Ridley Road...Sundays new prime spot drama arrives.....

Directed by Lisa Mulcahy and designed by Art Department’s Ben Smith, Ridley Road hit the spot for that Sunday night 9 o’clock hard-hitting drama.  Based on the novel of the same name written by Jo Bloom, it tells the fictional story of a young Jewish woman, Vivien Epstein, facing prejudice in London’s swinging sixties.
Ben gave us some insight in to task he had recreating the the period for London and Manchester.
“The main challenge with RIDLEY ROAD was to recreate 1962 Soho and Ridley Road Market itself near our base in Manchester. Tib Street in the Northern Quarter was a good likeness for Soho and Stamford Street in Ashton-Under-Lyne doubled for our East End market. The shop owners allowed us to build scenic facades, repaint and prop dress their premisses and were amazingly collaborative despite the complications of working under Covid restrictions. The complete transformation of these streets was one of the most rewarding aspects of the job.
Also original film footage was included as part of recreating the period. This was also mixed in with down graded 16mm material shot on our sets which helps blend the historic film with our drama and got further use of all the location work we did.”
We’re hooked – jump onto it and enjoy the ride!