Ray’s been losing sleep for the past 20 years over one of those irritating, pointless mind-worms that work their way into your subconscious entirely oblivious that they are not worth the effort of being solved, but hey – who can tell how the human mind works?

He’s been bothered by a TV drama from the early 90s which he is almost certain featured No.1 Ballast Quay, “all done up and looking like your average Yuppie’s ’30 something’ house” and he’s been trying to work out what the hell it was – and whether or not it actually was in Greenwich.

Unfortunately he remembers very little about it and his ‘quick synopsis’ seems to be a – well, a quick synopsis of every TV drama in the early 90s:

Dude meets girl, they live together, dude gets violent, dude gets kicked out and begins to stalk girl, girl stabs dude to death in self defence.

Sounds like a laugh a minute…

Now – this might sound odd but I didn’t have a telly in the 90s, so I’m helpless here – but can anyone here help Ray with his half-memory? Hilary? Darryl?

Actually – Julian has just reminded me that it could have been our very own local soap Night & Day – which of course I didn’t see for the reasons stated above. Can anyone confirm that?

I was going through weird times in 2001, but this schlocky soap, which ‘celebrates’ its tenth anniversary this year, totally passed me by. I’m guessing that not everyone missed it though – a combination, as far as I can see, between Twin Peaks, Buffy, Eastenders and Grange Hill, set in Greenwich. I don’t even remember it being filmed, but if the acting on the selections Youtube has to offer is anything to go by I either missed a ghastly waste of time or a cult gem. Perhaps you can enlighten me. 

It seems to be one of those things that most people hated and a few people adored – which does rather fit the definition of ‘cult.’ The first scene’s quite classy – fully-made-up girl lying in bed in her jimjams thinking about getting up for the day and all the people she’ll have to see – neatly introducing the main characters and setting up a mystery man while she’s about it. And the credits are fun – it’s always worth listening to Kylie.

The first actual sequence I looked at was a bog-standard wedding spot-the-cliche, where the best man forgetting the rings was a highlight. I kept watching, though, for the creepy vicar who kept appearing and disappearing in the middle distance, which was quite clever given that the shots were so closely framed that I couldn’t make out any of Greenwich at all in it.  I fast-forwarded, but not much else happened, so I turned to another section, a montage, that promised much more.

Now as any fule no, all stories about Greenwich must involve underground caves at some point, so I was drawn to Is the Answer In the Catacombs? which involves creepy stuff somewhere that looks Royal Hill-ish, a cemetery that looks Nunhead-y and an underground all-purpose-cultist tomb that Spike and Angel would come to blows over. I never found out Who Am I but it was sort of fun in a post-millennial teen romance sort of way. 

I am without opinion on this one. It was, apparently, moved to a later slot when ITV realised that N&D was getting a ‘niche audience’  and they finally canned it in 2003 but I keep reading comments like ‘most underrated soap ever’ from fans who are either discerning or delusional, depending on how cult you like your cult. 

It’s never going to be released on DVD because Granada made Cheapskate Mistake Number One – using too much copyright background music to ever clear it for video but there are strange Internet Myths going around that a clause in the contract meant that it could be repeated after 5 years. 2008 has been and gone. Did ITV miss a golden opportunity? Was Night And Day Greenwich’s Firefly? Or its Dirk Gently …

The fact that Andrew was coming out of the Dog & Bell last week is not the reason why he saw zombies, I’m sure. Instead it was yet another film crew…

He says:
“I had a chat with one of the production staff, apparently they’re filming a zombie movie with Danny Dyer in the building’s old shell.
Looking on-line I suspect it’s “Devil’s Playground” due out next year.”

Pelton Road, SE10

Egad! After 100-odd years, the Pelton Arms changes its name? Shock! Horror! I mean I know there’s a new guv’nor, who’s been shaking things up around there (I’ve been hearing very good things about the new feel, and as I passed the other day the little garden at the back looked great – I will be going, I just haven’t got there yet…) but a name change!

But as that truly irritating man on the telly says, Calm down, dear…it’s only a fake pub.

I’m not entirely convinced of the wisdom of creating an Only Fools And Horses spinoff about the early years of Del Boy and Co, but at least they’re filming Sex & Drugs & Rock & Chips round here. Jon discovered the news on the Sun website, of all things, and I guess it could be interesting.

It’s only a one-off special, and according to the website, they’re hoping to get the major stars of the original back as, presumably, relatives of themselves. Maybe a litmus test of whether or not it’s going to be any cop will be if Nicholas Lyndhurst and Sir David agree to appear.

Filming started on Monday (eek – hope it was indoors…) I think I’ll pop down for a nosey later on…

Off-topic-ish, I know – but I have to tell you about the short that comes with District 9 at the Picturehouse just now.

The Hobbyist had me chuckling all the way through its couple of minutes. Given how grim D9 is, maybe they should show it afterwards, too, to cheer everyone up.

But that’s what I love about the Picturehouse – bringing back the concept of the short as part of an evening’s movie entertainment.

I’m still really impressed with the way the Picturehouse goes that extra hundred miles in comparison to the Odeon and the O2 (and it’s cheaper than the other two local venues too – Seamus (oops sorry Seamus) was telling me that for under-16s it’s £5.50 compared with the Odeon’s £8.50. For the rest of us, Monday night is cheap night at the Picturehouse – £6.50 a ticket or, if a fiver if you’re a member (you are a member, aren’t you..? Unless you are a dedicated film-hater, Picturehouse membership is one of those things you HAVE to have if you live in Greenwich. You save money almost the moment you join…)

Next Greenwich-filmed movie coming up is Dorian Gray, which has ‘average’ reviews, but hey. Sean sent me the trailer, which is littered with Greenwich bits and bobs – and a badly-disguised yellow box.

This week’s location shoot at the Old Royal Naval College is Gulliver’s Travels. I’m guessing the security guards got fed up with explaining what’s going on to curious passers-by as there’s a big board at the entrance that not only tells us what the production is, but apologises for inconvenience – something I’ve never seen before and really appreciate – Thank you, 20th Century Fox, for being polite.

Unlike Wolfman, which barred the gates to gawpers, this seems to be a fairly open set. They close off areas while they’re actually shooting, but the rest of the time the public can just wander around. Clearly, Fox have worked out that if someone sees something being made, they’re more likely to be curious to see the finished article.

At this point, may I renew my plea for anyone who’s in the loop on filming in our fair borough, to maybe get in touch? I’d love to have a “what’s being filmed where this week” section on the blog…

“Me” asks:

“According to signage on the site, “Wolfman Films” is doing a bit of night filming around the University to May 27th. Do you know if it is connected to the filming done last year (’08) on the “Wolfman Film”? I walk through the University most days to and from work and had to walk through grimy streets and horse poop this morning – Ewww! It was still cool though because lots of props were hanging out to sneak a peek at…and how cool is it to tell my friends and family that I walk through film sets on the way to work! ”

Sadly, “Me,” my call for a mole in the Greenwich Film Unit has gone unheeded (probably because I wasn’t particularly polite about it once. Damn my mouth…)

So I had to resort to my old friend the Internet, which, as everyone knows, is never wrong. It is, indeed, more filming for Wolfman, which apparently had too much boring old plot, so they’re tacking on some more action shots before the much-delayed release. The Big Picture is sceptical about it all – if a film’s going to be boring, adding extra shots only makes it longer, argues Bruno, but hey – it will also add extra Greenwich…

And it gives me an excuse to add another pic from last year’s shoot…

Anyone know what the latest filming extravaganza down at the ORNC is?