Pierre on Channel 4 filming locations include city known for its 'myriad of colours, creeds, and classes'
David Harewood plays leading man
David Harewood stars as conscientious duty solicitor Pierre in a brand new, original legal drama that see him tackle police corruption.
Charming and conscientious, Pierre begins to investigate when client Michael – arrested for stealing his aunt’s car – is found dead in suspicious circumstances… As he challenges the police’s portrayal of his young client as a criminal, he unravels a “chilling web of institutional corruption”.
Like the recent ITV hit The Blame, and previous dramas such as After the Flood, and Line of Duty, Pierre asks a terrifying question. What happens if you cannot trust the people in power?
The filming locations of the crime drama Pierre are at the heart of the story, but the “themes are universal”. Here’s what you need to know.
Where is Pierre set?
Pierre is set in London. A synopsis for the series tell us: “Pierre Jeffreys is a West London duty solicitor. A force of nature, he’s battling to keep his clients away from a system that would chew them up and spit them out. His hard-earned expertise is free to those who need it the most. The cost to his own physical, emotional and financial wellbeing is, however, beginning to take its toll.”
For those who don’t know, a duty solicitor is a qualified criminal defence lawyer available to provide free legal advice and representation to anyone detained at a police station or facing charges at a Magistrates’ Court who does not have their own lawyer.
What filming locations were used for Channel 4 drama Pierre?
Cast and crew of Pierre filmed the crime drama exactly where it’s set – in West London. But don’t expect the high society side of Notting Hill, Holland Park, Chelsea, and Kensington. This is very much based in the grittier areas of London. Think Top Boy, but on the West side rather than the East End.
Only Fools and Horses fans will know that the sitcom famously used the South Acton Estate (Harlech Tower) in Acton to portray exterior shots of Nelson Mandela House. Meanwhile, Outnumbered was heavily set and filmed around Ealing.
Pierre was filmed in the less affluent, outer suburban areas, such as Harlesden, Willesden, Southall, Hayes, Hounslow, and parts of Acton and Shepherd’s Bush.
Production also set camp in north-west London, including Wembley and nearby Harrow.
‘There’s this mosaic quality to London’
Talking about the filming locations in Channel 4 crime drama Pierre, writer Roy Williams OBE said: “It allowed us to open up a whole new world. There’s this mosaic quality to London as it’s just loads of towns stuck together. I’m from Southampton and I came to London nearly 30 years ago. I talk about myself as a Londoner.
“It’s sometimes spoken about as unfriendly, but we’re trying to put forward this idea that there is such a thing as community. There is such a thing as society. And there is a purpose to try and hold people together at a time when lots of people want to break people apart.”
David Harwood, who plays Pierre said: “I hope people recognise the world and the people in it. It’s set in a very specific part of London, but the themes are universal. You’ve got friendship, family, class, race, injustice, the police and questions about what it means to do the right thing.”
White Woman of Camberwell inspired Miriam
C0-writer John Donnelly explained the character of Miriam was inspired by a real person. He said: “Miriam was inspired by a real person known as the White Woman of Camberwell. She was a Black woman who dressed almost entirely in white, with white face makeup. She was quite a familiar sight in the 1990s, with a Miss Havisham from Great Expectations look about her and carried herself with enormous dignity.
“No one seemed to know who she was or why she dressed this way. And, as was often the case with London, a mythology builds up around local figures like that. In the series, there’s working-class struggle, racial protests and workplace sexual harassment being dealt with.”
He continued: “One of our ambitions was to explore issues like race and class through the characters’ lives. Pierre, for instance, represents a generation that could be socially mobile through the economics of property. He grew up in care and is now a successful lawyer, living in a part of London that someone like the young Eli could no longer afford. Pierre and Celeste are both upwardly mobile and now middle class.”
Meanwhile, Michele Austin plays Charlotte, Pierre’s business partner and long- time confidant. She told us: “There’s a myriad of colours and creeds, and classes, on the screen. You don’t often see middle-class Black families portrayed alongside working-class Black families in these contexts, and I think that was really special.
“You’re seeing different experiences and different kinds of people living alongside each other, which is what London actually is. I really hope audiences love Pierre. I hope they recognise London and are intrigued by the story.”
Key filming locations in Channel 4’s Pierre including the former Brent Town Hall
- The former Brent Town Hall, also known as Wembley Town Hall, appears in the Channel 4 drama. It’s located on Forty Lane in Wembley, London, which has frequently doubled as various civic or institutional buildings for production. Trigger Point has also used the building as a filming location. In Pierre, it is posing as Greater London Metropolitan Magistrates Court.
- In episode 2, Pierre visits a dry cleaners that has been vandalised. Cast and crew filmed these scenes at the low-rise residential block with ground-floor shops on Lilburne Walk in the St Raphael’s Estate located in Neasden, Brent.
- Also in episode 2, Pierre drives past Moloney’s Bar, a traditional Irish pub, located at 429 High Road, Willesden.
- Pierre visits James Wistley College in episode 3, which was actually filmed at Queens Park Community School on Aylestone Avenue in Brent.
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