London film and arts highlights: Get in on the action

Bring art to life in London with gin-soaked Orient Express murder mystery parties and Paddington pilgrimages
Train of thought: Daisy Ridley looks reflective in Murder On The Orient Express

Film season has begun — and London is in the spotlight.

A series of spectacular new dramas is hitting the screens this winter, and many are celebrations of the city. To soak up the full atmosphere of each story there’s no use just watching the film: you have to get in character. Films, plays and novels take on a new meaning when you recognise the locations. So immerse yourself in their magic: from murder mysteries aboard a ship to sleepovers at a museum, here’s your guide to a night (or weekend) of living the screen and stage dream.

Murder on the Orient Express

New Agatha Christie film Murder on the Orient Express hits screens today, featuring an all-star cast including Johnny Depp, Olivia Colman and Judi Dench. OK, this isn’t strictly London but it’s possible to channel it here.

Christie based another of her books, At Bertram’s Hotel, on the Flemings Mayfair hotel: to return the favour, its bar Manetta’s (7-12 Half Moon Street, W1, flemings-mayfair.co.uk) has created cocktails inspired and named after each of the carriages on the legendary passenger train. Sink into a deep sofa and sip on a L’Oriental, a potent, scarlet-red aperitif with a side of Turkish delight, or a Etoile du Nord, a smooth mix of cognac, white chocolate liqueur, cream sherry, chocolate bitters and a goji berry.

Continue the journey on the Grand Terrace at Searcys St Pancras (King’s Cross, N1, searcysstpancras.co.uk), where you’re invited to a Thirties-themed feast overlooking the railway. The menu will feature warming dishes such as slow-cooked lamb broth with winter vegetables, pearl barley and rosemary, or a double-baked Roquefort soufflé. But the only real way to get into character is to embark on a murder mystery yourself: making a scene on a train is probably worth avoiding, but here in London you can solve a murder on a ship.

Don your finest furs and step aboard the RS Hispaniola docked on the Embankment in Westminster (Victoria Embankment, WC2, citycruises.com/rshispaniola).

There you and your friends (or foes) can enjoy a lavish three-course meal alongside an evening of super-sleuthing to solve a hideous crime with period actors thrown into the mix (Judi Dench not guaranteed).

Paddington 2

From one crime-solving blockbuster to another. Next week sees the release of a literally rather softer version, Paddington 2, in which Britain’s favourite kind-natured bear goes on a mission around the capital to apprehend a book thief. It’s a love letter to London, with colourful scenes featuring red telephone boxes, double-decker buses and some of the city’s most iconic landmarks from St Paul’s Cathedral to Buckingham Palace. But Paddington’s home is the west: start in Notting Hill, where the new film finds him a popular member of the community and happily settled in the fictional address of 32 Windsor Gardens. Refuel with a juicy burger and chips at Patty & Bun (14 Pembridge Road, W11, pattyandbun.co.uk) and then stop off at number 86, a stand-in for Mr Gruber’s shop, where Paddington enjoys elevenses when he’s not busy catching thieves. Michael Bond’s marmalade-loving bear always has a rumble in his tummy: stop in for some award-winning marmalade sandwiches at number 59, Charlie’s Café (59A Portobello Road, W11, charliesportobelloroadcafe.co.uk). Next stop is Paddington station, a bear necessity. Pay homage by investing in a rucksack at the Paddington Bear Shop (Praed Street, W2, thisispaddington.com) and make sure you take a selfie with the bronze statue under the clock on Platform 1.

Then stroll to Chalcot Crescent in Primrose Hill (NW1), an elegant terrace of town houses used as a stand-in for Windsor Gardens in the film. That’ll take you to Camden Market (Camden Lock Place, NW1, camdenmarket.com), another location where film crews and actors Hugh Bonneville and Peter Capaldi were spotted filming. The film’s climax takes place in the Natural History Museum (Cromwell Road, SW7, nhm.ac.uk), and many of the scenes were shot at night. For a taste of the atmosphere once the crowds have gone, book one of the museum’s Lates or a giant “dino snores” sleepover. There’s even a Crime Scene Live murder mystery, so you can combine Agatha Christie and Paddington in one.

Young Marx

From films, to the theatre: Richard Bean and Clive Coleman’s Young Marx, currently playing at The Bridge Theatre, is a sooty depiction of mid-19th century London. There are plenty of familiar spots: a young, penniless Karl Marx is seen living in a crammed, two-room flat at 28 Dean Street — it’s now the restaurant Quo Vadis (W1, quovadissoho.co.uk) with a blue plaque commemorating the philosopher. You can rent the “Marx Room” for private functions, or try the set menu if you can only afford working class. The play also portrays a young Marx stumbling drunkenly through the streets of Victorian Soho, saying he won’t leave the city until he’s drunk in every pub on Tottenham Court Road. Steer clear of reaching quite such a state, but you can enjoy a traditional tipple or two at The Flying Horse pub (6 Oxford Street, W1, nicholsonspubs.co.uk).

While you’re there, stroll past St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church (W1, stpatricksoho.org) on Soho Square, where Marx steals a gate in the play.

Then, follow the philosopher’s footsteps and head north, where Marx, his wife and daughter moved to join Engels in Primrose Hill. There’s a blue plaque there too, at Engels’ home (122 Regent’s Park Road, NW1).

Pick up a copy of the Communist Manifesto from Primrose Hill Books (134 Regent’s Park Road, NW1, primrosehillbooks.com) next door and head to Hampstead Heath where Marx enjoyed regular picnics and a famous duel with a love rival. The Heath makes an appropriate end point: Marx is buried nearby at Highgate Cemetery (Swain’s Lane, N6, highgatecemetery.org) and there is a statue of him in tribute.

The Sparsholt Affair

Alan Hollinghurst
Getty Images

London looms large in Booker-prize-winning author Alan Hollinghurst’s latest novel, The Sparsholt Affair. It spans 1974 Bloomsbury and modern-day Kensal Green. Cranley Gardens in Fulham is a crucial address, it’s the family home of Evert Dax, one of the main characters and where his famous novelist father lives.

Hollinghurst’s characters hole up inside and go to anonymous pubs but they are missing out. If they were around today they might go to The Ivy Chelsea Garden on King’s Road for a sloe gin in its orangery (195-197 King’s Road, theivychelseagarden.com). While you’re there, think of Freddie Green, who narrates the first part of the novel and always wants a gin and tonic but is peer-pressured into drinking pints with disastrous drunken consequences.

Late dinners are part of west London life, as the second part’s narrator, Johnny Sparsholt, observes: “a dinner this late was a Fulham thing, not tolerated in Belsize Grove” so go to Ranoush Juice for a 3am falafel wrap, oozing with tahini sauce and shocking pink pickles (338 King’s Road, SW3, maroush.com).

The characters know the associations that different parts of London have. Green says that everyone in the city has their terminal; his is Paddington because he’s always going back and forth between Devon and Oxford, and Sparsholt is embarrassed that his equivalent is the now shabby Euston because his first London memory was the station’s arch before it was demolished. If you want to stay in Paddington to catch an early train to Oxford, retracing Green’s steps, go for The Pilgrm (thepilgrm.com), an artfully designed new hotel overlooking leafy Norfolk Square (where there is a chessboard). The food is worth a trip alone, with meat from Cannon & Cannon, dahl of the day and fabulously named reverse martinis.

Howards End

A new four-part adaptation of EM Forster’s 1910 novel, Howards End, comes to BBC1 next Sunday, following the lives of three families across the social spectrum in Edwardian England. It features fish pie at Simpson’s-in-the-Strand restaurant (100 Strand, WC2, simpsonsinthestrand.co.uk). You can still have dinner in the 1828 oak-panelled dining room. Though the book was set in Bloomsbury, much of it was filmed around Islington’s picturesque Georgian street Colebrooke Row. Finish your pilgrimage at number 69, The Bar With No Name, and presided over by cocktail wizard Tony Conigliaro (N1, 69colebrookerow.com). Inside, you’ll find just one room with accompaniment from a pianist. Like an average evening at the Wilcoxes’ home.

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