SPACE WASHBOARDS - PART 2

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It’s been a while since this has happened, but my recent post about these washboard like metal panels prompted people to get in touch to suggest more stuff. So here it is Space Washboards - Part 2.

RED DWARF: SERIES VI, 1993

@md05.bsky.social has been a massive supporter of this blog, regularly supplying suggestions. For these metal boards they mentioned they had been part of the Starbug set in Red Dwarf. You can see the tell tale circular holes at the top of the image.
SHADA, 1979

@markaldridge.info sent me this photo of the studio set up for Shada. At the top of the image you can see a grouping of washboards. These do not feature in any of the completed Shada footage so Mark suggested the maybe part of the studio lighting rig. And then I was checking back through old Bluesky notifications and realised @beeblepete.bsky.social had already sent me this some time ago. Like Mark, Pete suggested they could have been some kind of studio equipment. He suggested they might be lighting grid reflectors or sound baffles. That sent me looking at pictures of studios and vintage behind the scenes footage to see if I could find them hanging from ceilings. But as it turns out….
SHADA, 2017

…. they are props after all. The image above is from the 2017 Shada release and was an especially shot new scene. In an blog post for Nothing at the End of the Lane, Charles Norton describes how he thinks the panels were present in the studio in 1979 because they were intended to be used in a scene where K9 holds back a Krarg. This was not completed at the time but they were able to film this for this new release.
IMAGE ©️ JOHN KELLY, 2017

And here’s a behind the scenes photo from that 2017 filming. Barnaby Edwards is in the Krarg suit. Mike Tucker was actually able to source the original washboard panels that had been used in the 1970’s and 80’s as these belong to prop house The Trading Post.
ALIEN, 1979

The Nothing at the End of the Lane article also mentions the panels can be seen in Alien. After a bit of searching I think I have found them here. Like the Red Dwarf image, it’s the circles that give them away. You can see them on the left. 














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