In 1988 the railway was used in connection with the filming of a B.B.C. four-part adaptation of The Ginger Tree by Oswald Wynd for which No.11 Maitland was temporarily painted into an unlined matt black scheme which it retained for a year.  Largely consisting of night shoots at the station, the finished product means the station is barely discernible in the gloom.

These images from the production show the station in the gloom, below is a mixed train which used ballast hopper F.65 and one of the Empress Vans; slightly clearer is one of the canopy stanchions, then painted red, in the lower view; also here an on-board scene which used "pairs" carriage F.66. Santon and the carriage shed at Douglas were also used during production.