Keith and Paddy film Star Wars scenes in Heath and Reach

The films are set in a galaxy far, far away... but a Star Wars spoof airing on ITV1 on Saturday night has scenes shot in a Heath and Reach quarry!
The Keith and Paddy Picture Show, Saturday at 9:20pm on ITV.The Keith and Paddy Picture Show, Saturday at 9:20pm on ITV.
The Keith and Paddy Picture Show, Saturday at 9:20pm on ITV.

The Keith And Paddy Picture Show sees Keith Lemon and Paddy McGuinness pay tribute to their favourite movies of all time.

Each week they enlist the help of various celebrities to help them recreate the iconic films. Already they have done send-ups of Dirty Dancing and Ghostbusters, and on May 20 its the turn of Star Wars as the duo will appear alongside ex-Coronation Street actress Michelle Keegan (Princess Leia), Ant and Dec (Ewoks), Phillip Schofield (Yoda), David Dickinson (The Emperor) and Jeremy Kyle (as himself).

A trailer for the show, gives the clue that its Bryants Lane Quarry rather than dusty Tatooine that R2D2 and C3PO are travelling through on their way to Jabba’s Palace in a re-creation of a scene at the start of Return of the Jedi.

The Keith and Paddy Picture Show, Saturday at 9:20pm on ITV.The Keith and Paddy Picture Show, Saturday at 9:20pm on ITV.
The Keith and Paddy Picture Show, Saturday at 9:20pm on ITV.

Lemon (R2D2) states: “Looks good though don’t it Paddy. All of this...Looks like the film!”

Paddy (C3PO) responds: “You’d never think it was filmed in a quarry in Leighton Buzzard, would ya!”

Then a quarry digger drives from right to left across the camera shot to shatter the illusion, with the driver calling out “Morning!” and Keith responding “How do!”

An ITV spokesman confirmed that it was indeed Bryants Lane Quarry, and said the scenes were used at the beginning of the episode which airs at 9.20pm on Saturday, May 20.

The Keith and Paddy Picture Show, Saturday at 9:20pm on ITV.The Keith and Paddy Picture Show, Saturday at 9:20pm on ITV.
The Keith and Paddy Picture Show, Saturday at 9:20pm on ITV.

The quarry was also the location for filming at the start of May for a new TV series based on books by JK Rowling.

Reader Bob Iadarola, who sent the LBO some photos of the filming he witnessed, said he had been told the BBC was adapting The Cuckoo’s Calling for the small screen.

Until recently security has barred the public from seeing what goes on in the quarries during filming but the addition of the Reach Lane bridleway has changed all that giving walkers a front row seat to the action.

The Cuckoo’s Calling is part of the The Strike Series which sees private investigator Cormoran Strike hired to find out if a supermodel’s suicide in London may have been a murder.

Filming at the quarry for The Strike Series by JK Rowling (photo Bob Iadarola)Filming at the quarry for The Strike Series by JK Rowling (photo Bob Iadarola)
Filming at the quarry for The Strike Series by JK Rowling (photo Bob Iadarola)

A BBC spokesman said: “We shot a couple of days in Leighton Buzzard as part of The Strike Series coming to BBC One this summer, early Autumn. It stars Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger and is based on the books by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling).”

The filming is the latest in a long list of film and TV shows using the quarry location as a stand-in for the desert.

The Mummy Returns, The Da Vinci Code, BBC’s Our Girl, Agatha Christie’s Crooked House, and the Birds of a Feather’s 2016 Christmas special are just some examples.

LB Silica Sands has said it is not their policy to confirm filming but adds that the quarry is in regular demand from producers.