Acton, London - Acton in Popular Culture

Acton in Popular Culture

• South Acton is the site of actual housing estate featured in long running BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses - although the script described the Trotters as living in Peckham. The tower block where Rodney and Delboy were supposed to be living is the real life Harlech Tower.

• The 1971 film Villain starring Richard Burton and Ian McShane clearly features Acton Central railway station in one of its sequences. Similarly another sequence in the same film shows the characters Danny and Inspector Matthews talking while on a train which they caught at Acton Central.

• Episode 1 of How the Other Half Lives, a Channel 4 documentary, shows the poverty of one family on the South Acton estate compared to living in the wealthy part of the country.

• Acton was the birthplace of The Who, of which all members except Keith Moon went to Acton High School (then named Acton County Grammar School).

• Pete Townshend's 1982 solo album, All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes, contained the track "Stardom in Acton" in reference to his home town, while the accompanying video was filmed on and around Acton High Street.

• In the episode of Alan Partridge Towering Alan, the character Mike Sampson is from Acton. He is a socially inept character who describes Acton as having "a few too many blacks."

• An episode of Chris Morris's spoof news program The Day Today featured a segment called 'The Pool', a documentary about "St. Lamb's Pool in Acton". The scene was shot in the Acton Swimming Baths.

• The Monty Python sketch 'Bicycle Repair Man' was shot on Churchfield Road; part of the sketch 'Hell's Grannies' was shot on Acton High Street.

• The English indiepop act The Hit Parade mentions Acton in their song Henry from 1993.

• Leo Sayer's 1983 single Orchard Road in reality refers to Acton's Churchfield Road.

• In the TV series Minder, Arthur Daley's car lot was by the railway bridge in The Vale with the door of the Winchester Club in Newburgh Road off Churchfield Road. The lock up was the rear part of a warehouse in North Acton. These locations were for the seventh series only.

• Acton Park often hosted filming for programmes such as Rose & Macaulay and The Deal. Other parts of Acton were used for The Sweeney and early episodes of The Bill.

• The first Waitrose store in the UK was in Acton. Originally called "Waite, Rose and Taylor", it opened in 1904, at number 263 Acton Hill. A metal plate commemorating this has been inserted into the pavement outside these premises as it was not possible to obtain permission from the current owners of the building to affix a plaque onto it.

• Scenes from the 1986 movie Aliens and the 1989 movie Batman were shot inside the disused Acton Power Station.

• The Ken Loach film Ladybird Ladybird was filmed at many sites around Acton including The Mount, the Town Hall, Vyner Road, Cumberland Park and parts of South Acton.

• Musician M.I.A in interviews has hinted one of the meanings of her stage name is "Missing in Acton", with Acton being the place she grew up.

• Adam Faith the pop singer, first lived at 4 Churchfield Road, from 1940, until about 1960. ( incorrect- 47 Maple Avenue, Acton early 1950-1960 )

• The band Art of Noise featured a track entitled "Acton Art" as a B-Side to their 12" Single release of "Dragnet".

• The band Carbon/Silicon recorded a track called "Acton Zulus" for their album, The Last Post.

• Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros played a gig in support of striking firefighters on November 15, 2002 at Acton Old Town Hall, and Mick Jones joined Strummer on stage, marking the first time they performed together since Jones's departure from The Clash.

• Clash drummer Topper Headon as a solo artist recorded a song called 'DuCane Road', named after a road in East Acton

• 1970's footballer Robin Friday who played for Reading and Cardiff City was born in Acton. The cover of the Super Furry Animals' single "The Man Don't Give a Fuck" featured a famous picture of him showing a V sign to Luton Town goalkeeper Milija Aleksic while playing for Cardiff City.

• Actresses Emilia Fox and Anna Chancellor and columnist and author Toby Young and co-producer Benjamin Rimmer are among current (2010) prominent local residents.

• The family terraced home in which Jimmy Cooper, the lead character in The Who's film version of Quadrophenia lived, was located in Wells House Road, Acton. When left derelict, the house was stripped of fixtures and fittings by devotees of the cult movie.

• Playwright/Composer Lionel Bart lived the latter part of his life in an apartment on Churchfield Road, citing the area as the closest thing he could find to the community feel of the East London "of old".

• Sandra and Samantha Lawrence The Wee Papa Girl Rappers were a British female rap duo, who came from Acton & lived in one of the tower blocks next to Acton Police Station, the picture on the back cover of their album was taken out side their block.

• Writer John Muckle's novel of motorcycle despatch riders 'London Brakes'(2010) is partly set and was largely written in Moreton Tower, Acton, in the 1980s. East Acton is the setting for the comedy series Sykes
• "My Street" an award-winning documentary by director Sue Bourne was made in Goldsmith Avenue, Acton and featured twelve households there. Soon after transmission Abu Qatada's family moved into one of the featured houses and he spent some months out on bail living in the house.

• The film 'FAQs about Time Travel' (2009) was partly set in the Talbot pub on Mill Hill road, Acton.