There must be something with East London as it often appears in series and films! Ever since the camera was invented, East End has always drawn cameras and films crews, providing a perfect backdrop for many cinematographic productions. Hackney and Tower Hamlets have often been featured in many worldwide films.
Once a crime-ridden, derelict shantytown that got damaged during World War II, East London has managed to rise from its ashes and is now a trendy, up-and-coming area featured in many films. Thanks to the cobblestoned streets that makes it recognisable but also thanks to its grim history and its more recent multiracial heritage, East London had left its mark on people’s minds, and turns out to be very popular for backdrops.
The East End has nurtured the imagination of many filmmakers and writers including the world renowned novel writer Charles Dickens. The area is the set for many Victorian novels as well as films that are more recent and stem from those very novels. Oliver Twist is probably the first that comes to your mind! Equally notorious is the infamous serial killer that gave rise to many legends and films, Jack the Ripper. Speaking of which, From Hell (2001) is a modern-day adaptation of Jack the Ripper, featuring Johnny Depp and Heather Graham in the bleak, Victorian at the time London.
On a less gloomy note, the BBC soap EastEnders depicts the daily lives of locals as well as their ordinary problems and is set in East London. The series includes issues such as racism, unemployment or homophobia in its episodes. It takes place in the fictional borough of Walford.
In the enchanted Disney version of Victorian London, Mary Poppins (1966), Mr. Banks’ children, Jane and Michael, ran away from the bank where their father works and lose themselves in a gritty, poor neighborhood before being picked up by a chimney sweep. The neighbourhood in question presents all the features of East London of the time and actually overlaps with the location of Mr Banks’ workplace.
Brick Lane (2007) features a multiracial East London wherein a young girl from Bangladesh, Nazneen (Tannishtha Chatterjee) moves to the heart of the Bangladeshi community in London after marrying an older man that she does not love and eventually gets into a love affair with a younger man. The film takes place in a post 9/11 Britain tinged with racial tensions. As of today, the borough of Tower Hamlets is known for a having an important foreign population and is home to the largest Muslim community in England.
Throughout the time, East London has appeared in countless productions using redbrick houses, narrow alleyways and churches as a backdrop, whether it was for a British production or a Hollywood one. With its rich cultural heritage and significance, chances are that East London will continue to attract film crews and world famous actors too.
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