History Main / BritainIsOnlyLondon

In Hollywood, any characters visiting Britain will stop in one place: Central London. They'll catch a ride on those cool red buses, try to make [[BritishRoyalGuards the Guards at the palace]] laugh, get into a debate about whether it's fries or chips, and at some point meet the Royal Family. The EstablishingShot will show Westminster Palace, Tower Bridge, The London Eye, or all of the above to a brief StandardSnippet of "Rule Britannia"[[labelnote:*]]Rarely "God Save the Queen", because Americans associate the tune with "My Country, 'Tis of Thee"[[labelnote]], just in case you weren't clear on the location. If the makers think they're being subtle, it will feature a red phone box, a red Routemaster Bus driving by (quite rare in real life), and a red-and-blue London Transport sign for one of London's major interchange stations like Liverpool Street or Kings Cross.

In Hollywood, any characters visiting Britain will stop in one place: Central London. They'll catch a ride on those cool red buses, try to make [[BritishRoyalGuards the Guards at the palace]] laugh, get into a debate about whether it's fries or chips, and at some point meet the Royal Family. The EstablishingShot will show Westminster Palace, Tower Bridge, The London Eye, or all of the above to a brief StandardSnippet of "Rule Britannia", just in case you weren't clear on the location. If the makers think they're being subtle, it will feature a red phone box, a red Routemaster Bus driving by (quite rare in real life), and a red-and-blue London Transport sign for one of London's major interchange stations like Liverpool Street or Kings Cross.

Are aliens landing in [=UFOs=]? They'll land in Hyde Park. Is there a neighborhood full of world-class martial artists with superhuman powers? It's probably right off of Shaftesbury Avenue. Is there a mysterious gigantic cavern hidden just beneath the Earth's surface, wherein aliens once upon a time created all life on Earth? There's probably a sealed tunnel in UsefulNotes/TheLondonUnderground that breaches right into it. Are you looking for the leader of a secret den of werewolves? He's probably drinking a piña colada down at Trader Vic's.[[note]]And his hair is perfect.[[/note]] UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny? The Albert Hall has front-row seats. A magical gateway between worlds? Look in the London Underground again -- or keep your eye out for an [[Series/DoctorWho out-of-place police box]].

* Zack Snyder, on AlanMoore's premature disapproval of the ''Film/{{Watchmen}}'' movie, said "Worst case scenario -- Alan puts the movie on his DVD player on a cold Sunday in London and watches and says, 'Yeah, that doesn't suck too bad.'" Alan Moore, a Northampton resident, called him out on it.

* Averted in the [[Literature/NightWatch Last Watch]] -- the action takes place in Edinburgh. Of course, that's mostly [[ThemeParkVersion tourist Edinburgh]], but it's justified by the fact that Anton was following the case of a ''tourist''.

** It also features some of the usual sights, like Big Ben, and even the odd telephone box. Now, unless they're there for tourist purposes, I can't imagine them [[AnachronismStew having real purpose a couple of centuries into the future]].

* Discussed in ''KinkyBoots'':

-->'''Charlie''': Northampton's TheMidlands.

* Averted by ''Series/{{Lost}}'', which features several British characters from outside of London: Charlie and Naomi are from [[FootballPopMusicAndFlatCaps Manchester]], Desmond is from UsefulNotes/{{Glasgow}}, and Charlotte was born in [[HomeCounties Essex]] and raised in [[TheMidlands Bromsgrove, Worcestershire]]. Penny is from London though. Flashback scenes have been set in a variety of places around Britain, and in season four these were even filmed on location in at least two episodes.

* North Korea, there are other larger towns in the NK but Pyongyang is the only place that receives any attention, and government support, the rest of the nation are either military posts, prison camps, or slums.

* In [[http://transmission.thecomicseries.com/comics/52/ one strip]] in ''[[Webcomic: Transmission]]'' the characters from OopNorth visit the Britannia casino in Las Vegas and are a bit offended at the employees' fake accents. [[http://transmission.thecomicseries.com/comics/54/ "There is more to England than London you know."]]

* In [[http://transmission.thecomicseries.com/comics/52/ one strip]] in ''{{Webcomic: Transmission}}'' the characters from OopNorth visit the Britannia casino in Las Vegas and are a bit offended at the employees' fake accents. [[http://transmission.thecomicseries.com/comics/54/ "There is more to England than London you know."]]

* In [[http://transmission.thecomicseries.com/comics/52/ one strip]] in ''{{Webcomics:Transmission}}'' the characters from OopNorth visit the Britannia casino in Las Vegas and are a bit offended at the employees' fake accents. [[http://transmission.thecomicseries.com/comics/54/ "There is more to England than London you know."]]

* In [[http://transmission.thecomicseries.com/comics/52/one strip]] in ''{{Webcomic:Transmission}}'' the characters from OopNorth visit the Britannia casino in Las Vegas and are a bit offended at the employees' fake accents. [[http://transmission.thecomicseries.com/comics/54/ "There is more to England than London you know."]]

* In [[http://transmission.thecomicseries.com/comics/52/ "Transmission"]] the characters from OopNorth visit the Britannia casino in Las Vegas and are a bit offended at the employees' fake accents. [[http://transmission.thecomicseries.com/comics/54/ "There is more to England than London you know."]]

* North Korea, there are other larger towns in the NK but Pyongyang is the only place that receives any attention, and government support, the rest of the nation are either military posts, or slums.

* Played very straight on ''LawAndOrderUK'', which despite the explicit mention of the UK in its title, has had every episode set in London. What's especially bad is that the show's working title was ''Law and Order: London'', making you wonder why the producers didn't stick with it, given what's turned out to be its setting.

* ''Literature/{{Trainspotting}}'' Has a montage of 'typical' London featuring pearly kings & queens, red buses, pigeons in Trafalger Square etc used when Renton moves to London. It's so over the top that it's probably a subversion of this trope.

** In the opening [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Scrin]] level in ''Tiberium Wars'', the player has to run interference by destroying a major European city. Guess where.

-> ''"London isn't the world, Clarice. It just thinks it is."''

* Averted by ''Series/{{Lost}}'', which features several British characters from outside of London: Charlie and Naomi are from [[FootballPopMusicAndFlatCaps Manchester]], Desmond is from [[TheDearGreenPlace Glasgow]], and Charlotte was born in [[HomeCounties Essex]] and raised in [[TheMidlands Bromsgrove, Worcestershire]]. Penny is from London though. Flashback scenes have been set in a variety of places around Britain, and in season four these were even filmed on location in at least two episodes.

** Bizarrely Daphne's wastrel brother has a Cockney accent. No explanation is given as to how the siblings can have accents from completely different parts of the country...

* ''AcrossTheUniverse'''s England-based scenes were set in (and for the most part filmed in) Liverpool, but then it ''is'' a movie musical centered around [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]] songs, so it isn't a bold choice of setting.

Compare BigApplesauce, SoCalization, CanadaDoesNotExist, TokyoIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse, FreestateAmsterdam. France gets a very similar treatment with GayParee. A strange variation occurs in Irish media, with a huge number of productions set in Dublin. In UsefulNotes/NewZealand, the country's largest city, Auckland, tends to be used this way, if [[SceneryPorn natural scenery]] isn't involved. Contrast AliensInCardiff.

-->-- '''JohnConstantine'''.