On Screen

1960s: Thamesmead as a flagship project was launched in a blaze of publicity, but just as celebrities can get too much exposure, so did Thamesmead.  It began to pick up an negative reputation as an estate rife with problems, while its less newsworthy achievements tended to take second place.

1971: The film director Stanley Kubrick chose Thamesmead as the location for his film ‘Clockwork Orange'. Nothing could have been more disastrous for the area's long-term reputation. If people had never come across Thamesmead before, they could be excused from drawing the wrong conclusion about the place.

1971: A ‘Man Alive' documentary made by the BBC yet again showed viewers Thamesmead at its worst, and caused an outcry from residents.

1980: Thamesmead attracted rare positive attention when it received a Royal visit from the Queen and whilst the media were still more concerned to portray the ‘problems' of Thamesmead, the Queen's visit generally gave a boost to the community, and showed it off essentially in a good light.

1991: Echoes of ‘Clockwork Orange' reverberated once more with the murder of Rolan Adams, a young, black teenager. ‘London's once model new town, turned into town of terror, was the startling opening to the London Programme on ITV.

1996: The choice of Thamesmead as the location for the film ‘Beautiful Thing' must have improved the long term reputation of Thamesmead, helping to lay to rest the legacy of ‘Clockwork Orange'. In the sunshine the concrete buildings bore little resemblance to the threatening environment portrayed in the earlier film and reminded viewers that Thamesmead can be a pleasant place to live.

2006: Thamesmead was selected by Warner Bros to be one of a handful of locations used for the new Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, which is being released in 2007.