Tag Archives: UK

Iconic London

This shot was used to set the scene in London, in an episode of ‘Bones’ from season 4:

Bones season 4

More phones on the screen

Cold Weather (2010)

Cold Weather (2010)

The Blacklist

The Blacklist

Spooks (season 1)

Spooks (season 1)

Seven days in May (1964)

Seven days in May (1964)

New use for old style

Need juice? Mobile-charging phone boxes planned across London

This week’s best city stories from around the web explore an initiative to transform phone boxes into free mobile-charging hubs across the UK capital, critique New York’s proposed ferry network, celebrate sidewalk gardening in LA and discover the world’s first artificially-cooled outdoor plaza…

(story from The Guardian online)

In the news

I’m sure I woke yesterday to the news that the UK phone box design had won an award but I couldn’t find a recent story – this link is older news but still relevant

Design Museum adds red phone box to collection

And some more phones on tv…

Arrow

Arrow

Fortitude

Fortitude

Bones (S2 I think)

Bones (S2 I think)

Phone box library

As a former librarian I warm to this story.

Phone box library closure threat angers residents

Book lovers who turned a red phone box into a makeshift library are angry after BT threatened to shut it down due to health and safety fears…

Icon not function

I work/volunteer at the British Museum. Out the front are a few phone boxes and often there will be tourists standing in the open door of the booth getting their photos taken. I don’t know if the phones in the booth work but I think the iconic nature of the boxes is of far more value that the functionality, specifically in a popular tourist location.

Here is a celebrity getting her photo in a phone booth. It works for everyone I guess…

showbiz-kim-kardashian-love-magazine

More tv

Agatha Christie's Miss Marple

Agatha Christie's Miss Marple

Transparent

Transparent

X-Files, John Doe

X-Files, John Doe

The Intruders

The Intruders

The Intruders

The Intruders

Toast of London (after losing his mobile at an audition)

Toast of London (after losing his mobile at an audition)

Tenderden, Kent

UK, Tenderden

and some more…

Ok so I understand why I see phone boxes in older tv shows and films, but they are still a feature in many current plots such as The Blacklist (USA), The Code (Australia) and Being Human (USA). You’d be forgiven for thinking that the popularity of the mobile phone would mean that the phone box would disappear from many cultural products, but not so.

The Blacklist (S2)

The Blacklist (S2)

The Code

The Code

Being Human (USA, S3)

Being Human (USA, S3)

The X-Files - The Amazing Maleeni

The X-Files – The Amazing Maleeni

The X-Files - Trevor

The X-Files – Trevor

The X-Files - Roadrunners

The X-Files – Roadrunners

The X-Files - Surekill

The X-Files – Surekill

More viewing

Perhaps I watch too much TV but here are some more from the past.

Dark Skies (1996)

Dark Skies (1996)

Noah's Castle (1979)

Noah’s Castle (1979)