Anyone recognise this? Curved corridor, abandoned phone ringing

HareBrain

HareBrain

Smeerp of Wonder
Staff member
Supporter
Joined
Oct 13, 2008
Messages
13,597
Location
West Sussex, UK
There's a scene keeps playing in my mind at the moment, a sort of eyeworm, that I think is from a TV series between 15-25 years ago. A phone (with an actual dial, I think) is ringing relentlessly in a dusty, abandoned office which is one of many either side of a curved corridor in some kind of administrative building. Clearly it hasn't been used for many years. I think the suggestion is that the office only exists to house this phone. Eventually it is answered, and this is an important moment in the series (or maybe film) in question.

Anyone know what this is? I think it might be the X Files, but I can't place it and Google is no help.
 
When you say curved corridor do you mean than it has vertical walls and horizontal ceiling and floor but it leads around a curve? Or do you mean that the corridor is kind of tube shaped but leads in a straight line?
 
Narkalui said:
When you say curved corridor do you mean than it has vertical walls and horizontal ceiling and floor but it leads around a curve?
Click to expand...

Yes. And as far as I remember the walls are a mix of grey paint and glass windows (which look into the individual offices). There's nothing SFF about the corridor itself, BTW, it's just in some kind of possibly circular building. I'm pretty sure it's set in the US.

Jo Zebedee said:
Sounds quite Sapphire and Steel-ish
Click to expand...

Far later than that, alas.
 
I know exactly which scene you’re talking about, and I have no idea what it’s from.

Happy to (be of no) help.
 
HareBrain said:
Yes. And as far as I remember the walls are a mix of grey paint and glass windows (which look into the individual offices). There's nothing SFF about the corridor itself, BTW, it's just in some kind of possibly circular building. I'm pretty sure it's set in the US.
Click to expand...

The straight tube corridor sounded familiar, maybe X-Files. Sorry, can't help you with this one...
 
My first thought, like Jo's, was Sapphire and Steel, but then my mind turned to one of my favourite miniseries ever, Edge of Darkness. There is a scene, where running for his life Craven (Bob Peck) makes a call to a dusty office in an almost disused bunker/basement(?), with long corridors, windows looking into them, glass panels in doors. UK setting, but with some US actors.

Pretty much everything you describe chimes with my memory of that scene, which is pivotal in the story.

It is one of the eeriest, and worrying thrillers ever, even now, although has some (necessary) stress-relieving chuckles in it.
 
Last edited:
Abernovo said:
My first thought, like Jo's, was Sapphire and Steel, but then my mind turned to one of my favourite miniseries ever, Edge of Darkness. There is a scene, where running for his life Craven (Bob Peck) makes a call to a dusty office in an almost disused bunker/basement(?), with long corridors, windows looking into them, glass panels in doors. UK setting, but with some US actors.

Pretty much everything you describe chimes with my memory of that scene, which is pivotal in the story.

It is one of the eeriest, and worrying thrillers ever, even now, although has some (necessary) stress-relieving chuckles in it.
Click to expand...

Aargh! That sounds like the perfect answer, except I've never seen it! (Though it sounds like I should.)
 
Abernovo said:
My first thought, like Jo's, was Sapphire and Steel, but then my mind turned to one of my favourite miniseries ever, Edge of Darkness. There is a scene, where running for his life Craven (Bob Peck) makes a call to a dusty office in an almost disused bunker/basement(?), with long corridors, windows looking into them, glass panels in doors. UK setting, but with some US actors.

Pretty much everything you describe chimes with my memory of that scene, which is pivotal in the story.

It is one of the eeriest, and worrying thrillers ever, even now, although has some (necessary) stress-relieving chuckles in it.
Click to expand...
I believe the line was Get me Pendleton!!
 
Vladd67 said:
Found it, it was Carlsberg
Click to expand...

Thank you!!!

I could have sworn it was a US setting, and the phone was ringing for ages, and I was 90% sure it was the X Files, but what you've found is definitely what I was thinking of. Clever ad, too.

Do you know what year it was, by any chance?

TheDustyZebra said:
I know exactly which scene you’re talking about, and I have no idea what it’s from.
Click to expand...

I assume it wasn't the same thing, in the end? I can't imagine you would have seen that advert.
 
There was a similar bit in Edge of Darkness when Craven was being chased through the caves that made up a nuclear storage area, he hides out in an old control room and makes a call on an old phone that seems to be linked to a phone in a forgotten office in the MOD.
 
Ah, actually I have seen Edge of Darkness, but forgot. I mistook it for Doomwatch, which I know I haven't. EoD had the mad American with the plutonium, right?

I think the US-style police siren at the very start of the ad (possible quite rare in the UK then) might be the reason my brain linked it with America. Also, it's the kind of scene that ought to be in every conspiracy-type show like X Files. But it seems very likely now that EoD was in there too, somewhere. Funny how the memory (doesn't) work.
 
Vladd67 said:
I believe the line was Get me Pendleton!!
Click to expand...
That was it.
HareBrain said:
Ah, actually I have seen Edge of Darkness, but forgot. I mistook it for Doomwatch, which I know I haven't. EoD had the mad American with the plutonium, right?
Click to expand...
Yes, you have EoD* bang to rights, re the kind of mad American.

*Considering the subject matter of that series, the acronym is apt. I know it's not explosive per se, but it go boom! ;)
HareBrain said:
I think the US-style police siren at the very start of the ad (possible quite rare in the UK then) might be the reason my brain linked it with America. Also, it's the kind of scene that ought to be in every conspiracy-type show like X Files. But it seems very likely now that EoD was in there too, somewhere. Funny how the memory (doesn't) work.
Click to expand...
Glad you found the answer. That was very similar to the scene I was thinking of. Great advert, which I'd never seen before.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
althea Has anyone read the Conn Iggulden series - Empire of Salt? Classic SF&F 0
D Does anyone know any Pantheon Comparison lists or charts out there? History 2
A Can anyone help me recognise this PKD book? Phillip K Dick 2
K Anyone recognise this film? General Film Discussion 5
R Anyone recognise this? disease cure caused infertility, gender morphing offspring Book Search 2

Similar threads


Back
Top