London after dark: Sixties cinema and its fixation with the city’s dangerous undertones

Edgar Wright has curated a season of 1960s films at the BFI exploring the shady side of the British capital, from ‘Frenzy’ to ‘Peeping Tom’. Ahead of its launch, Geoffrey Macnab looks back on the seamy, violent depictions of the city at that time

In Edgar Wright’s ‘Last Night in Soho’ danger lurks on every corner in central London (Focus Features)

There is a very creepy moment early on in Edgar Wright’s new film, Last Night in Soho. Young fashion student Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) has just arrived in London for the first time. Her excitement is unbounded. Growing up in Redruth, she has always dreamed of coming to the big city. Then she catches a taxi. The lecherous driver bears more than a passing resemblance to John Worboys, the “black cab rapist”. She has only been in his car for a few moments when he makes a move on her.

This is Wright’s way of saying that, in central London, for a newcomer like Eloise, danger lurks on every corner. The distinguished-looking, silver-haired old man who props up the bar in the Toucan pub in Soho might be a killer. The eccentric landlady could be harbouring murderous secrets. The glamorous singer with the flowing blonde hair is probably a working girl with a pimp who beats her up.

Wright’s film is set in both the present day and in the swinging London of the Sixties. The city has changed hugely over the last 60 years but, even today, the seediness, poverty and menace remain. “It’s a district that I love and sometimes fear,” Wright says of the area. “The 1960s casts a long shadow on Soho and I’ve long been fascinated with the films of the period that peek into the darker corners of central London nightlife.”