DCI Banks episode

[Joe Duxbury]

On Monday 2 December, there was a rerun of an episode 'Buried - Part One' of the DCI Banks series on ITV3. It featured 'the body of an eminent lawyer ... washed up by an underground river.' This series is set in Leeds. Is there such an underground river there? The brief shot of it looked very much like the Frome under Bristol.

 

[alanw]

Not Leeds, but there's an underground beck running under Bradford town centre. I've spoken with people who've been into it.

There are plaques in the pavement above, marking its course.

Walking Bradford's underground Beck | Marking Bradford Beck

markingbradfordbeck.org

 

[hannahb]

The Aire in Leeds runs below ground for a bit, at least below-buildings. It goes through the dark arches.

 

[Ane]

Meanwood Beck runs in a culvert under most of the city centre, exiting near Leeds Docks

 

[mikem]

WATCH: Follow the route of Leeds's hidden underground river

Did you know that a secret underground river runs beneath the heart of Leeds?

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk

 

[Lankyman]

It goes through the dark arches.

This sounds very Tolkienesque?

 

[mikem]

This sounds very Tolkienesque?

"The Bowels of Leeds Railway Station

The Dark Arches of Leeds channel Yorkshire's ancient River Aire, which froths and churns against its stony constraints deep underneath the bustling modern railway station. There's something incredibly enticing about these secret subterranean vaults, especially when they are so invitingly guarded with gates and fences!" - Flickr link

https://flic.kr/p/947DqX

 

[pwhole]

I helped do a drone inspection and 3D survey in Dark Arches last year:

 

[Tim Pickering]

The Dark Arches is where you used to be able to find a whole load of interesting shops and market stalls, exotic food, incense, and punks.

 

[mikem]

Redeveloped about 20 years ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Leeds/comments/1e7dk91

 

[Tim Pickering]

Redeveloped about 20 years ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Leeds/comments/1e7dk91

Oh, now I feel old!

 

[Mrs Trellis]

Peter Robinson's DCI Banks series are excellent reads. Such a shame there won't be any more.

 

[AR]

The Dark Arches is where you used to be able to find a whole load of interesting shops and market stalls, exotic food, incense, and punks.

I suspect like the Piece Hall in Halifax, the owners looked at the footfall when there's a load of small, oddball, but great shops and stalls and hiked the rents up, resulting just another bland corporate outlet/generic eatery collection as the quirky traders who can't afford big rents moved out.

 

[kay]

Yeah, Leeds had the Dark Arches and the Corn Exchange and now they're bland identikit shops. Dark Arches used to be my favourite spot in Leeds - it really was dark along there, with just some dim lights far in the distance, and then suddenly you were on an underground bridge looking at the swirling rushing water. There was also a weird carpark among some of the Dark Arches, you went in along a tunnel, through a single arch, then had to weave in and out of pillars and arches in search of a space. But it was cheaper than above ground.

Piece Hall I remember from its days of decline, when there was a dragon/incense/new age/goth shop in one corner, and a few other shops which were usually closed. It needed something doing, but not turning into a twee upmarket tourist trap. And I can see the adjoining Square Chapel has better facilities, but I don't like it as much. (I think I'm getting old)

But they've done one nice thing in Leeds- the S entrance to the railway station, where you're suddenly at the top of an escalator with panoramic views.

 

[alastairgott]

Peter Robinson's DCI Banks series are excellent reads. Such a shame there won't be any more.

Second that! Based on similar places in Yorkshire but with legally different names, yet the main town where the series is based is “not too far from leeds”. Gallows view one of the first books gives maps of the town and locality, in the latest book I’m reading (about two narrow boats being set on fire in the dead end of a canal where they were inhabited by homeless locals) Peter goes to explain that the streets of the old town (in particular gallows view) has been obliterated to make way for high rises.

Suffice to say it’s almost like reality in the book, but ever so slightly adjusted, where the author gives themselves poetic license to change the landscape in the book to fit the narrative.

The depth with which the music, landscape, buildings and characters are described, particularly in the early books really draws you in. Last night I listened to Jackie Wilson said by van Morrison. Because the author mentioned banks had it on in the car trying to dispel some January blues.

 

[Mrs Trellis]

If you're interested in crime fiction in familiar locations try Val McDermid's "Place of Execution" set in the Peak District with some of the action in a lead mine.

 

[Mrs Trellis]

....and also Stephen Booth's Cooper & Fry series set all over the Peak District including Castleton & Peak Cavern (One Last Breath) and Lathkill Dale (Dead in the Dark).

 

[Mrs Trellis]

Just fyi Val M's "A Place of Execution" got to number 42 in last week's Sunday Times list of top 50 modern classics.