Auditions for “Surrey Heights” [Audio & Video]

The Surrey Heights Casting

The Surrey Heights Casting at Shoosh, Croydon Photo: Max Owens

Aimee Butcher, 22, of Croydon has proposed a reality TV series to showcase the diversity and talent in Croydon. The auditions for the show took place for almost a week, and with some 5,000 applicants, the judging panel saw hundreds of auditionees daily.

Aimee told us about her ideas for wanting to create the show and gave us the exclusive on the casting process:

Aimee Butcher, 22 – Surrey Heights Producer tells all.

The judging panel included Aimee, the brains behind the idea for the show, and two other Croydon residents: Josh Stutter who lives on an estate in Croydon, and Joey Maxwell-Simbo. They talked about looking for people with a unique story who will help present the best that Croydon has to offer.

Joey spoke about looking to present both sides of Croydon – the haves and the have nots; to show that Croydon like any other London borough boasts a spectrum of wealth and diversity. Josh, like Joey, was looking for someone “exciting” who he could feel would make good viewing.

 

It was reported that the casting team for the Surrey Height show were not only looking for “chavs”. After four full days of casting the judging panel expressed a little bit of disappointment at not having seen a single “Croydon facelift”. But they assured us at East London Lines that the search continues as they want to show all the faces and sides of Croydon and put the “real” back into “Reality TV”.

East London Lines spoke to some of the hopefuls who came to show off their unique qualities to the panel of judges.

Joe Hagan and Jordan Rhodes

Joe Hagan and Jordan Rhodes

We Spoke to "Chocolate Orange"

"Chocolate Orange"

Jordan Rhodes, 21, from Oxted, Surrey – sounds pretty lively but didn’t seem so sure about why she should be on the show. We believe in you Jordan!

Joe Hagan, 21, was the only person to turn up at the auditions accompanied by a manager. Definitely came across as a serious contender.

Double act CourtneyDee Thompson, 21, and Alix Beadon, 19, gave a huge dose of the bright characters – also known as Chocolate Orange. The duo are Croydon girls born and bred, got their excitement across to be auditioning and taking the opportunity to do something new and fun:


The series itself has not yet been commissioned by a television channel, but the project has attracted both media and public attention across London, and nationwide with coverage in the Evening Standard and The Sun.

The making of the series is being filmed by Mentorn Media – Danni Davis from the production company spoke to East London Lines about why they are following Aimee’s story as she brings the project to life:

 

In the words of the producer Aimee Butcher – “watch this space”.

Additional reporting and production by Maxwell Owens

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