In September, 2017, I was invited by BBC North to take part in the filming of a short documentary
about my father and Dan Dare. My contribution was filmed in Southport at the Atkinson Art Gallery
and in the Old Bakehouse, the original Dan Dare studio. I'd never seen inside the Bakehouse
before so this was particularly interesting for me. Not only were the original butler's sink and
concrete floor still there but amazingly, so was the original owner - now well into his nineties – who,
in 1950, had rented the studio to my dad for 1/6d a week. It was easy to picture my father and his
team of artists jammed into that small place, battling to meet publisher's deadlines!
The programme was shown on the Inside Out Northwest programme on Monday October 2nd
2017
Inside Out BBC Northwest Mini Documentary
Filming inside The
Atkinson Gallery -
myself and
interviewer, actor
and presenter
Simon O Brien.