Now Slough may not be the first place you think of in relation to the UK movie industry but the town and its surrounding areas have a surprising history in relation to film making.
Pinewood
How could we forget that Pinewood Studios, with a global reputation Pinewood has been making films for over 85 years. In the last 2 years Pinewood has been used for some real Blockbuster films such as Top Gun: Maverick, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and Luther: The Fallen Sun.
As well as global acclaimed individual films, many chapters of iconic movie franchises have been filmed there such as Carry On Films, James Bond, Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Harry Potter.
It has also been home to many classic long-running British comedy TV shows: IT Crowd, Would I Lie to You?, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Birds of a Feather, Red Dwarf and Not Going Out to name a few.
Recently Pinewood has had planning approval for expansion, so with luck we shall see even more movie related work coming to Slough.
Black Park
Black Park, actually backs onto Pinewood Studios, is also a favoured filming location including X-Men: First Class, Dark Shadows, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and many of the Carry On Films.
Bray Studios
For nearly 20 years between 1951-1970 Bray Studios were the home to the legendary Hammer Horror Films. Hammer then moved to Elstree Studios and the studio was used for special effects for TV shows such as Space 1999 and Doctor Who. It was put up for sale in 2014, ironically citing the competition from Pinewood Studios as one of the reasons, however by 2019 filming has resumed at Bray for BBC’s Dracula. Now there is plenty of activity filming for movies and Netflix. Recently Tom Cruise was spotted working on the new Mission Impossible film.
As a slight aside, both Paul and David from Kehorne have had minor roles in the film industry here…when I say roles…I mean we worked in the bar! They were filming “Hope and Glory” when Paul was there. Elton John also used the small recording studio for his pre-tour work many years ago.
Windsor Great Park
Now this may not be a place you would think of as a film location but is has many to its credit including No Time To Die, The King’s Speech, An American Werewolf in London, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. The woods are used for many Netflix films and rumour has it the Crown had some filming in the park.
Burnham Beeches
Burnham Beeches is large area of woodland that is designated a Natural Nature Reserve, Site of Special Scientific Interest, and a Special Area of Conservation. As a result filming is tightly controlled and restricted to no more than twenty days per year and to certain times of year. However there has still been some important filming there (perhaps not unsurprising) many Robin Hood films as well as some Harry Potter films.
The Office
Of course no discussion on the film history of Slough could be complete without mentioning The Office, whose show credits highlight many points of Slough and the Slough Trading Estate (where Thunderbirds was also filmed 1964-66). But to get the full effect nothing beats David Brent’s video accompanying his single ‘Slough’.
So what is our interest in this (apart from loving a good movie and having a special place in our hearts for Slough)? Well we have been lucky enough to help some local businesses with their websites:
https://littleenglishfilm.com/ – Little English is a laugh-out-loud story of a dysfunctional Punjabi family in the pressure cooker life of a terraced suburban home in Slough due for release on March 17th 2023.
https://locationroutesfilm.agency/ – a specialist agency that provides film friendly driving routes for film, tv and commercials.
https://jblocations.com/ – a local business that provides film and TV equipment hire.
If you need our help for anything website related (we don’t mind if you are not in Slough or in the film industry!) contact us [email protected] for more information or just a gossip on the local Slough film industry!
