ABOUT JERICHO - ARTS ITEM

Big bang in Nelson Street

Explosive production

Posted - November 03, 2007
The build-up was fantastic. Over months we had wondered who had bought no. 31 Nelson Street, then there were rumours that it was Worcester College, no surprise there, and then we heard it was to be blown up. Indignant outrage, a nice cottage, lovely family home, how dare they, and so on, and then it transpired it was to be blown up, yes, but for TV, and for Morse 2, a.k.a. Lewis. I have never seen British workmen work so hard for such long hours as the film crew did to prepare for the explosion. There were teams of suits, trendy chaps in jeans and hats, workmen, people with clipboards and bluetooth headphones, and then, finally the crew with lights, camera and action. It all went off with a bang of course, sugar glass still glints in the gutters, the men swept up, cleaned up and repainted the house (but not the neighbouring one strangely) and then six days later, a family arrived from Canada, delightful people slightly bemused to discover, because no-one had told them, that their house had been spewing flames and smoke at the beginning of the week, and they hadn’t even heard of Morse!

Author: Pandora Maxwell

Did you know?

Where the name Jericho comes from?

The name Jericho is probably taken from the parable of the Good Samaritan. Traditionally the name was given to places where travellers who arrived after the town gates had closed at sunset could find lodgings overnight.

Cranham Street used to be a blot on the city

Before Grantham House was built, the site became notoriously derelict, making Cranham Street according to the local press a ‘blot on the city’ – wrecked by local children, and a refuge for rats and for ‘layabouts sleeping off the drink’ who were repeatedly evicted by the police.