August 1989 | Brandon Estate, London SE17

Brandon Estate was frequently used by film crews making movies, TV shows and documentaries. During the 22 years I lived on the estate in south London it was not uncommon to see explosions, car chases, people being thrown out of 8th floor windows, helicopters flying low – and even Dr.Who and his Tardis. I was Chair of the tenants association for eleven years and we often benefitted from small but very helpful donations from film companies in return for them filming on the estate and using our facilities.

On this occasion in August 1989 the BBC were filming the Comic Strip episode ‘GLC: The Carnage Continues’, an episode that was hugely topical at the time – especially in London – but which I guess has not stood the test of time too well. Brandon Estate was used to film some crowd scenes and election addresses by the Tory candidate (Leslie Phillips as Sir Horace Cutler) and Labour candidate (Robbie Coltrane, who was playing Charles Bronson playing Ken Livingston).

The film crews worked hard, as they always do in my experience, especially when it came to dressing the scenes. For example, the same truck was used for Leslie Phillips and Robbie Coltrane but had to be hurriedly redecorated to look completely different.

If you look closely at the photos you will be able to spot Robbie Coltrane, Dawn French and one or two of the other actors. The TV programme itself was first broadcast on BBC2 on 15 February 1990.