Inside the making of Disney+’s ‘Camden’
The North London district of Camden remains an unshakeable location of musical pilgrimage. It’s a place that, amid the flowing canal, a bustling market full of knock-off merchandise and graffiti-covered walls, lets outsiders feel like themselves for the first time and gives them the keys to unlock their true identity. While it may not hold the same cultural sway that it once did, its history still fills its smoggy air.
The new four-part Disney+ documentary Camden is by no means the first film to explore the phenomena of the borough’s rich cultural past, but it does tread new ground and illuminate stories that haven’t previously been studied at this level of depth.
The series is executively produced by Dua Lipa, who also features prominently in the first and final episodes. The Glastonbury headliner has endured a mammoth rise over the last few years, and Camden is the place that made her morph into the pop superstar that will take to the hallowed Pyramid Stage.
Additionally, the first episode explores Dua Lipa’s fellow Glastonbury headliners, Coldplay. While they aren’t a band intrinsically linked to the London borough, the group met as students in London, and Camden was the breeding ground that helped propel them to greatness.
While the success stories of Dua Lipa and Coldplay show that acts can use the notoriously alternative Camden as a springboard for bigger things, the tale of The Dublin Castle captures the true essence of the area. As Suggs lovingly reflects, it’s a venue where Madness cut their teeth in the 1970s, and Peggy Conlon remains the landlady despite now being in her 80s. Many scenes have come and gone since The Dublin Castle gained prominence, but the venue remains an immovable stalwart.
Amy and Maradona filmmaker Asif Kapadia oversaw the documentary as series director. However, the episodes were directed by Toby Trackman, Yemi Bamiro and Sarah Lambert, who all have their own different histories with the subject matter, which play out within their respective work on Camden.
Speaking exclusively with Far Out, Trackman, who directed the first and final episodes, explained that it was an 18-month process that he described as a “passion project.” Before becoming a director, Trackman was part of the Camden music scene and spent his 20s in bands and DJing, giving him authority on the matter at hand.
In his episodes, Trackman worked closely with Dua Lipa. Although executive producer is often a paper title in the entertainment industry, the director is adamant that wasn’t the case for Camden. While he wasn’t aware of her “origin story” with the area, the director was taken aback by how much it “really meant” to the singer.
Despite Dua’s hectic schedule, Trackman says she gave “very generously” with her time, including offering notes that were “completely spot on” and “really useful”.
Furthermore, the series reinstalled a belief in Trackman that the spirit of Camden remains firmly alive, even though he now lives in a different area of London. While he admits it was “hard not to feel disappointed” upon seeing how Camden was no longer the place he once called home, “those new scenes are still bubbling away” and “it might not currently have like the headline acts, but those will come again.”
The second episode, directed by Lambert, is an ode to Camden’s rock ‘n’ roll spirit. Primary focuses in the feature include The Libertines and Noel Gallagher, as well as Yungblud, who moved to London from Yorkshire with a dream of following in the footsteps of giants. Although none of the acts mentioned were born in the borough, it has played a pivotal role in each of their stories.
For Lambert, who is Irish but moved to London at the height of The Libertines’ pandemonium, the opportunity to work on the series and relive her youth was a dream come true. In the episode, Pete Doherty speaks exceptionally candidly during an interview filmed at The Dublin Castle, which Lambert says “brought back a lot of memories” for the singer, who was “really emotional” to return to where it all started.
She reflects: “For them, that was like a time of their lives where they were looking forward to everything and grasping for so many things, which they got, but it also made their lives incredibly complicated. It was the last time they were free, and no one knew they were. Everything was ahead of them; they had these huge dreams, and it was all taking place in Camden.”
Compared to her youth in Ireland, moving to Camden was a culture shock for all the right reasons for Lambert because “you could do anything and no one will look at you twice”. Doncaster native Yungblud also drills this point home in the episode, a figure she believes is helping highlight “the freedom of Camden” for a “new generation”.
A highlight is the story of The Roots, told eloquently by Questlove, the understated star of the series. Without London, The Roots wouldn’t be the band they are today. It offered them a place of sanctuary during the 1990s when they needed it most. At the time, being a jazz band in the United States wasn’t viable. However, they became a fixture at the Jazz Cafe and called Camden their home for five years.
This lifeline gave them the tools to hone their craft before returning to America, where the world was their oyster. Poignantly, Questlove has always remembered the importance of London. When he returned to the English capital in 2022 to collect the Bafta for ‘Best Documentary’, he returned to his old flat above a chippy in Camden to reflect on how far he’s come.
While director Yemi Bamiro, who helmed the episode, knew “little bits” of The Roots’ story with Camden, the full extent of the relationship didn’t reveal itself until he talked to Questlove for the film. “I just thought that they used to come back and forth here a lot and used Camden as a bit of a base,” he tells Far Out.
Bamiro was also surprised to uncover how British underground icon Gilles Peterson played an essential part in The Roots’ evolution, noting, “Gilles Peterson was such a focal point for them. He was playing their records before anyone knew who they were here, and he was the person who was just onto them before anyone else.”
While Peterson may not be as famous as the acts he championed, with Mark Ronson also highlighting him as an inspiration in the episode, Bamiro describes the BBC 6 Music presenter as “the glue that holds that story together.”
Peterson is again celebrated in the final episode of the series, which sees club culture as the centrepiece and how nightclubs provide a safe haven to those from marginalised communities. Faithless’ Sister Bliss and Boy George are among those who share touching testimonies, recalling how Camden provided them with a sense of belonging.
Trackman felt most “personally connected to” this episode due to his background and moving from Bristol to London to immerse himself in the nightlife scene. At 15, he wrote to Peterson asking for work experience at his record label, and to his surprise, he was given the opportunity and handed the first taste of the life he desired.
Over the four episodes, a diverse range of Camden’s musical history is presented, showing there’s more to the area than its well-documented punk heritage, which has been covered endlessly over the last 40 years. Nevertheless, while the punk scene isn’t explicitly at the forefront of the documentary series, it’s an intrinsic part of Camden’s identity, which has bled into every scene that emerged afterwards.
Above all, Camden is a celebration of liberation and the multitude of ways this has manifested itself over the decades. While the area has been a star factory, importantly, the documentary treats the unsung heroes of the scene, like Peggy from The Dublin Castle and Giles Peterson, with the same level of respect as The Libertines or Dua Lipa. Without these people pulling the strings behind the scenes for the sheer love of it, Camden wouldn’t be Camden, and the world’s musical landscape would be weaker.
Camden is streaming now on Disney+.
