Author Topic: Birmingham in film and TV  (Read 36338 times)

Joewoen

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Birmingham in film and TV
« on: October 08, 2013, 08:09:45 PM »
We have of course got Peaky Blinders on TV at present. OK they had to go to the Black Country Museum, Liverpool and leeds to film scenes, but the story is Brum based.
 
By Any Means, on BBC1 Sundays, although set in London, there are plenty of views of Birmingham. It is of course cheaper to film in Brum than London. They say it looks like London.
 
What other films or TV programmes do you remember either set or filmed in Brum?
 
 

roy one

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Re: Birmingham in film and TV
« Reply #1 on: October 08, 2013, 08:33:32 PM »
take me high     cliff richard
each day is a blessing and I bless each day when it comes

wetdog

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Re: Birmingham in film and TV
« Reply #2 on: October 08, 2013, 10:29:33 PM »
tiz waz Saturdays

Phil

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Re: Birmingham in film and TV
« Reply #3 on: October 08, 2013, 10:53:31 PM »
Gangsters with Maurice Colbourne 1970's Birmingham/
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4a_E11yyoA
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

Phil

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Re: Birmingham in film and TV
« Reply #4 on: October 08, 2013, 10:58:06 PM »
 Boon  with Michael Elphick
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

Spud

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Re: Birmingham in film and TV
« Reply #5 on: October 09, 2013, 11:27:01 AM »
Some of The BBC programme 'Hustle' was filmed in Birmingham. We actually saw Robert Vaughan on Moor Street Station. And of course the dreadful Doctors Serial is filmed in Brum.
Incidentally Robert Vaughan is appearing with Brummie Martin Shaw currently at The Birmingham Rep in 12 Angry Men. Saw it last Monday it was simply superb . The audience cheered the cast from the stage.
The Only Free Cheese is in The Trap

Phil

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Re: Birmingham in film and TV
« Reply #6 on: October 09, 2013, 11:48:45 AM »
Privilege
 
Late 60's film starring Paul Jones (ex Manfred Mann)
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

Joewoen

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Re: Birmingham in film and TV
« Reply #7 on: October 09, 2013, 07:13:34 PM »
Wow, some interesting contributions. I will enjoy exploring some of these.
 
There was of course the very successful Pebble Mill At One. That ran for years didn't it. Such a pity Pebble Mill has gone.
 
Most of the above though are either;
 
Made a long time ago or
 
Filmed in Brum but pretends it is somewhere else or
 
Not filmed by local skilled film/TV crews.
 
I have signed a petition to government to reverse this very worrying trend.
 
The letter below is from the petition organisation. I hope the mods will let me share this.
 
Dear Friend
I am supporting the Campaign for Regional Broadcasting Midlands, which is a community grassroots campaign that aims to promote the Midlands as a place to create and make television, radio & film.

There has been a gradual migration away from the Midlands region by the major broadcasters and as a result this important, diverse and highly populated region is now virtually absent from the airwaves.
The Midlands contributes 25% of the licence fee but the BBC spends only 2% of its budget in the Midlands region. This cannot be right or fair; it matters where programmes are produced. The BBC itself calculates that for every £1 it spends, £2 pounds is generated in the wider economy. That means the Midlands is missing out on hundreds of millions of pounds.
If you think it’s time for the BBC to live up to its words, stop cutting and give the Midlands the investment in production it deserves, then please add your name to this petition, and fight for a fair share of BBC production in the Midlands: http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/bbc-to-increase-network-tv-and-radio-production-by-the-bbc-in-the-midlands-2
Thank you for your help and support.
 
I hope you feel able to sign the petition.
Cheers,
Joe
 
 
 

Joewoen

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Re: Birmingham in film and TV
« Reply #8 on: October 11, 2013, 08:15:47 PM »
I just about remember Lunchbox, ATV and Tingha and Tucker

wam

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Re: Birmingham in film and TV
« Reply #9 on: October 14, 2013, 10:17:22 AM »
There's supposedly a TV Village by the University/QE where they make "Doctors". I don't know if that makes anything else but I'd be surprised if it didn't.
My dad claimed that he (and Birmingham City Council and the heads of the TGWU) got to appear in the background of a scene in "Work is a Four letter word" shot on Broad Street. It's years since I saw that movie so I can't be sure. [size=78%]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062503/[/size]


I remember the opening credits to the early series of "Public Eye" that showed various Birmingham locations [size=78%]http://www.tv.com/shows/public-eye/[/size] I think they finished the Birmingham version of the show with Frank Marker getting thrown into the cut under Broad St.


There was a run of locally made shows for the BBC in the late 60s and early 70s that ran as part of the "regional variations". I vaguely remember a pop show or two (Look Hear? Scene One?) and "The Cheapest Show on the telly" with Don McClean and Lenny Henry. As a side note, the first series of Monty Python was a local show in London for its first series and that series has never been shown here.


I remember a sick day in front of the TV in the 90s or later flicking through the channels and coming up with Toyah narrating a show about a toy car called Brum that seemed to be moving through the parks up by Aston University.


There have definitely been shows where bits of Birmingham stood in for bits of some other real or imagined city on TV. I know there was one that was supposed to be Liverpool that filmed up Belgrave Road by St Albans. There have apparently been lumps of "A touch of Frost" done around here too but I couldn't say which or where.

Phil

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Re: Birmingham in film and TV
« Reply #10 on: October 14, 2013, 11:04:07 AM »
Wam
 
When our yard was at the sidings at Hall Green Station our office was actually the one shown being used as Frank Markers office in the series. Obviously when they showed the interior it was a TV set, but the exterior shots were of Station Approach Hall Green. Its all gone now of course.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.


 

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