I’ve previously written posts about how easy it is to stumble across a Marvel film location, and about how much filming has been happening recently around my hometown of St Helens, Merseyside. This post combines the two as Marvel have been filming their new television show ‘Secret Invasion’ at a location in St Helens that I can see from my window!
“Secret Invasion is a newly announced series heading to Disney+ that stars Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Ben Mendelsohn as the Skrull Talos—characters who first met in Captain Marvel. The crossover comic event series showcases a faction of shape-shifting Skrulls who have been infiltrating Earth for years.”
That’s all that’s on the official Disney+ website. There’s lots more going around online about what’s happening in the show and who’s going to be in it. Names confirmed so far include Game of Thrones star Emelia Clarke and acting royalty Olivia Coleman.
Towards the end of January this year ‘SI’ prefixed signs started to appear by the the former Pilkington Glass Head Office just 5 minutes from my home. The little fluorescent direction signs have been a familiar sight given the amount of filming going on in the area recently. The location was used for the forthcoming Sky show ‘Funny Girl’ starring Gemma Arterton which I touched on in this post https://wordpress.com/post/fromscenetoseen.wordpress.com/892
Saturday 5th February a friend and neighbour Andrew Quirke let me know that he’d seen activity going on by the former Pilkington offices (Alexandra Business Park) and that he’d learned it was for Marvel’s ‘Secret Invasion’ series which would explain the ‘SI’. The timing also matched, as it had been covered in the press that they’d been filming in Halifax, Leeds and London recently. https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/tv/gallery/marvels-secret-invasion-stars-spotted-22919955
Further sources confirmed what was going on, including my husband having brief chat with as security guy who said it was for ‘that Marvel thing’.
There seemed to be two bases;
1st Unit – Pilkington Watson Street Works site which has its main entrance on Canal Street and is bordered by Burtonhead Road, St Helens Linkway and Ravenhead Retail Park. Our houses being pretty much at the midpoint between – talk about landing on our doorstep.
2nd Unit – Former Pilkington Glass Head Office – Alexander Drive. Mainly a vehicle and crew base with empty offices being put to use for the production.
There also seems to have been other vehicles and trailers based elsewhere in the area such as by the St Helens Rugby stadium.
Pilkington Glass was a major employer in the town back in the day and although mostly disused the factory site is still massive. There’s a bit of background here The history of Pilkington Glass in St Helens – Liverpool Echo and a location map here https://goo.gl/maps/BzyJGZeZ24Rq2K946 It’s not the first time the factory site has been used in film and television as it doubled for a glass factory in Iraq in the 2019 film ‘Official Secrets’ and was used in Sky’s police series ‘Bullet Proof’ in 2017.
Sunday 6th February my husband and I had a wander up by the offices along Alexander Drive and could indeed see the signs of filming – big trailers and support vehicles parked up (more would later arrive over the next few days). There were big white trailers which we assumed were for makeup, costume etc.
We felt a great sense of excitement that something with such a global reach was going to be filmed in St Helens! So, myself, my husband Andy and neighbour Andrew Quirke then proceeded to spend the next few weeks on ‘SI Watch’, which didn’t require too much effort, as we were slap bang between the two units.
Monday 7th February – I was working from home so decided to go for a lunchtime jog past the 2nd Unit site. There was a lot more activity, parked up on the road was a row of 6 minibuses with blacked out windows. They would become a very familiar sight over the next few days, as they ferried crew back and forth between locations.
Several large cranes and lighting rigs started to appear on the St Helens skyline, along with lots and lots of minibuses going past my housing estate between units. They could often be seen going through the main Pilkington gates on Canal Street. Next to that was a further car park in use – easily identifiable as SI, due to a visible security presence.
Wednesday 9th February – my husband, who works in the town centre, ventured out on his lunch break to try and see what was happening. All the action appeared to be frustratingly inaccessible. He identified the best viewpoints as being the bridge by the Fire station and the grass verge by a roundabout near B&Q. Location hunting is so glamourous.
It was interesting to note that nothing had yet appeared in the local press or on social media. There were a few tweets from people who appeared to be St Helens locals but nothing had been picked up.
Thursday 10th February – I had the day off and went for another jog by the 1st Unit base. There were still lots of vehicles, but not many people about. I did spot new fluorescent pink direction signs at the entrance to the compound with ‘CROWD’ and ‘TESTING’ – presumably Covid-19 testing for the large number of supporting artists?
I met up with my husband on his lunch break to have a nosey at the filming site. We could still could only see cranes and lights, but we could hear someone shouting commands such as ‘rolling’ through a loud hailer.
My husband then pointed out that the Pilkington glass works is such a large site that the train to Liverpool goes through the centre of it – so was it worth taking a train to see if it was possible to see any filming as it went past? Genius idea!
I hopped on the Liverpool train for one stop to Thatto Heath, only a 3-minute journey. I could indeed see some of what was going on – it was a major operation! I filmed the journey – it took less than 15 seconds to pass through the filming. I then made screengrabs of what I could see between the tree branches. There were lots of vehicles, gazebos, people in hi-vis jackets and hardhats, a green screen, lights, all very exciting. I made the return journey, but visibility was less good as the track was just that bit further back.
At the weekend my husband and I took a short break to Edinburgh. Arriving in another Marvel filming location – Waverly Station was used in ‘Avengers – Infinity War’ – you simply can’t avoid them anymore! https://wordpress.com/post/fromscenetoseen.wordpress.com/746
Walking home from the train station on Sunday 13th Feb we noticed a new ‘SI’ arrow by the Pilkington entrance on Canal Street. Andrew Quirke also reported more signs appearing with ‘CROWD’.
Monday 14th February – I was working from home again and found it quite distracting being able to see a very bright light mounted on a crane which I could view from the window by my desk. I popped on the train again on my lunch break, I got a glimpse but no real clear view of what was going on, the dirty train window didn’t help either.
Tuesday 15th February. I had an early morning drive to St Helens Central along the Linkway where I could see very bright lights focused on the lower factory buildings. The banks of bright lights mounted on cranes seemed to be shining into the buildings (possibly recreating daylight?). Later that afternoon Andrew Quirke was able to film one of the lighting rigs changing colour for a short period – something to set the imagination going!
Wednesday 16th February – It was a very windy day. As was becoming quite common, there were lots of minibuses driving around. My husband went for his regular run and could see bright lights being shone outside buildings by the Linkway at the old worker’s entrance to Pilkingtons.
Finally, later that day something that corroborated what was being filmed appeared on social media. Actress Emilia Clarke posted on Instagram a picture of herself taken with one of the Antony Gormley statues on Crosby beach, confirming that she was in the area.
Thursday 17th February. Andrew Quirke got the train which passes through the filming area. He was able to catch an image of what seems to be a vehicle upside down. This confirmed suspicions that there was plenty of stunt work going on. I also learned from Andrew that this would likely be the last day of filming. I saw lots of minibuses as I walked home that night, including two large coaches that went through the gates. As one of the minibuses passed by, I spotted an A4 sign in the window saying “Jambalaya Grass-fed Production”
The Liverpool Echo picked up on Clarke’s Instagram post and an article appeared online about the filming. https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/emilia-clarke-samuel-l-jackson-23132423 There were no images, other than the few they’d plucked from twitter, and nothing about what was happening that we hadn’t picked up ourselves, so at least it served to confirm that we hadn’t missed anything!
Thursday 18th February. Storm Eunice was moving in from the West so would surely be a bit of a concern if they were using the large cranes. I could only see one green crane, which was never fully extended, moving a little for a short while. I did wonder if it might be working on clearing the site? My husband went for a recce in the rain and noticed that all the trailers were gone from the car park at the 2nd Unit Pilkington office. Some vehicles still remained on the Fire Station site but things seemed very much to be shutting down. It was good timing to get the filming completed just before the storm moved in.
Samuel L Jackson was reported as being sighted in Liverpool – a photo appeared of him with a fan outside the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in a Liverpool Echo online article. https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/first-picture-samuel-l-jackson-23147048
All seemed to go quiet after that. Filming seemingly over, all that would remain would be dismantling and moving any equipment and vehicles. The St Helens Star belatedly ran an article about the filming https://www.sthelensstar.co.uk/news/19935160.samuel-l-jackson-emilia-clarke-filming-st-helens/
I want to thank my husband for venturing out in terrible weather to see what was happening and also to neighbour Andrew Quirke who was another valuable pair of eyes and ears and understood the thrill of having Marvel Studios descend on our town.
After nearly two weeks of filming I have a collection of images that don’t really show anything but are a record of something happening. What exactly that is we’re not quite sure…. and we won’t really know until the show airs, possibly in 2023. There will be so much post-production and computer magic that what we do see could be very different to what we imagine.
It’s been fascinating to watch and get a sense of the logistics and the huge number of people involved in such an operation. It was the size of a small military occupation that included crew bases, vehicles and security and not forgetting actors and supporting artists. They were here for about 3 weeks in total, with a bit of earlier preparation beforehand and a clear up afterwards.
For a while it was nice to be party to a secret (no pun intended) that the rest of the world didn’t seem to know about. The filming at the Piece Hall in Halifax had been far less contained and there was plenty of footage taken by curious bystanders, but the St Helens filming has largely passed under the radar. I think this blog will be most detailed account there is.
Sadly there were no sightings of Samuel L Jackson stopping by the Cricketer’s Arms Pub, Olivia Colman never visited the World of Glass and Emelia Clarke didn’t go to see a Rugby League match at Saints. We do know now that at least two of them would have been driven past our housing estate several times to get to set and that’s quite amusing. I also had a funny conversation with a relative when I asked them did they know what was happening in St Helens right now and they answered, ‘Alien invasion?’ as a joke and I was able to honestly answer “Yes!”
In summary, what did we learn about the St Helens filming?
- Large industrial location – lots of potential for internal and external scenes. Nothing to indicate what country it is so could be used to duplicate anywhere.
- Day and night filming possibly. Artificial lighting used to match night for day, inside and outside.
- Stunts – definitely some action scenes, spotted upside down vehicle, green screen, lighting effects.
- Cast – Emilia Clarke for certain, as she was on Merseyside at the right time, also Samuel L Jackson was seen in Liverpool. Nothing to confirm who else was on set here.
- Code name for filming is ‘Jambalaya’.
- When it finally hit the local press – Liverpool Echo/ St Helens Star no one had got any closer than we had.
- Liverpool Film Office is doing a fantastic job promoting the region, but they’ve kept silent on this filming https://www.liverpoolfilmoffice.tv/made-in-liverpool/
That was supposed to be the end of my blog as all that’s going on at the moment is the clearing of the site. My husband though, happened to be in the right place at the right time today (22nd February). He was taking some final pictures of the filming signage when he spotted a burnt-out, old fashioned green bus being driven past on a low-loader. He later checked his photos and spotted it in the background of one of them, clearly being driven out from the filming location by the B&Q roundabout. A substantial piece of set dressing, surely. We wonder if it will feature prominently in the show? We’ll just have to wait and see.
From scene to seen 