The Phoenix and the Carpet

Filming the Phoenix

Lawrence Edwards

photo by Paul Misso

Filming a BBC mini-series

By Carolyn Sansbury

In 1997, the BBC filmed part of their TV mini-series The Phoenix and the Carpet in Powis Square.   For several weeks we were transported back in time to the early 1900s, with no parked cars, fake cobblestones on the roads, and Victorian lacy curtains in all the windows. From time to time, a horse-drawn cab would clip-clop by.

Bea Geear (sadly no longer with us) particularly liked the horse.  She would stand on her doorstep with an apple in her hand. The horse stood ready to trot down the square and deliver the rolled-up carpet with the fabulous phoenix egg concealed in it. Bea waited until the director had everything ready, and when he shouted “SHOOT”, that was when she offered the apple to the horse!