Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Ngong Ping Village, Lantau Island

In the last post from Strangers (well, there are a couple of key locations that I haven't been able to find yet), the final Hong Kong scene in the last episode (Episode 8) was filmed at Ngong Ping village on Lantau. Obviously the first image is part of the Po Lin Monastery complex. The second image is where the scene was shot and is a small ornamental circular viewing point near to the cable car station.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Sham Tseng Sewage Treatment Works, Tsuen Wan

We get a much better view of the area in front of the "Kowloon Remand Centre" in Episode 8. Jonah goes there to visit the person responsible for all the murders and then meets up with Lau who wants to hang out until Jonah catches his flight back to the UK later that evening.

The area they are looking out to in the bottom image is the strip of sea between Lantau Island and the New Territories mainland (off screen to the right). Usually you would expect to see a plane preparing to land at the airport in the distance (approaching from the east) but I guess they timed the shot to avoid them.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park, Sai Ying Pun

As just mentioned, although we are initially given a shot of Victoria park, the actual dialogue scene was filmed a couple of miles away at Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park in Sai Ying Pun. This includes the meeting between Cohen and his wife as well as the subsequent meeting between Cohen and Jonah.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Victoria Park, Wanchai

The scene where Michael Cohen (the journalist) meets his ex-wife to strike a deal over child custody starts off with an establishing shot of Victoria park. You can see Central Library in the background. This is a bit strange because the actual meeting occurs elsewhere.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Luk Ming Street, Ma Tau Kok

Just a very short walk from the Freder Centre (the original police station location), in fact directly opposite, is a small estate of 12 tenement blocks built between 1959 - 61. I'm not sure if the estate has a name but each block is separated from the next one by a small street. In this scene when Jonah is on the phone to his sister back in the UK, he is walking down one of these streets - Luk Ming Street. The low red roofed buildings behind him are the Cattle Depot Artists Village buildings.

The next part of the sequence shows him sitting at a cafe at the eastern end of the estate along Ma Tau Kok Road. Just behind Jonah's back is Hok Ling Street.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Siu Lang Shui Road, Tuen Mun

Well, it seems that what goes around comes around and for this first location on the eighth and last episode we have returned back to a location not seen since episode 1. This is Siu Lang Shui Road in Tuen Mun and is the same place where Jonah and David's wife was killed in the first episode.

I suspect it was all shot in one day as this isn't the most convenient place to get to. Anyway, following their run in with the gunman, Jonah and Lau escape in the car and stop off to take in what has just happened. The large structure behind the trees on the right is one of the circular water tanks seen in the aerial shot of the episode 1 post I just linked to. The structure poking up behind the hill in the background is one of the chimneys of the Castle Peak Power Station.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - H.K.W.W Yuen Long R.G Filters Building, Yuen Long

The venue where Lau is taken by her kidnappers is an old Hong Kong Water Works facility on the Tuen Mun/Yuen Long district border. For some reason the "Yuen Long R.G. Filter" is no longer on the Film Services website despite their photos of it popping up when you do a Google search. Perhaps they have decided to rebuild it and so it is no longer available? Anyway, it looks like the interior was also filmed on location.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Container Port Road South, Stonecutter Island

After Lau has been kidnapped, her kidnapper is stopped by the police because his rear light is broken. Funny thing is though that this place is a dead end. This is the service road that runs underneath Stonecutters Bridge (you can see the bridge at the top of the image) and the car has basically just driven from the dead end by the sea wall when it is stopped. You can see where the road ends behind the car as it is turning. In the second image you can see how close this place is to one of the container terminals.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Hoi Chak Street, Quarry Bay

Jonah follows Sally when she leaves her hotel and spots who she is meeting up with along Hoi Chak Street in Quarry Bay. You can just see the square columns of the Kerry Centre in the back left of the second image.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Under Bridge Spicy Crab, Wanchai

At the start of Episode 7, the story moves to Mr Xo (played by Kenneth Tsang) who is the favourite candidate for the upcoming Chief Executive "election". Actually, the predetermined nature of the election is even hinted at by one of the characters later in the episode - so much like the real election charade that is undertaken in the real Hong Kong.

We see him eating dinner with his family at a place called Under Bridge Spicy Crab. It's a real place and looks like it has 3 closely clustered premises around Canal Road in Wanchai. The one on film is the one at 421-425 Lockhart Road.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - The High Court, Central

The High Court in Central gets a brief appearance because one of the characters, Michael Cohen, the investigative journalist (played by Anthony Hayes), is in a tussle with his ex-wife over custody of their child. This shot looks like it was snapped sneakily from the fountain in the nearby Hong Kong Park.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Peel Street, Central

In another one of those travelogue style establishing shots, we get a rather nice view down one of Hong Kong's many steep streets. This one is Peel Street. The large building in the background in The Centre.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - View from Shing Fung Road, Kowloon Bay

Here's an interesting view from a part of Kowloon that hasn't really been used before - largely because the area was left untouched for many years after the closure of Kai Tak Airport. It's only in the last few years that development has started and access to the general public has started again. This is the view looking towards the northern part of Kowloon from the Shing Fung Road where it crosses a bridge across the Kwun Tong Typhoon Shelter. In the image, the section of coastline on the left is northern edge (at least part of) of the old Kai Tak runway.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Diamond Hill Columbarium, Po Kong Village Road

Jonah finally meets up with the investigative journalist who is probing around his wife's death. They meet, quite aptly, at the Diamond Hill Columbarium (an urn cemetery where cremated remains are kept in wall niches). This particular one is fairly new (built in 2008) but lo-and-behold it is one of the places offered via what was the Hong Kong Film Services Office, but has since been renamed the Film Promotion and Facilition Section of the Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency. Yes,that is definitely much catchier and easier to say than "FSO". Here's the updated link.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Lai Tak Estate, Tai Hang

In what appears to be another bit of inspiration from Ghosts in the Shell, the dynamic duo head to Lai Tak Tsuen to find out who is behind the shell company that paid their wife a bunch of money.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Sham Tseng Sewage Treatment Works, Tsuen Wan

The "Kowloon Remand Centre" where the Triad is sent after being caught by the cops wasn't anything of the sort but in fact one of the Drainage Service Department's treatment works. This particular one is in Sham Tseng - located about midway between Tsuen Wan and Tuen Mun - an area famous in the past for its roast goose restaurants. This place is right down on the waterfront.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Shek Kip Mei Police Station, Shek Kip mei

The full title, also seen in the screen grabs below, is the "Shek Kip Mei Reporting Centre and PTU KW Operational Base". It just goes to show how little I know about filming taking place in HK because this is, quite literally, just down the road from where I live. Anyway, in the show it's where David and Jonah have been languishing following the discovery of the body on the beach. Jonah is freed because David turns up with the murder weapon, and then he is freed because a mystery person has paid his bail.

I thought it was rather sporting of the police to be so cooperative for the show considering how it shows them all in a not-so-great light (one of the more realistic aspects of the show, I feel).

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Tsing Fung Street, Tin Hau

Back to Tsing Fung Street, where Jonah and David had previously met David's former police colleague for information, and this is the same location where Lau is kidnapped after being out with her friends at a club.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Shum Wan Pier Drive, Wong Chuk Hang

This is the location where the vice-consul goes to meet Lau's girlfriend. It's just behind the Aberdeen Marina Club and is the main location for catching the free shuttles over to the Jumbo or Tai Pak restaurants. I have to say I have been down here since Typhoon Mangkhut hit and the tiles that once adorned the roof of the ornate pavement covering (that snaked down the hill from Welfare Road) have largely been destroyed so it's not looking its best these days.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Ma Wan New Village, Tung Chung

After the abortive attempt to find out more about the property recently sold by their dead wife, Jonah and David head out to Lantau Island for a coffee. The venue is a small cafe called CoCo Cafe that is in Ma Wan New Village. I can ony assume it has this name because it was built to rehouse those people displaced by the bridge development on Ma Wan island when the airport was being constructed. According to Open Rice the place has closed down, which seems a bit of a shame. Can anyone confirm?