Letterboxes

joppyuk1

joppyuk1

Dedicated Member
Here's another puzzlement for you, and I confess that I don't know the answer.
Yesterday I was watching 'The Incredible Ordeal of Norman Clegg' and I noticed that his letter box was at waist level on a stable door type front door. Now I'm fairly certain that at some stage Howard waggled his feather duster through Norman's letter box - at ground level - to get his attention. I'm I wrong, or when did it change? I don't think it was the house move, as I'm reasonably positive it was after that.
I left the thread subject loose, so other letterboxes can be brought into the conversation.
 
You're not wrong, it moves about like a feather in the wind, one week its waist level the next its at the bottom.
 
The new door, with the mail slot at waist level, was introduced in season 22 (Shown April, May & June 2001). However, due to the BBCs penchant for showing the episodes in the order they thought best, instead of the order they were written or filmed, it appears the door changes almost weekly. There were 4 episodes that season with the mail slot still down and 5 episodes with the mail slot up. 2 episodes didn't show the door. Getting Barry's Goat; The Missing Bus of Mrs. Avery; The Art of the Short's Story; and A Hair of the Blonde That Bit You were obviously filmed before the door was changed even though they were aired as episodes 1,2, 6 & 7.

Seasons 23 & 24 all have the door with the mail slot up. I don't have later DVD's to check but it seems to me there is at least one of the late episodes that has the mail slot down again. Maybe someone else knows or someone who has those DVDs can check.

No mention is ever made in the story line and there is no evident reason for the change, which makes me think it was probably the owner that made the change. Don't suppose that's something we will ever know though.
 
Are you talking about interior or exterior views of the door? After all, they filmed the interior shots on a set. It would not surprise me if there was inconsistency there.

The BBC certainly had no issue showing episodes out of order, that's for sure. But at the same time the impression I got from Bell's book was that he had a big say in the order shown. Either way there were mistakes. You'd have thought that after they showed "The Loxley Lozenge" out of order they wouldn't make such big mistakes again, but then you see they did it again with "A Musical Passing for a Miserable Mushcroft."
 
We're talking of the exterior here, I would think the interior set would be kept from series to series so wouldn't change (perhaps the new position wasn't noticed by the continuity people while filming outside shots). I would imagine that exteriors would be shot in batches of instalments to save set-ups and inconvenience, again perhaps the owner changed it between filmings, and the shots were spliced in where needed in the episodes.
You know, we could really get anal about some of these issues couldn't we? Good job we all have a sense of the ridiculous.
 
Unless my memory is tricking me ,this is the third time we have had this question come up in the last few years. It keeps the show alive for our newer members though.:22:
 
joppyuk1 said:
We're talking of the exterior here, I would think the interior set would be kept from series to series
Click to expand...

I believe that all the interior shots aimed at the door were taken
from inside the actual room or we would not have seen
the dog run by outside.
 
Sarkus said:
Are you talking about interior or exterior views of the door? After all, they filmed the interior shots on a set. It would not surprise me if there was inconsistency there.

The BBC certainly had no issue showing episodes out of order, that's for sure. But at the same time the impression I got from Bell's book was that he had a big say in the order shown. Either way there were mistakes. You'd have thought that after they showed "The Loxley Lozenge" out of order they wouldn't make such big mistakes again, but then you see they did it again with "A Musical Passing for a Miserable Mushcroft."
Click to expand...

All of the episodes with both exterior and interior shots matched - that is the mail slot was up for both outside and inside or down for both outside and inside. Only one episode had only an interior shot - that was "The Art of the Short's Story." Two episodes had only exterior shots. It seems they were really on the ball this time to get that detail correct in every episode.
 
cciaffone said:
I believe that all the interior shots aimed at the door were taken
from inside the actual room or we would not have seen
the dog run by outside.
Click to expand...

I know I've seen the episode with the dog running by the door, but I can't remember which one it was. Do you remember the title?

The shots I saw in these episodes were shot from various angles in the room - with the furniture and props all in place. They would have had to have been shot in the studio setting.
 
From an earlier thread, someone mentioned it was "A Tale of Two Sweaters".....series 27. I haven't confirmed that.

me2 said:
I know I've seen the episode with the dog running by the door, but I can't remember which one it was. Do you remember the title?

The shots I saw in these episodes were shot from various angles in the room - with the furniture and props all in place. They would have had to have been shot in the studio setting.
Click to expand...
 
They didn't always use sets for the interiors, but they mostly did. There are scenes that were filmed inside the actual café, for example. I don't know about Clegg's house, but it wouldn't surprise me. But if they did that there that's a lot of furniture and stuff to keep around to make the rooms consistent year to year despite what the homeowners were doing. And a lot of inconvenience for that homeowner as well.

The door thing is interesting because they seem to have gone out of their way to keep Nora Batty's door consistent. It's odd they would not do that with Clegg - it would have been pretty easy to keep a door around for his house as well.
 
Isn't the actual downstairs of the house used for Clegg the kitchen? Isn't that the reason that angle shots through the door were difficult and limited? I thought I read that in Alan Bell's book.
 
Sarkus said:
The door thing is interesting because they seem to have gone out of their way to keep Nora Batty's door consistent. It's odd they would not do that with Clegg - it would have been pretty easy to keep a door around for his house as well.
Click to expand...
Yes, I agree. In an interview with the then owner of the Nora Batty house, she mentioned changing the door each filming season. You would think they could have done the same things with Clegg's door - especially since the mail slot played an important part in many episodes.
 
joppyuk1 said:
Isn't the actual downstairs of the house used for Clegg the kitchen? Isn't that the reason that angle shots through the door were difficult and limited? I thought I read that in Alan Bell's book.
Click to expand...
You are correct. When the house was listed for sale, they showed pictures of each of the rooms in the listing. The ground floor was the kitchen. The next floor up was the living room and the top floor the bedroom.
 
joppyuk1 said:
Isn't the actual downstairs of the house used for Clegg the kitchen? Isn't that the reason that angle shots through the door were difficult and limited? I thought I read that in Alan Bell's book.
Click to expand...

It certainly was the kitchen when the house was on the market a while ago. The link was posted in a thread started last June, titled 'Clegg's house is for sale'. The back of that room is apparently built into the hillside, as the lounge on the next floor up gives direct access to the garden behind the house. Apparently the house sold — the agent has taken the ad down. Sometimes real estate ads stay up for years after the sale, with a statement that the property is no longer on the market, so it's still possible to see the interior photos. Not this time, though.

Marianna
 
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me2 said:
I know I've seen the episode with the dog running by the door, but I can't remember which one it was.
Click to expand...

The dog was Archie and lived next door. We often played with Archie,
but unfortunately he did not live much longer.
 
The few times I was up at Cleggy's and the other houses,the kitchens were on the ground floor,I noticed with Pearls house there was a screen in place just inside the door,I wonder when they were filming the external shots the screen help disguise the interior
 
This was taken on my last visit,last year,the house had been sold and the builders were in,I don't know if the door was eventually replaced,I hope not.
Cleggys_zpsuqejkguw.jpg
 
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