Biopic scenes shot around Jeffrey’s Place this week, including a depiction of the singer being chased by photographers and a moment when her boyfriend was taken away by police

RESIDENTS in Camden Town could have been forgiven for opening their curtains and thinking they’d spun back more than a decade in a time machine.

Outside their windows in Jeffrey’s Place and the surrounding roads, the chaotic life of Amy Winehouse and the thirsty pack of photographers who tailed her was this week being recreated for a new biopic of the singer’s life.

Crews have been around Camden for several days as they take yet another look back on Ms Winehouse’s life.

She died in 2011 aged 27 at her last home – in Camden Square – after a drinking binge following a period of abstinence.

The film, Back To Black, looks to be covering the daily harassment she encountered from the press and paparazzi after shooting to fame with a series of award-winning songs and albums.

Actor Marisa Abela is the star under the beehive, and could be seen scuttling away from actors playing photographers in the cobbled back street last week. Other scenes have been shot near Hatton Garden.

Phil Kemp, Ms Winehouse’s former neighbour in Camden Town, saw the film crews in the street where she had once lived.

“They shot the scene where Amy’s boyfriend was taken off in a police car,” he said.

Mr Kemp said he would “often” see Ms Winehouse when she lived in his road – she lived in Jeffrey’s Place before Camden Square – adding: “I wouldn’t say we were friends, but we knew each other enough to say ‘hi’ to. She was sweet and charming.

“I felt so sorry for her because I used to get these bloody paparazzi all hanging around against my garden wall. They weren’t allowed into the courtyard because that’s private, but they used to hang around along my garden wall waiting for her to come out, and chuck their Kentucky Fried Chicken cartons over into my garden.

“I got so fed up that one time I actually got a garden hose and sprayed them. They harassed her. It was awful.”

For resident Roland Denning, the large crowds of actors brought back memories of the days when she lived in the road. “You’d see her walking down the street in her high heels,” he said.

“There were paparazzi around her house 24 hours a day, waiting for her to come out and fall over. One day, I remember she came back from the newsagent across the road for some crisps and she chucked out the crisps at the paparazzi just to keep them quiet.”

Roland Denning: ‘the photographers ‘blocked up the street 24/7’

According to Mr Denning, the number of photographers meant “it was very safe around here – but they blocked up the street 24/7. I felt so sorry for her.”

Prowse Place resident Alexandra Holder said her street had been shut off for filming. “I’d love to see a dramatisation of it because she’s such a phenomenal singer and talent and it’s such a sad story,” she said. “But the thing you want to be mindful of is how respectful is it always to be lingering on the tragic events of her life and death?”