Britney Spears shoots Criminal video as council bars gang drama filming on Hackney estates

Ronan Bennett

Screenwriter and Hackney resident Ronan Bennett. Photograph: Grant Smith

Hackney Council this week has defended its decision to refuse Channel 4 drama Top Boy filming rights on estates in the borough, whilst Britney Spears got the go-ahead to shoot her new music video, Criminal.

The crime thriller Top Boy revolves around gang crime in and around the fictional Summerhouse Estate in Hackney.

Top Boy writer Ronan Bennett says the council refused premission because the programme’s portrayal of the borough could damage tourism ahead of the Olympics.

Mayor Jules Pipe did not directly comment on Bennett’s claim, but responded by saying: “[I]t was not fair on residents to run the risk of having their neighbourhood stigmatised on national television as riddled with drugs and gangs.

“Even where estates do suffer these problems, few people would want their home portrayed like that, and I’d question the motives of any that did.”

Defending the decision, Mayor Pipe said: “Estates aren’t film sets to be casually rented out, they are people’s homes. When filming is proposed on an estate, before approaching residents’ associations for their agreement, Hackney’s film office looks carefully at the application and considers numerous issues including whether the portrayal would have a detrimental effect on the reputation of the area.

Had Hackney agreed to the filming and had our worst fears confirmed, what possible justification could the Council give for being complicit in such negative stereotyping?”

Whilst there was nothing to prevent Top Boy filming in Hackney’s streets, the Town Hall refused filming on council estates, for which specific permission is required.

Notwithstanding, Britney Spears was earlier this week acting out scenes of an armed robbery, brandishing a gun around Stoke Newington Town Hall  as she was filmed for Criminal, her forthcoming music video.

Hackney Council had given the go-ahead for the filming, but in a  statement to the ITV London Tonight programme, it said: “In this case we did not agree that a replica gun could be used at Stoke Newington Town Hall and we are disappointed … We will be raising this matter with the production company.”

The council’s focus on reputation management paid off last year, when the Local Government Association (LGA)  highlighted Hackney as a case study as part of its reputation campaign.

The LGA outlined the borough’s efforts to improve its ‘Reputation Index score’, and, according to the study, the council identified crime and anti-social behaviour as areas which particularly affect public perceptions.

Related: Channel 4 commissions Hackney-based crime thriller

7 Comments

  1. pat on Sunday 25 September 2011 at 01:02

    So all that time that heroin dens and crack houses were allowed to operate on the estates in Hackney would the council have closed them if a TV crew had come to do a documentary on them?Must not let anyone see whats really going on.



  2. The Great Smell Of Brute on Monday 26 September 2011 at 07:03

    Gotta love those double standards… 😉

    …And at the same time, wonder how much Hackney made out of the hiire for the Britney video.



  3. pat on Monday 26 September 2011 at 09:53

    GSOB I have been told that to impress the dignitaries that will be speeding through Hackney on the way to the Olympics,Hackney Council will be supplying us with top hats and tiaras.Sadly these will be made from paper and paste,so dont go out in the rain,



  4. Andrew Veitch on Monday 3 October 2011 at 19:13

    Three people were shot in Hackney last week – last Sunday night in Gilpin Square, Wednesday afternoon in Queensbridge Road and on Friday night in Westgate Street next to London Fields.
    Front page lead in Hackney Today, Monday 3 October: Successful crackdown on antisocial behaviour.
    Hackney Council propaganda department: trained in China?



  5. pat on Tuesday 4 October 2011 at 00:13

    With Hackney Council its all about appearances,thats why there is no complaints page in the Hackney Today.



  6. The Great Smell Of Brute on Tuesday 4 October 2011 at 11:26

    @Pat: Indeed – anything which doesn’t fit neatly into the ‘grand vision’ of the Blairite clique gets airbrushed out of the big picture of life in Hackney.



  7. Thomas Arne Strand on Wednesday 9 November 2011 at 01:26

    A good drama although portraying certain negative stereotypes.



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