UPDATE: Jack (John Simm) searches for his missing wife Amy in Seattle in the second episode of Intruders. He looks at the photos on her phone trying to find clues about where she’s been. He meets up with her cabbie who dropped her off at a condo (played by the W tower) where they are assaulted by two men who’ve been shadowing Jack since he went to Amy’s law offices.
BBC America series Intruders turned a block west of Vancouver’s Waterfront station into Seattle yesterday, confusing tourists and locals alike with a big green Seattle City St. Patrick’s Day 10K Run banner on the pedestrian overpass to Granville Plaza. The banner, Seattle area cabs, a Seattle Police Department squad car and paid extras walking on both sides of the street turned out to be background for a scene of lead character Jack Whelan (Brit actor John Simm) sitting in an old beater car from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. The Master has enviable bladder control.
The eight-part series is about a secret society whose members aim to live forever by hijacking other people’s bodies, based on the 2007 Michael Marshall novel The Intruders. Cop-turned-writer Jack Whelan (John Simm) leaves Los Angeles for the Pacific Northwest in a bid to escape a dark past, but his sins comes back to haunt him when his wife Amy (Mira Sorvino) goes missing. Do the Intruders have her? Yes they do.
Intruders has an interesting cast and creative team: Lead John Simm is best-known for his role as the barking-mad The Master, the nemesis of David Tennant’s Doctor Who. Can we ask for a cameo appearance from The Doctor? Tennant is currently filming Gracepoint in the greater Victoria area. Simm also played the lead in two other great Brit series: Life on Mars and State of Play. Meanwhile, Oscar winner Mira Sorvino has the fun challenge of playing two characters in one body. And Intruders showrunner Glen Morgan is an X-Files alumnus who knows exactly how creepy Vancouver can be on screen.
[Update: The Price Waterhouse tower on the far right plays Amy’s law offices at least on the outside.]
This Seattle police backgrounder performed for the locals and posed for photos between takes.
Most of the people walking down Cordova are backgrounders.
Late afternoon overhead shot from Granville Plaza of the scene below with John Simm double in the car.
Confusion about what city we’re in.
Related: BBC America Series Intruders Starts Filming February 24th.
Jack Whelan (John Simm) had another car scene, this time at night in a Seattle cab parked outside Waterfront station.
Production then moved up to Granville Plaza to film exterior dialogue scenes. No vehicle in sight.
Intruders is expected to film in Vancouver until early June.
Ok, being from Seattle, am I the only one who noticed how terribly innacurate the vinyls up the side of the “SPD” car were? I thought it was cute the BBC tried though 🙂 This is a good show so far! But Dr. Who is better 😉