Camden’s eye popping Alexandra & Ainsworth and Brunswick estates feature in tonight’s first episode of Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams. It’s called The Hood Maker. Take a look at the trailer for the new Channel 4 series here.
FilmFixer manages the film office service for Camden. FilmFixer director Karen Everett says, “The production filmed a number of sequences around the estates, including a lot of filming inside an empty flat on the Alexandra & Ainsworth (A&A).
“There were 50 cast and crew on the A&A shoot in May this year. It started with interiors, with a flat playing a hideout for some of the characters.
“They were on the A&A for a few days, which earned the estate a healthy fee that’s put toward services for the whole community. The flat they used had to be dressed over three days, but the filming outside, around the estate, was done in just one day.
“Then the filming moved to a balcony and stairs, a road beside the railway, and then the main entrance and underpass areas.
“Along with actors dressed as armed police, there were real policemen on hand to reassure residents, and a professional armourer to check the fake weapons in out.
“The A&A’s Estates Management & Residents Association was very involved in making sure the filming would work to the benefit of residents and cause as little disruption as possible.
“On the Brunswick Estate, the production was looking for even more futuristic interiors, so they made good use of the complex’s hallways and stairwells. The production was there for two days in June this year. We think it’s going to look great in this nasty vision of a London under constant malevolent surveillance.”
This episode starring Richard Madden and Holliday Grainger is the first of 10 short stories by Philip K Dick used for the series. It’s set in a dystopian, 1970s London, following Agent Ross (Madden) and his telepathic partner Honor (Grainger) as they investigate the oppressed mindreading “Teeps” to try and trace someone making thought-proof hoods.
The third episode, airing on October 1st, is called The Commuter. Here we’ll see lead characters walking along an alleyway linking Boundary and Acre Roads in Merton.
Twenty cast and crew filmed this scene in March this year, for the episode starring Timothy Spall, Hayley Squires and Tuppence Middleton. It’s about a train station assistant who realises that commuters are taking the train to a town that shouldn’t exist.