Jim Taylor

The (film) scenic Thames valley

After watching the Marlow Murder Club’s smooth switch to the TV screen last week, I couldn’t help think: How do we become a full-time Hollywood-on-Thames?

It was no big surprise Robert Thorogood had turned his best-selling detective novel into a hit whodunnit, starring former

James Bond Miss Moneypenny actress, Samantha Bond.

After all, Robert is the mastermind behind the BBC’s Caribbean cop show, Death In Paradise, which brings us sunshine on cold winter nights and is sold to over 200 countries.

Actually, we saw a lot more of Samantha – who played super-sleuth pensioner

Judith Potts – than 007 ever did… as she regularly swam naked in The Thames by her riverside home.

In the show they said her sprawling mansion was ‘outside Hurley’, but, being locals, we knew it was really, nearer to Cookham, on the Berkshire bank.

And, as I lapped up the local locations, I realised the real star of this gentle murder mystery was Marlow itself.

There were sweeping shots from a drone across rooftops and down the High Street.

The picturesque parish church, the famous suspension bridge and long lingering views of the river itself, with the water sparkling, were all captured perfectly in a cinematic love-story to the town… which, perhaps, is not surprising as Robert himself lives locally.

I’m told there was a premiere at the new Everyman Cinema in Marlow last week to thank the locals involved in the production – which sounds a lovely touch.

Now, while we might never compete with the real Academy Awards – which took place on Sunday – I would love us to have more red-carpet glamour with movie moguls and actors closer to home.

After all, Maidenhead has its own film heritage. Don’t forget Barbara Windsor as a nurse in Carry On Doctor outside the Town Hall, or all the Hammer House of Horror scary movies filmed at Bray

Studios and Oakley Court.

Already this year, Sir Antony Hopkins’ portrayal of our own local hero, Nicholas Winton, in One Life, put Maidenhead firmly on the map… even if The Advertiser didn’t come out of it too well.

In truth, these days, you can’t move without falling over a film crew.

Bridgerton in Windsor Park; George Clooney’s Boys In The Boat in Dorney and Henley, and the World War Two flying series, Masters Of The Air on location in Bray and White Waltham.

Plus, Star Wars built a special closed set to film a spin-off TV-series, called Andor, in Marlow Bottom.

Back in my parents’ days, there were studios galore in nearby Beaconsfield, Denham and Ealing and my mum loved picking out local scenes in old black and white movies.

Of course, we have got the world-leading Pinewood Studios complex down the road, but we could have much more…except for one problem.

Every time there are ambitious plans to create new film studios – be it in Holyport or Little Marlow – locals object to having them in their backyard.

Surely this is exactly what we need? With all the latest Green-Screen, CGI and even AI technology around, we might be able to make Maidenhead town centre look as pretty as Marlow’s!