Hundreds of motorists drive past it every day and could be forgiven for wondering why it looks so familiar.

For this is Nell's Cafe, a diner in a prominent position overlooking the A2, near Gravesend, and it's become a firm favourite with film crews.

Its star-studded list of clientele now includes Australian singer and actress Natalie Imbruglia who, depending on how old you are, will be remembered for being in Neighbours or in the Johnny English film with Rowan Atkinson.

The Aussie star also had a hit record with Torn, reaching number two in the charts in 1997, and it was due to her singing prowess that she came to be in Kent this week.

She was at Nell's Cafe to film a music video and left quite the impression on owner Sandra Hassan who described her as "lovely and beautiful".

And it was certainly not the first time the eatery's doors had been closed to customers for filming.

In September last year, the cafe welcomed production teams to shoot scenes for the second series of its drama Temple, a Sky One drama about a surgeon Daniel Milton who runs an illegal underground medical clinic.

It was an all-day closure before lead actor Mark Strong, best known for roles in Kingsman, Sherlock Holmes and Robin Hood, arrived in the evening for a night-time shoot.

"They were here until 1 o'clock in the morning," said Sandra. "He was lovely that Mark Strong."

She recalled how Strong had sent a video to her granddaughter after hearing how she had missed out on having a prom.

Earlier in the year, the cafe featured as part of a special version of ITV's Long Lost Family in which the identity of Gravesend's Oliver Twist Simon Jeffery was revealed.

TV presenter Davina McCall met with Simon at the cafe to tell him the news about his parents and to share the information discovered about his birth family.

McCall returned three days later for breakfast and, befitting of her healthy lifestyle DVDs, she ordered salmon.

In March, 2019, it was used for Idris Elba's Sky comedy In The Long Run.

Stars including Bill Bailey and Jimmy Akingbola were there filming for the series, which was based on Elba's family life growing up in 1980s' south London.

A visit from the cast and crew of the BBC's psychopath drama Killing Eve in October 2017 proved particularly exciting.

They were there for a whole day and, commenting at the time, Sandra said: “I don’t know how they do it. For a little scene like that, it took hours and hours. I couldn’t be an actress.

“I’ve seen Grey’s Anatomy [which starred Sandra Oh] so it was quite exciting. They were all absolutely lovely and they chatted away having a cup of coffee. It was so nice. Sandra Oh was especially nice - she was so down to earth.”

Asked at the time why she thought they had chosen the cafe, she said she was not sure why, but added: "I think they liked the view, and the location by the motorway."

Going even further back, in March 2014, BBC One series The Interceptor, about a surveillance team tracking Britain’s most wanted criminals, was filmed there.

It was aired the following year.

And in April 2013, the diner became a fried chicken hut for a black comedy, Keeping up with the Joneses, starring Maxine Peake (Shameless, Silk, The Village) and Geoff Bell (War Horse, Brighton Rock, Ripper Street) which was entered for the Cannes Film Festival.

The extra publicity generated by appearing in the shows means fans have been known to drop-in wanting their photos taken in the seats where their idols have sat.

That boost for trade is no bad thing, particularly after the cafe, like all those in the hard-hit hospitality industry, was forced to close for months last year due to pandemic.

But while the filming is welcome, it remains a sideshow to the bread and butter of knocking out good grub for hungry punters.

And it's not always a 'yes' when location scouts come knocking.

"Sometimes I have to turn them down," Sandra said. "I have to think of my customers."

Read more: All the latest news from Gravesend