The Primrose Hill set is a name applied to a group of celebrities in the 1990s, who were based in

Primrose Hill Primrose Hill is a Grade II listed public park located north of Regent's Park in London, England, first opened to the public in 1842.Mills, A., ''Dictionary of London Place Names'', (2001) It was named after the natural hill in the centre of t ...

, near Camden Town in

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nor ...

, and had, in the words of Andrew Johnson writing in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'' in 2010, a reputation for "having a whale of a time with drink, drugs and bed-hopping".

History

The core members of the group had lived close to each other in the Primrose Hill area of north London, as well as in neighbouring

Belsize Park Belsize Park is an affluent residential area of Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden (the inner north-west of London), England. The residential streets are lined with mews houses and Georgian and Victorian villas. Some nearby localities ...

and Hampstead; however, the social focus for the group was really the

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Roa ...

area, several miles away in west London. The term grew in use in the British media to identify the group as socially homogeneous and also as a convenient label, similar to the

Young British Artists The Young British Artists, or YBAs—also referred to as Brit artists and Britart—is a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London in 1988. Many of the YBA artists graduated from the BA Fine Art course at Golds ...

and

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...

labels of the same period. Supernova Heights, Noel Gallagher's Steele's Road home, was associated with the Primrose Hill set, and gained a reputation as a place of non-stop parties, and excess. Many of the group's members appeared with each other in film and television productions in the mid-nineties, and later cast each other in their own productions. The films Final Cut and Love, Honour and Obey both comprised several 'Primrose Hill set' members, although these films were neither critical nor commercial successes. Several members of the 'set' formed production company Natural Nylon in 1997. This went on to produce several films, notably David Cronenberg's eXistenZ in 1999, Nora in 2000,

Owning Mahowny ''Owning Mahowny'' is a 2003 Canadian film about gambling addiction with a cast that includes Philip Seymour Hoffman, Minnie Driver, Maury Chaykin and John Hurt. Based on the true story of a Toronto bank employee who embezzled more than $10 milli ...

and To Kill a King in 2003, and

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow ''Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow'', often shortened to ''Sky Captain'', is a 2004 science fiction action-adventure film written and directed by Kerry Conran in his directorial debut, and produced by Jon Avnet, Sadie Frost, Jude Law an ...

in 2004, the final film production of the company. While some of the Natural Nylon films received good notices, there were no notable box office successes. The company enjoyed some success with theatrical productions, co-producing an acclaimed adaptation of ''Dr Faustus'' at the

Young Vic The Young Vic Theatre is a performing arts venue located on The Cut, near the South Bank, in the London Borough of Lambeth. The Young Vic was established by Frank Dunlop in 1970. Kwame Kwei-Armah has been Artistic Director since February 20 ...

in 2002. The 'set' began to break up in 2003, with the acrimonious break up of the marriage of key members

Jude Law David Jude Heyworth Law (born 29 December 1972) is an English actor. He received a British Academy Film Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, two Tony Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. In 2007, he received an Honorary C� ...

and

Sadie Frost Sadie Liza Frost (née Vaughan; born 19 June 1965) is an English actress, producer and fashion designer, who ran fashion label Frost French (until its closure in 2011) and a film production company (Blonde to Black Pictures). Early life Frost ...

. With the 'set' splintered, Natural Nylon then also folded in 2003. The demise of Natural Nylon, and with collaborations between the 'set' falling off, the term 'Primrose Hill set' went into decline, to be revived from around 2017 on, under headlines of the 'new Primrose Hill set', featuring offspring of the original 'set'.

History

Members

Core Members

Other Members

References