A plush hospital bed set up for filming
A plush hospital bed set up for filming

On location: UWL’s starring role in film and TV

Intro

UWL's St Mary’s Road site is just a stone’s throw away from the iconic Ealing Studios, the world’s oldest film production facility. And a little of this stardust has been sprinkled on UWL’s facilities in both Ealing and Brentford, which regularly act as a backdrop for TV and film.

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Ant and Dec

UWL’s West London Venues sees the University’s campus sites hired out to be used for everything from documentaries and films to advertising shoots. In recent months, UWL has played host to Ant and Dec filming for Santander, singer Olly Murs for a Royal Match advert and comedian John Richardson for his show ‘Meet the Richardsons’.

Lots of challenges come with balancing our core mission of delivering an exceptional student experience, with supporting commercial activities such as filming on campus,”

Kyle Allen, Head of Business Services from West London Venues, explains.

Fortunately, film production teams do minimise disruption by scheduling their shoots at weekends, with Olly Murs coming in to film an advert in the Blast Radio station or the latest Apprentice contestants using our professional kitchens.”

East Midlands Railway mascot

The West London Venues team plays a pivotal role as the primary point of contact for film crews, providing essential support in planning and efficiently managing their time on site.

Kyle continues:

We have also hosted several major TV shoots including for the BBC’s ‘Motherland’. Series one and two used the Paragon Suite as an office for Julia, the character played by Anna Maxwell Martin. The same space was also used as the office of Jamie Tartt’s agent (played by Phil Dunster) in season two of Apple TV+’s ‘Ted Lasso’.”

If you watched season one of ‘Slow Horses’, starring Gary Oldman (also on Apple TV+), you may have recognised the front of Paragon House acting as a hospital. Another BBC production, ‘Best Interests’, used the Blast Radio studio and the 2022 remake of Four Weddings and a Funeral used the Medical Simulation Centre. The BBC series ‘Silent Witness’ also regularly filmed scenes at Paragon.

While most location filming takes place in Brentford, particularly on the 11th floor and in the UWL medical simulation centre, which faithfully recreates a hospital environment, various other areas on our sites have also appeared. Film crews have used locations including the mock courtroom, FlightPad, professional kitchens, concrete testing laboratory and even one of UWL’s storage cupboards!

Looking forward, we are very much focused on enhancing the student experience, while continuing our special relationship with the film and creative industries,”

Kyle concludes.

Our team is setting a remarkable precedent for universities in effectively leveraging their resources, and we look forward to many more exciting collaborations.”

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