Monday, December 01, 2008

Transpontine TV Locations

Once upon a time, whenever you saw a film crew on the streets of Lewisham or Southwark you knew it was probably The Bill or London's Burning looking for a suitably gritty urban location as well as providing work as extras for South London's huge reserve of sporadically employed actors.

Times have changed... but not very much. Today it's likely to be Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes (saw them filming this off Southwark Park Road earlier in the year) or BBC's 'aren't our security services wonderful?' drama Spooks. Last week's episode featured a chase through Surrey Quays Shopping Centre involving rogue MI6 assassins - I kept expecting them to break off the chase and pop into Tchibo to buy a bargain torch/bottle opener/toolkit combo - very handly for secret agents. Mysteriously in the programme the Shopping Centre had an underground carpark - either for dramatic effect or there really is a hidden subterranean world beneth Tescos. There was also a scene in a car breakers in Deptford where I once went in search of a part for a Vauxhall Corsa.

If you're bored of identifying locations, there's always Eastenders star spotting - I've seen two of the cast around Surrey Quays (Lauren and Shirley).

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

isn't the double agent in Spooks runnning that bookshop in Blackheath too?

Anonymous said...

I see they were filming in 7-11 shop on Lordship Lane last week

Richard said...

There's filming always going on in the Rivoli of course. I'm told Honor Oak Park and One Tree Hill have been used on a few occasions. An E4 crew actually shot a scene from a short film in Jam Circus last year, but the film was never screened. Nice to watch how it's done though - on a very low budget!

Anonymous said...

Gary Oldman's film 'Nil by Mouth' was filmed around New Cross and Deptford.

Some scenes from the 1966 film 'Blowup' were shot in Woolwich.

Can't think of any others offhand. One of the uses of the Rivoli Ballroom was as a backdrop for a Whitney Houston video iirc.

Monkeyboy said...

Whitney Houston! I was a supporter of the campaign to keep it open, but not now. BURN THE PLACE!!

And Nill By Mouth, an amazing film. I felt like I'D been the one physically assaulted after watching that. Kathy Burke needs to get back on the screen pronto.

. said...

Sue, yes I think Blackheath Bugle has posted on the Blackheath connection in Spooks.

Monkeyboy, what's wrong with la Whitney?! Actually I've never heard of her filming in the Rivoli, sure you're not thinking of Tina Turner - she did do a video there.

Anonymous said...

I frequently see the 'Queen of knock-off' Mo from Eastenders wearing her wrap around celebrity specs at Sainsburys NCG

. said...

... and Bianca's daughter Tiffany was spotted in Peckham Primark - maybe they should change the name to 'South East Enders' as that's four of the cast spotted round here already.

Anonymous said...

Transpontine wrote: "Actually I've never heard of her filming in the Rivoli, sure you're not thinking of Tina Turner - she did do a video there."

Actually that rings a bell, so maybe a false alarm from me about Whitney.

Monkeyboy said...

Her tedious warbling gets RIGHT up my nose.

OK, off to read Brockley Central to see if my favourite contributor has posted another half baked bit of Daily Mail wisdom.

Anonymous said...

Half baked mung beans?

By the way why does this blog only show the times, but not the dates of its comments?

Anonymous said...

Yes - Spooks was in the Bookshop on the Heath in Blackheath - very exciting too! http://blackheathbugle.wordpress.com/2008/11/03/spooks-in-blackheath/