Your locals on TV

[hopwas]

I nearly dropped my drink when I saw one of my old haunts, The Portland Hotel in Derby was on "Secret Millionaire"!

I used go to Portland Hotel as my old college Wilmorton (no longer standing) was just around the corner.. Haven't been there since around 2005 when we had reunion.

Have your locals ever made to TV? It can be film, news, documentary and soaps.

I just remembered, about 5 years ago To buy or Not to buy programme came to The Bole Bridge (JDW). Dominic Littlewood and late Kristian Digby having discuss with 2 would-to-be-buyers before set off to browse 3 potential houses.

[Strongers]

My local, Duke of Hamilton, was used for two days by the Apprentice with Alan Sugar. The teams had to run a successful dining night in a pub that doesn’t do food. The lads ended up in the DoH.

It was a balls up and a guy I know complained on camera that he wasn’t happy getting half a pizza. On the sum up show afterwards hosted by Adrian Chiles comedian Joe Brand called him fat and said that she thought he’d eaten enough. He’ll never live it down!

I nearly forgot - I was on film in the same pub as the BBC was doing a news piece on the impending smoking ban. I featured on the local news at 17:30 and strangely I was spotted on channel 4 – a non speaking part but one has to start somewhere!

[runningdog]

My 'spiritual' local turned up on 'A Place in the Country', or some such programme. I was there when the filming was done and have seldom heard so much bull spouted about so little.
During my truck driving days, I was playing darts in some pub or other near S'oton, when three lads tried to ram-raid the place to get at the Link machine. The pub was open, there were about 20 cars plus a bluidy great 38 ton truck in the car park, and the machine had been removed about a week before, but still they tried. One ton Transit v Victorian brick built pub is, of course, something of a mismatch. Two of them finished up in hospital and the poor old Trannie looked like they'd tried to crush it from the front. The third lad did a 'runner', the cops had no trouble identifying him. He was the one with the limp, still wearing his balaclava. It was on the telly the following day, which of course is why I brought it up.
You couldn't make it up, and I haven't..........

[Eddie86]

We were in a screen-play about the Dandelion Murderer, obviously some time before it was a pub. All about a solicitor who kept arsenic in his jacket pocket, whilst at the same time a few people around him died from arsenic poisoning. He claimed the arsenic was to kill off the Dandelion's in the garden.

[arwkrite]

"Joe Brand called him fat and said that she thought he’d eaten enough. He’ll never live it down!"

That has got to be a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

My local of 20 years ago made local TV news when some drinkers who were not regulars decided not to walk home. They went to a bus garage next door and nicked a single decker which they took for a drive around town.After leaving a trail of damaged cars and demolished bollards the bus ended up buried in the front of an ex Methodist Chapel. A taxi home would have cost them a lot less.

[oldboots]

Many of the pubs I used to use a lot showed up in the background in the "Ruth Rendell Mysteries - Inspector Wexford" when they filmed in the area. One of the pubs I used most was used by the regular and guest actors as a sort of Green Room although they never filmed inside. George Baker, the star of the series used another nearby pub but didn't tell the crew or other actors which one, he liked a drink (extremely large VATs) and was always a real gent - no hint of the prima donnas.

Talking of Jo Brand, a friend of mine was a lighting director on one of her shows when she had a really fierce reputation of a man hating dragon, nothing further from the truth according to my mate, she was a lovely woman - everyone of the crew got a present from her at the end of the show - bottle of JD in his case.

[Conrad]

Reminds me of a story our graphic designer for the site used to tell. In a prior life he had been a sign painter and did do some pubs.

Having moved on and in an IT job he was at home off ill one day and ended up doing the dreaded daytime TV show thing and ended up watching a home makeover show.

"I used to live on that street"

"That's my old house"

At some point in the show they went through the basement of the house in search of objects to use in the makeover and he saw a few of his old signboards for pub work get panned across.

[ROBCamra]

I nearly dropped my drink when I saw one of my old haunts, The Portland Hotel in Derby was on "Secret Millionaire"!

I used go to Portland Hotel as my old college Wilmorton (no longer standing) was just around the corner.. Haven't been there since around 2005 when we had reunion.

Have your locals ever made to TV? It can be film, news, documentary and soaps.

I just remembered, about 5 years ago To buy or Not to buy programme came to The Bole Bridge (JDW). Dominic Littlewood and late Kristian Digby having discuss with 2 would-to-be-buyers before set off to browse 3 potential houses.

They've just done some filming in The Baum for "Mary Queen Of Shops".

Not that the pub needs that sort of makeover.

They wanted to film in a Victorian pub and get some of the people in there to have a makeover at John Pears salon in town.

Given that The Baum is < 40 years old even though it looks a lot older, they may have got the Victorian bit wrong as well!

Who knows how much will make the final cut, but I didn't get asked anyway

I don't know whether they thought I was already perfect or that as the programme is only 1 hour long they didn't have enough time to finish the job on me.

[Bucking Fastard]

For all you Morse fans www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/14564/ was the site for some filming of The Infernal Serpent.