Perfect setting for a love drama? It's Crouch End, actually

nlnews@archant.co.uk
07 March 2007

Emma Pierson (in doorway) filming next to the Haelan Centre on Crouch Hall Road, off the Broadway, on Tuesday

CROUCH End is not just an attraction for actors, musicians and singers looking to settle down - it is also a magnet for film location scouts.

A new ITV drama out later this year is even set in Crouch End, and this week one film crew has been filming all over the place for the four-parter, called Is This Love? and described as "Cold Feet with tough edges".

The main character is played by Max Beasley, star of the BBC's Hotel Babylon, and on Tuesday the crew were filming scenes with his co-star from the show, Emma Pierson.

Is This Love? features Max as Mitch Moore, a love-rat DJ living in Crouch End and chasing his best friend's fiancé, and also stars Kate Ashfield and Adrian Bower.

The crew spent four weeks filming in the Isle Of Man before coming to Crouch End, where they have proven lucrative for local businesses and residents. Locations for the shoot have included Spiazzo Italian Deli and the Haelan Centre on the Broadway, the Bouga restaurant, Park Road, the World Café, Crouch Hill, Crouch End Broadway itself and Hornsey Town Hall.

Nearby locations include a flat in the Wat Tyler Housing Estate, Boyton Road, and the New River Village - both in Hornsey - and Alexandra Palace, Wood Green High Road and a private residence in Highgate.

Last year a record-breaking 115 shoots took place in private businesses and residences in Haringey, pouring around £115,000 into their pockets at the rate of £1,000 per day.

A further £80,000 was earned by Haringey Council in 2006/07, who rented out Finsbury Park, Hornsey Town Hall, Parkland Walk, Queen's Wood and the Broadwater Farm Estate.

The borough was host to a string of high-profile shoots.

For TV, they included Silent Witness, Prime Suspect, Perfect Parents, Waking The Dead, The Catherine Tate Show, Holby City, Trial & Retribution, Pulling, Peepshow, The Friday Night Project, Man/Woman, Miss Marple, and Lewis. Commercials included BT, Signal, Innocent Smoothies, Sony Eriksson, Cadbury's, Nintendo, Nike, Oxfam and Odeon Cinemas, while the feature films Notes On A Scandal and Bollywood's Jhoom Barabar Jhoom also included shoots in Haringey.

One pop video - Bad Education by dance-pop DJ Eric Prydz - was filmed last year.