The Spice Girls filmed their ‘Stop’ music video in Ireland

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Some in Dublin still fondly recall the time the Spice Girls came to Ireland in the late 1990s to film their music video for “Stop.”

“Stop” is a single from the Spice Girls’ second studio album, Spiceworld, and is also one of the Spice Girls’ most popular songs.

In January 1998, the girls travelled to Carnew Street in Dublin and Rathdrum in County Wicklow to film the music video for the song.

Speaking about the concept, or lack thereof, for the “Stop” video, Melanie Brown (aka Mel B or Scary Spice) said: “There was no storyboard for this video — it was more trial and error.

“This film was not carefully planned, it was a total free-for-all. Like everything we do – it’s total chaos! (…) We all want to be involved, so the director has to be able to accommodate all of us, plus his ideas, to make it all work.”

The result? A British rock music video with a distinctly Irish twist.

The production team invited locals to participate in the filming of this music video, but the subjects of this music video were kept secret until the filming began.

Each household in the video was paid £100 on the day of filming, and the locals signed a contract agreeing not to take photos or videos of the girls during the filming; when paparazzi came knocking on the door on the day of filming, the conscientious Irish locals chased them away.

The Spice Girls at Dublin Airport in 1997 (RollingNews.ie)

Bernie O’Reilly in the music video told the Irish Sun: “They asked locals if they wanted to be in a video, and I went for the audition.

“I remember I was wearing Deirdre Barlow’s glasses and when it was my turn I took them off but the producer said, ‘Put them on, that’s what we want’.”

Bernie O’Reilly in the “Stop” music video (Spice Girls/YouTube)

Recalling the day of the shoot, O’Reilly said: “The Spice Girls were all very friendly and Jerry was the friendliest of them all.

“It was a crazy day, all the streets were blocked off and people were coming from everywhere.”

O’Reilly added: “They do have a human touch.

“Emma Bunton went into Mrs. O’Brien’s home. Mrs. O’Brien had lovely pictures of her adult daughter who has Down syndrome. Emma chatted with her about her daughter and Mrs. O’Brien loved the pictures.”