My name is Marion Throup. It's March 26, 2026. I want to talk about the filming of A Room for Romeo Brass. The filming took place in Calverton between 5th of September and 17th of October in 1998. My friend's house on Lee Road was used as Knock Knock's house, who was one of the main characters, and Romeo Brass's house was the next adjoining house. My friend's family were moved into a house across the road on Lee Road. While their house was decorated out and the filming took place. A picture of a bus was painted on the window of Knock Knock's house as his father was supposed to be a bus enthusiast, that my friend kept long after the filming. My friend kept the bus picture up window for several years, because they just really liked it. It's gone now, and my friend no longer lives in the village, so I presume the new owners got rid of it. The whole village was being filmed, being used as a film set for about six weeks, so it was really quite exciting.
My husband was the chairman of the Calverton Association of Retail Traders, so was involved with the film crew over use of the shops in the square, and we were also members of the Calverton Theatre Group, and my friend's husband was an active member, so I think he encouraged Shane Meadows to invite us all to be if we wanted to be extras, so we did take the opportunity, so my husband and I and two older sons, we had to go up to the square one day, and I was instructed, I had to wear a raincoat and carry a shopping bag, and just had to walk across the square and look like I was shopping, but it never got into the film. But we were paid 50 pound each for the day, and had our lunch with the actors on the refreshment bus, so it was quite exciting. So during the filming, Shane Meadows dressed up as the chip shop worker, and in the film he was shown serving fish and chips at Pete's Chip Shop in the bit in the square. It's now called the Village Square Fish Shop, and also one of the one of the other shops in the square, which was empty, was made to look like a jeans shop where Vicky McClure's character, Ladine, worked. This is now number 18 cafe. This was next door to my husband's shop, The Chemist, which is now the Children's Society bookshop.
Vicki McClure and Andrew Shim were both were members of the Central TV workshop, which was run by Ian Smith, who lived in Calverton at the time. Romeo Brass was the first film that Vicky McClure and Paddy Considine were in, and it, I mean, they're both quite famous now. One day, when I was doing shopping, I'd walked up to the square, and I turned round the corner, near just by the chip shop, and that came across what I thought was a fight. Was really quite scared until I realized they were just filming a fight scene. Because my friend's house was used, she knew when the when they were filming different scenes, and we were told that they were going to be a filming a night scene where Paddy Considine's character was supposed to storm out of the house and take off at speed up the road in his car. From talking to the production team, we were told that prior to filming, Paddy, he didn't even have a driving license, and he had to learn to drive and pass his test prior to the filming.
It was quite a crowd of locals had come out to watch some film, and Paddy stormed out to the car, but they needed several retakes as he kept stalling it, and he couldn't, couldn't get going. One afternoon, my friend and I went across to her house, because we'd been told Bob Hoskins was there. He was sitting in her garden, drinking tea, so we just had a nice chat with him, which was quite, quite different. Once the film was finished, Calverton residents were invited to the premiere at the Broadway cinema, where Shane Meadows talked to everyone. It was an exciting time for the village. I watched the film again recently, and the village has changed so much. The square looked really shabby in the film. Also, at the beginning of the film, the two main characters, Romeo and his friend Knock Knock, they go to the chip shop, buy some chips, and they are supposedly walking home to Lee Road. Well, the route they took in the film was nowhere near like the route you would take in real life. It was, you know, quite funny to see.
Why did they choose your friend's house?
I think it just fitted the- what they need, they wanted, you know, it's a semi-detached house on Lee road, and it was just a typical residence, a Midlands residence with red brick, whatever. So I think that just fitted, fitted it, and I think I don't know if it's the reason, but because Ian Smith was he ran the central workshop and I think Shane Meadows used quite a few people from there in his films and so whether because he lived in Calverton he'd recommended Calverton I don't know it but it does seem possible. Well I mean there's like there's different shops that don't exist now, like they may actually show there used to be like a little, it wasn't a supermarket, but just a little shop that was at the end of George's Lane, and that's shown in the film, where I mean that doesn't, that's now private residences, there's not a shop at all, so and I think, yeah, I think there was just, you know, the shops. There's nothing like what we used to, what it is now. So, but I think it just looked, it actually looked very shabby then in the film. Really, did many people complain about it now, but I think it did look worse then. I moved to Calverton in 1986. We lived in Consett for about two years up in County Durham, but I mean, I'm originally from Wales, from South Wales, but I've lived in Calverton longer than I ever lived in Wales.
And what's your favourite thing about Calverton?
The walks, there's beautiful walks, you can go on lovely walks, you don't need to get in your car, and it's just, and the people are very friendly as well.
And if you could sum up Calverton in one word, what would it be?
Friendly, I'll say.