Paddington Station, W2

Paddington Station, which serves Worcester and the West of England. is one of the truly great railway buildings, consisting of three vast arched spaces as awe-inspiring as any cathedral. Take a moment to admire the swirling ironwork of the arches and the Moorish balconies. The station was built in 1853 from designs by the ubiquitous Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It’s now the terminus for the Heathrow Express, which will whisk you off to London’s main air terminal at top speed every 15 minutes.

Mrs Benson collects the body of her husband, murdered in Northern Ireland while doing a spot of work for Geoff Hughes, from Paddington at the beginning of The Long Good Friday. The station can be seen in the 1947 suspenser The October Man, with John Mills. It was, of course, the point of departure for Miss Marple (Margaret Rutherford) in the 1961 Agatha Christie mystery Murder, She Said (as the story it’s based on is called 4.50 From Paddington).

In 1965, Julie Christie and Dirk Bogarde lie to their respective spouses from a phone box in the station, before sneaking off to a hotel, in John Schlesinger’s Darling. But, although the real Paddington Station is glimpsed in Performance, the buffet where Chas (James Fox) – on the lam after a spot of freelance violence – overhears the address of Turner’s house, was that of Olympia Station in West Kensington.

Paddington Station
Heathrow Express

The Long Good Friday (1980, dir: John Mackenzie)
Performance (1970, dir: Donald Cammell, Nicolas Roeg)
Darling (1965, dir: John Schlesinger)
Murder, She Said (1961, dir: George Pollock)
The October Man (1947, dir: Roy Ward Baker)