The murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 by a gang of white youths in a racially motivated incident was a watershed in British race relations. Now, as we approach the 30th anniversary of Stephen’s murder ITV has created a three-part sequel to its 1999 drama ‘The Murder of Steven Lawrence’ which depicted Doreen and Neville Lawrence’s struggle to prove that their son was killed because of his skin colour. The drama is all the more relevant at the present time given the renewed focus on race relations in the UK following the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in the US last year.

Filmed on location in Barking and Dagenham, the sequel, ‘Stephen’, picks up in 2006, six years on from the initial police inquiry, and introduces the perspective of Detective Clive Driscoll, played by Steve Coogan, who’s convinced that he can finally bring the Lawrence family justice. 

Film LBBD, a team of location specialists providing filming locations in Barking and Dagenham, is proud to have provided excellent locations within the borough for the production. The production and crew for ‘Stephen’ filmed at London-east UK Science Park and our Dagenham Warehouses for three weeks in January. Due to coronavirus restrictions, it was vital for the production and crew to have a location that would allow flexible set build space, as they were not able to film indoors.

The London-east UK Science Park and Dagenham Warehouse, Unit A, were used to set build stages and replicate Stephens family home and hospital scenes for the drama. The Science Park location has lent itself to a wide range of productions such as, ‘Black Widow’, ‘Doctor Strange’, ‘Black Mirror’, and many more popular Netflix titles.  Overall, it is a great location for productions to use, providing numerous plant rooms including The Dispensary which can be used as a set build for futuristic or hospital scenes.