‘I Think I Recognise That Place'

We’ve all said it when a road or building seems all too familiar in a TV show or big screen drama. SUE BROMLEY plays detective

SOME TV series over the years have done ‘exactly what it says on the tin’ with scenes clearly based locally – not that here in Berkshire everyone has always been happy with the results.

Way back in 1974 there was the notorious documentary series, The Family, built around the lives of the Wilkins family in Reading. More up to date, we’ve laughed until we cried at The Office, Reading-born Ricky Gervais’s mockumentary set at the supposed paper company Wernham Hogg on Slough Trading Estate (Crossbow House, their base, has since been demolished). And anyone with an ounce of experience of what passes for some of the ‘nightlife’ in Slough will have enjoyed the cast’s clubbing forays to the imaginary Chasers bar.

So, having looked at some of the historic and iconic Berkshire settings used in big budget movies, it only seemed fair that we also take a tour in this issue of some of the less well known appearances of Berkshire sites and buildings. It’s something of a Carry On, and that’s where we’ll start, with the risqué British film series that kept the costs down and managed speedy turn around by mostly filming close to Pinewood.