#sanderstead

'The good people at the David Lean have devised a two-hour amble around Sanderstead and Riddlesdown to show off the locations that play a key part of one of the best recent British-made movies...

The David Lean Cinema crew are doing their utmost to bring films to life, and next month they are going on a special walking tour of the locations used in the making of Andrew Haigh’s acclaimed 2023 movie, All Of Us Strangers.

Haigh came to Croydon earlier this year to talk about the film, and Croydon’s role in it, which was recorded an Under The Flyover podcast. The David Lean Cinema will be screening All Of Us Strangers again next month (on Wednesday, September 11).

Now volunteers from the David Lean Cinema are offering a guided tour of the film’s locations, on Saturday September 14, from 1.45pm meeting at Riddlesdown Station.

“The tour will be stopping off at some of the main locations that were used for the filming of All of Us Strangers,” they say.

“The tour end point will be Sanderstead Station around 4pm.”

Places are limited, with only 20 spaces available.

Caitlin Clifford describes the film as “a beautiful ode to both family and home”.

Filmed in the summer of 2022, All Of Us Strangers features not only Haigh’s old home on Purley Downs Road, but other locations around Sanderstead, including the railway station, the Recreation Ground and the high street.

'...One of the most recent high-profile films to feature Croydon was Andrew Haigh’s hometown love letter, All of Us Strangers.

The 2023 film featuring Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott included scenes from the Whitgift Centre, but unlike other films before it the flick focuses on the borough’s greener southern half.

Much of the film was set in Sanderstead where the director grew up, specifically in Sanderstead Recreation Ground, Limpsfield Road and Purley Downs Road.

Ms Neilson said: “All of Us Strangers is probably the best example that pointed out that Croydon can be much more than just the town centre.

'In April, filmmaker Andrew Haigh visited the David Lean Cinema for a screening of his latest film, All Of Us Strangers.

During the subsequent interview with Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw and BAFTA-winning actress, and patron of the cinema, Joanna Scanlan, Haigh spoke of his time growing up in Croydon, and how it had influenced him.

His film, much of it shot on location in Sanderstead, is a beautiful ode to both family and home. It is not surprising that Haigh chose to use his own childhood home in Sanderstead for the childhood home of Adam, the film’s protagonist, played by Andrew Scott.

In fact, Haigh remarked that it appeared to be the last house on the road to remain untouched by time, allowing Haigh to use his own old photo of the house in the film (although with Claire Foy carefully photoshopped into the image).

Filmed in the summer of 2022, All Of Us Strangers features not only Haigh’s old home on Purley Downs Road, but other locations around Sanderstead, too, such as the railway station, the Recreation Ground and the high street (where Scott is first shown meeting Jamie Bell’s character – whose identity I won’t spoil for those who have not yet watched the film).

It also shows Scott sitting on the familiar turquoise seat of a Southern train while travelling from central London to Croydon, and shows bona fide stars Scott, Foy and Bell leisurely making their way through the Whitgift Centre – a shot that received laughter and cheers from the Croydon audience during the screening at the David Lean.

Croydon has had plenty of screen time over the years, a regular favourite location for many film-makers.

When All Of Us Strangers was being filmed two years ago, the floodlights and movie crews were set up outside the Fairfield Halls for a couple of nights just for a brief scene for the TV series The Crown, with the Croydon arts venue filling in for the Festival Hall as Princess Diana arrives for an awards event or concert.

The Whitgift Centre probably first appeared as a television backdrop, notoriously, in the title sequence for Terry and June, the 1970s BBC sitcom...

Until director Haigh and All Of Us Strangers came along, no television show or movie used its Croydon location as such an integral part of the piece as much as the long-running Peep Show Channel 4 comedy did...'

'...Real Homes In Film & TV

All Of Us Strangers

'It seems that not a week goes by without another talented and successful artist revealed to have some connection in or around Croydon.