Wormwood Scrubs (HM Prison) - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

In films and TV programmes set in Britain, when someone is shown being released from prison, the front entrance of Wormwood Scrubs is frequently chosen as a filming location, e.g.

• Billy Liar
• The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
• The Horse's Mouth
• Hot Millions
• A Very British Coup
• Cass
• The Sweeney (TV) - One Of Your Own
• The Baron (TV) - Something for a Rainy Day
• Porridge, in both the television series and film
• Minder, in the episode The Birdman of Wormwood Scrubs
• Steptoe and Son

Gary Moore is shown at the prison entrance on the cover of the 1978 album, Back on the Streets. The prison is mentioned in The Jam's hit song, "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight" and Billy Bragg's 'Rotting on Remand' from the Workers Playtime album. The Pete Doherty song 'Broken Love Song' is about the singer's tenure in the prison in early 2008. Comedian Spike Milligan recorded "The Wormwood Scrubs Tango" about an elderly car thief in the prison.

A documentary entitled Wormwood Scrubs was aired on ITV1 in May 2010. It showed the life of the prisoners and staff over a two part series.

Author Sarah Waters published the book "The Night Watch" (No. 1 Bestseller) in 2006, one of the main characters had served his sentence at the Scrubs prison.

Journalist Peter Wildeblood was imprisoned in 'The Scrubs' in 1954. His book "Against the Law", in which he describes his trial and imprisonment, was described in The New Statesman as "the noblest, and wittiest, and most appalling prison book of them all".

The prison is mentioned in the Russian novel Figure-head, by Danil Koretsky (Данил Корецкий, Подставная фигура). The parents of the principal protagonist are held in HMP Wormwood Scrubs and are unsuccessfully sought-out by the Russian SVR.