Crumbling flats provided gritty, urban backdrop for Clint Eastwood film and TV shows including The Bill and Spooks
Later this year when bulldozers begin to raze the sprawling Heygate housing estate in south London, few will mourn. The occasional remaining fan of early 70s Soviet-style brutalism may do so, perhaps, along with ex-residents who remember a thriving community amid the concrete towers and walkways. But their regret will be shared by another, more unlikely group: film and TV directors.
Over the past few years, the long-unloved sprawl of vast, mid-height blocks of flats, fringed by scruffy communal spaces has gained a new lease of life as one of the UK's most popular, if unlikely, filming locations. Since 2007, almost two shoots a month have taken place on the Heygate. The few remaining residents bumped into the likes of Clint Eastwood and Michael Caine, not to mention cast and crew members from TV series including Spooks,...
Later this year when bulldozers begin to raze the sprawling Heygate housing estate in south London, few will mourn. The occasional remaining fan of early 70s Soviet-style brutalism may do so, perhaps, along with ex-residents who remember a thriving community amid the concrete towers and walkways. But their regret will be shared by another, more unlikely group: film and TV directors.
Over the past few years, the long-unloved sprawl of vast, mid-height blocks of flats, fringed by scruffy communal spaces has gained a new lease of life as one of the UK's most popular, if unlikely, filming locations. Since 2007, almost two shoots a month have taken place on the Heygate. The few remaining residents bumped into the likes of Clint Eastwood and Michael Caine, not to mention cast and crew members from TV series including Spooks,...
- 9/3/2010
- by Peter Walker
- The Guardian - Film News
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