Withnail and I is a 1987 British black comedy film written and directed by Bruce Robinson.
The story is based on Robinson's life in London in the late 1960's.
The plot follows two unemployed young actors Withnail and 'I' (or the character Marwood). Both live together in a squalid flat in Camden Town squandering what litle finances they have on alcohol. Needing a holiday, they obtain the keys to a country cottage in the English Lake District belonging to Withnail's lecherous gay uncle Monty and drive there.
Things do not go smoothly and get even more complicated when uncle Monty arrives.
LOCATIONS
Robinson’s chooses not to shoot the actor’s
vacation in the real Penrith, but rather in and around the villages of Shap
and Bampton
Cumbria. Monty’s cottage, ‘Crow Crag’ is actually Sleddale Hall located
near the West Sleddale Reservoir, just outside Shap. The lake that ‘Crow Crag’
apparently overlooks is actually Haweswater Reservoir in the Lake
District.
Although exterior and ground floor interior
shots of Crow Crag were shot at Sleddale Hall, Stockers Farm in Rickmansworth
was used for the bedroom and stair scenes. Stockers Farm was also the location
of the Crow and Crown pub featured in the film.
The King Henry Pub and the Penrith Tea Room
scenes were filmed in the Market Square in Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes at
what is now the Crow Inn and Cox and Robinsons Chemists.
Much of the locational filming was actually
undertaken in London in and around the London Boroughs of Westminster and
Kensington and Chelsea. Withnail and Marwood’s flat was located at 57
Chepstow Place, Bayswater W2. Their local pub, The Mother Black Cap (in
reality the Frog and Firkin) was situated in Tavistock Crescent, Westbourne
Green. It has since been demolished.
Uncle Monty’s London house featured in the
film is West House, Glebe Place, Chelsea, SW3. Other London scenes were
shot in John Aird Court Paddington (the two actors leaving for the lake
District) and the corner of Ladbroke Grove and Lancaster Road
(café Breakfast scene)
Tourist links
www.visitlondon.com
www.visitcumbria.com
www.stonystratford.gov.uk (The website for Stony Stratford)
www.travelstay.com (Provides a list of tourist attractions in the Chelsea area)