Back in the winter of 2010, the Emerica UK team consisting of Tom Knox, Rory Milanes and Chris Ault, along with fellow cohorts from the European roster Rob Maatman and Eniz Fazliov, teamed up with photographer Dom Marley and filmer Dan Magee for a one-off covert skate mission on the London Underground.

Taking inspiration from a Wig Worland photo of Mike Manzoori skating in the corridors of Holland Park station in the summer of 1998 for Mike’s ‘Day in the Life’ feature, Dom, along with Dan Magee on filming duties, descended into the London Underground with the aforementioned assembled Emerica crew and spent two days exploring its skateboarding potential. Using pared down rigs meant that Dan and Dom drew the least attention to themselves possible throughout the shoot, with the whole crew constantly on the lookout for pedestrians, Tube workers and members of the public.

“We were making definite efforts to be as quiet and as safe as we could about it…at the end of the day we were just a few dudes with skateboards and cameras and it’s not like we were doing anything really stupid like skating the platforms…”

“We kept it safe, we didn’t take any risks, we avoided any unpleasant interactions and came out of it with an idea turned into reality; I mean, what more could I have asked for?” – Dom Marley.

The Tube is a forbidden zone and should stay that way for everyone’s sake, but nonetheless, it’s reassuring to know that even in a city riddled with Big Brother surveillance culture that certain spaces still offer themselves up to exploration given the requisite degree of luck and a pragmatic, safety-conscious approach.

Revisit the Dan Magee crafted edit from the mission now (and don’t try this at home…)