Nanjizal Bay Adventure

Apr 25, 2026

A photograph of the view from inside a cave, the entrance of which frames the image, looking out onto a beach and the sea. Superimposed on the left are two strips of tele-snaps (small monochrome off-screen images) from Dr Who & The Smugglers showing some of the story’s location work around Nanjizal Bay. In the bottom right is the text ‘Wish you were here!’, making the image look a bit like a postcard.

Nanjizal Bay must be one of the most spectacular, and most inaccessible, of Doctor Who’s filming locations on the UK mainland.

I’m not a visitor of locations by habit and my trip to Nanjizal Bay came about essentially on the spur of the moment. Four years ago, myself and my friend Chris (also a fan) were enjoying a short break close to Land’s End in Cornwall when we found ourselves with a few spare hours on a sunny Spring afternoon. It occurred to one of us during a pub lunch that parts of The Smugglers had been filmed in the area and we wondered if it might be possible to visit one of the locations.

When The Smugglers’ location work was filmed in June 1966, it was the furthest the series had ever been from its base in London – by several hundred miles. Only a handful of previous stories had enjoyed any location filming and this all took place in London or the home counties, and was usually very limited in scope. The Smugglers was different. Director Julia Smith knew Cornwall well and took the cast and crew as far south-west of London as it was possible to go without getting on a boat. Although, come to think of it, they did that too.

After a little googling, we decided to visit the beach where the TARDIS lands next to a cave. This was Nanjizal Beach at Nanjizal Bay, where the crew had spent the first two of their five filming days. This turned out to be about as remote a place as you could find in the south west of England. We set off with the benefit of directions from Google Maps. And here we came unstuck.

Google Maps indicated a road that would take us to some houses close to the bay. However, this proved to be a private road and firmly shut off at the top end. Further investigation indicated that the bay was accessible only on foot via short stretches of the amazing 630-mile South West Coast Path, either from Land’s End to the north or from Porthgwarra to the south. Undeterred, we chose the latter, probably because it offered the shorter route and we’d already been to Land’s End.

The drive down to Porthgwarra entailed navigating a long, winding and delightfully rustic road (read: narrow and terrifying when oncoming traffic appeared). Having survived the descent, we raided the small café by the car park (which was trying to close) for ice cream and other refreshments before setting off on foot under a gloriously warm sun and clear sky.

The walk offered views of the beautiful Cornish coast and, on such a nice day, was a pleasure in itself. That said, we did start to flag after the half-way point as we rounded another headland, hoping to be in view of Nanjizal, only to find that there at least one more headland between us and our goal. The distance was only about two miles but it felt much longer as the path was, of course, rocky and uneven as it traversed rugged terrain. Here’s a couple of views from the path:

A photograph of a rugged coastal landscape of grass, rocks and a path, with a glimpse of sea to the left, under a nice blue sky with a little cloud to the left.

A photograph of a rugged coastal landscape of grass and rocks, looking down into a bay of very blue sea.

The final approach to the bay was made down narrow steps cut into a sharp rocky incline, beneath which was a short wooden staircase onto the beach itself. In 1966, the Doctor Who team must have had an arrangement for access to the private road, so they at least didn’t need to walk two miles with all their equipment. Even so, the final approach to the beach would have involved a steep climb down into the bay itself and crossing rocks to get to the beach, which must have posed a challenge to those tasked with carrying the TARDIS prop.

Given its remoteness, the beach was quiet and essentially untouched by human influence, bar the aforementioned wooden stairs. Naturally, nearly 60 years of erosion by sea and weather meant that the rocks and cliffs weren’t exactly as they had been in 1966 (as far as we could tell from the murky tele-snap images which were all we had to go on), but the location was essentially unchanged. Chris and I had a lovely time admiring the scenery, poking about in the cave, and trying to recreate the tele-snaps which feature the beach. The best of my attempts are below, after the relevant tele-snaps, but note that the tide was higher when we visited than when the filming was undertaken.

A monochrome photograph taken from a television screen showing the view from inside a cave, the entrance of which frames the image, looking out onto a beach and the sea in the distance.

A photograph of the view from inside a cave, the entrance of which frames the image, looking out onto a beach and the sea.

A monochrome photograph taken from a television screen showing a cave entrance from the outside with the TARDIS prop next to it with its door open and an indistinct white-skinned figure peering out.

A photograph of a cave-mouth in a sandy-coloured cliff.

A monochrome photograph taken from a television screen showing two men in 17th century dress lugging contraband up a beach at low tide.

A photograph of the transition from a rocky beach to the sea, with sunlight reflecting on the water and the end of a headland in the distance on the right of the image.

A monochrome photograph taken from a television screen showing a small group of men in 17th century dress, one on horseback, looking towards a coastal bay from a position approaching a clifftop.

A monochrome photograph taken from a television screen showing a small group of men in 17th century dress, one holding a horse, approaching a coastal bay from a nearby clifftop.

A photograph of a small coastal bay surrounded with cliffs, grassed at the top, with a small beach of sand and rocks giving way to a deep-blue sea.

We must have spent nearly an hour on the beach, relaxing after the trek and just enjoying the scenery. We encountered only one other person, a solitary walker who had come from the other direction and stopped briefly on the beach. She was not, I suspect, aware of the beach’s significance to The Smugglers and we did not hurry to enlighten her.

Eventually, we retraced our steps back to Porthgwarra, cutting a corner at the end by using the access road for the local National Coastwatch Institution outpost to short circuit the final steep descent towards the car park. The day was getting on by this point and the sun was starting to dim. Stupidly, I’d left my sun hat in the car so as well as a little footsore I ended the day rather sunburnt.

The trek had been worthwhile. Chris and I were delighted to have visited this little-known location, essentially untouched since William Hartnell and co filmed there. And aside from its Doctor Who connection, it is a stunning part of the country, well worth seeing for its natural beauty. If you find yourself towards the far end of Cornwall, and you can manage a good walk, I’d recommend giving it a visit.

The Hidden Planet

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