Our Mutual Friend (1998)

Eugene Wrayburn (Paul McGann) and Mortimer Lightwood (Dominic Mafham) standing behind a wooden deck, wooden boats that are upside down can be seen behind them

Eugene Wrayburn (Paul McGann) and Mortimer Lightwood (Dominic Mafham) © BBC

Directed by: Julian Farino

Produced By: Caroline Wearing

Written By: Charles Dickens (Novel) & Sandy Welch (Adaptation)

Starring: Keeley Hawes, Paul McGann, Anna Friel, David Morrissey & Steven Mackintosh

Production Company: BBC

Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham, River Medway

Our Mutual Friend was Charles Dickens’ last complete novel. It was written in 1864-1865 when he was at the height of his fame having recently published A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. The main theme of the novel is money and the effect that it can have on personal values and relationships.  At it’s very core is the love triangle between repressed schoolteacher Bradley Headstone (David Morrissey Thorne: Sleepyhead), his rival Eugene Wrayburn (Paul McGann New Tricks)and their shared love interest Lizzie Hexam (Keeley Hawes Upstairs Downstairs).

When  John Harmon, a young man whose inheritance is dependent on his marrying a woman he has never met, is found dead in the Thames, his fortune is passed onto the Boffin family who take both Harmon’s would-be bride Bella Wilfer (Anna Friel Pushing Daisies) and mysterious secretary Rokesmith (Steven Mackintosh Camelot) into their home. Meanwhile, Lizzie Hexam’s father is accused of Harmon’s murder and she is relentlessly pursued by her two suitors.

close up of Lizzie Hexam wearing a hood with a lantern behind her

Lizzie Hexam (Keeley Hawes) © BBC

Filmed at The Historic Dockyard Chatham, the location was used for the bleak side streets surrounding the workhouse. Charles Dickens’ father worked as a Naval Pay Officer at the Dockyard and it was here that Dickens developed a love of the sea, accompanying his father as a young boy. Later, these childhood adventures were a source of inspiration for novels such as Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend.

The Kingswear Castle Paddlesteamer that is based at The Historic Dockyard Chatham was also used for filming the scene where Bella Wilfer and the Boffin family go for a day out.

The Historic Dockyard Chatham dates back to the 17th century and contains over 100 buildings from the Georgian and Victorian periods. The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a popular film location that has previously featured on screen in Suffragette (2015) and Les Miserables (2013).

Dickens has a rich history with Kent and the Kent Film Office celebrates Dickens history with the county including TV and film adaptions in The Dickens Trail which launched in 2012.

Our Mutual Friend aired on the BBC in March 1998 and is now available on DVD.

 

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


The Saint (1997)

The Saint movie poster- head shot of main character staring at the camera with blue mist behind him, Saint is written in white.

The Saint movie poster © Paramount Pictures

Director: Phillip Noyce

Starring: Val Kilmer, Elizabeth Shue, Henry Goodman, Rade Šerbedžija, Alun Armstrong 

Production Company: Paramount Pictures, Rysher Entertainment, Mace Neufeld Productions, Robert Evans Company

Kent Filming Location: Fort Amherst, Chatham

Inspired by the 1928 novels and following in the footsteps of the 1960’s TV series, starring Roger Moore, The Saint is about Simon Templar (Val Kilmer – Batman Forever, Heat), a suave and sophisticated international thief who has one last job before he can comfortably retire. Known as a master of disguise, he assumes the names of saints for his false identities.  When he is tasked by the Russian Mafia with stealing the cold fusion formula created by the stunning Dr Emma Russell (Elizabeth ShueHollow Man, Back to the Future II) love proves to be a dangerous distraction.

The Saint is directed by Phillip Noyce (Salt, The Bone Collector, Patriot Games) and stars Val Kilmer (Heat, Batman Forever, Top Gun) and Elizabeth Shue (Back to the Future Part II, Hollow Man, Leaving Las Vegas), Rade Šerbedžija (Snatch, Batman Begins), Henry Goodman (Notting Hill, Avengers: Age of Ultron) and Alun Armstrong (Braveheart, Sleepy Hollow).

The atmospheric Georgian fortress of Fort Amherst, Chatham, provided the perfect location to film the scene in the sewers of Moscow where Templar and Russell hide.

Fort Amherst is a Georgian Fortress over 17 acres, including a tunnel complex, park like setting, woodland, WW2 gun battery and sloping grassland and is known as one of the most haunted forts in Britain. Fort Amherst has also been used as a filming location by Jekyll and Hyde (2015), Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) and The Mission (1987).

The Saint was released in cinemas in April 1997 and is now available to buy on DVD.

 

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


Great Expectations (1989)

 

Great Expectations Movieposter 1989- Montage of characters from the film overlapping. Great Expectations written in yellow over the top

Great Expectations Movieposter 1989 © Buena Vista Television

Director: Kevin Connor

Writers: Charles Dickens (Novel)

Starring: Kim Thompson, Jean Simmons, Anthony Calf & Anthony Hopkins

Production Company: Harlech Television (HTV), Primetime Television Ltd., Tesauro Television, Walt Disney Television

Kent Locations Used: Harty Church, Rochester, Chatham, Upnor village

With a future as a blacksmith before him, Pip is invited to the home of the lonely spinster, Miss Havisham, abandoned on the day of her wedding. Encouraging her adopted daughter Estella to break the young boy’s heart, Pip is sent there for her own entertainment. The young boy’s fortunes change when an unknown and generous person pays for Pip to travel to London and begin a new life as a gentleman.

Starring Kim Thompson (Emmerdale Farm, 1408) as Estella, Jean Simmons (Spartacus) as the haunting Miss Havisham, Anthony Calf (New Tricks) as Pip and Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs, Thor) as Abel Magwitch, this Disney adaptation of the Dickens classic features many Kent locations.

Filming took place at Harty Church on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent: young Orphan Phillip (Pip) Pirrup, on a visit to the graves of his parents, meets the sinister escaped convict Abel Magwitch.  The church has part-Norman origins and is visited by both tourists and historians from around the world.

The crew also came to Upnor village to film, which provides the home of Herbert Pockets’ fiancée Clara’s house. Locals to the area will notice the Upnor Lighthouse as Pip docks in the village.

Another Kentish church, St James’ church in Cooling, which is situated on the marshes near the Hoo Peninsula, inspired Dickens so much, he used the location for the dramatic scene where Pip meets prisoner Magwitch.

 

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


Great Expectations (1946)

a man holding a boy up by his collar in front of graves in a cemetery

Great Expectations (1946) © Cineguild

Director / Writer: David Lean
Starring: John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Tony Wager, Bernard Miles, Martita Hunt
Production Company: Cineguild, National Symphony Orchestra
Kent Locations Used: St Mary’s Marshes, The River Medway

Great Expectations (1946) was the first of David Lean’s (Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai) two adaptations of Dickens’ classic novels (Oliver Twist followed in 1948).  The film tells the story of young Pip (Tony Wager (Runaway Island, Silent Number)), a good natured orphan, who lives with kind blacksmith Joe Gargery (Bernard Miles (The Man who Knew Too Much, Tawny Pipit)) and his often abusive wife “Mrs. Joe”. Whilst visiting the graves of his deceased parents he meets an escaped convict named Abel Magwitch. In fear for his life Pip agrees to get the man some food before he is discovered and captured again.

Pip’s fortunes appear to change with the arrival of Miss Havisham (Martita Hunt) in his life. A tragic recluse, Miss Havisham lives in one room in her large house surrounded by memorabilia from her ill-fated wedding. Inviting Pip to her home to amuse her, she encourages her spiteful daughter Estella to break his heart. Eventually Pip (John Mills) attracts the attention of a mysterious benefactor who pays for him to travel to London and learn to be a gentleman in the hope of him achieving his “great expectations”.

Restoration House in Rochester was Dicken’s inspiration for“Satis House”, the decaying mansion of Miss Havisham. Faithful to Dickens, the production carefully reproduced Restoration House in Denham Studios in Buckinghamshire. Restoration House is the amalgamation of two medieval buildings that were combined in the 16th or 17th century. A Grade 1 listed building, it is rumoured that Charles II stayed there the night before he was restored to the throne, thus giving the building its name.

The River Medway and the adjacent St Mary’s Marshes appear in scenes where Pip and his friend, Herbert Pocket, row their boat to a small inn whilst waiting for the Paddle Steamer to arrive. Their boat later crashes into the Paddle Steamer in one of the most dramatic scenes in the film. The Paddle Steamer used in the film is called the The Empress which was owned by Weymouth Company Cosens & Co and brought down to Kent especially for the shoot. It is often confused with the Kent based “Kingswear Castle” Paddle Steamer that featured in the BBC 1999 drama of Great Expectations and the 1998 drama of Our Mutual Friend. The Kingswear Castle is still in use today and offers members of the public tours along the river starting at its base at The Historic Dockyard in Chatham.

Sheila Townsend’s Grandad, Jimmy Ennew, was a freeman of the river Medway and rented his row boat ‘The Ivy’ to the production team for filming.  Sheila was 14yrs old at the time and remembers the excitement of sitting on the pier watching the filming.

Although the film features several important Kent locations, the novel on which the adaptation was based showcases many more. The church where Pip visits the graves of his deceased parents and has his first terrifying encounter with Magwitch was based on St James’ Church in Cooling. In the novel, Dickens mentions 5 lozenge shaped graves where Pip’s brothers were buried. It is believed that he was inspired by the 13 graves of the same shape within the church graveyard.

The tranquil park behind Rochester Cathedral, once a vineyard planted by monks from St Andrews Priory, is a convenient route for modern day tourists visiting the Cathedral to visit Restoration House in Crow Lane. In Dickens’ time the location was an open space and in his Great Expectations novel he chose it to form the last part of Pip’s regular route to visit Miss Havisham and Estella. Dickens based the character of Miss Havisham on an old woman who was his neighbour at his childhood home of Number 2 (now number 11) Ordnance Terrace in Chatham.

Great Expectations (1946) was released on Monday 16th December 1946 and is available on DVD.

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