....why don't we ask TRC - he'll remember if I am talking b****x or not...
VFR - I think you are correct (as far as I can remember).
"Was the Alouette a particularly common camera platform in the UK?"
Aerial filming from helicopters was pretty basic in the late 60's - early 70's. Just watch films of that era and see how mediocre it was generally, usually done either hand-held or with a cobbled together tripod arrangement carefully deigned to transmit the vibration direct to the lens.
There were a few people on both sides of the Atlantic who realised that things could be a lot better. Peter Allwork and Albert Werry in the UK, and Nelson Tyler and Bob Nettmann in the US (to name just a few) set out to design and build 'proper' helicopter camera mounts.
Tyler and Werry both designed their own stuff - the Tyler Mount and Helivision - and Allwork and Nettmann (with others) developed the Continental mount.
The helicopter of choice for most was the Bell47J - the Continental seat for flat-floor helicopters was referred to into the 90's as the 'J2 Seat', even though it was used in just about every type with a flat floor from AS350's through 109's to S76.
The Alouette II was the natural successor to the 47J, particularly in this side of the pond where J's and J2's were uncommon, with plenty of room inside and a big door. The light helicopters around at the time were no good at all for carrying mounts, the H500 was too cramped and the 206 was an awkward shape in the back. So the gear that had been designed for the J fitted just fine into the Al II. They could also lug the large and heavy Wescam and Gyrosphere systems which fitted fairly simply to the float attachments.
It was really only the shortening supply of Al II's and the increasing numbers of 206's that made the mount manufacturers come up with adaptations to fit the 206. Then of course the 350/355 started to take over from the 206, ironically with the same kit as first designed for the 47J.
Nowadays the small video turrets are common for TV, and the now more widely available 35mm stabilised systems like the Wescam, Spacecam, etc do the feature film stuff usually fitted to 350/355's.
Can't beat a Lama with four up and a Wescam 35mm system at 12,000 feet though.....