The council’s filming unit has never been busier, supplying locations for blockbuster dramas and thrillers, TV series, music vids and comedy events.
Locals delight in pointing to the screen when they spot familiar landmarks on shows, with Hammersmith Bridge one of the most popular backdrops.
When Emma (Ambika Mod) was leaving her flat in Lower Mall in Netflix's One Day, there were the famous suspension spans, setting the scene behind her.
It is also visible in this year's Amy Winehouse biopic Back To Black. When Amy (played by Marisa Abela) leaves the Riverside Studios after performing, the bridge again framed the shot.
Residents with longer memories will remember it appearing in the 1986 musical drama The Singing Detective, and it cropped up in the 2019 Bond film No Time to Die, together with scenes shot in Furnivall Gardens. Silent Witness has used the area around the bridge, as did the 2018 Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Old Suffolk Punch pub in Fulham Road doubled as a restaurant in One Day, while Fulham Palace hosted Mary and George stars Julianne Moore and Nicholas Galitzine.
Scoop, starring Gillian Anderson, Billie Piper, Keely Hawe and Rufus Sewell, was partly filmed in Sulgrave Road, Fulham, while the dear old Hope & Anchor pub in Macbeth Street is following up a role in SAS Rogue Heroes with a soon-to-be-seen series of Sky's Gangs of London.
“We’re always happy to support production companies with filming in the borough… but you have to apply for permission first,” advised council film officer Bernadette Bernard, who makes sure the whole process runs smoothly.
She has organised location shoots for Made in Chelsea (in Bishops Park, Eel Brook Common and Ravenscourt Park), but is also managing next week’s live filming of Britain’s Got Talent at The Apollo.
So how good is your H&F film knowledge? Older film goers might remember poor Father Brennan (Patrick Troughton) being speared by a lightning rod in the All Saints churchyard, Fulham, in the 1976 horror film The Omen, with the church also appearing in The Exorcist.
Paddington used Fulham prep school, Greyhound Road, for filming, while Sliding Doors was part-filmed in Bishops Park and Love Actually had the Empress State Building, Fulham, as a backdrop.
Shepherds Bush Market featured in the mod classic Quadrophenia, while the Dimco buildings in Wood Lane nearly ran out of bandages making The Mummy Returns in 2001.
And although Hammersmith didn’t feature in the Netflix comedy After Life, the streaming service, together with the charity Calm, donated a bench made in the style of the one Ricky Gervais used in the TV series’ scenes, to raise awareness of mental health. You can find it in the walled garden of Ravenscourt Park.
If you are interested doing your own self-guided walking tour of H&F filming locations, check out our maps here.
Key to getting permission to film in the borough is having full public liability insurance. Parking bays can be suspended, if firms pay a fee up front, but H&F often supports student filming by waiving fees, provided they supply full details in advance, and have insurance from their college.
And if you fancy making your own blockbuster in Fulham, Hammersmith or Shepherds Bush, simply apply for a filming permit.
