Painted Boats appreciates the gentle rhythm of traditional canal life, whereas Ted's ambition is to get off the canals and into mainstream life at the earliest opportunity. World War II intrudes when Ted is called up for military service, leaving the future for the pair uncertain. Location filming took place on the 20-mile stretch of the Grand Union Canal between Stoke Bruerne and Braunston in Northamptonshire, including the Blisworth Tunnel – at 1.75 miles (2.82 km) in length, the third-longest canal tunnel in Britain. Insert shots feature the industrial landscape of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, the famous Anderton Boat Lift in Cheshire and
Eyre's Tunnel passes above the tunnel. Eyre's Tunnel Eyre's tunnel or Lisson Grove Tunnel is a short canal tunnel on the Regent's Canal that passes under Lisson Grove in St John's Wood, north London and opened in 1816. It is only 48 metres long. The two other tunnels on the Regent's Canal are Islington Tunnel and Maida Hill Tunnel. Unlike the other tunnels, Eyre's Tunnel has a (now fenced) towpath. The tunnel was originally known as Eyre's Tunnel due to its passing beneath land belonging to Richard Eyre, a local landowner. Lisson Grove is a more recent usage clearly following the renaming