The Persuaders! - Bromma Airport, Stockholm

In the 19th episode of The Persuaders! called "The Morning After", Brett wakes up in his suite at Grand Hôtel in Stockholm, covered earlier. He discovers that he has married a woman during what appears to have been a very wet previous night. When Brett takes a flight back to London, he leaves Stockholm from Bromma Airport, Stockholm's city airport.

Bromma Airport is located only 7 kilometers from the city centre and is closest to the city compared to all the other commercial airports in Stockholm. It was opened in 1936, by King Gustav V, when Stockholm urgently needed a proper airport and it was the first airport in Europe to have paved runways from the start. During World War II Swedish and British aircraft flew to the United Kingdom from Bromma Airport.

Bromma Airport around 1972

Bromma Airport in 2018

However the runway of Bromma was too short for the jet age and for intercontinental traffic in the 1960's (e.g. DC-8), and the capacity limit of Bromma could be foreseen. Therefore Stockholm Arlanda Airport was built. The flight between Stockholm and London in 1972, at the time of filming of The Persuaders! would most likely have taken off from Arlanda. Even though there are several international flights from Bromma today, there are no flights to London.

It is unlikely that any of the principle cast ever were in Stockholm for the filming, since neither Sir Roger nor Curtis are seen outdoors. The interior scenes in the episode were most likely shot in Pinewood with a back projection from various Stockholm locations. Interestingly enough, the back projection from the airport shows airplane hangars from Stockholm's largest airport, Arlanda instead of Bromma. A DC-9 airplane from Scandinavian Airlines is briefly seen in the background.

We do not learn which airline Lord Brett is using, although a billboard from SAS is visible in the terminal in one scene as well as the DC-9 from SAS.

The old terminal building in 2018

At present there is a political campaign run by the environmental party, presently in power, to close down the airport, although there is a strong resistance against it. Hopefully the airport will remain open for many many years to come, because where else would Lord Sinclair land the next time?

The Persuaders! - Djurgårdsbron

In honour of Sir Roger Moore, who celebrates his birthday today, I will make yet another post from The Persuaders! and the episode that starts off in the Capital of Scandinavia. 

The first part of the episode "The morning after" takes place in Stockholm where Lord Sinclair wakes up at Grand Hôtel discovering he is married. 

Brett and Danny are on their way to the parish office (covered earlier) in a taxi and during the ride we see one of the most exclusive parts of the city. They are driven across Djurgårdsbron over to Djurgården, or 'The Royal Game Park'. The name stems from the game park of King Johan III, which he created in 1579. Since the 15th century the Swedish monarch has owned or held the right of disposition of Royal Djurgården. In the early 19th century, Djurgården developed into a stately residential area when a few foreign dignitaries were given some exclusive land plots. 

In the background you see the buildings along the boulevard Strandvägen, one of the most prestigious addresses in Stockholm along with Djurgården. The boulevard Strandvägen and the bridge to Djurgården were constructed just in time for the Stockholm World's fair in 1897. Part of the bridge and Strandvägen are visible behind Brett and Danny when riding in the taxi. The building used as the parish office is located in the opposite direction so ultimately they are going the wrong way.

This area, including Djurgården is truly a beautiful part of Stockholm and a walk along Strandvägen is highly recommended. If you continue down Strandvägen you will ultimately reach the commercial center and the Royal Dramatic Theatre.

Congratulations to Sir Roger Moore who turns 86 today, 14 October 2013!  

To one of the nicest persons in the world, long may he live! 

The Persuaders! - Stockholm City Hall / School of Economics

"Parish Office, please enter" 

As I've covered earlier, an episode of The Persuaders! takes place in Stockholm when Lord Sinclair is there visiting a lady friend. A woman who has just become Lady Sinclair without Brett's consent... In order to find  out whether the marriage between Brett and Kristin is legitimate, Brett  and Danny take a taxi to the parish office, apparently housed in the City  Hall in Stockholm. The building is called "the civic building" in the episode.

The first half of the episode "The morning after" was partly filmed in Stockholm, even though it is unlikely that Curtis and Moore were on location since they only have interior scenes in Stockholm. However the building that was used as Stockholm City Hall is really the Stockholm School of Economics, one of the leading business schools in Europe, founded in 1909. Designed by Ivar Tengbom the building was modeled after an Italian renaissance palace and was constructed between 1925-1926.

The large building with the cylinder structure visible in the background is the Stockholm Public Library, constructed in 1928. With its abstract design, this is one of the most notable buildings in Stockholm.

The two buildings are located along Sveavägen at number 65 and 73 right in the Stockholm city center. The subway station Rådmansgatan is located between the two buildings.

The building in the picture below is the real City Hall, which should have been used for the exterior shots had they wanted to show the real building.

Stockholm City Hall

The Persuaders! - Stockholm, Sweden

Wilde arrives in a limousine taxi

Even though Sweden has been well represented in the Bond girl department throughout the series, Sweden itself has not yet featured as a Bond location. However, Stockholm was the destination for Lord Brett Sinclair and Danny Wilde in an episode of The Persuaders! 1971. Today, our King Carl XVI Gustaf celebrates 40 years on the Swedish throne, therefore I could not resist to do a special post about one of the few Swedish locations with a Bond connection.



After his huge success with The Saint, Sir Roger Moore starred with Tony Curtis in The Persuaders!. Sir Roger chose to do only one season of The Persuaders! since he suspected that he would get the Bond role when Connery finally stepped down from the official series.

In the episode "The morning after" of The Persuaders!, Lord Brett Sinclair wakes up in his hotel room at Grand Hôtel and realizes that he has acquired a wife the night before. Wilde who has been in Finland on business has received a telegram from Brett, asking him to be the best man. Brett's "new wife", Kristin, is played by Catherine Schell, who of course played Nancy in On Her Majesty's Secret Service a few years earlier, so there are several Bond connections to the series.

Grand Hôtel entrance. The National Museum is visible in the background.

Although not being a Bond location in any of the films, Stockholm was the place where Bond killed a Norwegian double agent in the Casino Royale novel in order to receive his double 0 status. Sadly in the film, Craig's second assassination takes place in Prague instead of Stockholm.

"I've got the corpses of a Japanese cipher expert in New York and a Norwegian double agent in Stockholm to thank for being a Double 0."

                                        -Bond to Vesper in Casino Royale, chapter 9 "The game is Baccarat"-

Lord Bret Sinclair is staying at Grand Hôtel in Stockholm, one of the finest hotels in Sweden and the only Swedish hotel that is a member of "Leading Hotels of the World". It is therefore not a surprise that this was the hotel of choice for Lord Sinclair. Wilde arrives and they set out to find the truth about Lord Sinclair's supposedly new wife. Grand Hôtel is located close to the national museum on Blaiseholmen, a peninsula in the Stockholm city centre. Opposite the hotel on the other side of the water is the Royal Palace.  The construction of the hotel started in 1872 and was completed in 1874. Since 1901, all the Nobel Prize laureates with families have been guests at the hotel.

Sweden's last contribution to the Bond series was of course Ola Rapace who played the assassin Patrice in Skyfall and Jens Hultén, another Swedish actor who got into some deep water with Craig in one of the final scenes in Scotland. As one of the most beautiful capitals in Europe, one can only hope that Bond will visit Stockholm in the future. The city was prominently featured in "The girl with the dragon tattoo" starring Craig and hopefully the Bond producers will realize Stockholm's potential as a Bond location.
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In the Casino Royale novel, Bond describes his assassination of the Japanese cipher expert and the Norwegian agent when talking to Mathis in chapter 20.
"... It was a pretty sound job. Nice and clean too. Three hundred yards away. No personal contact. The next time in Stockholm wasn't so pretty. I had to kill a Norwegian who was doubling against us for the Germans. He'd managed to get two of our men captured - probably bumped off for all I know. For various reasons it had to be an absolutely silent job. I chose the bedroom of his flat and a knife. And, well, he just didn't die very quickly. For those two jobs I was awarded a Double 0 number in the Service. Felt pretty clever and got a reputation for being good and tough. A double 0 number in our Service means you've had to kill a chap in cold blood in the course of some job.

-Bond to Mathis, chapter 20, "The nature of evil"-

The parallel with Bond's two killings in the pre-title sequence of Casino Royale is obvious, even though the story has been changed slightly.