Joplin’s Flat

The Master Shipwright’s House, built in 1708, has a fascinating history. It was a centre for cutting-edge naval technology in the 1700s, acting as the residence, offices and dockyard of the Master Shipwright and visited by kings and queens inspecting the latest warships. Over the centuries, it’s kept a lot of old features and remains deliberately unrestored in some parts. It is now a popular filming location as well as a private home (with 10 bedrooms and nine receptions!) – including providing the location for Joplin’s flat, in one of the big reception rooms looking out over the river.

You approach the house down Watergate Street, which starts as a modern street through a housing development, but then nearer the river turns into a very old, cobbled alley – reputedly one of the oldest surviving street surfaces in London, and also supposedly where Sir Walter Raleigh threw his cloak over a puddle for Queen Elizabeth to step on in the famous story!

As you come to the old alley, you will just be able to see the house behind its very high wall, although it’s quite difficult to get a good view from any angle (unless you’re on a riverboat that goes near it). It was only really possible to deduce it was the location from the lights of Canary Wharf, which can just be seen behind George through the windows in the scene.

The old part of the street is also where Flo and Lucy have their “stick it on a T-shirt” row, and the steps at the end of the street lead down to the beach where the Cold Maiden scene with Flo was filmed (both also in episode 5). It is also the street in episode 7 where L+L break into the door of Winkman’s warehouse, which was just a prop set up on the wall.