Writer: Tom Basden Director: Ella Jones Starring: Alison Steadman Production Company: BBC Studios Kent Locations Used: Reculver Country Park; Walpole Bay
Pandemonium (2020) is a one-off TV drama in which the Jessops family, having had a terrible year due to the Pandemic, decided to take a holiday to boost morale, but it is October in Margate.
Walpole Bay is 400 meters long with a sandy beach, promenade and tidal swimming pool. Facilities include a cafe, jet ski hire, parking, golf, tennis and indoor bowls. It features in the production where a car drives off the seawall onto the beach below and has also featured in Liar Series 1 & 2 (2017)
Pandemonium will air on Wednesday 30th December 2020 on BBC.
Writer: Harry Williams and Jack Williams Directors: James Strong, Samuel Donovan, Chris Sweeney Starring: Joanne Froggatt, loan Gruffudd, Zoë Tapper, Richie Campbell Production Company: Two Brother Pictures, Sundance TV Kent Locations Used: Deal, Kingsdown and Hunting Lodge in Tonbridge & Malling
ITV’s psychological thriller, Liar (2017-2020), follows the relationship between teacher Laura Newell (Joanne Froggatt) and the father of one of her pupils, Andrew Ellis (Ioan Gruffudd). Their simple attraction leads to deceit and betrayal, which has wide reaching consequences for both families.
Deal was used as the main setting for Laura Nielsen’s home on The Marina and also features many other locations, such as restaurants, hotels, the beach and Deal Pier Restaurant as the setting for Laura and Andrews fatal date. Filming began for Series One in November 2016. Additional filming for Series Two took place at Kingsdown as the setting for various beach scenes as well as the location of The Zetland Arms Pub and Katy and Liam’s home. A Hunting Lodge in Tonbridge & Malling was also filmed as a remote hideout.
The coastal town of Deal has a long naval history and is one of the major cinque ports along the south coast. Deal is a winner of the Daily Telegraph’s High Street of the Year 2013 award. The Pier is a significant local landmark and public amenity offering excellent views of the town. It is internationally recognised as an angling venue and features a glass-walled café-bar on the pier-head.
Kingsdown, located just up the coast from the White Cliffs of Dover, has a secluded shingle beach, with plenty of benches suitable for picnics.
East Kent is home to spectacular coastal landscapes and historic towns and boasts excellent transport links to London and Western Europe. East Kent has been used for filming several recent hit TV productions such as Baptiste (2019), Next of Kin (2018) and The Tunnel: Vengeance (2017).
Writer: Mark Gatis, Steven Moffat, Bram Stoker Director: Paul McGuigan, Damon Thomas, Jonny Campbell Starring: Claes Bang, Jonathan Aris, Mark Gatiss, Dolly Wells Production Company: Hartswood Films, BBC, Netflix Kent Locations Used: Joss Bay, Broadstairs
From the makers of Sherlock, Dracula (2020) is a brand new drama based on Bram Stoker’s novel, Set in Transylvania in 1897, this time the blood-sucking count will be plotting against Victorian London.
Production filmed a sunrise sequence at Joss Bay, Broadstairs which was not used in the final edit.
Joss Bay is a popular sandy beach sheltered by steep chalk cliffs and backing onto the North Foreland Golf Course. Several film productions have visited the location including Coast and Country (2016).
The beach is reputedly named after an eighteenth-century smuggler Joss Snelling. Joss Bay is Kent’s best-known surfing beach and is home to the longest established surf school on this coast. The site offers an ideal set for many film productions.
The Dracula mini-series will air on BBC One on three consecutive days starting at 9pm on Wednesday 1st January 2020.
Starring: Gareth Malone, Karen Gibson Production Company: BBC Kent Locations Used: Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury High Street and Dane John Gardens
This two-part series Britain’s Christmas Story (2019) presented by Gareth Malone and Karen Gibson uncovers some of the origins of our British Christmas traditions and reveals that in the past, our festive season and Christmas Carols were as much about dancing as singing.
Canterbury Cathedral is a world heritage site and is the oldest and most renowned cathedral in England. Dane John Gardens is a historic park, which dates to 1551. The gardens afford an excellent view of the city and have the city wall along their border.
Starring: Jonnie Irwin Production Company: Boundless Productions Kent Locations Used: Sevenoaks Town Centre
Escape to the Perfect Town (2019-), commissioned by the BBC, is a brand-new daytime television programme which seeks to help prospective property buyers find their dream homes in Britain’s top market towns.
Presented by Jonnie Irwin, known for hosting similar property programmes Escape to the Country and A Place in the Sun, the show will follow the journey of individuals looking for a fresh start; whether it be to escape city life, set up their family home, relocate for work or perhaps, find more space and a better quality of life.
In this series, traditional market towns from all over the country will be explored, including Sevenoaks in western Kent, where filming took partly in the town centre.
The town centre of Sevenoaks is comprised of small, picturesque alleyways that are abundant with specialist and independent shops alongside popular high street and designer brands. It is also home to Nevill Ground, one of the oldest cricket grounds in the country. That said, the district in its entirety has the added advantage of being just a stone’s throw from London. An area nestled in the heart of the Kentish countryside; it is steeped in history with numerous attractions for visitors. Sevenoaks has been previously used as a filming location by production companies such as Four in a Bed (2018) and Antiques Road Show – Ightham Mote (2017).
Starring: Nick Knowles Production Company:BBC Studios Kent Locations: Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey
DIY SOS: The Big Build (1999-) is a popular BBC show where a team take on large scale renovation projects to help families in need of expansion. They tackle everything from extensions and conversions to full scale re-models.
Kent will feature in this special episode, as production re-visit the Ratcliffe family, whose home was demolished and then rebuilt, in Isle of Sheppey on the Isle of Sheppey back in 2017. See how they have developed their property by adding a farm school and opening their garden under the National Garden Scheme.
Isle of Sheppey is the largest town on the Isle of Sheppey. Sheppey which regularly wins the blue flag for its clean beaches and has many pubs, restaurants, shops and other leisure attractions. Productions that have previously visited this location include Four in a Bed (2018).
The 20th anniversary special of DIY SOS: The Big Build will air on Thursday 5th September 2019 on BBC One at 8pm.
Starring: Zoe Pocock and Danny Sebastian Production Company: Hello Halo Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham
CBeebies Junk Rescue (2018-) is back! The series shows how the things we throw away can be turned into something useful, through combining traditional crafts and creative child-led makes.
The Kent episode Frayed Yarn, involves Danny, Zoe, and their Junkyard Helpers finding some frayed yarn in the junkyard. Zoe and the helpers then make something out of sewing leftovers.
Set on the River Medway, The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a popular film location. It offers Georgian and Victorian architecture, maritime environment, dry dock, cobbled streets, and industrial buildings. The Dockyard has previously featured in TV productions such as the Hetty Feather series (2015-2020).
Junk Rescue can be seen on CBeebies on Monday 27th May 2019 at 4.10pm and episodes will air daily till Friday 31st May 2019, ending with the Kent episode.
Director: Andy Hall Starring: Hannah Fry Production Company: Academy 7 Productions Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham
Victorian Sensations (2019) is a brand-new three-part series, which explores the thrilling era of the 1890s, a period of rapid discovery and change.
In the first episode, ‘Electric Dreams’, mathematician Dr Hannah Fry (Size Matters, Horizon) investigates how science and technology transformed Britain during this time, giving rise to the modern world, as well as many present-day anxieties.
Victorian Sensations can be seen on BBC Four on Wednesday 22nd May 2019 at 9pm. The Kent episode, Electric Dreams, will be the first of the three episodes to air.
Writer: Stephen Poliakoff Director: Stephen Poliakoff Starring: Toby Woolf, Suanne Braun, Keeley Hawes, Linus Roache, Timothy Spall, Toby Stephens Production Company: Little Island Productions Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyards, Chatham
Set in London during the height of the Cold War, Summer of Rockets (2019) is a drama based on true events amid with growing tensions across Europe. At the time, the UK tested its first hydrogen bomb, the Soviets launched their first ballistic missile, and the space race between America and the Soviet Union had begun.
The streets outside the Ropery in The Historic Dockyard Chatham were used to film the 1950s civil defence exercise in the series and the upper floors of the Ropery itself featured as civil defence training rooms.
Summer of Rockets can be seen on BBC Two on Wednesday 22nd May 2019 at 9pm. After this, episodes will then be shown every Wednesday for the next six weeks.
Writer: Daisy Haggard and Laura Solon Director: Christopher Sweeney Starring: Daisy Haggard, Geraldine James, Jamie Michie, and Christine Bottomley Production Company: BBC Studios Kent locations used: Dungeness, Abbot’s Cliff in Dover, Folkstone Harbour Arm, Hythe, Lydd-on-Sea
BBC3 comedy drama Back to Life (2019-) follows Miranda ‘Miri’ Matteson (Daisy HaggardBreeders Series 2 (2021), Hilda) who has just been released from prison, having spent a decade behind bars. In Series One she is desperate to go straight and move on with her life.
In Series Two Miri starts a relationship with her neighbour Billy (Adeel Akhtar (Victoria and Abdul (2017)), but all is not plain sailing as a body is washed up on the beach and she becomes the prime suspect.
The series is set in in the small seaside town of Hythe, and filming for both series took place along the seafront, including various scenes at the beach promenade on West Parade, and a cycling sequence on the promenade at Princes Parade. In Series 2, Hythe High Street is pictured in various scenes, including Caroline (Geraldine James) and Oscar’s (Richard Durden) litter-picking crusade and when Lara’s father John (Adrian Edmondson) leads a procession of mourners through the town.