Chris Evans’ TFI Friday was broadcast from Riverside Studios in Hammersmith
Lights, camera, ACTION! If they gave an Oscar for the best film locations at March’s Academy Awards, it might well go to... Hammersmith & Fulham!
The borough is one of the top choices for filmmakers looking for attractive parkland backdrops or urban authenticity, whether for a scene in a major cinema blockbuster or a music video for a band.
Now West London’s best sites have been drawn together in a location library to make filming in H&F, as well as nearby areas, even easier.
The new database is aimed at location finders, but also makes a fascinating index of cinematic and television high points which is of wider interest.
Down the years, hundreds of television shows, videos, adverts and feature films have had scenes shot in the borough and includes classics such as Bottom, Absolutely Fabulous, The Bill and New Tricks. While Macbeth Street in Hammersmith appears in the thriller Red Joan, starring Oscar-winner Judi Dench.
Currently on our screens are BBC One dramas McMafia starring James Norton and Hard Sun starring Agyness Deyn. Tune in and you may be able to spot a few familiar places.
The new online location library lists 170 different filming hotspots, most familiar to residents, with location booking at the touch of a button or a swish of a tablet.
From the art décor elegance of Hammersmith Town Hall to underground car parks, tennis courts to churches, markets to leisure centres, housing estates to libraries, cemeteries to golf courses, parks to riverside walks, the website lists them all.
“As well as the entertainment of seeing the borough in prime-time dramas, the website also contributes an important revenue stream, helping to keep council tax low,” explained Cllr Max Schmid, H&F Cabinet Member for Finance.
“Every commercial film or TV programme attracted here also helps maintain our award-winning parks and keep our streets looking good. That’s why we want to encourage more film and television production here,” he added.
Setting the scene
The Crown, about The Queen and Prince Philip, was filmed last year at the Hope & Anchor pub in Hammersmith.
The 1976 horror classic The Omen was partly filmed in Bishop’s Park, Fulham, with All Saints church providing the backdrop for the grisly scene in which former Doctor Patrick Troughton is speared by a lightning rod. Indeed, many episodes of Dr Who were filmed in H&F.
When BBC TV Centre and Riverside Studios were at the height of their powers, film units were forever trundling around the borough, shooting odd outdoor scenes, while the studios in H&F churned out Blue Peter, Chris Evans’ TFI Friday, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Fawlty Towers, The Apprentice and umpteen episodes of Top of the Pops.
So if you want to set your thriller on Hammersmith Bridge or the Clem Attlee estate, North End Road market or in Ravenscourt Park, you’ll find the perfect spot at: filmingandeventslocationlibrary.lbhf.gov.uk.
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