Over the years, Harrow has been the setting for a plethora of movies, television shows, advert and magazine shoots and viral social videos.
One of the most famous movie series, set in the UK, has a dedicated platform – 9 3/4 at King’s Cross Station, that takes one through to the magical world…can you guess what it is? The series that had the world hooked, and movie quotes became famous and until now, they are watched on repeat. Not to mention, the series that made the author, J.K. Rowling, a billionaire. This is, of course, The one and only, the Harry Potter series. Did you know, that certain scenes from the first movie – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001) were filmed in Harrow?
The filming of Professor Flitwick’s Classroom and the famous ‘Wingardium Leviosa’ scene was in fact filmed in Harrow School. Over the years, the school has become a popular filming destination with plenty of documentaries, adverts and magazine shoots being filmed on the historic grounds including Burberry, GQ and Penguin Originals.
Another film that was shot in Harrow was ‘The Theory of Everything (2014). The movie took a look at the relationship between the famous physicist Stephen Hawking and his wife and went on to gross over £30Million.
Back in the 1980s and 1990’s, sitcoms were a big deal! and many of them, even leading into the early 00’s were filmed in Harrow, and in particular – Pinner. Comedy shows such as Fawlty Towers, Steptoe and Son, May to December and more recently, The Inbetweeners, were shot in Pinner at different points over the last few decades.
Another popular movie – ‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2017) was filmed in the Harrow Civic Centre. Famous actors such as Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson starred in the film that went on to earn over £150million worldwide.
At the time of the filming, residents reported seeing the stars, in particular, Samuel L. Jackson in the surrounding areas, can you imagine bumping into him on the street? it was a privilege for Harrow to host such A-list stars. On a similar note, it was only last month that Harrow residents spotted none other than Kevin Bacon in Harrow shooting a new commercial for EE in Harrow Town Centre.
After the sad news of Queen Elizabeth II passing this week, we finish with a popular Netflix TV show called ‘The Crown’ (2016) which filmed the first two seasons at Harrow School. The Supervising Location Manager praised the school for the halls, courts, rooms and staff.
