Humans – Series 2 (2016)

Humans poster with the titles Humans 2.0 written on top of four cast members staring at the camera

Humans © Channel 4

Production Company: Kudos Productions, Matador Films

Starring: Gemma Chan, Emily Berrington, Colin Morgan, Katherine Parkinson, Carrie-Ann Moss, Tom Goodman-Hill

Kent Locations Used:  Westgate-on-Sea – West Bay Café, Piggy Bank nursery, Station Road Birchington, Botany Bay, Norfolk Road, Cliftonville

Set in a parallel present, Humans returns for a second series and explores how the latest family gadgets, highly-developed robotic servants called “Synths”, affect and transform human lives, not always for the better.

Series two picks up several months after the end of the first series – Niska (Emily Berrington) is still missing and her fellow synths – Mia (Gemma Chan), Leo (Colin Morgan) and Max (Ivanno Jeremiah) are still trying to find their place in the world amidst unconfirmed reports of synths behaving erratically.

Humans Ed (Sam Palladio) standing in front of beach huts at Westgate-on-Sea

Humans Ed (Sam Palladio) at Westgate-on-Sea © Channel 4

The award winning first series of Humans attracted an average of 4.8million viewers, becoming Channel 4’s highest rated drama in 20 years.

The series stars Gemma Chan (Secret Diary of a Call Girl Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit), Emily Berrington (The Inbetweeners 2 24: Live Another Day), Colin Morgan (Merlin The Fall), Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd, The Boat That Rocked), Carrie-Ann Moss (Jessica Jones, The Matrix) and Tom Goodman-Hill (Mr Selfridge, Everest).

The production team filmed in Thanet between April and June 2016 using locations including Westgate-on-Sea – West Bay Café, Piggy Bank nursery, Station Road in Birchington and Botany Bay and Norfolk Road in Cliftonville.

Westgate-on-Sea is a coastal town near Margate which offers a sandy beach, arcades, Dreamland amusement park, shops and restaurant plus the renowned Turner Contemporary gallery. Botany Bay is in Thanet and is a popular film location due to its blue flag beach almost 200m long with stunning chalk cliffs and rock pools. The Thanet area has previously featured on screen in productions such as The Lady in the Van (2015), True Love (2012) and Ruby Blue (2007).

Humans series 2 starts on Sunday 30th October at 21:00 on Channel 4.

 

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


Jamie and Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast (2016)

Jamie standing next to Jimmy in their cafe with his arm around him, looking at the camera

Jamie and Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast © Channel 4

Production Company: Fresh One Productions

Kent locations used: The Quadrangle Trust, Sevenoaks

Chefs Jamie Oliver and Jimmy Doherty are back on Channel 4 with their third series of Friday Night Feast packed to the brim with show stopping recipes, serving dishes with the help of celebrities and the relaunch of their fight against food waste.

The series is based in Jamie and Jimmy’s Café in Southend and in the last episode of the series, the team visit The Quadrangle Trust in Sevenoaks for a mini food festival.

Also in the episode, actress Anna Friel learns how to cook Balinese stew, Jamie makes mega-meatball subs, and Jimmy Doherty shows how to prepare mozzarella using a few simple ingredients and a cafetiere. The duo also tries to save “ugly” fruit and vegetables from the bin and get them into the nation’s fridges.

The Quadrangle Trust is a large Victorian model farmstead built in 1870 near Shoreham. The location boasts barns, workshops, stables and a stunning vegetable garden. The Sevenoaks area has been featured in a variety of productions including Wolf Hall (2015), Rush (2013) and Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides (2011).

Don’t miss the Kent episode of Jamie and Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast on Friday 5th February 2016 at 20:00 on Channel 4.

 

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


George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces (2015)

Presenter George Clarke standing on a bridge with metal railings

George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces © Channel 4

Production Company: Plum Pictures

Kent Locations Used: Margate

Channel 4 series George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces looks into the fascinating world of small spaces and builds. In each episode George meets different people who turn tiny spaces into amazing places to work, play and even live.

Now in its fifth series, episode four visits Kent’s very own Margate where George meets a man planning to build Margate’s first Victorian bathing machine in more than 100 years.

George Clarke's Amazing Spaces- Victorian bathing machine in Margate being pulled by a tractor in front of an industrial unit

George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces – Victorian bathing machine in Margate © Thanet District Council

Also in the episode, George meets a coma survivor who proves he has a sense of humour by transforming a hearse into a family camper van and visits a woman who has turned her narrow boat home into a floating bookshop.

Margate is a seaside town with a pleasant mix between a charming Old Town and modern architecture such as the Turner Contemporary. The town has also recently reopened traditional theme park Dreamland. Margate has been used as a film location in a number of productions including Coast (2015), Edge of Heaven (2014) and True Love (2012).

Catch George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces featuring Margate on Thursday 8th October 2015 at 20:00 on Channel 4.

 

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


Couples Come Dine With Me (2014)

 

close up of a dinning table with striped chairs and wine glasses

Couples Come Dine With Me © Channel 4

 

Production company: ITV Studios, Shiver Productions

Kent Locations: Bearsted, Kings Hill, Maidstone

Channel 4’s popular show returns with a twist: in this series, couples work together to host the best dinner party for a cash prize!

Come Dine With Me started in 2005 and has proved very popular with audiences. In episode 10 of the new series, the show follows three West Kent couples, including married West End performers Millie and Andy, newlyweds Sam and Emma and dinner party fanatics Alex and Richard. Whose efforts will be judged victorious?

The production filmed the West Kent contestants in and around their homes in Kings Hill , Maidstone and Bearsted.

Maidstone lies on the River Medway and is the county town of Kent offering shopping areas and parks. It is close to many tourist attractions, such as Kent Life and Leeds Castle. Maidstone is also home to The Maidstone Studios which has hosted filming for TV productions such as Draw It .

Bearsted is a village near Maidstone and boasts shops, pubs and sports clubs in a countryside setting.

Kings Hill is a housing and business development built on an airfield site which was used in Channel 4’s Cape Wrath (2008).

Don’t miss the Kent episode which will air on Friday 18th July 2014 at 17:00 on Channel 4.

 

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

 


The Garden (1990)

The Garden screenshot - a boy putting washing out in Dungeness estate

The Garden screenshot © Artificial Eye

Directed by: Derek Jarman

Starring: Tilda Swinton, Pete Lee-Wilson, Michael Gough

Production Company: Basilisk Communications, Channel 4, British Screen Productions, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, Uplink, Sohbi Kikaku, Space Shower TV

Kent locations: Dungeness

The Garden is one of avant-garde director Derek Jarman’s final films, and intertwines an almost wordless story about two gay lovers who are arrested, severely humiliated, tortured and killed with religious imagery.

Tilda Swinton (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) stars with narration by Michael Gough (Batman Returns, Sleepy Hollow).

The Garden screenshot - Dungeness beach and sea

The Garden screenshot © Artificial Eye

The film is set against the backdrop of Dungeness, which had been Jarman’s home since the late 1980s.

Dungeness in the Shepway district of Kent is one of the largest shingle landscapes in the world. It boasts sound mirrors, two lighthouses and power station and is a popular film location having previously been seen on screen in The Poison Tree (2012), Parade’s End (2012) and The Inspector Lynley Mysteries – Natural Causes (2006).

The Garden was released in 1990 and is now available to buy on DVD.

 

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


They Came from Somewhere Else (1984)

A green humanoid alien wearing a space suit stands in front of a blue screen, on which is super-imposed an image of a man fighting a giant prawn. Above the image is the 1980’s Channel 4 logo and the text ‘They Came from Somewhere Else’ in a white font.

They Came from Somewhere Else (1984) © The VHS Archive / Channel 4

Director: Jim Hill
Starring:
Robin Driscoll, Tony Haase, Pete McCarthy, Rebecca Stevens
Production Company:
Channel 4 Television Corporation, TVS Films
Kent Locations Used:
Allington, Maidstone

They Came from Somewhere Else (1984) was a British sitcom which aired on Channel 4 in 1984. The series takes place in the fictional town of Middleford and follows friends Wendy, Colin and Martin as their dull lives are interrupted by the arrival of an American stranger, whose presence in the town seems to coincide with bizarre phenomena including raining liver, zombies and giant prawns in the sewers.

The six-part series was directed by Jim Hill (Boon, Playing for Real) and stars Robin Driscoll (Bean, Mr. Bean’s Holiday) as the Stranger, Tony Haase (Colin’s Sandwich, Mornin’ Sarge) as Martin, Pete McCarthy (Smith & Jones) as Colin and Rebecca Stevens (Postman Pat, Saturday Live) as Wendy.

Allington in Maidstone features throughout the series, doubling as the fictional town of Middleford. Various roads and green spaces were used for filming, as well as the Mid Kent Shopping Centre. The former Granada Cinema in Maidstone, now the Gala Bingo hall, appears in the final episode of the series in its former glory.

As the county town of Kent and seat of local governance, Maidstone plays an important part in Kent’s history. The River Medway runs through the town’s centre, linking it with other towns such as Rochester and Chatham. The town has many shops, restaurants, bars, churches and a museum. Other productions to have filmed there include Missing (2009-2010), Rustom (2016) and Season 2 of This Time with Alan Partridge (2021).

They Came from Somewhere Else (1984) aired on Channel 4 from Saturday 14th July to Saturday 18th August 1984. It was never released on DVD or on-demand due to copyright issues.

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