Year of the Rabbit (2019)

Image of Jill Halfpenny standing and looking at the camera, with what looks like industrial buildings behind her.

Jill Halfpenny in Year of the Rabbit ©Channel 4

Writer: Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley
Director: Ben Taylor
Starring: Alun Armstrong, Matt Berry, Freddie Fox, Jill Halfpenny, Susan Wokoma, Craig Parkinson, Sally Phillips and Keeley Hawes
Production Company: Independent Film Channel (IFC)
Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham

Channel 4’s six-part spoof comedy cop show, Year of the Rabbit (2019-2021), is set in Victorian London and follows a group of detectives, including Detective Inspector Rabbit (Matt Berry), ‘a hardened booze-hound’, his partner Wilbur Strauss (Freddie Fox), and the country’s first female law enforcer, Mabel Wisbech (Susan Wokoma). Together the trio fight crime, and bring justice to the streets of the East End.

The series was written by Kevin Cecil (Gnomeo & Juliet, Veep) and Andy Riley (Gnomeo & Juliet, Veep) and directed by BAFTA-nominated Ben Taylor (Catastrophe, Cuckoo). Starring are Alun Armstrong (The Mummy Returns, Sleepy Hollow), Matt Berry (The IT Crowd, Christopher Robin), Freddie Fox (Victor Frankenstein, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword), Jill Halfpenny (Humans, EastEnders), Susan Wokoma (The Inbetweeners 2, Crazyhead), Sally Phillips (Bridget Jones, Veep)  and Keeley Hawes (Summer of Rockets, The Bank Job).

Production visited The Historic Dockyard Chatham, where exterior street scenes were filmed and the interior of the Tarred Yarn Store.

The Historic Dockyard Chatham continues to be a popular filming location for production companies to visit. The location offers Georgian and Victorian buildings and authentic cobbled streets. The dockyard has previously featured in Summer of Rockets (2019), Suffragette (2015) and Holmes & Watson (2018).

Year of the Rabbit is due to air on Channel 4 on Monday 10th June 2019 at 10pm.

For more information about Kent’s Filming History please visit our Movie Map.