Off The Hook

The University of Westminster and television

Can you imagine a Spanish TV series filmed at the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas de Sevilla. I am sure we would not be short of stories to tell...


Well, here in the UK, there is a new BBC TV comedy filmed at the University of Westminster. It is about a group of first year students (freshers) and it can be watched on-line.

Click on the picture to go to the BBC iPlayer and watch the first episode (they are available for a limited period of time and you have a download button too!!). There are more episodes if this is your "cup of tea":

Regent Street cinema project

The University of Westminter and cinema

If you did not know, I'm working this year at the University of Westminster. I have been very lucky and the Polylang, the modern languages programme in which I am collaborating, is based in the original building at Regent Street.

What I did not know is that this was also the site of the first public film screening in the UK with an audience paying to see a film.

Now the University wants to recover the original cinema under what they call the "Regent Street cinema project" with the intention of (in their words) "transforming the birthplace of British cinema back into a multimedia facility and teaching space for our students and the wider community and putting Westminster back in the Heart of London."

Here is a video about this building and its implications for the cinema industry in the UK, which has been released with the campaign:

Here you also have a link to a slide presentation of the project:

http://www.regentstreetcinema.co.uk/