Road.

And finally we finish with a quick view over Container Terminal's 8 and 7 as the helicopter hovers above the area around Stonecutters Island. Actually, the angle here is quite low as you can see from the distant hillside buildings (in the northern Lai Chi Kok/southern Kwai Chung area) and it wouldn't surprise me to find out the camera crew had simply driven over to Stonecutters (because by then it had joined the Kowloon peninsula) and plonked the camera on one of its small hillocks.
 

Cracker: White Ghost - Robbie Coltrane (1996) - Fat Kwong Street Flyover, Hung Hom

Although they let Dennis out so they can follow him, they lose him when he crosses over to Kowloon. The cop car stops along the Fat Kwong St flyover where it crosses the eastern Kowloon Corridor whilst they wait for the helicopter crew to pick up the scent again.

As you can see from Streetview below the area hasn't changed much at all but in the lowest picture above, it looks like there may have once been a structure in Fat Kwong Street Garden (top left of the picture), either that or the camera angle is making the buildings on the other side of the garden seem much closer than they are (it's certainly possible).

Cracker: White Ghost - Robbie Coltrane (1996) - Gloucester Road Footbridge, Wanchai

Anyone who has spent a long enough time in HK (i.e. had to apply for a visa and/or ID card) will probably have made the walk across this next location. It's the pedestrian footbridge that connects Wanchai MTR/O'Brien Road with Immigration Tower on Gloucester Road. Our friend Dennis Philby heads over there to try and convince the Immigration officer that he has legitimately married his girlfriend and wants a passport for her.

Cracker: White Ghost - Robbie Coltrane (1996) - Tsing Yi Container Processing Terminal, Tsing Yi

The container terminal where Dennis imprisons his girlfriend is one we have seen before a couple of times on this blog, first in The Protector where it was used for the finale and secondly in Double Impact where one version of JCVD gets his butt kicked.

Actually, there are a few container yards here and the sign at the front gate (on Tsing Keung Street - see top picture below) shows that the space is shared by several companies. The place was looking a bit empty in Double Impact but it seems as though business was booming once again when the Cracker team turned up.

These days the place is just marked as "dockyard" and "open storage" on maps but I think it is still very much in use. The Exxon Mobil Oil Terminal seen in the lower two pictures is also still around and operational. Tsing Yi Road can be seen on the left of the lower picture as it curves around the southern part of the island.

Cracker: White Ghost - Robbie Coltrane (1996) - Broadwood Park, Happy Valley

This part of Happy Valley/Caroline Hill seems to be cropping up a fair amount. Not only is it the area where the police station and the young girl's school is located, it also happens to be the area where the killer's flat is. To be precise, his flat is located in a development known as Broadwood Park at 38 Broadwood Road. Here is what the building looks like in the show (seen from the east).

There is also a little bit of the show shot inside the flat and I am inclined to believe that the flat used was indeed one inside Broadwood Park due to the various views and angles we can see from the windows as the cops search the place. For example, the first shot below shows Ricky Tomlinson looking out across the very recognisable arch of the awning at Hong Kong Stadium down towards the South China Athletic Stadium just behind it. Broadwood Park actually lines up perfectly for this view.

The second shot shows Coltrane looking at a similar aspect but a little further to the left so you can see the white building (with the red emblem) of the SCAA and if you look closely at the bottom you can see four cylindrical structures that are attached to the aside of the SCAA sports centre.

Cracker: White Ghost - Robbie Coltrane (1996) - French International School, Price Road

The school at which the young female witness from the abortion clinic attends is called St Hilda's in the film, and unlike the previously mentioned site of the CAS and EMSD that was used for the police station, this location was in fact a real school. It's the French International School on Price Road above Happy Valley. It's just a brief glimpse but enough for an identification.

The building seems to be the same one, but it's the white wall that is the most identifiable courtesy of Streetview.

Cracker: White Ghost - Robbie Coltrane (1996) - ex-Civil Aid Services Headquarters, Caroline Hill

The police station featured in Cracker has really had me scratching my head because I just could not find anything that matched it amongst the current stock of official stations in HK. The reason for this is that the sneaky TV people didn't use a real police station but instead plumped for the old CAS HQ building over on Caroline Hill Road right next to the South China Athletic Association complex (which we will also see from afar in a later post).

The location is still visible on Streetview but it appears that CAS moved out of there a while back (along with the Electrical and Mechanical Service Dept who had workshops next door) over to West Kowloon/Yau Ma Tei area to free up the site for redevelopment. Anyway, back in 1996 it was still their HQ location and I guess the film makers convinced them to let some filming take place for a few days as it stood in for the police HQ. The picture below shows the main building at the site that fronts onto Caroline Hill Road near the junction with Leighton Road. As you can see, the location has a rather large courtyard/car park area (though not as big as the EMSD next door) making it ideal as a stand-in for a Police Station.

Sadly, I couldn't recognise the place from the above picture and it took a brief glimpse in a very quick scene when the killer is driving away in his BMW to finally locate it. Look in the distance and you can see some writing on the building at the back. It's the old Po Leung Kuk Pershing Tsang Primary School on Link Road. 

The school has since merged with another one and become the PLK Gold and Silver Exchange Society Pershing Tsang Primary School and moved up Link Road (i.e. to the left) to another building we have encountered before (we saw it in Double Impact all those years ago). The old school building has become the PLK Kwok Law Chun Children Services Building (lots of PLK related stuff here because the HQ (see here in Game of Death) is just off screen to the right.

Again, no Streetview access inside the complex (not helpful Google pictures from anyone), but this shot shows the same buildings (the one behind is another PLK related one) from Caroline Hill Road.

Cracker: White Ghost - Robbie Coltrane (1996) - Hong Kong International Airport, Kai Tak

Fitz's side kick arrives in the shape of Ricky Tomlinson and we get a nice view over the airport area from the south. The low shaved hillside at the back is the hill behind where Kowloon Walled City was until just a couple of years before this was filmed.

Cracker: White Ghost - Robbie Coltrane (1996) - Ritz Carlton Hotel, Central

After being roped in to working on the HK Police's new murder case, Fitz wangles a deal to stay in what was once quite a swanky hotel near the Central waterfront. It was the Ritz Carlton - at the time a fairly new building - behind the HK Club sandwiched between Chater and Connaught Roads. In what must have been one of the shortest lifetimes of a building in HK the Ritz Carlton was opened in 1993 and demolished only 15 years later in 2008. An unbelievably short time even by HK standards.

Anyway, in case you don't remember what it looked like here are the screen grabs.

Notice the Furama Hotel next door on the right. Both buildings have been replaced, the Furama by the AIA building and the Ritz Carlton by the CCB Building (and this was at a time when the Govt was moaning about a shortage of hotel rooms...).

Cracker: White Ghost - Robbie Coltrane (1996) - Chaplin Chang the Love Hotel Manager

Whilst in Hong Kong on his lecture tour, it seems Fitz's budget only runs as far as renting a room in one of Hong Kong's many hourly-rental hotels (aka a Love Hotel). Who should be the manager of said venue? None other than our old friend Chaplin Chang.

The last time I met up with Chaplin was just at the end of last year and he was as chipper as anyone half his age (I believe he's 88 right now). Anyway, nice to see a familiar face.

Cracker: White Ghost - Robbie Coltrane (1996) - Cannon Street, Causeway Bay

We were previously around this location for Night Watch and I can only guess that it was a favoured location for the HK-based production crew who were involved in both films. Anyway, this is the junction with Jaffe Road. There is a reasonable Streetview comparison at the bottom.

Cracker: White Ghost - Robbie Coltrane (1996) - Duddell Street, Central

The first murder is supposedly committed in an office block situated along Duddell St in Central. The building on screen below (on the right) is called the Printing House but I can't make out if that is the one they go into or the one further up the street (behind camera) which is the HK Diamond Exchange. The presence of Ruttonjee House in view on the left makes me think the latter.

I guess Duddell Street is more famous for the original gas street lights and the steps at the end of the street than it is for the buildings along there.

Cracker: White Ghost - Robbie Coltrane (1996) - Lion Rock Road, Kowloon City

Philby's long-suffering girlfriend lives above a shop in Kowloon City and we get a nice birds-eye view of the area as a plane flies overhead towards the landing strip at the old airport. The road we are focused on is Lion Rock Road and although we initially see it from the north the following closeups - filmed along the same road but at the other end - were filmed looking from the south. We can't have a scene around Kowloon City with the required plane-flying-into-Kai-Tak shot, right?

Anyway, the road at the bottom is Lion Rock Road and Kowloon City being the way it is, although the buildings (actually, it's one big block called the Victory Building at 78-144 Lion Rock Rd and you can see it when it was in better condition here) we can see are still around there's no guarantee they will be there for much longer - the whole place is changing. So these views are all looking south and I suspect the camera was placed on the car park roof of the Kowloon City Plaza (we've been up there before)

Speaking of the Kowloon City Plaza (now the KCP), you can see it in the background of the following shots - it's the multi-coloured thing at the far end of the road (below the hill).