The film was shot on location on the Alexandra Road council estate in Camden, London. The iconic estate was built between 1968 and 1978 by architect and artist Neave Brown. It has been featured in many other blockbuster and TV films as the archetypal British ghetto. Considered a masterpiece of its time, it is now synonymous with crime and grime and the worst sort of social deprivation due to a failed attempt to force people to live in a what was aptly likened to modern concrete prison.
This production came about as a result of the ambition of Ross Kemp (who played Eddie Scrooge). A long time fan of the original book by Charles Dickens it was his first role after he left the soap opera EastEnders (1985) in 2000.