An upbeat musical about the notorious Suffolk Strangler murders, adapted from a National Theatre play and starring Tom Hardy and Bafta-winner Olivia Colman; London Road is a certainly a unique film.

 “It’s actually very difficult to describe it, certainly in a way that sounds good." said Brockley actor Michael Shaeffer, who was in the play and now the film. "When we did the play we were trying to describe it to people and it sounds nuts.”

Clearly that difficulty is only in the description because London Road was a critically acclaimed, award-winning hit on stage.

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Writer Alecky Blythe spoke to residents of London Road in Ipswich, where the five girls had worked and murderer Steve Wright had lived and turned verbatim accounts into a unique piece of theatre with composer Adam Cork.

Michael, who plays BBC Look East journalist Simon Newton, said: “Everything we speak or sing is exactly what was said by the people that lived on London Road.”

Michael was involved in the play from its initial workshopping phase.

He said: “I became fascinated by the process and the idea that we were putting real people’s voices on the stage at the National Theatre. Somehow that felt important.

“In this particular incident, the big event was the murder of the five girls.

“The play is not about that event. It is about the ripples that big event caused. It’s about the impact on the community.

“It’s a really interesting take on things to look at how something like that can affect a whole community.”


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All of the play’s original cast from the acclaimed National Theatre run appear in the film, and are bolstered by Broadchurch’s Olivia Colman and East Sheen A-lister Tom Hardy.

Michael - a Rose Bruford College graduate who has appeared in the likes of Luther, Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror and Game of Thrones - said making London Road was very different from his other film projects.

He said: “It was very different to other films that I have done because I was surrounded by my friends, by people that had become my family.

“It felt like a real family event in a way and a culmination of a long relationship that we have had with this piece. I think we’re all very proud of it.”

In terms of adapting it for the screen, Michael felt it was a fairly straightforward.

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“Because we were working from real material, even in the theatre the size of it wasn’t big so it seemed to lend itself to being filmed,” he said. “It wasn’t a massive adjustment.”

He added: “I think Rufus has done a brilliant job of capturing it. There are some fantastic performances and some very inventive and witty set pieces and I think it absolutely works. It’s really exciting, I think.”

The movie was shot in Belvedere, filling in for Suffolk.

Michael said: “There was a street in Belvedere that they found that they liked for London Road.

“There is a street party scene in the film and we were able to have the people who lived on that street in Belvedere join in - because they were so accommodating having us in the way - which was lovely.

Joining the actors and Belvedere residents were the real-life London Road residents upon whom the film is based, friends and family and National Theatre staff who helped with the play.

“It really felt like it was a party,” said Michael. “They just bumped the music up and rolled the cameras. The sun came out and it was really, really lovely.”

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London Road is not the only film Michael has on the horizon. He’s playing another TV presenter, this time called Tony De Taunton, in the star-studded adaptation of Martin Amis’ celebrated novel London Fields.

It’s clearly a role Michael enjoyed.

He said: “It was amazing. It was incredible.

“I was filming with Billy Bob Thornton and Johnny Depp and Jim Sturgess and Amber Heard – incredible people. Also the same day, in the same thing, you’ve got these incredible darts players – Bobby George, Andy Fordham, people like that.

“It was the most bizarre thing. All of them are lovely. We had a really nice time on it.”

London Road premieres on June 9 via NT Live and is on general release on June 12. Visit londonroadfilm.co.uk for more information.