It's one of the many iconic images of The Singing Detective (1986) - young Philip Marlow in the branches of an oak tree; long shot slowly zooming in; then Philip directly addressing us the viewer: "When I grow up, I be going to be - a detective". John Belcher was engaged by the producers to act as a location scout and fixer for location filming in the Forest of Dean for Potter’s latest BBC drama serial. The scenes with Philip up the tree were originally intended to be shot at Devil's Chapel near Bream. Part of the Bledisloe estate it is an atmospheric woodland atop scowle holes - the local term for the remains of ancient iron-ore excavations & erosions. It’s mysterious dips, ‘potholes’ and their history inspired poet F W Harvey to write a poem of the same name, and was the site of music and performance events in the 1930’s organised by Harvey (upwards of 2,000 people attending). In 1986 it was not an easy site to access for a film crew, and with deep holes and ravines concealed by bracken and ferns was a potentially dangerous. So instead John suggested Nagshead enclosure near Parkend. Today it is an RSPB nature reserve. What of that tree - nearly 40years later could it be identified? On a warm and wet summer's morning a trip with John to Nagshead brought back memories of the shoot. A screengrab helped - that strong perpendicular branch, the tree was so tick etc. But how much does an oak tree change in 40 years? How much has grown up around it, changes in access to light shaping its branches. There were plenty of candidates - including some fine fallen veterans, their carcass left as a habitat and to rot down as feed for the next generation of trees. We didn't find the tree - but knowing that's where those scenes were filmed brought the challenges of location filming into sharper focus. You can hear John recalling his role in the production, and hear Lyndon Davies' recollections of filming 'up the tree' on this site - just click the Digital Stories tab at the top of this page.
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