London in film

London has been used frequently both as a filming location and as a film setting. These have ranged from historical recreations of the Victorian London of Charles Dickens and Sherlock Holmes, to the romantic comedies of ''Bridget Jones's Diary'' and ''Notting Hill'', by way of crime films, spy thrillers, science fiction and the "swinging London" films of the 1960s.

Because of the dominant role played by the city in the British media, the number of British films set in London is huge. It has also been used many times in American films, and often recreated on a Hollywood studio backlot.

Historical London

Historical recreations of London on screen have been relatively frequent. The Tudor, Victorian, Edwardian and Second World War periods in the city's history have all been regularly depicted.

Pre-Victorian London

London in the Elizabethan Era has often been portrayed in films, including ''Fire Over England'' (1937), ''The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex'' (1939), and ''Elizabeth'' (1998). Much of ''Shakespeare in Love'' (1998), a comedy involving Shakespeare in a fictionalised romance, was set around the original Globe Theatre, as was Laurence Olivier's 1944 ''Henry V''.

The Tudor period has also been shown in other films, including the 1966 film of Robert Bolt's play '' A Man for All Seasons'', the 1990s adaptation of ''Orlando'' and various versions of Mark Twain's ''The Prince and the Pauper''.

''Cromwell'' (1970) is one of the few films to show the city during the English Civil War, but several have been set during the subsequent restoration of the monarchy under Charles II. These include '' Nell Gwyn'' (1937), '' Forever Amber'' (1947) and ''Stage Beauty'' (2003). The 1995 film ''Restoration'' incorporates both the Great Plague and the Great Fire of 1665-66.

Late 18th and early 19th century London has been seen in a number of films, including ''Lady Hamilton'' (1941), ''Lady Caroline Lamb'' (1972), '' A Bequest to the Nation'' (1973), ''Princess Caraboo'' (1994), ''Sense and Sensibility'' (1995), and the various versions of ''The Scarlet Pimpernel''.

Victorian London

One of the most popular images of the city is the Victorian era of Charles Dickens, Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes. There have been almost 200 films based on the novels of Charles Dickens alone, beginning with the silent short film ''Death of Nancy Sykes'' in 1897. The most memorable of these are probably the musical ''Oliver!'' and the two David Lean films of ''Oliver Twist'' (1948) and ''Great Expectations'' (1946). Other film adaptations include ''David Copperfield'' in 1935 and 1969, ''Nicholas Nickleby'' in 1947 and 2002, ''The Pickwick Papers'' in 1952 and ''Little Dorrit'' in 1987. There have also been many versions of Dickens' ''A Christmas Carol'', the best known of which is probably the 1951 Alastair Sim film '' Scrooge''.

Many films have also been made of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Basil Rathbone played Holmes in a series of American films from 1939 to 1946, with London recreated in Hollywood at 20th Century Fox and later Universal Studios. Other notable Holmes films which have strongly featured London backgrounds and locations are ''Young Sherlock Holmes'' (1985), Billy Wilder's ''The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes'' (1970), and the comedies ''The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother'' (1975) and ''Without a Clue'' (1988), as well as innumerable television films.

Holmes also dealt with the notorious Whitechapel serial killer Jack the Ripper in '' A Study in Terror'' in 1965 and ''Murder by Decree'' in 1978. The Ripper was also featured in ''Pandora's Box'' (1929), ''Jack the Ripper'' (1959), ''Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde'' (1971), ''Hands of the Ripper'' (1971), ''From Hell'' (2001) and several versions of '' The Lodger'', including Hitchcock's silent film of 1926.

Much of the action in the Bram Stoker novel ''Dracula'' takes place in London, although several film adaptations have set it elsewhere. One notable exception is '' Bram Stoker's Dracula'' (1992), directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

Other films set in Victorian London include the 1945 version of ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'', ''Victoria the Great'' (1937), ''Sixty Glorious Years'' (1938), ''The Mudlark'' (1950), ''The Wrong Box'' (1966), ''The Assassination Bureau'' (1968), ''The First Great Train Robbery'' (1978), ''Topsy-Turvy'' (1999), ''An Ideal Husband'' (1999), ''Shanghai Knights'' (2003), the 1956 version and 2004 version of ''Around the World in Eighty Days'', and the black-and-white film ''The Elephant Man'' (1980), based on the life of Joseph Merrick.

Other British cities, such as Edinburgh, or locations in other countries, are now often used for period films instead of filming in London itself. ''From Hell'' (2001), ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' (2003) and Roman Polanski's 2005 film of ''Oliver Twist'' all recreated Victorian London in Prague in the Czech Republic.

Twentieth century

Edwardian London has been depicted in several films, notably 2010 Academy Award Winner for Best Picture The King's Speech, Ealing comedy ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'' in 1949, the Merchant Ivory E. M. Forster adaptation ''Howards End'' (1992) and the biopic ''Young Winston'' (1972).

Wartime London has featured in many films, with ''The Man Who Loved Redheads'' and ''Zeppelin'' (1971) among those set during the First World War. The 1943 film ''The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'' covered 40 years in the city, including the Edwardian era, the First World War and the Second World War. Several others made during the Second World War itself, featured London locations, including ''Millions Like Us'' (1943) and '' Waterloo Road'' (1944). The Blitz featured prominently in the Ealing drama ''The Bells Go Down'' (1943), and in Humphrey Jennings' drama- documentary ''Fires Were Started'' (1943). The latter featured real firemen recreating scenes from the bombings. At the same time, a number of London-set films were being made in Hollywood, like ''Waterloo Bridge'' (1940), ''Mrs. Miniver'' (1942) and '' Forever and a Day'' (1943). The latter followed several generations of owners of a London house until 1943. Later films set in the city during World War II include ''The Man Who Never Was'' (1955), ''I Was Monty's Double'' (1969), '' Hanover Street'' (1979), '' Hope and Glory'' (1987), ''Shining Through'' (1992) and ''The End of the Affair'' (1999), as well as some low-budget Italian-made war films like '' Stukas Over London'' (1970) and ''From Hell to Victory'' (1979).

The 1950s has been recreated in several films including '' 84 Charing Cross Road'' (1987) and '' Shadowlands'' (1993). The 1960s has proved particularly popular with film makers in recent years, especially for crime films like '' Buster'' (1988), ''Scandal'' (1989), '' The Krays'' (1990), '' Honest'' (2000) and ''Gangster No. 1'' (2000). ''Withnail and I'' (1987) economically recreated the Camden Town area in the 1960s.

Postwar London

The Ealing comedies of the 1940s and 1950s made repeated use of locations in the city. ''Hue and Cry'' (1947) and ''Passport to Pimlico'' (1949) were memorably set in the ruins and bombsites of post-war London. In the 1950s ''The Lavender Hill Mob'' made extensive use of London locations, as did the dramas ''The Blue Lamp'' and '' Pool of London'', while '' The Ladykillers'' used King's Cross Station and its surrounding marshalling yards as the backdrop to its story. The 1952 film '' The Happy Family'' is set on the South Bank during the lead up to the Festival of Britain.

Many other comedies have used locations in the city, some of the best known being ''The Ghosts of Berkeley Square'' (1947), ''Doctor in the House'' (1954), ''The Horse's Mouth'' (1958), '' Mars Attacks!'', '' Independence Day: Resurgence'', ''Nuns on the Run'', ''Mr. Bean'', '' Bedazzled'' (1967), ''Brassed Off'' (1996), ''Billy Elliott'' (2000) and ''Bend It Like Beckham'' (2002).

Swinging London

With new developments in music, cinema and fashion, London found itself the centre of youth culture in the 1960s. The image of "swinging London", partly a creation of ''Time'' magazine, helped to fuel a production boom in the British film industry throughout the decade. The Beatles made memorable use of locations in the city in '' A Hard Day's Night'' (1964) (#1 in U.S.), and a huge number of other London-set films followed. These included ''The Pumpkin Eater'', '' The Knack ...and How to Get It'', '' Darling'', ''Arabesque'', ''Kaleidoscope'', ''Georgy Girl'', '' Morgan!'', ''Alfie'', ''Blowup'', ''I'll Never Forget What's'isname'', '' Casino Royale'', ''Poor Cow'', ''Up the Junction'', '' Bedazzled'', ''To Sir, with Love'', ''The Jokers'', ''Otley'', '' Wonderwall'', ''Smashing Time'', ''Salt and Pepper'' and ''The Italian Job''.

Romantic London

The city has often been used as the backdrop for romances like '' Indiscreet'' (1958) with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman and '' A Touch of Class'' (1973), and has become popular for romantic comedies in recent years. This is at least partly due to the television and film writer Richard Curtis, who has written some of the most successful British films of recent years — ''The Tall Guy'' (1989), ''Four Weddings and a Funeral'' (1994), ''Notting Hill'' (1999) and ''Love Actually'' (2003), all set or partly set in the city. The films follow the awkward love lives of largely upper-middle class characters (aside from ''The Tall Guy'', always including one played by Hugh Grant).

Curtis has been criticised for pandering to the American market by playing to the stereotype of the English as posh, socially awkward eccentrics. This hasn't stopped the films generally being a huge success in the American and British cinema box office charts. Other films which have followed in Curtis's footsteps include ''Sliding Doors'' (1998), ''Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence'' (1998), '' About a Boy'' (2002), ''Wimbledon'', and the American film '' What a Girl Wants'' (2002). ''Londinium'' (2001) used locations in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, Hyde Park, Primrose Hill Park and at Waterloo station.

Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts, Jude Law and Clive Owen conducted their affairs around various parts of London in '' Closer'' (2004), which uses locations such as Clerkenwell, the London Aquarium, Bloomsbury, the River Thames and the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane.

Woody Allen's ''Match Point'' (2005), uses a very up-market view of the city to reflect the upper class lives of the protagonists, including locations in Notting Hill, Belgravia, Chelsea, St. James's Park and Tate Modern.

Thrillers

Alfred Hitchcock probably started the fashion for using London landmarks for spy films, starting with ''Blackmail'' in 1929, which was set entirely in the city and finished on the dome of the British Museum. Many of his other thrillers followed a similar pattern, including ''The Man Who Knew Too Much'' (both the 1934 and 1956 versions), '' The 39 Steps'' (1935), ''Sabotage'' (1937), ''Foreign Correspondent'' (1940), ''Stage Fright'' (1950) and ''Frenzy'' (1972). London has since featured in many other thrillers, including '' Hunted'' (1952) '' The Yellow Balloon'' (1953) ''Sapphire'' (1959), ''Bunny Lake Is Missing'' (1965), ''The IPCRESS File'' (1965), '' The Spy Who Came in from the Cold'' (1965), ''The Deadly Affair'' (1966), ''Arabesque'' (1966), ''The Black Windmill'' (1974), ''The Whistle Blower'' (1987), '' The Fourth Protocol'' (1987), '' Blue Ice'' (1992), '' The Innocent Sleep'' (1995) and briefly in '' Mission: Impossible'' (1996). This trend was spoofed in the films ''Otley'' (1968) with Tom Courtenay, and more recently in ''The Man Who Knew Too Little'' (1997) with Bill Murray and the Austin Powers films (#1 in U.S. box office). Anthony Minghella's film ''Breaking and Entering'' (2006) with Jude Law is named also a Romantic drama.

Landmarks featured in some of these films include the Royal Albert Hall, Westminster Abbey and Trafalgar Square. Both ''Night of the Demon'' (1957) and ''The IPCRESS File'' (1965) feature scenes filmed in the famous reading room at the British Museum. The 1978 version of '' The Thirty Nine Steps'' features a climax on the clock face of Big Ben, an idea borrowed from the 1943 Will Hay comedy ''My Learned Friend''. A similar scene features in the 2003 Jackie Chan film ''Shanghai Knights''.

Several American thrillers have also produced mangled versions of London's geography, including '' Twenty-Three Paces to Baker Street'' (1956), ''Midnight Lace'' (1960) and ''The Mummy Returns'' (2001) (#1 in U.S.), which features a chase across Tower Bridge on a double-decker bus and several scenes inside the British Museum. The 1944 version of '' The Lodger'' also features a scene by Tower Bridge, although the film was set several years before it was built.

Britain's most famous spy, James Bond, generally spends little time in London, other than to receive his orders from his boss 'M'. However, some of the films do feature locations in the city. These include '' On Her Majesty's Secret Service'' (1969) (#1 in U.S.) in which George Lazenby as Bond visits the College of Arms and '' For Your Eyes Only'' (1981) (#1 in U.S.), in which Roger Moore experiences a hair-raising helicopter flight over the Docklands area. In the more recent Pierce Brosnan films, the Secret Service's headquarters are identified as being the new MI6 building on the River Thames at Vauxhall. The 1999 film ''The World Is Not Enough'' (#1 in U.S.) opens with an extended boat chase from the MI6 building down the river to the Millennium Dome, while in ''Die Another Day'' (2002) (#1 in U.S.) Bond visits a secret base in a disused Underground station, and makes a rare trip to his club Blades. Also in the 2012 Bond movie ''Skyfall'' (#1 in U.S.), Bond spends more time in London. First while he visits M's house to get back to service. Then to new underground office of MI6, then to the Art Gallery to meet the new Quartermaster. After returning from Shanghai also, Bond spends time in London before going to Scotland. He chases Silva in London Tube and other areas in London. Also at the end of Movie, Bond sees London from his office terrace. The 1967 version of '' Casino Royale'' makes extensive use of London locations, including 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, Trafalgar Square (with Nelson's Column replaced by a flying saucer) as well as showing the Changing of the Guard outside Buckingham Palace.

Parts of Christopher Nolan's ''The Dark Knight Rises'' (2012) (#1 in U.S.) were also filmed in London.

London Underground

London's underground railway system, known as ''the Tube'', has featured in several films. The plot of the 1998 film ''Sliding Doors'' hinges on whether Gwyneth Paltrow's character catches a particular Tube train or not. ''Bulldog Jack'' (1934), '' Man Hunt'' (1941), ''The Good Die Young'' (1954), and 28 Weeks Later (2007) all include chase sequences across underground tracks.

A number of horror films have also used the subterranean network of tunnels as an atmospheric location, most notably the John Landis hit '' An American Werewolf in London'' (1981) (#1 in U.S.), which contains a famous scene set in Tottenham Court Road tube station, and the 2004 film '' Creep''. The eerie 1973 horror ''Death Line'' stars Donald Pleasence as a Scotland Yard detective who traces a series of murders to cannibals living in the network's tunnels.

Excavations on the Underground unearthed an ancient alien spacecraft in ''Quatermass and the Pit'' (1967), and dormant dragons in '' Reign of Fire'' (2002).

The 2002 James Bond film ''Die Another Day'' features a secret MI6 facility in a fictional disused Underground Station called Vauxhall Cross. The 2012 Bond film ''Skyfall'' sets a long chase scene in the London Underground near a makeshift underground MI6 base near the Old Bailey. Another fictional station, Hobbs End, features in the 1967 science fiction film ''Quatermass and the Pit''. Deleted scenes for ''Shaun of the Dead'' features the fictional Crouch End station.

Other films to have featured the Underground include ''Passport to Pimlico'' (1949), '' The Yellow Balloon'' (1953), ''Georgy Girl'' (1966), '' The Fourth Protocol'' (1987), '' Hidden City'' (1988) and ''Tube Tales'' (1999). The makers of the children's film ''The Boy Who Turned Yellow'' (1972) managed to persuade London Underground to paint a tube train yellow.

A rare recreation of the network in the Edwardian era featured in the adaptation of Henry James's ''The Wings of the Dove'' in 1997. The London underground of the 1920s is also recorded in Anthony Asquith's silent classic ''Underground'' (1928), while the 1969 film ''Battle of Britain'' shows the tunnel network converted to provide shelter for Londoners during the Blitz.

Aldwych tube station, formerly on a branch of the Piccadilly line, has been used as the location for many films and television productions, especially since the branch and station closed in 1994 and the platforms have been left intact making it suitable for filming and photography purposes, due to the absence of a regular train service. A 1970s tube train permanently is based at the station and heritage rolling stock can be brought in for filming - London Underground have retained one of their 1938 trains which can be used for historic appearances. In more recent years filming has also taken place at the former Jubilee line platforms at Charing Cross station, which were withdrawn from regular use when the line was extended in 1999 avoiding the station.

Science fiction

Nigel Kneale's ''Quatermass'' films and television series helped to popularise London as the setting for science fiction stories. ''The Quatermass Xperiment'' (1955) ends with Professor Quatermass cornering an alien monster in Westminster Abbey, while ''Quatermass and the Pit'' (1967) begins with an alien space craft being discovered during the construction of a new London Underground station. The John Wyndham novel ''The Day of the Triffids'' was made into a film in 1962 which also features scenes in London, while the much-derided 1985 film '' Lifeforce'' involved vampires from space taking over the city.

The 1950 thriller ''Seven Days to Noon'' featured a scientist who threatens to destroy London with a nuclear bomb, and was notable for its scenes of the city's evacuated and deserted streets. Despite the great difficulties involved in achieving this, the feat was repeated for the horror film ''28 Days Later'' in 2002, which begins with the hero waking from a coma and wandering across a deserted Westminster Bridge.

Another nuclear threat was explored in ''The Day the Earth Caught Fire'' (1961) which has many notable scenes in London, including the Thames running dry. It also includes a lot of scenes inside the old Express Building on Fleet Street and Arthur Christiansen, the recently retired editor of the ''Daily Express'', effectively plays himself.

Both '' Things to Come'' (1936) and ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (2005) begin with the city being destroyed, by war and alien attack respectively, while the 2004 horror comedy ''Shaun of the Dead'' is set in the city during a zombie attack.

The 1960 film ''The Time Machine'', based on the novel by H. G. Wells

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