Croydon’s cultural capital has long been a source of pride for the South London borough, but now those involved in promoting it as a filming location want to focus on its greener parts.
Sports teams like Crystal Palace and cultural icons like Thornton Heath-born Stormzy have allowed the borough to compensate for Croydon’s unfavourable record on crime and local governance.
A lesser-known, but nonetheless significant source of Croydon’s cultural capital comes from its role in the TV and film industry. Croydon has a rich history in these fields and counts legendary director David Lean among its long list of creative alumni.
However, in recent years much of Croydon’s clout has come from its reputation as a hotspot for on-location filming. Fans of Peep Show will recognise Broad Green’s Zodiac Court as the home of Mark and Jez, while more eagle-eyed viewers will recognise a former office on Wellesley Road as the stand-in for a Gotham hospital in The Dark Knight Rises.
The job of finding these great locations in Croydon falls with the Film Fixer team, who help to facilitate and encourage filming in the borough. According to Film Fixer specialist Paige Neilson, Croydon’s potential as a great location lies in its versatility.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “Part of it is that the borough can be so versatile. In one minute you’re in Croydon, but a lot of the time they can double it to make it look like you’re anywhere else in the world. We’ve had a Netflix series called Sandman, which hasn’t come out yet. They did a shoot where they made College Road look like New York.
“In 2017, we had a film called American Assassin filmed in Croydon but made it look like Istanbul. It’s about seeing what something could be turned into. You’ve got to have an imagination, to turn Croydon into New York and Istanbul takes a lot of imagination.”
One of the most recent high-profile films to feature Croydon was Andrew Haigh’s hometown love letter, All of Us Strangers. The 2023 film featuring Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott featured scenes from a Whitgift Centre in years gone by, but unlike other films before it, the flick mainly focuses on the borough’s greener southern half.
Much of the film was set in Sanderstead where the director grew up, specifically on Sanderstead Recreation Ground, Limpsfield Road and Purley Downs Road. According to Neilson, this film showed how Croydon is more than just a ‘one trick pony’ when it comes to what it can offer for film and TV.
She told the LDRS: “All of Us Strangers is probably the best example that pointed out that Croydon can be much more than just the town centre. The director really wanted to put that part of Croydon at the forefront and show the area that he knew”.
“It’s nice to see that sort of leafy and suburban side of Croydon. We do get a lot of town centre film, it is a draw, but it is important to show the other side. We try and push this side as much as we can whenever we’re talking to the film industry. We try and get them to come to Croydon, for not just the Croydon they know.”
When asked what else the borough has to offer, Nielsen said: “The parks are great, Sanderstead Recreation Ground is always a popular one. South Norwood as well, as they’ve got a lake there. Back in the day, Stormzy shot his early breakout song ‘Shut Up’ at the basketball court in South Norwood Park. He went back to that court a few years later for the commercial, that drew in a bit of attention because he’s got a load of fans.”
Croydon had 101 filming days in 2023. In the same year, 26% of filming in London was accommodated in outer boroughs which Croydon falls under.
This is an increase from 2012 for example where 16% of filming took place in outer boroughs. While Nielson admits that Central London boroughs like Islington, Southwark and Camden get the lion’s share of filming, there is no denying the rising trend of filming in outer London.
Croydon even fares pretty well compared to other boroughs, according to Neilson. She told the LDRS: “I also work with Bexley, it’s a great borough but quite far South East so does not see as much filming.”
However, the size and scale of each film and TV can vary. Shoots can last a few hours, and only require a handful of people, but can also stretch on for weeks and involve an army of staff and support. For each project, Film Fixer must coordinate with the production company and local authority, to ensure that all eventualities are catered for and the disruption to residents is kept to a minimum. They also champion local businesses and encourage the production companies to use them to provide everything from catering to set support.
Neilson told the LDRS: “When you do the large shoots and you’ve got so many stakeholders, businesses and residents in that area, you have got to get a lot of residents on board. We had a huge shoot last year with a film called Heads of State, with Idris Elba, although it hasn’t come out yet. They filmed just off Surrey Street on Overton’s Yard for over a week.
“They did a stunt sequence with an explosion, and that was really amazing to see. There was a lot of community effort in that one. There were a lot of closures for that, but because they put months of work into it we barely got any issues. The larger ones take months and months, but this one was all worth it in the end.
“I went there on the last night when they did the controlled explosion, and although it will look bigger on screen it still made a loud bang. I thought I was going to get calls tomorrow but I didn’t because they did all the work prior to it.
“Sometimes if you have a shoot that requires the closure of a road that is managed by two different borough councils, you’ll have to speak to them both which can be a bit tricky. This is especially the case for an area like the Crystal Palace triangle area.”
Historic Surrey Street Market has been a particular draw for film and TV companies and is one of Neilson’s favourite spots in the borough. She says this is because Croydon’s market inspector, Fiona Woodcock, is ‘amazing, she knows everyone in that area and is extremely film-friendly’.
She added: “Croydon Town Hall is always great as a location as well, it’s a lovely building. Period buildings like that are always fun ones to facilitate and the team there are always very lovely.”
Alongside the day-to-day facilitating of film in the borough, Film Fixer actively tries to engage the local community in the industry via its vocational charity called Set Ready. Neilson told the LDRS the charity gives over-18s a chance to break into the notoriously hard-to-access industry, which she admits ‘is often about who you know’.
She added: “We offer courses in each of our boroughs to residents to train as location marshals. They do a free two-day training course, and once they’ve had training we get them placements onto productions we’re working on.”
Neilson was understandably bound by the often tight-lipped nature of the industry, and couldn’t reveal all the films due to be shot in Croydon. However, she did say we can look forward to seeing Heads of State and Sandman out in cinemas and on streaming platforms soon.
Film Fixer works in 14 boroughs across London, but Neilson feels the public reaction to filming varies greatly between them. Before leaving to deal with another shoot, Neilson said: “What’s nice about Croydon is that there’s still that buzz about filming in Croydon.”
