Universal Studios asked us to put together a tour that celebrated the iconic locations featured in numerous films shot in the capital over the years including Notting Hill, Bridget Jones, Atonement, Kick-Ass, Shakespeare in Love, Wimbledon to name but a few.

We designed one of our buses specially for the occasion with Universal’s logo and some of the films titles printed on it

We were joined by groups of journalists, publicists and people on the film industry, all invited by Universal Studios to celebrate their 100 years by touring around London.

During the day we found posts on twitter by people on the tour who wouldn’t stop posting pictures and positive comments on the tour.

Our guide Val ran the tour and had her few minutes of fame on BBC London News.

See the BBC London article on the tour.

It was a great pleasure for us to be part of this big celebration of Universal 100. Lets hope we can do the same again in 2112

The BBC’s eight part miniseries Ripper Street (which I can not wait to see) has begun filming in various locations in Dublin.

Created by Richard Warlow (Waking the Dead) and starring Matthew Macfadyen (Pride and Prejudice, Frost/Nixon), Jerome Flynn (Game of Thrones) and Adam Rothenberg (House).

Element Pictures is producing Ripper Street locally. Dublin’s Clancy Quays will double for the East End of London in the late 19th Century, partly because the producers felt nothing currently available in modern

London was suitable. The 19-week shoot is due to employ nearly 300 cast and crew.

Ripper Street will be a new drama set in the East End of London in 1889, during the aftermath of the “Ripper” murders. The action centres around the notorious H Division – the police precinct from hell – which is charged with keeping order in the chaotic streets of Whitechapel.

It will explore the lives of characters trying to recover from the Ripper’s legacy, from crimes that have not only irretrievably altered their lives, but the very fabric of their city.

Jack the Ripper Tour

Mr Carson better be ready for the new trainees, Matt Milne (War Horse) has already been confirmed as a new footman named Alfred and yesterday Digital Spy reported that Ed Spellers (Eragon) will play a footman named Jimmy, the second new footman in the series.

The 23-year-old is currently starring in horror comedy Love Bite and previously featured in Echo Beach.

Spellers’s Downton Abbey casting follows the announcement last month that Cara Theobald will play a new kitchen maid named Ivy and Lucille Sharp will be Miss Reid – Lady Cora’s mother Martha (Shirley MacLaine) lady’s maid .

So many new faces! We can’t wait for it.

Downton Abbey is expected to air in UK on ITV later this year.

One county that has become more and more prominent in recent years is Essex. Billericay, Essex is the home of Gavin, Mick, Pam and Smithy in Gavin and Stacey, and recently Brentwood, Essex has become an unlikely tourist attraction for fans of the BAFTA award-winning show The Only Way is Essex. So what is it about this county that has got us talking about it? After all, this is the county where brides ‘totter down the aisle in a mini skirt and white stilettos’ to quote Stacey’s Mum in Gavin and Stacey.  Or is it?

Although it is only recently that Essex has started making a name for itself, it has produced some very well known names in the past. St Trinians actor Russell Brand is an Essex boy, as is Russell Tovey from Being Human. Would it surprise you though to find out that some of the cast from the much loved Downton Abbey are actually Essex girls? The great Maggie Smith who plays Dowager Countess of Grantham and the elegant Michelle Dockery who plays Lady Mary Crawley are in fact Essex girls!

It seems that with the help of some fantastic TV series and amazing actors, Essex is grabbing our attention and becoming one of Britain’s TV tourism hot-spots!

Shirley MacLaine is an admired and successful actress who must bring some more of that dry humour to the drama. She won the Academy award for her role in Terms of Endearment.

The next season is to start being filmed in February and to be shown in September. I’m sure the series fans will be just counting the days until it starts.

Find out how to get free tickets to many popular TV shows recorded in London.

If you live in London (or are at least within travelling distance) why not go along to see a recording of a TV show. Tickets are free and there are so many good recordings available depending on your tastes and interest and usually something is happening on most nights of the week. It’s free entertainment so sign yourself up at some of the ticket agents below and enjoy a show for free!

BBC Tickets
Shows include ‘Strictly Come Dancing’

SRO Audiences
Shows include ‘The Graham Norton Show’, ‘All Star Family Fortunes’, ‘Bremner Bird & Fortune’

Applause Store
Shows include: ‘Keith Lemons Celebrity Juice’, ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks’, ‘Piers Morgans Life Stories’

Clappers Ltd
Shows include ‘Loose Women’

Lost in TV
Shows include ‘The Apprentice: You’re Fired’, ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’

TV Recordings
Shows include ‘Lee Nelson’s Well Good Show’

James Bond London Tour

James Bond Outer London Tour

Doctor Who London Tour

We are looking for English speaking tour guides in London with a strong guiding background and a real passion and knowledge for their tour subject. Being a fan is essential. Guides must be willing to work on weekends and school holidays.

If you are interested in applying please for tour guide jobs in London email your CV and 100 words as to why you feel you are suitable for a role to:

val [@] britmovietours.com

info [@] britmovietours.com

The London Film Museum is the only film museum of its kind in Great Britain, supporting the Film Industry and the talent within it. Founded and created by Jonathan Sands in February 2008 it showcases sets, props, costumes and much more making it one of London’s popular attractions.

We are pleased to offer guests of Brit Movie Tours a 25% discount on entry to the London Film Museum.

Half a century ago James Bond roared onto our screens in a not particularly auspicious fashion. Driving a sporty little Sunbeam Alpine in Dr No, he struggled to outrun a 1930s Buick LaSalle hearse on a winding Jamaican road. But the image of 007 at the wheel – whether it was of a car, speedboat or plane – was born and is undoubtedly well worthy of commemoration.

To celebrate this half a century, the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu in Hampshire opened its Bond in Motion exhibition this week. Featuring 50 original vehicles from the 22 films so far, it’s claimed to be the largest gathering of James Bond vehicles in the world.

Of course the most memorable is the silver Aston Martin DB5. It made its debut in 1964′s Goldfinger and went on to become arguably the most famous movie car of all time courtesy of the bad guy-beating arsenal within those classic curves. Two are on show, with working gadgets. That aside, if you struggle to remember the vehicles Commander Bond, and as importantly the forces of evil he was combating have had at their disposal, a visit to Beaulieu should get your memory sparking.

Beaulieu’s Margaret Rowles said: “We knew how many exhibits we wanted and so we went to [Bond makers] Eon Productions and the Ian Fleming Foundation to source them. We were after a good mix of hero and villain vehicles and we’ve ended up with everything from a Tuk Tuk to an Aston Martin DBS.”

Of particular note is the Ford Mustang Mach I which is making its first public appearance since Bond put it on two wheels to navigate a narrow alleyway and evade the police who were chasing him in the 1971 filmDiamonds are Forever. Another debutant is the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II that the villainous Valentin Zukovsky has in the World is Not Enough. From the same movie, commercial pressure had pushed Bond producers towards BMW. After flirting with a puny Z3 in GoldenEye 007 ends up with a Z8 sports car. In the following film, Tomorrow Never Dies, that same relationship saw our hero driving a 750iL. But even the car’s ability to be operated via remote control from the back seat and placing it on a podium in Beaulieu struggles to make it look any more dramatic than a used Beemer…

Far more in keeping is Wet Nellie, the Lotus Esprit that causes the holidaymaker to look quizzically at his drink as Roger Moore drove it out of the Sardinian sea in The Spy Who Loved Me. Gadget fiends will be equally entranced by the Die Another Day baddie Zao’s bright green Jaguar XKR complete with grille-mounted machine guns, a rear-mounted Gatling gun and boot-mounted mortars.

For comedic value there’s the Citroën 2CV that Bond used to escape from Jaws in For Your Eyes Only and the Renault 11 taxi complete with missing roof from A View to a Kill. Perhaps the most compelling of the cars was run by Bond’s nemesis, Auric Goldfinger. It’s the beautiful 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III driven by Goldfinger’s henchman and chauffeur Oddjob.

But this is a lot more than just a car exhibition. There are underwater spear gun vehicles, escape modules and various motorbikes as well as the Little Nellie autogiro which is a cross between an aircraft and helicopter. In 1967′s You Only Live Twice Q somehow assembles this from four suitcases (in alligator skin, naturally), which are also on display. The autogiro does actually fly, as does the Acrostar mini jet that Bond pilots in Octopussy after retrieving it from a horsebox, folding out the wings and taking off.

And the 1961 Sunbeam Alpine that started it all? According to Beaulieu, no one knows where it is. “It was hired from a lady on the island for Dr Noand then returned to her. At the time, no one realised how significant it was going to become,” Ms Rowles said.

Source: The Telegraph