Media & Literary References

Billericay has been used in a number of books, dvd's, films and other media. We have collected a range of references for Billericay which you can view or purchase via Amazon.

There has also been a number of notable celebrities that have come from, or grown up in Billericay. We also have a strong relationship with our twinned town in Indiana, Fishers and Billericay, Massachusetts.

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BBC Series Gavin & Stacey

Gavin & Stacey is a British comedy television series. A romantic comedy, the show follows the long-distance relationship of Gavin (Mathew Horne) from Billericay in Essex, England, and Stacey (Joanna Page) from Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. The writers of the show, actors James Corden and Ruth Jones, also co-star as Gavin and Stacey's friends Smithy and Nessa. Other prominent cast members include Rob Brydon, Alison Steadman, Larry Lamb and Melanie Walters.

The show was produced by Baby Cow Productions for BBC Wales. It ran for a total of twenty episodes, broadcast between 13 May 2007 to 1 January 2010, comprising three series and a Christmas special. Initially, the series was shown on digital-only channel BBC Three, but a growing following meant that it was subsequently moved to BBC Two, and finally BBC One. The last episodes of the final series formed a significant part of the prime time BBC seasonal programming, and were broadcast on Christmas Day 2009 and New Year's Day 2010.

Literary References

Billericay is mentioned in George Orwell's novel 'Down and Out in Paris and London'. Down and Out in Paris and London is the first full-length work by the English author George Orwell, published in 1933. It is a story in two parts on the theme of poverty in the two cities. The first part is a picaresque account of living on the breadline in Paris and the experience of casual labour in restaurant kitchens. The second part is a travelogue of life on the road in and around London from the tramp's perspective, with descriptions of the types of hostel accommodation available and some of the characters to be found living on the margins. Orwell gives it an autobiographical feel by interposing chapters presenting his personal opinions.

Musical References

The town was immortalised in the Ian Dury and the Blockheads song 'Billericay Dickie [Explicit] '.