Lockwood & Co: Trivia and Easter Eggs you might not have spotted in the Netflix series

Lockwood and Co quickly raced to the UK number 1 spot in Netflix’s most-watched shows at the weekend and currently has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s not a bad start for a gang of teenage ghost-hunters.

The drama is based on the popular book series by Jonathan Stroud and follows a twist-filled adventure of three gifted teens who work in a ghost detection agency.

Starring newcomers Ruby Stokes, Cameron Chapman and Ali Hadji-Heshmati in the lead roles, the series is a compelling mix of spooky thrills, coming-of-age drama and wry humour.

If you’ve already binged the series or if you’re currently enjoying the show, here are some surprising facts you might not know about Lockwood and Co…

1. There were plans for a Lockwood and Co movie

After Jonathan Stroud’s first Lockwood and Co book The Screaming Staircase was released in 2013, the rights were immediately snapped up by a movie studio.

However, the film never moved beyond the development stages and eventually the rights became available again.

There were now five books available to adapt and Compete Fiction, the studio behind Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs The World and Attack the Block, called up Stroud and began working on a TV series.

2.  Joe Cornish is the man behind the camera

Joe Cornish, one half of British comedy duo Adam and Joe and the director of Attack the Block and The Kid Who Would Be King, was the person who called up Stroud to secure the rights and explain how he envisioned the TV series working.

Cornish is executive producer, writer and director on the series.

Joking about the differences to working on Adam & Joe, he said: “There are fewer stuffed toys, less glue guns… [and] the actors treat me with more respect than Adam used to.”

Lockwood and Co - How We Made It

3. Joe Cornish also makes a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo

Not only is Cornish behind the camera and creative team, he also makes the briefest of cameos in episode 1, This Will Be Us.

When Lucy (Ruby Stokes) is forced out of her hometown agency, Cornish is the hooded man who removes the plaque with her name on from the town centre plinth.

It might be worth watching Lockwood and Co a second time and keeping your eyes peeled for hidden secrets from author Jonathan Stroud.

“One of the things that always gets me in film and television is when someone is reading a newspaper or a book. Do you freeze-frame? I always freeze-frame, especially in 4k. I have a look at the text,” explains Cornish.

“You can judge how carefully the producers have made it by the text. If it’s a slightly crap film, there will be some gibberish or sometimes it’s Latin. But in the show, Jonathan has written everything for us.

“All the newspapers, all the Frittes manual, every bit of text, all the labels on equipment, he did all of that for us.”

5. They filmed at Kensal Green cemetery

In a stroke of good fortune, the show was able to film most of its exterior scenes in the real locations from the books, all around the streets of London.

Kensal Green Cemetery makes a brilliant haunted location as does Clerkenwell prison. The scenes with Flo Bones by the River Thames were also filmed on the real banks of the Thames.

If you want to go hunting for Lockwood’s house, the exterior scenes were filmed in Islington. However, the inside was built in a studio and isn’t real. So there’s no point in knocking and hoping for a biscuit.

6. Ruby Stokes gave up Bridgerton to be part of the series

Out of the three leads, Ruby Stokes is the one you may have watched before. She appeared in Rocks (2019), A Banquet (2021) and was the first two seasons of Bridgerton as Francesca Bridgerton, the sixth child in the family.

Stokes made the tough decision to leave Bridgerton in season 3 (she will be replaced by Hannah Dodd), because she wanted to take on Lockwood and Co.

7. The producers had to hunt down Cameron Chapman

Joe Cornish admitted that the role of Anthony Lockwood was the hardest to cast and that in the end the production team had to pick Cameron Chapman out of drama school.

“We saw thousands of young actors. Your pool is every young actor of that age working right now and we were really worried,” said Cornish.

“There were lots of brilliant actors, but they also have to be dashing, handsome, vulnerable and haunted.

“They need to have the gift of the gab, but also the sensitivity. I think we had to go get Cameron and we went to him. He was just fantastic and had everything we needed.”

8. Who performs the Lockwood and Co theme song?

The track on the opening titles, which bleeds into other tense moments in the show is the track Can’t Leave The Night by Canadian band BADBADNOTGOOD.

9. Where is Satchell’s?

The scene where Lucy walks past the agency supply store was filmed in London outside Waterstones Piccadilly.

It’s a nice touch for a TV show adapted from a popular book to pay it back to a bookstore.

10. Quill Kipps is in another massive TV show you’re probably watching

If you were scratching your head and wondering where you’d seen Fittes agent Quill Kipps before, we can help you out.

He’s played by Jack Bandeira and at the same times as Lockwood and Co is released, he is also currently starring as mobster Matija Jankovic in BBC One’s final season of Happy Valley. It’s been a big start to 2023 for the young actor.

Watch Lockwood and Co season 1 now on Netflix