Wall to Wall Productions worked with Newham Film Office to facilitate their filming and production offices on their latest production, “The Victorian Slum” for BBC2. The series starts Monday 10th September at 9pm.
The production used Alice Billings House in Stratford as the main location for their TV Series. In this living history series, one corner of the East End of London (Alice Billings House) was taken back to the 1870s and transformed into a living, breathing, Victorian community. Living in a poor tenement building, a group of volunteers were challenged to see if they could live, survive and even thrive as a new community in Victorian London.
Film Office director Dominic Reeve-Tucker says “It was a pleasure working with the production to revive the historic building, built in 1877 and at one time the West Ham fire station, to provide the perfect backdrop for the series. We aorked with the production across all aspects including providing work experience opportunities with Newham Workplace. The production created a captivating world and I look forward to seeing Newham take centre stage in the series as we welcome more productions to the borough.”
The Victorian Slum will chart the story of what life was really like for poor Victorians and through this immersive experience participants and viewers will discover the surprising and complex history that changed Britain’s attitude to poverty forever.
They’ll start their journey in the 1860s, when the plight of the poor was largely ignored, and they’ll experience the economic downturn, mass immigration and acute housing shortages that came with later decades until the East End slums reached crisis point. It would take tabloid journalists, philanthropists, social scientists and the East Enders themselves to effect change. The slum-dwellers will learn first-hand the role their forebears played in kick-starting the welfare reforms of the early 20th century that some argue were the very first moves towards a welfare state.
Based entirely at Alice Billings House, Newham Film Office was responsible for bringing the building into working order, making safety improvements and working with our council departments to enable the use of the property.
Councillor Lester Hudson, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Finance and Project Delivery said: “I am proud that one of our oldest buildings could host this fascinating living history show. It was a great opportunity to work with a top production company, bring in revenue for the Council and showcase the borough. Newham Film Office was also able to secure a number of apprenticeships for young people working with the production company, which was a fantastic opportunity.
“Newham offers a wealth of filming opportunities and Newham Film Office has worked with top film companies from across the world. The borough has been used as a key location in Hollywood films, leading TV dramas and living history programmes such as this. I look forward to seeing Newham to play a starring role in this show on prime time television very soon.”
You can read more in the Newham Mag here!
