2026 has seen a flurry of original productions turning up on the TV after spending time shooting a scene or two in our borough.

Reel Life is back again. Our popular blog from the council’s West London Film Office tells us which moviemakers and TV-types have been helped to make film and telly magic locally.

So, what has been happening?

New shows starring the likes of Gemma Arterton, Steve Coogan and Alan Carr all found their ideal film locations around here. From car driving stunts at night to solving puzzles in historic houses, our fair borough was the muse for directors hoping to capture our hard-won attention.

Fresh from spending time in a big house in Scotland pretending to a bunch of celebrities that he didn’t know what was going on, Alan Carr and Susie Dent presided over the Secret Genius competition filmed at Ealing’s Pitzhanger Manor, clearly revealing their true nature through the programme’s title. The production filmed the whole of the first series in the glorious grade 1 listed building on Ealing Green. It was broadcast on Channel 4 in February this year. Series 2 just finished filming there again in July this year.

Legends, Hamlet and James Bond auditions

Netflix’s show Legends finds Steve Coogan playing a seasoned, wise-cracking customs officer assigned the task of stopping large quantities of illegal drugs entering the UK in the 1980s with little more than a landline telephone and a group of colleagues fed up checking VAT returns. West London Film Office found them a cracking location in Market Place W3 to film some tense moments. Acton Vale Estate played a part too, thanks to the brilliant residents’ association there.

Not long after filming scenes for his version of Hamlet in the borough, Riz Ahmed popped back to shoot his new comedy Bait, also starring Guz Khan and Ritu Arya. Based around a struggling actor from a west London Muslim family auditioning for the role of James Bond, the release in 2026 was met with critical acclaim and a few award nominations, including one for an Emmy. Watch out for Perceval House in the background and the ever-popular Market Place in Acton again.

News anchors and advertisers

Tom Bradby, best known as an affable presenter of ITV’s News at 10, was clearly not content with updating us on world events in a laid-back manner, so he decided to write books as well. One of which was Secret Service, recently adapted for the TV. The production needed a comfortable family home for their main character Kate Henderson, played by Gemma Arterton, to live and there was no finer place than the leafy avenues of Acton to find it. You can watch Secret Service on ITVX now and see if you can spot it.

And, to conclude, a quick update on what our advertisers would like you all to do. They recommend opening a bank account, sending someone some flowers and then going out for some food at a well-known high-street fast-food outlet. How romantic…