Grasshopper Island News

By now we had experienced many wonderful days reflecting on the success of our “Blue Button Expedition”, or Grasshopper Island Pilgrimage as we had begun to view it. Back at our base in Calvi we had acquired the evening habit of sitting with a plate of brocciu cheese and mortadella luncheon meat, coaxed down with an accompanying glass of rosé. On this occasion the sun was just beginning to kiss the rooftops of Calvi. It's Genoese fortress – the Citadel – becoming a silhouette against a haze of oranges and crimson as we too basked in the colours of our success. Admiring this captivating view, our thoughts turned to finding some of the last remaining Grasshopper Island locations. The next day as we walked to wait for the train we noticed something interesting. As mentioned already, we had grown very fond of U Trinicellu , the narrow gauge railcars that ran along the coast. Occasionally along the route, old railway station houses were left standing, some still in use while others

The beach is a location which features prominently in Grasshopper Island. The spot where Toughy, Smarty and Mouse are seen celebrating their arrival to the “uninhabited Island”. This beach first appears in Episode 2 entitled The Elderly Boy . So naturally, finding this location was uppermost in our minds. As it happens – this location was the easiest one to find. While building our fan website – grasshopperisland.net – Uli had the idea of writing to Joy Whitby and was delighted to receive her support. Over the course of several emails, both he and I had opportunity to ask some specific questions about the production. Joy was very amiable and gave us some insight into how the TV production and the storybook came about. We were fascinated to learn that the majority of the production took place in Haute Corse (Northern Corsica). However some of the very early beach scenes, those featuring tall sand dunes and a tumbling Charles Hawtrey ( The Elderly Boy ), were actually filmed on a beach