Hooray for Hammywood!


H&F Council's film unit supports a host of films and TV productions

A series of film and TV productions have been filming in our borough, which the support of H&F Council's film unit.

The unit helps filmmakers find locations, grants licences and ensures that filming goes smoothly for film producers and residents alike.

Recent local productions include The Crown, the acclaimed TV series about the royals starring Matt Smith,which included scenes short at the former Hope and Anchor pub in Hammersmith's Macbeth Street.

Everything Starts Tomorrow (Demain Tout Commence),
starring Clémence Poésy, best known to fans around the world as Fleur Delacour in the Harry Potter firms, used the backdrop of Carter's Funfair in Ravenscourt Park and other locations in the area.

Grantchester, the detective drama set in the 1950s starring James Norton and Robson Green has used various locations around Fulham, including three months filming at Fulham Town Hall, with the foyer and ground-floor rooms temporarily transformed into a traditional police station, complete with cells.

A Street Cat Named Bob, the film-length story of a Big Issue seller, also used the currently empty old town Hall, while the BBCTV series New Tricks frequently used Hammersmith Town Hall as a location.

These films and series followed a long local tradition. In the past, the borough has hosted many famous productions, including TV shows produced at Riverside Studios and of course BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane. The redeveloped Television Centre now has three studios, which are hosting ITV shows including Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women and The Jonathan Ross Show.

A new purpose built TV studio will also open at Riverside in spring 2018, and is expected to host favourite comedy, music, quiz and panel shows.

Riverside studios are also compiling an archive of their past productions which they hope to make available to the public when they reopen in 2018. You can read more about the archive here.

You can see stills from some other past productions in the borough here.

The council says as well as putting the borough on the map, the film licensing revenue generated from having the cast and crew in town puts money in its coffers for reinvestment in services to residents.

Cllr Ben Coleman, H&F Cabinet Member for Commercial Revenue and Resident Satisfaction says: "The council’s film unit does a superb job, with every commercial film or TV programme they attract here helping to fill the hole left by central government cuts. We want to encourage even more film and television production into our photogenic and easy-to-work-with borough."

For information about filming in Hammersmith and Fulham, please contact Bernadette Bernard, Film Officer, call 020 8753 2351 or 07779 348 122, or email bernadette.bernard@lbhf.gov.uk.

August 31, 2017