London 'Family' Houses on TV

[PipinwasAuntieMabelsdog]

Non Londoner, living outside of London here. DH parents live in London in a non posh (downright scruffy when they moved in, normal family DH Mum Dr recep, dad a cabby, older parents, 4 kids in 2 double and box room 3bed) former outside London area, which has been poshed up a bit (coffee shops, high street stores etc have replaced the 'old functional' shops. Yet, when I watch tv shows like Outnumbered, Motherland, My Family, everyone seems to live in massive houses with gardens in places like Chiswick and Wimbledon, am I right in thinking that this would be impossible for non-millionaires?

My neck of the woods is not really shown on TV, with the exception of Cutting it and Coronation Street, but when it is, it seems a bit more realistic. Why is London always presented in such an unrealistic way for 'normal families'? or am I wrong? Do families live like that more frequently than I realise?

Not London but I always found it totally unrealistic that the cast of Friends could afford the rent on a massive Manhattan penthouse apartment on their entry level jobs!

I haven't seen the modern adaptations, but in the original Paddington books, Mrs. Bird was a housekeeper. According to Wikipedia they have made her a relative in the modern ones - but in that case they probably ought to have moved the family out of Notting Hill as well. I remember reading them as a child and thinking the house was very grand even then. The dad worked in finances/banking of some kind and I always had the impression they were "posh" because of their names (Henry, Mary, Jonathan) - no idea how that comes across in the TV series though.

the tv show wants you to know instantly the family is middle class, but the projection of what that is is no longer the reality

I think this is probably what it is. TV has to instantly convey an idea of something and if the reality is confusing, then they will go with a stereotype, even though it's unrealistic, because communicating an idea is the most important thing. As long as it's not so jarring it takes the viewer out of the scene, and most of the time it won't be, because we are used to seeing these types of houses portrayed as middle class on TV.

The 2.4 Children house is at the end of the road my grandmother lived on. Until the 80s it was pretty down at heel, and then during that decade it started getting posher around her (great excitement when Rene from Allo, Allo was spotted in the launderette by a neighbour). But in the 90s when that show was on, it would still have been affordable for many people.

Her house was sold for an astronomical sum of money (to those of my family who live outside London) and it had had nothing to done to it apart from a bathroom tacked on to the back in the 60s. Almost every penny went on care home fees for my relatives who'd been living there. I assume someone bought it and it will pop up on Rightmove one day looking very shiny, and another 50% on the asking price.

She doesn't own it though, does she?

I meant to add that other relatives of mine, both civil servants, now live in a house just off Chiswick High Street that is probably a similar size to some of these being mentioned. It's also fairly scruffy and unextended etc., but I suspect would be around £2m if they sold. They bought it in the 80s.

Some are, some aren't.

Probably because they can. They have the choice.

No but I doubt that on benefits she would be able to afford even a council house as a single mum of 2

*in Acton

Ah ok, that makes more sense. Btw my DH is 32 and we are trying to buy our second property (and our budget is around the 600k-650k mark for a 3 bed flat). By the time we manage it, he would probably be 33 or maybe even 34. So not too far off your friend and we don't even have DC (yet, planning on one like your friend) plus had a few years to build up equity.

I was going to mention Friends. I think it was explained that Monica's grandmother had cheap rent or something like that but even the likes of Phoebe in an apartment in central New York as a masseuse and Joey as a mostly out-of-work actor.

Is bridget jones' apartment that unbelievable. Its next to a railway line (so you can hear the trains) and she bought it before borough market became posh. Plus she must have come from a fairly middle class background (for her parents to have socialized with Mark Darcy's parents) and so presumably her parents would have helped her out. My DH's grandfather on his English side was a london cabby and his grandma was a housewife and they helped their son buy a flat in London back in the 1980s!

Monica's apartment was her grandmother's (or great aint's?) and it was rent controlled - they were basically pretending in order to be able to live there.

Joey and Chandler's was considerably grottier.

Phoebe's apartment had been her grandmother's and wasn't as central. She also had a flatmate - it was a 1 bed but her grandmother had put a false wall up to create a 2nd bedroom.

The worst was SATC- how did carrie earn that much money as a columnist to buy all those designer shoes?

It was grottier because it wasn't as nicely decorated - it doesn't change the fact that it was a spacious two bed apartment slap bang in Manhattan. Even in the 90s/2000s that would have cost a fair whack.

In Motherland, the main character (Hannah?) and her husband are both high fliers I think, certainly until she goes freelance. Amanda and the househusband both have successful spouses. The Irish woman used to have a top job (remember the Greggs comment from Amanda?) and her husband presumably still does. The newer character with the older husband is very successful. They would all have got on the property ladder in around 2000 probably, maybe with financial help from family. I think the houses fit.

Acton was not unaffordable back then. I remember friends and friends-of-friends buying in unloved places like Acton, Stockwell and Walthamstow and creating middle-class ghettos in certain neighbourhoods like the one occupied by a PP’s grandmother.

very interesting thread!

The best London TV house by miles is Hannah's in The Split. Immaculate semi in Clapham. I know they are both lawyers but they are paying the mortgage on that plus three sets of school fees.

Hannah is not just any old lawyer though, she will be one of the ones earning at least 1m a yr.

Yeah 20 year ago Queen’s Park was more affordable. 20 years ago a 4-bed in nw6 sold for 275k, today nearly a million. Outnumbered was a show of its time. Even Bridget Jones in the third movie makes fun of the fact that her 1-bed apartment in borough is now worth a fortune, when 25 years ago it wouldn’t have been worth much at all.

and a teacher started on £20k in London- so still not believable.

Or walk through Mount Street Gardens and end up in a completely different place than the streets around there (that was Strike, I think).

I've not watched EastEnders for years, but those houses are expensive, and wouldn't have been affordable to the characters, considering their jobs. And the fact that they were in the pub all the time. And yet didn't have washing machines 😂

Liz in Motherland would be able to afford a 2 bed flat in Acton, without working, as she would be getting housing benefit to cover the rent, which could be reasonable if the flat is council or HA or Peabody estate.

She would get child benefit for 2 kids and she gets child maintenance from the dad. She would also get council tax support.

OP to be fair the houses in Cold Feet were also pretty Wow

Very true. Accessible to the character profile who lived in them though?

Some of the interiors used are sets, not actual houses. TV sets are often laid out a particular way, sort of horizontal, to make it easier for the camera set-up. It tends to make the interiors look bigger than they would be in real life.

What does Martin do in Friday night dinner? Jackie doesn't seem to work at all and the house is worth £1.5 million.

This is the house used in The Split
its been in 4 or 5 things over the last couple of years, it’s so distinctive

www.shootfactory.co.uk/uk-locations/park-house-london-sw4/

Anna friel’s characters house in Marcella was a house near Battersea park which is worth about £1.8m. We know a few people who live on neighbouring streets and non of them are single parents on police salaries..!