Published in Windlesora 22 (2006)
© WLHG
Numerous films have been made in and around Windsor, among them No Sex Please, We’re British which used Barclays Bank on the corner of High Street and Peascod Street as a backdrop.
The film starred Ronnie Corbett as Mr Runnicles the bank’s Chief Cashier, Arthur Lowe as Mr Bromley the Manager and Ian Ogilvy as David the Assistant Manager. The cast also included Beryl Reid, Susan Penhaligon and Michael Bates. Halliwell’s Film and Video Guide describes the film as ‘a fairly lively farce with everything from mistaken identity to falling trousers’. The plot involved the staff trying to dispose of a parcel of dirty postcards which had been wrongly delivered to the bank.
After filming the exterior shots on location in Windsor the film company, Columbia Pictures, built a replica of the inside of the bank in their studios at nearby Pinewood. The set matched the interior of the bank right down to little details such as the daffodils in the window boxes and the correct positioning of window stickers.The Bank’s Property Division supplied essential fittings to help make the set look authentic. However, there were some differences for security reasons, so that potential burglars seeing the film would not work out the best way to rob the bank.
This British film was produced by John Sloan, directed by Cliff Owen and released in July 1973.
Derek Hunt
My thanks to Mrs Maria Sienkiewicz, Group Archivist, Barclays Bank.
Windsor Local History Group 