Spearhead in Hong Kong - Stafford Gordon (1981) - Stanley Fort, Stanley

The final episode of Spearhead (called Futures) doesn't really have much in the way of new locations other than a farewell to Stanley Fort included below for posterity. The first two shots showing areas we've seen before but I did notice that the church tower was visible in the first one (there's a nice shot of it here on FLICKR) and in the second picture you can see the edge of Block 10 which was in the previous post. I'm not too sure whereabouts the last image was taken, the building is obviously much newer (relatively speaking) but perhaps some knowledgeable peeps out there can let me know.

Spearhead in Hong Kong - Stafford Gordon (1981) - Stanley Fort, Stanley

Back to Stanley Fort once again for episode 5, Loyalties, but this time with some views from around the north side of the football field and what I believe is Block 10. I have no idea whether or not this block once had a different name like many of the others (which recall various places and buildings in the UK), but in this show it is where Sgt. Bilinski is billeted and from where he leaves the barracks after being sent back to the UK following his close call with the snakeheads. Perhaps there is someone out there who can comment as to why the entrance was painted blue.

Spearhead in Hong Kong - Stafford Gordon (1981) - Stanley Fort, Stanley

A few more images from Stanley barracks. It's a bit hard to avoid posting so many because much of the series was shot here or out in the new terrories. Besides, like the other TV shows I've done I tend to include the same locations from different episodes rather than stick them all into a single post. The first image shows the main entrance which doesn't look as though it has changed at all in the past (almost) 40 years.

Note that in the second image, the two blocks - Sandringham and Balmoral - had wire covers over the verandah/balcony openings. Can anyone explain why? These were removed by the time Bloodsport and Soldier Soldier were filmed here.

Sandringham and Balmoral Blocks

The sign says Sgts Mess. I think this is Block 46 - can anyone confirm?

Cricket pitch from near the slope by the parade ground

The gym with Pvt Mayhoe practising his karate

Spearhead in Hong Kong - Stafford Gordon (1981) - Stanley Fort, Hong Kong

Roughly ten years before Soldier Soldier was filmed in Hong Kong there was another British Army based show that was filming at Stanley Barracks. Shown in 1981 (I imagine filmed either that year or the year before) it was the third (and last) series portraying the fictitious 1st Battalion Royal Wessex Rangers on their Hong Kong tour involving mainly operations against illegal immigrants near the border. The drama is slightly more serious than Soldier Soldier and there isn't the same comic relief as that show but I'm quite impressed with the fact that the geography is true and the places mentioned are the ones where the filming took place. Also there are a few familiar faces that showed up (familiar to me as someone who grew up in the UK watching UK television, that is) including a pre-Only Fools and Horses Nicholas Lyndhurst, Roy Holder, Ric Young (Lord Jim, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) and not forgetting Burt Kwouk who turns up as a Triad.

Anyway, as mentioned, the Battalion is based out of Stanley Fort so a large selection of locations seen are around there with a few places out in a still very undeveloped New Territories. Here is a few scenes from Stanley in the first episode called Night Games. You will of course remember that as well as Soldier Soldier, Bloodsport was also filmed in and around here. These days it is P.L.A controlled and goes by Stanley's Chinese name: Chek Chue Barracks.

These first two shots show a helicopter landing at the barracks, in the frame you can see Lo Chau (small stony islet at the bottom of the first image) and the prison (bottom of second image).

Soldier, Soldier - Robson Green (1992) - Stanley Fort, Stanley

I think much of Soldier, Soldier centres around Stanley Fort and a quick google search throws up a lot of images from this blog, so it doesn't look as though there is too much in the public domain. So to make up for it here are a few more, plus a nice little coincidence from a couple of weeks back. These images are from the fourth HK-based episode: Lost and Found.

A cricket game on the cricket ground

View of the parade ground

The guardhouse

More parade ground

Building 10 at the back?

Conway House

One of the images I did find during my Google search was the following one of the building in picture 3 which was used as the guardhouse in the TV series. In reality though it appears to have been a contractor's building, as can be seen from this rather excellent picture taken during one of the P.L.A open days: https://flic.kr/p/5HMZcs. Note the 1937 date mark above the door.

The coincidence I am talking about was that during a recent Gwulo.com get together, I found out that one of the regular contributors is actually the cousin of Jerome Flynn - who played Corporal Paddy Garvey in the series. I asked him if he had seen much of him when they were over filming in 1992 and he told me that yes, they had gone over to Stanley Fort for one of the scenes involving  a cricket game and were used as extras in the crowd. So I guess it must have been this episode. Anyway, it turns out that Jerome Flynn's dad (my friend's uncle), Eric, was a child internee during the war in one of the family internment camps in Shanghai and went on to become an actor. You can see his IMDB entry here.

Soldier, Soldier - Robson Green (1992) - Satellite Earth Station, Stanley Fort

Back to Soldier, Soldier for a while and a screen cap from an episode called Saving Face. It starts with some exercises on a seemingly barren rocky hillside that is soon revealed to be the satellite dish area behind Stanley Fort - now Chek Chue Barracks (Chek Chue, 赤柱, is the Cantonese name for Stanley).

Soldier, Soldier (TV Series) - Robson Green (1992) - Stanley Fort, Stanley

As the base for the fictional King's Fusiliers throughout their stay in HK, Stanley Fort features fairly heavily throughout the series (so I am sure this is the first of several similar posts). Here are a few shots from A Touch of the Sun.

I've never been to Stanley Fort and therefore am not 100% sure of the building identities, but I'll give it a stab. The first picture is of the accommodation of the battalion commander, Lt Col Fortune, which, I believe, is Conway House (aka Building 18).

Conway Hse/Building 18?

Next up we see the swimming pool down by the lowest row of accommodation blocks that face Stanley Bay - although in the background we can see the row of blocks on the higher terrace. They are (from right to left) Richmond, Halifax, Chester and Windsor (Buildings 89 thru 86).

The next building is one we have seen on this blog before - it can be seen in Bloodsport - but I am not sure of whereabouts it is within the fort. I am guessing it is the nameless E-shaped block on the maps in the centre of the Fort (now called Chek Chue Barracks, by the way) that has the bowling green in front of it?

Another block, also seen in the above Bloodsport link, is what I believe to be Building 10. An elongated colonial building that sits on the road just above the parade ground and sports field.

Building 10 - also seen in Bloodsport

We get to see a brief glimpse of the road in front of the lower accommodation blocks (buildings 90 - 95), although I am not sure which one we are looking at.

And rounding off this post with a quick look at the parade ground with Building 10 in the background.

I'm not familiar with the fort and so can't say how much has changed since the P.L.A moved in to Chek Chue Barracks (Chek Chue is the Chinese name for 'Stanley' in case you didn't know), but judging from GoogleEarth, the majority of landmarks we see in the series are still around as far as I can tell. I'd love to hear from anyone familiar with the compound or perhaps who actually lived there with the army.

Bloodsport - Jean Claude Van Damme (1987) - Stanley Military Barracks, Stanley Peninsula

I have a big thank you to say to Neil Macdonald for helping identify the following location (and a few more I will put up in the next few days). For those who have missed his great comments, I have made a post out of them here.

Neil used to work as a production manager for Salon Films who were responsible for co-producing many of the films I have featured on this blog - including Bloodsport, Double Impact and many more. Basically, Neil was the location manager for these films and so he is probably the one single person in the world who can provide some great answers about the places used in them.

Anyway, one of the first things he identified was the Stanley Barracks (Stanley Fort as it was back then) used for the training scenes in Bloodsport, as well as the 'school' that the young Frank was bullied at. Here are the grabs.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that this facility is now occupied by the PLA (that's the Peoples' Liberation Army in case you didn't already know), and my usual resources (Streetview and Panoramio) don't have anything helpful I can't really provide any decent comparison for confirmation so we will just have to accept it as it is. The thing I can't do is provide an exact location within the compound - this will have to wait until some kind soul makes some more comprehensive pictures available. The PLA do host open days at various barracks, but I'm not sure if Stanley is included let alone whether non-Chinese (like me) would be allowed in.

Having said that, the building seen in the top two snaps does happen to have been snapped back in the 1960's courtesy of the Queens Royal Surrey Regiment who were stationed there at the time. I can't seem to do a direct embed of the picture so have copy and pasted it. For the sake of acknowledgement the website it can be found on is at the following URL (and is well worth a read): http://www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk/hongkong_china/hkc10_1.html#

Look carefully and you will see it is the same building, albeit when they filmed Bloodsport the trees had grown (well, it was 25 or so years later). The soldiers above are basically standing/seated in the same spot that the guy is standing in in the second screen grab.

So, once again many thanks to Neil.