Blackfriars Bridge - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

The name was given to one of the Bailey Bridges over the Rhine River in 1945, by the Royal Engineers that built it.

In Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, "Blackfriars Bridge" was named as the home of an unknown order of monks who held the key to an angelic prison. The bridge is also featured in the lyrics of the songs "The Resurrectionist" by the Pet Shop Boys, and "Cold Bread" by Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit. In Louis A. Meyer's Bloody Jack: Being An Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy, Jacky is introduced as an orphan in early 19th-century London who lives with her orphan gang under Blackfriars Bridge. The bridge is mentioned in Harold Pinter's play The Homecoming when the character Max suggests that his brother, Sam, would have sex for a few pennies here. The bridge also appears during the opening sequence of the film Happy-Go-Lucky, where the main character rides across it on a bicycle. In the film The Avengers, the bridge is destroyed by a tornado. In Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009), Heath Ledger's character Tony is found hanging under the Blackfriars Bridge, described by Terry Gilliam as "an homage to Roberto Calvi". Also in Cassandra Clare's book, "Clockwork Angel", the bridge is one of the settings of the chapters.